Kost Levytsky ( uk, Кость Леви́цький; 18 November 1859 – 12 November 1941) was a
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 ...
politician. He was a founder of the
Ukrainian National Democratic movement and the leader of the State Representative Body of the
Ukrainian government declared on June 30, 1941.
Biography
Levytsky was born on November 18, 1859 in the settlement of
Tysmenytsia
Tysmenytsia ( uk, Ти́смениця, translit=Tysmenycia; pl, Tyśmienica) is a city in Ivano-Frankivsk Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast of western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Tysmenytsia urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Uk ...
of today's
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вська о́бласть, translit=Ivano-Frankivska oblast), also referred to as Ivano-Frankivshchyna ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukrain ...
into the
family of a Greek Catholic priest. He was the oldest child of Rev. Antin Levytsky (b. ab. 1832 - d. 1909), who was in particular the priest in
Nyzhniv
Nyzhniv ( uk, Нижнів, pl, Niżniów) is a village in Ivano-Frankivsk Raion (district) of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (province) in western Ukraine. Dniester River flows near the eastern edge of the village. Nyzhniv belongs to Tlumach urban ...
and Constancia Kozorowska Levytska (b. ab. 1843 - d. 17 Feb. 1900). After finishing the Stanislaviv gymnasium he studied at Law faculties of
Lviv and
Vienna Universities. In 1884 he was awarded the Doctor's degree in law, and in 1890 opened the barrister's office in Lviv.
Kost Levytsky took active part in public and political life in his student years, he was one of the leaders of Academic Fraternity, the Circle of Law. From the first years of his barrister's practice K. Levytsky was a practical advocate of the rights and freedoms of people. He united his professional activity with that in the sphere of Ukrainian enterprises, he was a co-founder and leading figure in the economic associations Zorya, People's trade, Dniester, Province Credit Union. At the same time he was a well-known scientist in law, translated foreign laws into Ukrainian, worked with Ukrainian law terminology; he had published German-Ukrainian Law Dictionary, a series of popular works in law for the broad circles of Galician people, founded such professional editions as Chasopys pravnycha (Law periodical) and Zhyttia i pravo (Life and Law) and was their editor.
Political career
Kost Levytsky was a patriarch of Ukrainian political life, leader of the land's first political organization
Narodna Rada (People's Council, 1885), a cofounder and a head of
Ukrainian National Democratic Party
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
* Som ...
. In 1907 he was elected an ambassador of the Austrian parliament, in 1908, that of Galician Sejm, headed the ambassador's clubs. He fought for the national aspirations of Ukrainian people. K. Levytsky was the author of the conception of the national movement development through evolution, organic work and broad political work in masses; he was the adherent of the strategic course for Galicia autonomy as the first step to ward statehood. He favoured development of the mass Ukrainian societies, units of intellectuals, peasants, youths, the
Sokil-Sich movement.
First World War and its aftermath
At the onset of the World War I he headed the Supreme Ukrainian Council (1914) in
Vienna, which defined Tsarist Russia as the main enemy of the nation, and called Ukrainians to the struggle against it for the restoration of a united Ukrainian state.
In 1916, as a prosecutor for the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
, he played a role in the sentencing to death of
Ukrainian Russophiles, and sent others to imprisonment in
Talerhof
Thalerhof (also transliterated as Talerhof from Cyrillic-based East Slavic texts) was a concentration camp created by the Austro-Hungarian authorities active from 1914 to 1917, in a valley in foothills of the Alps, near Graz, the main city of t ...
.
In Autumn 1918, in the course of disintegration of the
Austro-Hungarian empire
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
K. Levytsky became a member of the
Ukrainian National Council, which announced formation of the Ukrainian state on October 19, and on November 1 the Council headed a victorious armed uprising in
Lviv,
Galicia
Galicia may refer to:
Geographic regions
* Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain
** Gallaecia, a Roman province
** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia
** The medieval King ...
and
Bukovina
Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter BergerT ...
, which resulted in formation of the
West Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR). Being an experienced public and political figure, K. Levytsky headed the first government – State Secretariate – which developed under the war the state and army formation activity for independence against
Poland.
After K. Levytsky's resignation in December 1918 he was a head of the commission on elaboration of the election reform, a representative in the affairs of press and propaganda, in foreign affairs; he also headed diplomatic missions of ZUNR which were sent to
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
(1920),
Geneva (1921), he was a member of the ZUNR delegation in
Genoa (1922), headed a Committee of political emigration. After the government self-liquidation in 1923, in accordance with the decision of the
League of Nations on annexation of
Eastern Galicia, he returned to Lwów.
In the years between wars he was a member of the Central Committee of the Ukrainian National Democratic Association (1925–1939), was a director of Centrobank, head of the Union of Ukrainian Barristers, author of fundamental scientific works including ''The History of the Liberation Struggles of the Galician Ukrainians Since the War of 1914–1918'' (Parts I–III. – Lviv, 1929–1930), ''The Great Derangement: On the History of Ukrainian State in March–November 1918 on the Basis of Recollections and Documents'' (Lviv, 1931).
Second World War and the independent Ukrainian state
After the
Soviet Army invasion of Poland, in September 1939 (according to the secret part of
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact), he was arrested by the
People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
and incarcerated in
Lubyanka prison in Moscow.
Joseph Stalin,
Nikita Khrushchev,
Vyacheslav Molotov, and
Lavrentiy Beria were involved in the proceedings concerning his case. In the spring of 1941, he was released and returned to Lwów. After the start of
Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, an independent Ukrainian State was proclaimed on June 30, 1941. Levytsky headed the State Representative Body – a Council of Seniors (Ukrainian National Council). He worked to curb the excesses of the occupational regime, carried on negotiations with the administration of ''
Distrikt Galizien
The District of Galicia (german: Distrikt Galizien, pl, Dystrykt Galicja, ua, Дистрикт Галичина) was a World War II administrative unit of the General Government created by Nazi Germany on 1 August 1941 after the start of O ...
'', petitioned to end groundless repressions, and pleaded for the release of prisoners, often with positive results.
Death
Kost Levytsky died on November 12, 1941 and was buried at in Lviv.
See also
*
Yevhen Petrushevych
Sources
Display Pageat www.encyclopediaofukraine.com
at www.worldstatesmen.org
Government portal :: Governments of the West Ukrainian People's Republic - Officialsat www.kmu.gov.ua
at www.encyclopediaofukraine.com
Government portal :: Governments of the West Ukrainian People's Republicat www.kmu.gov.ua
References
External links
*
Vasyl Mudry
Vasyl Mudry ( pl, Wasyl Mudry, uk, Василь Мудрий; 19 March 1893 – 19 March 1966) was a Polish-Ukrainian journalist and politician. He led the Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance, the largest Ukrainian political party in interwar ...
Levytsky, Kost in the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levytsky, Kost
1859 births
1941 deaths
People from Tysmenytsia
People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Ukrainian Austro-Hungarians
Members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance politicians
Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1907–1911)
Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1911–1918)
Leaders of Ukraine
Ukrainian diplomats
Foreign ministers of Ukraine
Austro-Hungarian prosecutors
University of Lviv alumni
Ukrainian nationalists
West Ukrainian People's Republic people
Ukrainian independence activists