MYKOLA STEPANOVYCH LYSYI

 

 

(born May 9, 1941, in the village of Rosokhach, Chortkiv raion, Ternopil oblast – died January 22, 2007, in the village of Rosokhach),

Member of a national-patriotic underground organization.

From a peasant family. His father went to war in 1941 and never returned. His mother struggled to raise five children. From childhood, Mykola had to work on the collective farm. After finishing evening school, he worked for two years on the Virgin Lands Campaign (Akmola oblast, Dzhezkazgan). In 1960, he was conscripted into the army. He studied at a naval school in the Baltics. Since he refused to join the Komsomol, he was sent to the Pacific Fleet. He was demobilized in 1965. He worked on a collective farm and traveled for seasonal construction work in the central and eastern regions of Ukraine.

He belonged to a circle of patriotically oriented youth who were interested in and admired the UPA's struggle for independence and wanted to continue this fight. He was outraged by the destruction of memorial crosses in the village, the demolition of the church, and the grave of the Sich Riflemen. The arrests of the Ukrainian intelligentsia in 1972 prompted the young men to create an underground organization. V. MARMUS drafted an oath, which was also taken on November 5, 1972, by P. VITIV, V. SENKIV, and P. VYNNYCHUK.

On January 14, 1973, Lysyi, along with M. MARMUS, M. SLOBODYAN, and A. KRAVETS, in the latter's house, in a solemn atmosphere—with candles, kneeling before a cross and an icon of the Mother of God—took an oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people and became a member of the underground youth organization, which S. SAPELYAK later joined. The organization aimed to fight for the independence of Ukraine.

M. Lysyi took part in preparations for an action to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the proclamation of the Ukrainian People's Republic by the IV Universal of the Central Rada and the 54th anniversary of the Unification Act of the UPR and ZUNR. On January 21, 1973, the Rosokhach organization hung 4 Ukrainian national flags and 19 leaflets in the city of Chortkiv with demands for freedom of the press, meetings, and assemblies, ending with the slogans: “Freedom for Ukrainian patriots!”, “Shame on the policy of Russification!”, “Long live the growing Ukrainian patriotism!”, “Freedom of speech, press, and assembly!” On the eve of the action, Lysyi, along with V. MARMUS, traveled to Chortkiv to identify locations for hanging the flags and leaflets.

In February 1973, arrests of the organization's members began. Lysyi was arrested on April 11 (or possibly March 22?), 1973. Faced with evidence, he confirmed his actions.

At the trial in September 1974, he was treated as a witness for whom criminal charges were dropped. However, he spent a year in the Ternopil pre-trial detention center under a separate ruling by the Ternopil Regional Court (Clarification needed).

He worked various jobs in the surrounding villages and traveled for work to the eastern regions of Ukraine. He was married.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he participated in the independence movement. He was a member of the Chortkiv “Memorial” society, the Ukrainian Helsinki Union, the Ukrainian Republican Party, and subsequently the Republican Christian Party.

Bibliography:

Report of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine to the Central Committee of the CPSU on the activities of nationalist groups in the Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, and Ternopil oblasts of Ukraine. September 27, 1973. // Natsionalni vidnosyny v Ukrayini XX st. – Kyiv. – Naukova dumka. 1994. – pp. 418–420.
Heorhiy Kasyanov. Nezhodni: ukrayinska intelihentsiia v rusi oporu 1960-1980-kh rokiv.— Kyiv: Lybid, 1995.— p. 142.
Volodymyr Marmus. Prapory nad mistom. // Ternystyi shliakh (Ternopil).— 1998, No. 3 (323).— January 9; Ibid. // Molod Ukrayiny.— 1998, No. 7 (17638).— January 22.
Anatoliy Rusnachenko. Natsionalno-vyzvolnyi rukh v Ukrayini.— Kyiv: O. Teliha Publishing.— 1998.— p. 208.
Andriy Vatsyk. Tsinoyu vlasnoyi svobody. // Ternopilska hazeta. – 1999, No. 4 (160). – January 21.
KHPG Archive: Interview with M. Lysyi from April 3, 2000. https://museum.khpg.org/1121331616
Yunaky z ohnennoyi pechi / Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. Compiled by V.V. Ovsiyenko. – Kharkiv: Folio, 2003. – pp. 98 – 103 et al.
Marmus, Volodymyr. Dolia obrala nas: Spohady, dokumenty, statti. – Ternopil: Printerinform, 2004. – pp. 76, 94-96, 104, 108, 116, 130-179.
Fantaziye, ty sylo charivna! Vidkrytyi lyst dysydenta Ovsiyenka dysydentu (i fantazeru) Sapelyaku: http://www.istpravda.com.ua/ukr/articles/2011/08/29/53451/, August 29, 2011.
V. Ovsiyenko. Pravda staye istoriyeyu: http://maidan.org.ua/2012/01/pravda-staje-istorijeyu/. January 29, 2012.
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. 380–382. https://museum.khpg.org/1120766003
Rukh oporu v Ukrayini: 1960 – 1990. Entsyklopedychnyi dovidnyk / Preface by Osyp Zinkevych, Oles Obertas. – Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2010. – pp. 369–370; 2nd ed.: 2012. – pp. 413–414.

Vasyl Ovsiyenko, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. December 12, 2002. Last read August 11, 2016.