Yevhen Konovalets

As a student Konovalets joined Ukrainian National Democratic Party.

The life of young Yevhen was characterised by outward modesty and high demands on himself in all areas where he engaged in activities.

In the years from 1909 to 1912, after completing his secondary education, Konovalets immersed himself in social activities in his hometown and neighboring villages, giving lectures and organizing educational Prosvita (Enlightenment) and sport "Sokil" (Falcon) societies. During the final years of gymnasium and early student years, Yevhen Konovalets chose "Prosvita" because he believed it was the only way to provide mass education in the native language, overcome pro-moscow influences, and awaken national sentiments among the people. [3]

In 1922, Olha Fedak married Yevhen Konovalets.

Their son Yurko, born in January 1924, was surrounded by the care of his parents, who shared a harmonious marital relationship characterised by attention and mutual respect. Due to constant forced relocations, Yurko had to learn a different language for his studies each time: German, French, Italian, but at home, his mother insisted on him communicating in the native Ukrainian language. [4]

Yevhen Konovalets with his son Yurko

In the summer of 1914, Konovalets was mobilized into the Austro-Hungarian Army and during the First World War rose to the rank of a second lieutenant serving in the 19th Regiment of the Lviv Regional Defense. In 1915 he was taken prisoner of war by the Russians during the battles near the mountain Makivka (Carpathian Mountains) and interned in a POW camp near Tsaritsyn, Chornyi Yar. In 1916 he was transferred into the concentration camp near Dubovka. While in captivity he joined a group of former Galician officers (such as Andriy Melnyk, Roman Sushko, and Fed Chernyk among others) who fled to Kyiv together. In November 1917, together with the Galician-Bucovina Committee, he organized the Halytsko-Bukovynsky Kurin of the Sich Riflemen as part of the Doroshenko Regiment. Two months later he assumed its command and helped suppress the Communist uprising in Kyiv as well as resisting the Antonov-Ovseenko offensive. In March 1918 his riflemen, together with the Zaporizhia Corps of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the reformed Haydamaky Kish of the Sloboda Ukraine, liberated Kyiv from the Soviets. In May 1918 his military unit was disbanded due to its political views.

In the summer of 1918 he convinced Pavlo Skoropadskyi, Hetman of Ukraine, to create a Special Platoon of Sich Riflemen, which was established in Bila Tserkva. In November 1918 he officially requested a void of the Federal Union with Russia from the Hetmanate and actively supported the forces of the Directoria in the battle of Motovylivka (fought at Motovylivka railway station, near Motovylivka, Kyiv Oblast) in the ousting of Skoropadskyi.

According to Peter Kenez, "On December 14, after the Directorate arrived at an agreement with the Germans, who were anxious to complete their evacuation and therefore promised neutrality, the Army of the Directorate under General Konovalets entered the Ukrainian capital and met only sporadic resistance. Fifteen hundred Russian officers were sequestered in the Pedagogical Museum; their weapons were taken away and they were regarded as prisoners of war."[5]

On December 6, 1919, by the Order of the Head Otaman he demobilized his military formations. The same year he was taken prisoner and interned in a Polish POW camp in Lutsk, although he was released in the spring of 1920 and moved to Czechoslovakia. In 1920, as a result of the shattered struggle for Ukrainian independence, Konovalets set up a new organization capable of clandestine activities on the lands claimed by Ukrainians and controlled by Poland, Russian SFSR, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. Created in August of that year in Prague, the Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO) was aimed at armed resistance against Poland and Russia and was involved in the military training of youth and the prevention of any form of cooperation between Ukrainian and Polish authorities. The organization often resorted to terrorist attacks against Polish politicians as well as members of Ukrainian intelligentsia striving for cooperation with Poles (assassination of Sydir Tverdokhlib and Sofron Matviyas[6]). The name of the organization was inspired by Piłsudski's Polish Military Organisation , which operated during the World War I. The foundation of the organization became the leaders of the Ukrainian Halych Army. After the end of the Polish–Soviet War and the battle for Lviv, Konovalets became the leader of the UVO in the city.

In December 1922 Konovalets fled the country. During his exile years he lived in Czechoslovakia, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. In 1929 he took part in the first congress of Ukrainian nationalists in Vienna. During the congress it was decided to form the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), and Konovalets was elected as its leader. He then actively promoted its influence among the Ukrainian emigres throughout Europe and America while establishing contacts with intelligence offices of Lithuania, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and others. With his direct help were formed the Societies of Sich Riflemen in North America. The goal of the OUN was to revive an independent Ukraine through armed struggle.

Konovalets' activities raised fears in the Kremlin because of penetration of the OUN into the Soviet Union. On May 23, 1938, he was assassinated in Rotterdam by a bomb rigged to explode hidden inside a box of chocolates. This booby-trap was disguised as a present from a close friend. This friend, however, was in reality an NKVD agent who had infiltrated the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Pavel Sudoplatov, who on a recent visit to the Soviet Union had been personally ordered by Joseph Stalin to assassinate Konovalets in retaliation for the assassination of a Soviet diplomat at the consulate in Lviv in 1933. Pavel Sudoplatov had beforehand slipped into Finland in July 1935 using the alias 'Pavel Gridgdenko' after a period of training.[7] According to Sudoplatov, Stalin had told him, "This is not just an act of revenge, although Konovalets is an agent of German fascism. Our goal is to behead the movement of Ukrainian fascism on the eve of the war and force these gangsters to annihilate each other in a struggle for power."[8]

In 2006, the Lviv city administration announced the future transference of the remains of Yevhen Konovalets, Stepan Bandera, Andriy Melnyk and other key leaders of OUN and UPA to a new area of Lychakiv Cemetery specifically dedicated to heroes of the Ukrainian liberation movement.[13]

On June 17, 2011, in Vilnius, Lithuania the conference "Yevhen Konovalets: Lithuanian citizen - the Ukrainian patriot. Celebration of 120th birthday" was organised by the Lithuanian Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, People's Liberation Movement Research Centre (Ukraine) and Ukrainian organizations in Lithuania.