VALENTYNA MAKSYMIVNA CHORNOVIL (born March 23, 1948, in the village of Husakove, Zvenyhorodka Raion, Cherkasy Oblast).
Philologist, participant in the human rights movement.
Her mother was a primary school teacher, and her father taught Ukrainian language and literature. Valentyna spent her childhood in her mother’s village of Vilkhovets, where she graduated from high school in 1965. From 1965 to 1970, she studied at the Faculty of Philology at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. From 1970 to 1972, she taught in the Lviv, Ternopil, and Kyiv oblasts. Through her brother, Viacheslav Chornovil, she was acquainted with the circle of the Sixtiers: Alla Horska, Halyna Sevruk, Ivan, Leonida, and Nadiia Svitlychny, and Marharyta Dovhan. She participated in groups of Christmas carolers. She distributed and sent abroad the journal “Ukrainian Herald,” which was published by her brother. After his arrest on January 12, 1972, during interrogations, Chornovil gave no testimony against her brother or against M. Plakhotniuk, in whose case she was listed as his fiancée. A case was also opened against her under Article 62, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR for “anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda.” In August 1972, she was detained for three days along with Atena Pashko. They were held in the KGB pre-trial detention center in Lviv. However, thanks to her brother, who went on a dry hunger strike after learning of it, both were released.
For political reasons, Chornovil was barred from teaching for a year. Starting in 1973, she worked as a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature in the town of Talne in Cherkasy Oblast, and in the towns of Rokytne and Bucha in Kyiv Oblast. Local and regional KGB bodies constantly harassed her, summoning her for interrogations and keeping her under surveillance at work.
Chornovil traveled to visit her brother in Mordovia and Yakutia. She smuggled out information from the camps, including the interview with V. Chornovil and Borys Penson titled “Everyday Life in the Mordovian Camps.”
In 1982, she married M. Plakhotniuk.
In 1998, she began working as a literary editor for the newspaper “Chas-Time” (later “Chas”), where V. Chornovil was the editor-in-chief. She published her own journalistic and cultural studies. She edited V. Chornovil’s bulletin “Vymir Chasu” (Dimension of Time). After his death (March 25, 1999), she compiled and published his works in 10 volumes.
On a volunteer basis, she was a researcher at the Viacheslav Chornovil Cabinet-Museum and a literary editor at his Foundation.
She is a board member of the public organization “Museum of the Sixtiers” and a member of the All-Ukrainian Society of Political Prisoners and Victims of Repression (since 1996). She was awarded the People’s Movement of Ukraine (Rukh) badge “For Services to the Ukrainian People,” 2nd class (2005), and the Order of Princess Olga, 3rd class (2007).
Her husband, M. Plakhotniuk, the founder of the Museum of the Sixtiers, passed away on February 5, 2015. Their son, Bohdan Plakhotniuk, born in 1990, is a philologist.
Bibliography:
I.
“Thank God, Not All of Us Are Slaves, Hypocrites, Not All Are Sycophants; In Memory of Pavlo Maksymovych Fedchenko.” *Vymir Chasu*, no. 6 (2002);
“On the History of the Publication of the ‘Ukrainian Herald.’” *Vymir Chasu*, no. 7 (2002);
“Ukraine Celebrated the 65th Anniversary of Viacheslav Chornovil’s Birth.” *Vymir Chasu*, no. 9 (2003);
“The Small Homeland of Viacheslav Chornovil.” *Vymir Chasu*, no. 11 (2003);
“Chornovil’s First Punishment.” *Vymir Chasu*, no. 12 (2003);
“‘I Declare a Hunger Strike’ (Revisiting the Theme of the ‘Ukrainian Herald’); The Sixtiers—in the Sixties.” *Vymir Chasu*, no. 13 (2003);
“Valentyna Chornovil Shared Memories of Her Brother, Viacheslav Chornovil. Interview. Unique Photos.” Ukrainian Information Portal, April 27, 2011, http://ua3.info/?p=2179#
Volodymyr Panchenko and Yaroslav Panchenko. “Valentyna Chornovil: ‘I Always Tried to Follow My Brother’s Example.’” *Den*, no. 236, December 25, 2012.
Viacheslav Chornovil. *Works: In 10 Volumes*. Vol. 1: *Literary Studies. Criticism. Journalism*. Compiled by Valentyna Chornovil. Forewords by V. Yaremenko, M. Kotsiubynska. Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2002, 640 pp.: ill.; Vol. 2: *“Justice or Relapses of Terror?”; “Woe from Wit.” Materials and Documents 1966–1969*. Compiled by Valentyna Chornovil. Foreword by Les Taniuk. Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2003, 906 pp.: ill.; Vol. 3: *(“Ukrainian Herald,” 1970–72)*. Compiled by Valentyna Chornovil. Foreword by M. Kosiv. Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2006, 976 pp.: ill.; Vol. 4, Book 1: *Letters*. Compiled by M. Kotsiubynska, V. Chornovil. Foreword by M. Kotsiubynska. Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2005, 990 pp.: ill.; Vol. 4, Book 2: *Letters*. Compiled by M. Kotsiubynska, V. Chornovil. Foreword by M. Kotsiubynska. Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2005, 1068 pp.: ill.; Vol. 5: *Journalism, Documents, and Materials of “Case No. 196” (1970–1984)*. Compiled by Valentyna Chornovil. Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2007, 912 pp.; Vol. 6: *Documents and Materials (November 1985 – April 1990)*. Compiled by Valentyna Chornovil. Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2009, 1052 pp.: ill.; Vol. 7: *Articles, Speeches, Interviews (March 1990 – December 1992)*. Compiled by Valentyna Chornovil. Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2011, 1080 pp.: ill.; Vol. 8: *Articles, Speeches, Interviews (March 1993 – December 1995)*. Compiled by Valentyna Chornovil. Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2012, 1088 pp.: ill.; Vol. 9: *Articles, Speeches, Interviews (January 1996 – December 1997)*. Compiled by Valentyna Chornovil. Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2014, 1008 pp.: ill.; Vol. 10: *Articles, Speeches, Interviews (January 1998 – March 1999)*. Compiled by Valentyna Chornovil. Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2015, 680 pp.: ill.;
II.
Mykhailyyshyn, V. “The People’s Immortal Fairy Tale.” *Prapor Peremohy*, Irpin, March 8, 1989;
Palamarchuk, H. “Red is for Love, and Black is for Sorrow.” *Chas/Time*, July 7, 1997;
Bondarenko, O. “Sister.” *Ukraina Moloda*, August 18, 2001.
Vasyl Ovsienko