Ivan Proshak

Ivan Lukianovych Proshak (Ukrainian: Іван Лук’янович Прошак; 2 June 1922 – 14 January 1999) was a member of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and a victim of Nazi (1941–1943) and Soviet (1945–1957) camps. In the 1990s – political activist and a member of All-Ukrainian political prisoners' congresses.^[1][2]

Ivan Proshak
Іван Лук’янович Прошак
Born	2 June 1922 Chomiakówka [uk], Stanisławów Voivodeship, Poland (now - Khomiakivka, Ukraine)
Died	14 January 1999(1999-01-14) (aged 76) Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine
Nationality	Ukrainian
Citizenship	Poland  Soviet Union  Ukraine
Years active	1938–1945 (as a member of OUN)
Known for	political activist, victim of Nazi and Soviet labour camps
Spouse	Maria Kushnirchuk (1928–2005)
Children	Anastasiia (born 1957), Olesia (born 1958)[1]

Biography

Ivan Proshak was born on 2 June 1922 in a village Chomiakówka [uk] near Tysmenytsia in a family of Lukian Proshak, the head of the local library of Prosvita.^[1]

He studied at a four-grade school. In 1934, together with schoolchildren, he visited Kolomyia, where he met the writer Andriy Tchaikovsky.^[3] In 1938, he joined the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.^[1]

With the onset of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, he worked as an accountant on a kolkhoz till 1941.^[4] In 1941, he was sent to German concentration camps, where he mined coal near the city of Dortmund, where he remained until 1943.^[4]

In 1943 he joined the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. In August 1943, he took part in the battle in the village of Zarichchya in the Nadvirna region with German and Hungarian units, where 60 Nazis were killed. Ivan Proshak also distinguished himself in the battles in Olesha in Bratove Forest (September 24, 1944), Perehinsk, Tatariv and Porohy.^[1] During his service, he was acquainted with the commander of the "Dzvony" kurin Petro Melnyk, the commander of the "Bells" kurin Luka Hrynishak, the commander of the UPA "Syvulya" kurin, Vasyl Yaskiv, the commander of the "Dovbush" kurin Ivan Gonta and other well-known figures of the OUN and UIA.^[5]

In December 1944, he was transferred to the OUN structure to the position of propagandist of the bush No. 4 (Khomyakivka) of the Tysmenytsia OUN district under the pseudo "Oleg".^[6][4] On March 15, 1945, in an armed clash between OUN members and the NKVD internal troops in Khomyakivka, where 20 rebels died along with Maria Kapechuk and her five-year-old daughter Halyna, Proshak was wounded and fell into the hands of the NKVD together with Hryhorii Baleniuk.^[1][4][5] No investigative actions were carried out during March-September 1945.^[4] On October 16, 1945, by the decision of the NKVD military tribunal in the Stanislav region, Proshak was sentenced to 20 years in a labor camp and 5 years of restriction of rights with confiscation of property. In January 1946, he arrived at a labor camp in Vorkuta (Vorkutlag).^[4][7][1]

From April 13, 1949 to 1953, he worked in the 6th camp department as an accountant of the settlement department, where he actively opposed the Soviet government.^[4][1] On January 28, 1955, the Military Tribunal of the Precarpathian Military District reduced the term of sentence from 20 to 10 years of labor camps. On February 12, 1956, he was released, and on April 18, 1957, due to the lack of evidence and witnesses, he was rehabilitated by decision of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR.^[4][1]

Then Ivan Proshak studied first at a mining college, and later at the Vorkuta branch of the Leningrad Mining Institute named after Plekhanov, where he received an education as an engineer-economist. In 1960s, he was elected head of the trade union at the mine due to Ivan Proshak's protection of the rights of political prisoners. He then worked as a dispatcher at the Vorkutaugol plant.^[1]

In 1982, he returned to Ukraine and moved to Kolomyia with his family.^[8]

In the 1990s, he was an active participant in all-Ukrainian and international congresses of political prisoners: in 1990, he took part in the World Assembly of Political Prisoners of All Countries in Kyiv, in 1993 – in the II World Congress of Ukrainian Political Prisoners in Kyiv, in 1995 – in the International Congress of Political Prisoners of Communist Regimes in Kyiv, where he delivered his speeches about the inaction of the authorities in protecting the repressed and political prisoners, UIA veterans.^[1][2][9]

On August 24, 1992, Ivan Proshak was one of the main speakers at a ceremonial meeting in the People's House dedicated to the Independence of Ukraine and the 50th anniversary of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.^[10] On October 25, 1992, he took part in the reburial of UIA soldier Fedir Kuzenko in the village of Rungury from the his house to the village cemetery.^[11]

In 1994, he became a referent for Yevhen Proniuk, a candidate for People's Deputy of Ukraine.^[1] In December 1994, as a member of the Society of Political Prisoners and Repressed People, he supported the struggle of the Chechens for the independence of their country during the First Chechen War.^[12]

Because of his long-term illness, he died on 14 January 1999 in Kolomyia.^[1]

Personal life

Ivan Proshak married to repressed by Soviet regime Maria Kushnirchuk in the 1950s. She was born in a village Młodiatyn [uk] near Kolomyia in 1928. On July 2, 1947, she was arrested by NKVD because of her volunteering in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. On October 29, 1947, she was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment. On August 15, 1991, she was rehabilitised. In June 2005, Maria Kushnirchuk died in Kolomyia.^[1][7]

They had two childrens:

• Anastasiia Proshak (born 1957)
• Olesia Proshak (married Hudymiak) (born 10 May 1958).^[1][13] She was born in Vorkuta and studied there for history teacher. In the 1980s, Olesia began to work in a local library in Kolomyia, but later she was fired because of her repressed family.^[14] In 1986–2022 she worked as a history teacher at the secondary school No. 1 named after Vasyl Stefanyk.^[13][15] In May 2010, she organized the meeting with famous participant of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Myroslav Symchych at the school. It was initiated by a political party "For Ukraine" as a protest against a pro-Russian policy of the minister of education and science of Ukraine Dmytro Tabachnyk.^[16] In 2017, she prepared her pupil Ivan Feniak to the 3rd place of the 4th stage of the All-Ukrainian pupils' history olympiad.^[17] In 2022, Olesia was fired from her school without explanation, lots of her pupils and Ukrainian TV presenter Olha Freimut interceded on her.^[18][19] She is currently a history teacher of school in a village Lisna Slobidka.^[1] Olesia is also a member of the Society of Political Prisoners and Repressed People. On August 24, 2023, she was awarded the diploma of a mayor of Kolomyia as a member of the society for contribution to the struggle for Ukrainian independence.^[1]