Volodymyr Yaniv (born 21 November 1908 in – 19 November 1991) was a Ukrainian nationalist activist, university professor,

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

and poet.

BIography

Yaniv was born on 21 November 1908 in

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

, Galicia. He was community and scouting leader in the 1930s. He was an activist in the OUN and the

Ukrainian Military Organization The Ukrainian Military Organization (), was a Ukrainian paramilitary body, engaged in terrorism (especially in Poland) during the interwar period. It was formed after the occupation of Ukraine by Soviet Russia following the Ukrainian–Soviet ...

(UVO), editor of numerous student and community publications. He was a professor of Psychology at the Ukrainian Catholic Seminary in (1947–1948), professor of the

Ukrainian Free University The Ukrainian Free University is a private graduate university located in Munich, Germany. History The Ukrainian Free University (UFU) was established in Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in A ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

(from 1955) and its rector (1968–1986), professor of the

Ukrainian Catholic University The Ukrainian Catholic University () is a Catholicism, Catholic university in Lviv, Ukraine, affiliated with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) was the first :Catholic universities and colleges, Catholic ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

(from 1963), a publicist, poet, member of the

Shevchenko Scientific Society The Shevchenko Scientific Society (), founded in 1873, is a Ukrainian scientific society devoted to the promotion of scholarly research and publication. Unlike the government-funded National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the society is a pu ...

(from 1987). Yaniv completed his gymnasium studies in Lviv in 1928 and further studied history and psychology at the

Lviv University The Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (named after Ivan Franko, ) is a state-sponsored university in Lviv, Ukraine. Since 1940 the university is named after Ukrainian poet Ivan Franko. The university is the oldest institution of highe ...

. After incarceration at the Bereza Kartuska concentration camp he completed his studies in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

with a dissertation on "The psychological changes of political prisoners". In 1946 he moved to Munich where took an active part in the life of the Ukrainian Free University. Yaniv wrote numerous works studying the effect of incarceration on the works of notable Ukrainian cultural figures such as

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...

Ivan Franko Ivan Yakovych Franko (, ; 27 August 1856 – 28 May 1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, translator, economist, political activist, doctor of philosophy, ethnographer, and the author of the first d ...

Lesia Ukrainka Lesya Ukrainka (, ; born Larysa Petrivna Kosach, ; – ) was one of Ukrainian literature's foremost writers, best known for her poems and plays. She was also an active political, civil, and feminist activist. Among her best-known works are ...

Vasyl Symonenko Vasyl Andriiovych Symonenko (; 8 January 1935 – 13 December 1963) was a Ukrainian poet, journalist, activist of dissident movement. He is considered one of the most important figures in Ukrainian literature of the early 1960s. In the opinion ...

Ihor Kalynets Ihor Myronovych Kalynets (; 9 July 1939 – 28 June 2025) was a Ukrainian poet and Soviet dissident. Background Kalynets was born in Khodoriv, the son of an agronomist. His parents upheld Ukrainian cultural traditions. As a child, Kalynets read ...

Plast

In his youth, in 1927–1932, Yaniv took an interest in the ''

Plast The Plast National Scout Organization of Ukraine (), commonly called Ukrainian Plast or simply , is the largest Scouting organization in Ukraine. History First Era: 1911–1920 Plast was founded in Lviv (Lwów, Lemberg), Austro-Hungarian Ga ...

'' Ukrainian scouting movement, in which he held various leadership roles. He returned to scouting in 1946 and continued to be active in Ukrainian scouting to the end of his life.

Incarceration

Yaniv was first arrested by the Polish police for a period of two years in 1934–1935 at the Bereza Kartuska concentration camp. In 1936 he was once again arrested and given a 5-year term before being released in 1938. In July 1941 he was arrested by the Germans and confined in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

for membership in the

Ukrainian National Committee The Ukrainian National Committee ( ) was a Ukrainian political structure created under the leadership of Pavlo Shandruk, on March 17 (or March 12), 1945 in Weimar, Nazi Germany, nearly two months before the German Instrument of Surrender, with the ...

, established on 21 June 1941. His prison experiences became the basis for his dissertation and many of the books and studies he published in later years.

His poems

''Battle of Kruty''

The golden blaze has lighten up,
The world has shuddered from sound of trumpets,
The glory widely could be heard
That has arisen for us our country
And Ukraine has stepped out of jails.

The wounds of hundred years has healed
As no more horror was there present
Of tyrants that laid in dew
Our heavy shackles has been torn
And the path into the future has cleared up...

Awards

* Commander of the

Order of St. Gregory the Great The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great (; ) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of the five Papal order of knighthood, orders of knighthood of th ...

References

Sources

* ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' (in Ukrainian), vol. 10, p. 3,973.
The collection of the Ukrainian songs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yaniv, Volodymyr 1908 births 1991 deaths Writers from Lviv Ukrainian Austro-Hungarians People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Eastern Catholic poets Ukrainian Eastern Catholics Ukrainian male poets Ukrainian refugees Members of the Shevchenko Scientific Society Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists members Inmates of Bereza Kartuska Prison Ukrainian people imprisoned in Poland 20th-century Ukrainian politicians