Jewhen Konowalez
Jewhen Mychailowytsch Konovalets ( Ukrainian Євген Михайлович Коновалець ; born June 14, 1891 in Sashkiv near Shovkva ; † May 23, 1938 in Rotterdam ) was a Ukrainian nationalist, politician and military commander of the Ukrainian People's Republic . Konowalez gained particular fame due to his membership in the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which he headed from 1929 until his death.
Life
Konowalez was born in Galicia , which at that time still belonged to Austria-Hungary . In his youth he attended the University of Lviv , where he graduated from the law faculty. He became politically active early on and was elected to the governing body of the National Democratic Party. He also worked for a Ukrainian educational organization.
During the First World War Konowalez initially served as a lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian army. As early as 1915, however, he was taken prisoner by Russia . In the Tsaritsyn prison camp , he joined a group of Galician officers led by Andrij Melnyk . Together with this group, Konowalez managed to escape from captivity in November 1917. The group came to Kiev and formed a battalion of the Sitscher riflemen , which consisted mainly of Galicians and Bukovinians . Two months later, Konowalez took command of the battalion. With his battalion he was involved in the suppression of a Bolshevik uprising in Kiev and in the resistance against the offensive of the Bolsheviks led by Antonov-Ovsejenko .
When in 1920 hopes for an independent Ukraine were dashed with the division of its territory between the Soviet Union , Poland , Romania and Czechoslovakia , Konovalets planned the formation of a new organization that would continue the Ukrainian struggle for independence in the underground. For this purpose he founded the Ukrainian military organization OUN in Prague in August 1920 . This organization served the armed struggle against Poland and the Soviet Union. It propagated the idea of a Ukrainian-German alliance against the two powers mentioned in order to prepare the ground for an independent Ukraine. After the end of the Polish-Soviet war Konowalez took over the management of the organization's activities in Lviv. The cell in Lviv was broken up by the police in December 1920 after a number of successful acts of sabotage and Konowalez had to flee the country.
Konowalez spent the first years in exile in Czechoslovakia, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. In 1929 he took part in the first Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists in Vienna, on the occasion of which the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists was founded under his leadership. In the following years Konowalez sought to increase the influence of the new party within the community of Ukrainian exiles all over Europe and also to establish contacts with the secret services of Lithuania , Germany and Italy. The party's goal was still to regain Ukraine's independence through armed struggle. After Hitler came to power in Germany, the hopes of the party led by Konowalez turned to Germany, as they hoped the Nazis would bring about a change in the balance of power in Eastern Europe. At the same time, Ukrainian nationalists carried out terror campaigns, especially in Poland, but also in the other three states with Ukrainian minorities.
Konowalez's activities did not go unnoticed by the Soviet authorities, who became increasingly concerned about the penetration of members of the Konowalez-led organization into the Soviet Union. For this reason the Soviets decided to eliminate Konovalets. On May 23, 1938, in Rotterdam, Konowalez received a gift from a supposed friend who was actually the Soviet agent Pavel Sudoplatov , which was equipped with a booby trap. Konowalez died as a result of the attack.
literature
- Volodymyr Kubijovyč: Encyclopedia of Ukraine , University of Toronto Press, Toronto 1984–2001.
- Dovidnyk z istorii Ukrainy , Kiev: Heneza 2002.
- Vladislav Moulis: Běsové ruské revoluce . Dokořán, Prague 2002.
Web links
- Newspaper article about Jewhen Konowalez in the press kit of the 20th century of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
- Entry on Jewhen Konowalez in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Konowalez, Jewhen |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Konowaletz, Eugen; Konowalez, Evgeni Michailowitsch (Russian); Коновалець, Євген Михайлович (Ukrainian); Konowalez, Jewhen Mychailowytsch (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Ukrainian politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 14, 1891 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Saschkiw near Schowkwa , Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria , Austria-Hungary |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 23, 1938 |
| Place of death | Rotterdam , Netherlands |