(born December 10, 1931, in the village of Solone, Zalishchyky raion, Ternopil oblast).
Participant in the national liberation struggle of the 1940s–1950s, artist, and musician.
As a teenager, he collected weapons, and in 1946, he formed a group of “opryshky” (rebels) who took revenge on the occupiers. He collaborated with the OUN underground by conducting reconnaissance, traveling east for medical supplies, and distributing literature. He acted swiftly and fearlessly, repeatedly fighting his way out of the hands of NKVD agents. His cover was blown, and he went into hiding “on his own,” including in the Caucasus and Moldova. In the spring of 1951, he joined the armed UPA underground and took part in battles. On December 2, 1952, he was arrested at a meeting set up by provocateurs. Three months of beatings and torture in the Ternopil prison culminated in a death sentence, handed down on February 26, 1953, by the Military Tribunal of the Prykarpattia District under Articles 54-1a, 8, and 11 of the Criminal Code of the UkrSSR. After 7 months and 10 days, the sentence was commuted to 25 years of imprisonment.
He served his sentence in the Vorkuta camps. He participated in the 1955 uprising at mine No. 4. From 1956, he was in the Mordovian camps. He created dozens of bookplates for famous political prisoners (about 70 have survived), mastered the linocut technique (about 20 portraits), and produced dozens of paintings. He plays many musical instruments (bandura, drymba, guitar) and authentically reproduces Hutsul melodies. He was released in 1977. He lived in Kyiv, where he was persecuted for his friendship with human rights defenders. In 1988, he emigrated to Canada, which provides him with a pension and housing. An attempt to obtain Ukrainian citizenship in 1992 was unsuccessful because he was abroad at the time of Ukraine’s declaration of independence. He had to return to Canada. He had successful exhibitions and concerts in Toronto in March 1996 and in Kyiv in September 2003.
Bibliography:
Yuriy A. Vudka. Moskovshchyna (Muscovy), a memoir-essay. London: Ukrainian Publishing Union, 1978. Pp. 11–112.
Mykola Dubas. “Metelyky Hryhoriia Herchaka” (The Butterflies of Hryhoriy Herchak). Volia i Batkivshchyna. 1996. No. 4 (21). Pp. 99–103.
Yaroslav Hasiuk. “Hryts Herchak i GULAG” (Hryts Herchak and the GULAG). Volia i Batkivshchyna. 1996. No. 4 (21). Pp. 103–105.
Mykola Dubas. “Metelyky Hryhoriia Herchaka” (The Butterflies of Hryhoriy Herchak). In Slovo movchannia. Pro zustrichi i podii ta prochytane i pobachene (The Word of Silence: On Meetings, Events, and Things Read and Seen). Lviv: NVF “Ukrainski tekhnolohii,” 2002. Pp. 101–103.
Serhiy Plachynda. “Vse zhyttia borovs za Ukrainu” (He Fought for Ukraine His Whole Life). Stolytsia, No. 28 and 28 (479 and 480). July 11 and 18, 2003.
Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group Archives. Autobiographical account given to Vasyl Ovsienko on June 12 and 16, 2003, over 8 hours.
Mizhnarodnyi biohrafichnyi slovnyk dysydentiv krain Tsentralnoi ta Skhidnoi Yevropy i kolyshnoho SRSR (International Biographical Dictionary of Dissidents in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former USSR). Vol. 1. Ukraine. Part 1. Kharkiv: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group; “Prava Liudyny,” 2006. Pp. 135–137. https://museum.khpg.org/1121091151;
Rukh oporu v Ukraini: 1960 – 1990. Entsyklopedychnyi dovidnyk (The Resistance Movement in Ukraine: 1960 – 1990. An Encyclopedic Guide). Preface by Osyp Zinkevych, Oles Obertas. Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2010. Pp. 138–139; 2nd ed.: 2012, Pp. 153–155.
Vasyl Ovsienko, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. July 3, 2005. Last read on August 4, 2016.
