Ivan Babii (; March 5, 1893 – July 25, 1934) was a Ukrainian educator and military officer. He was one of the main organizers of the "Ukrainian Youth for Christ" festival and a proponent of peaceful coexistence between Ukrainians and Poles in Galicia as an integral part of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Babii was assassinated on the orders of 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. ...

(OUN).

Biography

Ivan Babii was born on March 5, 1893, in the village of Dobromirka (now in Zbarazh district of Ternopil region, Ukraine) into a peasant family. Babii graduated in 1911 from a high school in

Tarnopol Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret (river), Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia (Central Europe ...

, then studied classical philology at the

Jan Kazimierz University in Lwów Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Num ...

. Following the start of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in 1914, he was called into the Austro-Hungarian Army, where he served in the

Ukrainian Sich Riflemen Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (; ) was a Ukrainian unit within the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War. Scope The unit was formed in August 1914 on the initiative of the Supreme Ukrainian Council. It was composed of members o ...

. In 1918–1919, Babii fought against Poland in the

Ukrainian Galician Army The Ukrainian Galician Army ( UGA; ), was the combined military of the West Ukrainian People's Republic during and after the Polish-Ukrainian War. It was called the "Galician army" initially. Dissatisfied with the alliance of Ukraine and Polan ...

and in 1920 participated as an officer of the

Ukrainian People's Army The Ukrainian People's Army (), also known as the Ukrainian National Army (UNA) or by the derogatory term Petliurivtsi (, ), was the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1921). They were often quickly reorganized units of the former I ...

in the Kiev offensive of the joint Polish-Ukrainian forces. Later, Babii became a principal of a high school in

Brzeżany Berezhany ( ; ; ; , ''Bzhezhani''/''Bzhizhani'') is a small city in Ternopil Raion, Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It lies about from the administrative center of the oblast, Ternopil. Berezhany hosts the administration of Berezhany urban hr ...

, then, in 1931, took the post of principal of a Ukrainian high school in Lwów. He organized the Youth for Christ festival in western Ukraine. Babii openly criticized the

. He prevented his students from distributing OUN leaflets. The revolutionary tribunal of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists sentenced Babii to death for collaborating with Polish authorities. On July 27, 1934, an OUN militant murdered him in Lviv. As it turned out, Babii was assigned police protection, and when the attacker realized that he would not be able to escape, he tried to shoot himself. In the hospital, the militant regained consciousness and confessed that he was a member of the OUN and his name was Mykhailo Tsar, originally from Pozdymyr. On August 17, the killer died of his wound. Петро Мірчук. Нарис історії ОУН
Том 1. V частина. Розділ 5.
Вбивство Івана Бабія. The assassination was publicly condemned by the Ukrainian Archbishop

Andrey Sheptytsky Andrey Sheptytsky, OSBM (; ; 29 July 1865 – 1 November 1944) was the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Metropolitan of Galicia and Archbishop of Lviv from 1901 until his death in 1944. His tenure in office spanned two world wars and six political r ...

References

Bibliography

* Andrzej Chojnowski, Jan Bruski − ''Ukraina'', Warsaw 2006, 1893 births 1934 deaths Assassinated Ukrainian people Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria People from Ternopil Oblast People killed by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists Ukrainian Austro-Hungarians Deaths by firearm in Poland Ukrainian Galician Army people 20th-century Ukrainian educators {{ukraine-bio-stub