Olena Ivanivna Teliha ( uk, Олена Іванівна Теліга, July 21, 1906 – February 21, 1942) was a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

poet and Ukrainian activist of Ukrainian and Belarusian ethnicity.

Biography

Olena Teliha was born in the village of Ilyinskoe, near Moscow in Russia where her parents spent summer vacations. There are several villages by this name in that area, and it is unknown exactly which one of them is Olena Teliha's birthplace.Ukrainian poet-heroine Olena Teliha, 1906 – 1942
Brama (July 20, 2006) Her father was a civil engineer while her mother came from a family of Russian Orthodox priests. In 1918, she moved to

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

with her family, when her father became a minister in the new UNR government.Life is not to be sold for a few pieces of silver – The life of Olena Teliha
by Ludmyla Yurchenko, CYM, the Ukrainian Youth Association There they lived through the years of

Ukrainian War of Independence The Ukrainian War of Independence was a series of conflicts involving many adversaries that lasted from 1917 to 1921 and resulted in the establishment and development of a Ukrainian republic, most of which was later absorbed into the Soviet U ...

. When the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

took over, her father moved to

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, and the rest of the family followed him in 1923. After living through the rise and fall of

Ukrainian National Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 19 ...

, Olena took an avid interest in

Ukrainian language Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state lan ...

and literature. In

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, she attended a Ukrainian teacher's college where she studied history and

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

. She met a group of young Ukrainian poets in Prague and started writing poetry herself. After her marriage, she moved to

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, where she lived until the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. In 1939, like many of the young Ukrainians with whom she associated, Olena Teliha became a member of the

Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists ( uk, Організація українських націоналістів, Orhanizatsiya ukrayins'kykh natsionalistiv, abbreviated OUN) was a Ukrainian ultranationalist political organization esta ...

, within which she became an activist in cultural and educational matters. In 1941, Olena and her husband Mykhailo Teliha (whom she met and married in Czechoslovakia) moved back to Nazi-occupied Kyiv, where she expanded her work as a cultural and literary activist, heading the Ukrainian Writers' Guild and editing a weekly cultural and arts newspaper "Litavry". A lot of her activities were in open defiance of the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

authorities. She watched her closest colleagues from the parent-newspaper "Ukrainian Word" ("Ukrayins'ke Slovo") get arrested and yet chose to ignore the dangers. She refused to flee, declaring that she would never again go into exile. She was finally arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

and executed, aged 35, in

Babi Yar Babi Yar (russian: Ба́бий Яр) or Babyn Yar ( uk, Бабин Яр) is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and a site of massacres carried out by Nazi Germany's forces during its campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. T ...

along with her husband.1942: Mykhailo and Olena Teliha, Ukrainian artists
ExecutedToday.com In the prison cell where she stayed, her last written words were scribbled on the wall: "Here was interred and from here goes to her death Olena Teliha".

Poetry

* "Only the evening flies over the city" * Joy * Abroad * Life * To men * I. Someone else's spring * II. Sleepy day * III. Blazing day * Everlasting * Turn * Tango * Cossack * Travel * "No need for words. Let there be only business..." * Summer * Loyalty * "The night was turbulent and dim..." * "My soul and a dark drink..." * "Not love, not a whim and not an adventure..." * To a man * "Sharp eyes open in the dark..." * "Today every step would like to be a waltz..." * A unique holiday * On the fifth floor * "They wave their hand! Pour the wine..." * Reply * "I will not forgive the hand that hit me..." * Immortal * Fifteenth autumn * Evening song * Black square * Letter * "Everything - but not this! Not these peaceful days..." * On the eve wo sonnets* A sunny memory * 1933—1939 * Convicted

Remembrance

On July 19, 2007 the

National bank of Ukraine National Bank of Ukraine ( uk, Національний банк України) or NBU ( uk, НБУ) is the central bank of Ukraine – a government body responsible for unified state policy in the field of country's monetary circulation, includ ...

issued a

commemorative coin Commemorative coins are coins issued to commemorate some particular event or issue with a distinct design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued. Many coins of this category serve as collectors items only, although some countries ...

dedicated to Olena Teliha.Jubilee Coin "Olena Teliha"
,

On 25 February 2017 a monument to Teliha was unveiled at

. The monument was consecrated by head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate Patriarch Filaret.Babi Yar monument in Kiev opened OUN activist, poet Olena Teliha

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

(25 February 2017)

References

External links

Olena Teliha's poems

Life is not to be sold for a few pieces of silver – The life of Olena Teliha
CYM, the Ukrainian Youth Association {{DEFAULTSORT:Teliha, Olena Ivanivna 1906 births 1942 deaths Executed people from Moscow Oblast Ukrainian poets Ukrainian murder victims People murdered in Reichskommissariat Ukraine Ukrainian people of Belarusian descent Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists 20th-century Ukrainian women politicians Ukrainian people executed by Nazi Germany Ukrainian nationalists Executed Soviet people from Russia Ukrainian women in World War II 20th-century poets Ukrainian women writers 20th-century women writers Soviet poets

Biography

Poetry

Remembrance

See also

References

External links