Vasyl Makukh

Memorial plaque at Khreshchatyk

Vasyl Omelyanovich Makukh (Ukrainian: Васи́ль Омеля́нович Ма́кух) (14 November 1927, Lwów Voivodeship, Second Polish Republic – 5 November 1968, Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union) was a Soviet veteran of the World War II, political prisoner and Ukrainian activist, a member of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

As a Soviet soldier in November 1944 Makukh defected and joined the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. In February 1946 he was wounded and captured after a shootout with Soviet and Polish border guards at the Soviet-Polish border (today Poland–Ukraine border). On 15 February 1946, Makukh was taken to the district precinct of soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs in Velyki Mosty and later to Lviv Prison No. 4 (known as "Brygidki"). On 11 July 1946, the Military Tribunal of Lviv garrison sentenced him to 10 years of katorga with five years of civil rights restriction plus he confiscation of all his properties. Makukh served his sentence in Dubravlag (in Mordovia) and other GULAG camps in Siberia. On 18 July 1955, he was freed and exiled to a special settlement where he met his wife who also served 10 years imprisonment previously. In 1956, both managed to return to Ukraine and settled in Dnipropetrovsk (today Dnipro) where they got married.

On November 5, 1968, he committed suicide by self-immolation at Khreshchatyk, Kiev in protest against the Soviet rule of Ukraine.[1][2] Before his death, Makukh shouted 'Long live free Ukraine!'[2] On 6 November 1968 the prosecutor's office of the Leninsky District of Kiev city opened a criminal case against him because of the suicide, the outcome of which was never made known.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Smuga sadzy". rp.pl. 2013-03-16. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
  2. 1 2 "Makukh, Vasyl". Internet Encyclopaedia of Ukraine. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
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