Ivan Lukianovych Proshak ( Ukrainian: Іван Лук’янович Прошак; 2 June 1922 – 14 January 1999) was a member of the

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist partisan formation founded by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) on 14 October 1942. The UPA launched guerrilla warfare against Nazi Germany, the S ...

and a victim of

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

(1941–1943) and

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

(1945–1957) camps. In the 1990s – political activist and a member of All-Ukrainian political prisoners' congresses.Матеріали Міжнародного конгресу політичних в’язнів комуністичних режимів: Київ, 7-8 листопада 1995 року. / ред. О. Лук'янчук. - Всеукраїнське товариство політичних в'язнів і репресованих, 2001. - 296 с.

Biography

Ivan Proshak was born on

2 June Events Pre-1600 * 260 – Sima Zhao's regicide of Cao Mao: The figurehead Wei emperor Cao Mao personally leads an attempt to oust his regent, Sima Zhao; the attempted coup is crushed and the emperor killed. * 455 – Sack of Rome: ...

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

in a village near Tysmenytsia in a family of Lukian Proshak, the head of the local library of

Prosvita Prosvita (), since 1991 officially known as All-Ukrainian Prosvita Society named after Taras Shevchenko () is an enlightenment society aimed to preserve and develop Ukrainian culture, education and science, that was created in the nineteenth cen ...

. He studied at a four-grade school. In 1934, together with schoolchildren, he visited

Kolomyia Kolomyia (, ), formerly known as Kolomea, is a city located on the Prut, Prut River in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in the west of Ukraine. It serves as the administrative centre of Kolomyia Raion, hosting the administration of Kolomyia urban hromada ...

, where he met the writer Andriy Tchaikovsky. In 1938, he joined the

Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists The Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN; ) was a Ukrainian nationalist organization established on February 2, 1929 in Vienna, uniting the Ukrainian Military Organization with smaller, mainly youth, radical nationalist right-wing groups. ...

. With the onset of the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military conflict by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Second Polish Republic, Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Polan ...

in 1939, he worked as an accountant on a

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

till 1941.ГДА СБУ в ІФ. - спр. 1117П. In 1941, he was sent to German concentration camps, where he mined coal near the city of

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

, where he remained until 1943. In 1943 he joined the

. In August 1943, he took part in the battle in the village of Zarichchya in the Nadvirna region with German and Hungarian units, where 60 Nazis were killed. Ivan Proshak also distinguished himself in the battles in Olesha in Bratove Forest (September 24, 1944), Perehinsk, Tatariv and Porohy. During his service, he was acquainted with the commander of the "Dzvony" kurin Petro Melnyk, the commander of the "Bells" kurin Luka Hrynishak, the commander of the UPA "Syvulya" kurin, Vasyl Yaskiv, the commander of the "Dovbush" kurin Ivan Gonta and other well-known figures of the OUN and UIA.Момот М. Сповідь "Невмирущого" �екст: до правдивої історії ОУН-УПА на Прикарпатті / В. Д. Момот. - Л. : Сполом, 2004. - 270 с.: фотоіл. In December 1944, he was transferred to the OUN structure to the position of propagandist of the bush No. 4 (Khomyakivka) of the Tysmenytsia OUN district under the pseudo "Oleg". On March 15, 1945, in an armed clash between OUN members and the NKVD internal troops in Khomyakivka, where 20 rebels died along with Maria Kapechuk and her five-year-old daughter Halyna, Proshak was wounded and fell into the hands of the NKVD together with Hryhorii Baleniuk. No investigative actions were carried out during March-September 1945. On October 16, 1945, by the decision of the NKVD military tribunal in the Stanislav region, Proshak was sentenced to 20 years in a labor camp and 5 years of restriction of rights with confiscation of property. In January 1946, he arrived at a labor camp in

Vorkuta Vorkuta (; ; Nenets languages, Nenets for "the abundance of bears", "bear corner") is a coal-mining types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in the Komi Republic, Russia, situated just north of the Arctic Circle in the Pechora coal basin a ...

(

Vorkutlag The Vorkuta Corrective Labor Camp (), commonly known as Vorkutlag (Воркутлаг), was a major Gulag labor camp in the Soviet Union located in Vorkuta, Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. ...

). From April 13, 1949 to 1953, he worked in the 6th camp department as an accountant of the settlement department, where he actively opposed the Soviet government. On January 28, 1955, the Military Tribunal of the Precarpathian Military District reduced the term of sentence from 20 to 10 years of labor camps. On February 12, 1956, he was released, and on April 18, 1957, due to the lack of evidence and witnesses, he was rehabilitated by decision of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR. Then Ivan Proshak studied first at a mining college, and later at the Vorkuta branch of the Leningrad Mining Institute named after Plekhanov, where he received an education as an engineer-economist. In 1960s, he was elected head of the trade union at the mine due to Ivan Proshak's protection of the rights of political prisoners. He then worked as a dispatcher at the Vorkutaugol plant. In 1982, he returned to

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and moved to

with his family. In the 1990s, he was an active participant in all-Ukrainian and international congresses of political prisoners: in 1990, he took part in the World Assembly of Political Prisoners of All Countries in Kyiv, in 1993 – in the II World Congress of Ukrainian Political Prisoners in Kyiv, in 1995 – in the International Congress of Political Prisoners of Communist Regimes in Kyiv, where he delivered his speeches about the inaction of the authorities in protecting the repressed and political prisoners, UIA veterans. On August 24, 1992, Ivan Proshak was one of the main speakers at a ceremonial meeting in the People's House dedicated to the Independence of Ukraine and the 50th anniversary of the

.Криворучко І. «Про репресованого воїна УПА Івана Прошака в 1992-1993 роках». ''Вільний голос.'' 19 грудня 2024. - С. 6. On October 25, 1992, he took part in the reburial of UIA soldier Fedir Kuzenko in the village of Rungury from the his house to the village cemetery. In 1994, he became a referent for Yevhen Proniuk, a candidate for

People's Deputy of Ukraine A people's deputy of Ukraine (, ) is a member of parliament and legislator elected by Direct election, popular vote to the Verkhovna Rada, the parliament of Ukraine. They are often referred to simply as "deputies". Prior to 1991, the Verkhovna R ...

. In December 1994, as a member of the Society of Political Prisoners and Repressed People, he supported the struggle of the Chechens for the independence of their country during the

First Chechen War The First Chechen War, also referred to as the First Russo-Chechen War, was a struggle for independence waged by the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against the invading Russia, Russian Federation from 1994 to 1996. After a mutually agreed on treaty ...

. Because of his long-term illness, he died on 14 January 1999 in

Personal life

Ivan Proshak married to repressed by Soviet regime Maria Kushnirchuk in the 1950s. She was born in a village near

in 1928. On July 2, 1947, she was arrested by

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

because of her volunteering in the

. On October 29, 1947, she was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment. On August 15, 1991, she was rehabilitised. In June 2005, Maria Kushnirchuk died in

. They had two childrens: *Anastasiia Proshak (born 1957) *Olesia Proshak (married Hudymiak) (born 10 May 1958).Слово прощання. - Коломийський вісник. - 20.01.1999. - No. 7 (1002). - с. 8 She was born in

and studied there for history teacher. In the 1980s, Olesia began to work in a local library in

, but later she was fired because of her repressed family. In 1986–2022 she worked as a

history teacher ''The History Teacher'' is a peer-reviewed quarterly academic journal concerned with the teaching of history in schools, colleges, and universities. It is considered the most widely recognized journal in the United States devoted to more effective ...

at the secondary school No. 1 named after

Vasyl Stefanyk Vasyl Semenovych Stefanyk (; May 14, 1871 – December 7, 1936) was an influential Ukrainian modernist writer and political activist. He was a member of the Austrian parliament from 1908 to 1918. Biography Early years Vasyl Stefanyk was ...

. In May 2010, she organized the meeting with famous participant of the

Myroslav Symchych at the school. It was initiated by a political party "For Ukraine" as a protest against a pro-Russian policy of the minister of education and science of Ukraine

Dmytro Tabachnyk Dmytro Volodymyrovych Tabachnyk (, ; born November 26, 1963) is a Russian and former Ukrainian politician who served as the minister of education and science of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014.Olha Freimut Olha Freimut (born Olha Mykhailivna Konyk, , née: Lokotko; 25 February 1982) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian TV presenter, journalist, writer and model. Biography Olha was born on 25 February 1982 in Novyi Rozdil, Lviv Oblast. Her father is footballe ...

interceded on her. She is currently a history teacher of school in a village Lisna Slobidka. Olesia is also a member of the Society of Political Prisoners and Repressed People. On August 24, 2023, she was awarded the diploma of a mayor of Kolomyia as a member of the society for contribution to the struggle for Ukrainian independence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Proshak, Ivan 1922 births 1999 deaths Ukrainian human rights activists People from Stanisławów Voivodeship Ukrainian Insurgent Army Ukrainian anti-communists