Dmytro Hrytsai ( a.k.a. "''Perebyinis''";

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

: Дмитрó Грицáй-Переб́ийніс; Dorozhiv, Galicia, 1 April 1907 – 22 December 1945,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

) was a leader in the

Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists ( uk, Організація українських націоналістів, Orhanizatsiya ukrayins'kykh natsionalistiv, abbreviated OUN) was a Ukrainian ultranationalist political organization estab ...

and a general in the

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( uk, Українська повстанська армія, УПА, translit=Ukrayins'ka povstans'ka armiia, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and later partisan formation. During World ...

Life

Born in Galicia, Hrytsai graduated from '' gymnasium'' in

Drohobych Drohobych ( uk, Дрого́бич, ; pl, Drohobycz; yi, דראָהאָביטש;) is a city of regional significance in Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Drohobych Raion and hosts the administration of Drohobych urban hro ...

(then part of eastern Poland) and became a member of the

Ukrainian Military Organization The Ukrainian Military Organization ( uk, Українська Військова Організація �ВОtranslit=Ukrayinska Viyskova Orhanisatsiya VO}), was a Ukrainian paramilitary body, engaged in terrorism (especially in Poland) during ...

(''UVO''). In 1928 he matriculated in the

Lviv University The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...

Department of Physics and Mathematics. He did not graduate, being called to military service in the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stret ...

. He completed officers' school with distinction. In this period of his life he joined the

(OUN). From 1933 he directed the OUN Executive's military department. In 1934 he was arrested by the Polish police and was held for over two years at

Bereza Kartuska Prison Bereza Kartuska Prison (, "Place of Isolation at Bereza Kartuska") was operated by Poland's Sanation government from 1934 to 1939 in Bereza Kartuska, Polesie Voivodeship (today, Biaroza, Belarus). Because the inmates were detained without trial ...

. After his release, he resumed his studies at Lwów University. In 1939 he was again incarcerated at Bereza Kartuska, but was released after Poland had been overrun by

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. In 1940–41 Hrytsai was a member of the OUN Revolutionary Directorate and took part in the second Great OUN Congress. In 1941–43 he actively participated in partisan operations against Nazi German forces. From 1941 he headed the OUN's Military Staff, working to discover the German command's tactical plans, creating weapons and supply depots, and training officer cadres for a Ukrainian army. In 1943 Hrytsai was arrested by the German

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

, but was freed by a

(''UPA'') attack on the prison. He directed ''UPAs General Staff. In 1945 he became ''UPA'' Chief of Staff and received the rank of general. In 1945 together with OUN Directorate member Taras Maivski, while carrying out assignments for the Ukrainian Chief Council of Liberation, he fell into a Czech police trap while crossing the Czech-German border. After being tortured, he was executed at the Prague prison.

References

* Sergei Chuyev, ''Ukrainskyi Legion'', Moscow, 2006. (In

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

External links

Biography on Ukrainian military portal
1907 births 1945 deaths People from Lviv Oblast Ukrainian Austro-Hungarians People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists Commanders of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Ukrainian revolutionaries Ukrainian people executed abroad Ukrainian people imprisoned abroad Inmates of Bereza Kartuska Prison Ukrainian torture victims People executed by the Third Republic of Czechoslovakia Polish soldiers {{Ukraine-bio-stub

Life

See also

References

External links