MARMUS, MYKOLA VASYLYOVYCH

(b. April 1, 1947, in the village of Rosokhach, Chortkiv raion, Ternopil oblast).

Member of a nationalist-patriotic underground organization.

From a nationally conscious peasant family that was involved in the national liberation movement. In 1963, he graduated from secondary school and went to study carpentry at the Chortkiv “Mizhkholhospbud” (Inter-Kolkhoz Construction), where he worked until his arrest in 1973.

Since childhood, he and his brother Volodymyr (b. 1947) listened with fascination to the stories of their parents and fellow villagers about the national liberation movement of the 1920s and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). He read literature published before 1939 and listened to foreign radio broadcasts. He belonged to a circle of young, patriotically-minded villagers who were outraged by the destruction of memorial crosses and the grave of the Sich Riflemen in the village, and the demolition of the church. The arrests of the Ukrainian intelligentsia in 1972 prompted the young men to create an underground organization in the autumn of that year, which set the goal of fighting for independence.

On January 14, 1973, in the presence of organization members V. MARMUS, P. VITIV, V. SENKIV, and P. VYNNYCHUK, M. joined M. SLOBODIAN, M. LYSY, and A. KRAVETS at the latter’s home for a solemn ceremony. With candles lit, kneeling before an icon of the Mother of God, he took an oath of allegiance to Ukraine, which obligated him to consider the struggle for independence his highest duty. The last to join the organization was S. SAPELIAK.

M. took an active part in the preparation and execution of the organization’s main action: the raising of four Ukrainian national flags and the posting of 19 leaflets in the city of Chortkiv on January 21, 1973. This was on the eve of the 55th anniversary of the proclamation of the Ukrainian People’s Republic by the Fourth Universal of the Central Rada (January 22, 1918) and the 54th anniversary of the “Act of Unification of the West Ukrainian People’s Republic with the Ukrainian People’s Republic” (January 22, 1919). The action was also timed to coincide with the anniversary of the beginning of the arrests of the Ukrainian intelligentsia. The leaflets ended with the slogans: “Freedom for Ukrainian patriots!”, “Shame on the policy of Russification!”, and “Long live growing Ukrainian patriotism!” Specifically, M. MARMUS purchased yellow fabric, sewed the flags, and made the flagpoles.

He was arrested on April 11, 1973. Confronted with evidence and blackmailed with threats of being sent for a psychiatric evaluation, he confessed to his actions. He was sentenced along with other members of the organization at a closed session of the Ternopil Regional Court on September 24, 1973, under Art. 64 (“participation in an anti-Soviet organization”) and Art. 62, para. 1 (“anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda”) to 5 years of imprisonment in strict-regime camps and 3 years of exile. During the reading of the verdict, the lights went out, and it was read by candlelight.

He served his sentence in camp VS-389/35 in the settlement of Tsentralny, Chusovoy raion, Perm oblast, along with his brother Volodymyr, insurgents V. PIDHORODETSKY and V. DOLISHNIY, and human rights activists Y. PRONIUK, I. KALYNETS, I. SVITLYCHNY, S. GLUZMAN, V. Bukovsky, and others. He worked as a lathe operator. Taking advantage of the fact that his brother was in zone no. 37, he sent encrypted information in his letters. He participated in protest actions and in preparing and transmitting information about events in the zone to the outside world. His comrades managed to get him transferred to the 37th camp in the village of Polovynka, where almost all of them were gathered. In connection with the confiscation of his belongings, notebooks with records, and letters, he refused to leave the zone. He left at the last moment when the guards had to rush to the train and promised not to search him. This allowed him to carry out some of his records.

He served his exile in the village of Shorokhovo, Isetsky raion, Tomsk oblast, partly with his brother Volodymyr. He went on a hunger strike in the first few days. He had to work on a pig farm. He met an agricultural institute intern, Sofiya Aliyeva. KGB officers, the party organizer, and the Komsomol organizer intimidated her, trying to break up their friendship, but after reading the verdict, she only became more certain of her choice. Since there was no church in the area, they got married in Rosokhach after his exile ended. Their first son died during childbirth in 1981. They have a son, Vasyl (b. 1983), and daughters Hanna (b. 1985) and Oksana (b. 1986). Sofiya traveled to her homeland to give birth to all the children, fearing epidemics and the KGB.

M. went for seasonal work in the eastern regions of Ukraine to build a house. He underwent a serious liver operation and is a disabled person of the II, then III group.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, M. was an active participant in the independence movement. He was a founding member of the Chortkiv “Memorial” society, a member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, the Ukrainian Republican Party, and later the Republican Christian Party. He took an active part in resolving the issue of land share distribution in the village.

He was rehabilitated in accordance with the Law of the Ukrainian SSR of April 17, 1991, “On the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression in Ukraine.” By a decree of the President on August 18, 2006, M., like his brothers-in-arms, was awarded the Order of Courage, 1st class. Their names are immortalized on a commemorative plaque unveiled on the building of the Chortkiv Pedagogical College on January 26, 2012.

Bibliography:

“Dopovidna zapyska TsK KP Ukrainy Tsentralnomu Komitetu KPRS pro diialnist natsionalistychnykh hrup u Ivano-Frankivskii, Lvivskii i Ternopilskii oblastiakh Ukrainy. 27 veresnia 1973 r.” [Memorandum from 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 regions of Ukraine. September 27, 1973]. *Natsionalni vidnosyny v Ukraini XX st.* [National Relations in Ukraine in the 20th Century]. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, 1994. pp. 418–420.

Georgy Kasianov. *Nezhodni: ukrainska intelihentsiia v rusi oporu 1960-1980-kh rokiv* [The Dissenters: The Ukrainian Intelligentsia in the Resistance Movement of the 1960s–1980s]. Kyiv: Lybid, 1995. p. 142.

Volodymyr Marmus. “Prapory nad mistom” [Flags Over the City]. // *Ternystyi shliakh* (Ternopil), 1998, no. 3 (323), January 9.

Volodymyr Marmus. “Prapory nad mistom” [Flags Over the City]. // *Molod Ukrainy*, 1998, no. 7 (17638), January 22.

Anatoliy Rusnachenko. *Natsionalno-vyzvolnyi rukh v Ukraini* [The National Liberation Movement in Ukraine]. Kyiv: Vydavnytstvo im. O. Telihy, 1998. p. 208.

Andriy Vatsyk. “Tsinoiu vlasnoi svobody” [At the Cost of Their Own Freedom]. // *Ternopilska hazeta*, 1999, no. 4 (160), January 21.

Verdict of the Ternopil Regional Court of September 24, 1973.

KHPG Archive (Interview with M. Marmus and his wife S. Marmus-Aliyeva on April 2 and 3, 2000).

Yunaky z ohnennoi pechi [Youths from the Fiery Furnace] / Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. Compiled by V. V. Ovsiyenko. Kharkiv: Folio, 2003. pp. 67–79 et al.

Marmus, Volodymyr. *Dolia obrala nas: Spohady, dokumenty, statti* [Fate Chose Us: Memoirs, Documents, Articles]. Ternopil: Printerinform, 2004. pp. 94-96, 100, 104, 108, 114, 129-178.

Mizhnarodnyi biohrafichnyi slovnyk dysydentiv krain Tsentralnoi ta Skhidnoi Yevropy y kolyshnoho SRSR. T. 1. Ukraina. Chastyna 2 [International Biographical Dictionary of Dissidents in Central and Eastern Europe and the former USSR. Vol. 1. Ukraine. Part 2]. Kharkiv: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group; “Prava Liudyny,” 2006. pp. 434–436. https://museum.khpg.org/1120661977

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“Fantaziie, ty sylo charivna! Vidkrytyi lyst dysydenta Ovsiienka dysydentu (i fantazeru) Sapeliaku” [Fantasy, you are a magical force! An open letter from dissident Ovsiyenko to dissident (and fantasist) Sapeliak]: http://www.istpravda.com.ua/ukr/articles/2011/08/29/53451/, August 29, 2011.

V. Ovsiyenko. “Pravda staie istoriieiu” [Truth Becomes History]: http://maidan.org.ua/2012/01/pravda-staje-istorijeyu/. January 29, 2012.

Vasyl Ovsiyenko, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. December 13, 2002. Last read: August 11, 2016. Corrections by M. Marmus have been incorporated.