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UKRAINIAN WOMAN OUR ENGLISH COLUMN The First Lady of Ukraine In May the entire Ukrainian world will bow low to give spec ial honor to the memory of its statesm an, w arrior and m artyr, Simon Petlura. Thirty years have elapsed since the day, May 25, 1926, when a bullet fired iby an en emy of Ukraine, put an end to his w orthy life. From this dis tressing event on, the respect and homage paid to hie memory and to his great sacrifice has been grow ing far and wide. Simon Petlura had been one of the forem ost leaders of U k rainian political renaissance of 1917. He devoted most of his ef forts to form ing of Ukrainian a r my, and it was he who built the arm y that had been fighting for freedom and independence of U k raine for three long anguished years against overwhelming odds, against the w orst enemies of hu man freedom—the Russian W hite Guards a*nd the bolsheviki. W hile the w estern democracy stood idly by, the U krainian youth was dy ing on the battlefields of freedom, until free U kraine was finally vanquished in 1920 and thus the roads were tihrown open for the enemies of freedom to the u tter most parts of the earth. A fter the remainder of his arm y has been surrounded and subdued, Petlura was forced to escape to the free world w here he believed he m ight continue his struggle against the invaders by other means. In the meantime the U krain ian people did not cease its arm ed resistance. Insurrections were rising all over the country w here the name of Petlura was alive and its fame was grow ing more and more. And it was this fame of a w ar rior who fought for freedom of Ukraine that hurt Moscow most, so that it finally decided to get rid of Petlura. Moscow's criminal hand reached him in Paris and as sassinated hilm on May 25, 1926. However, the red dictatorship could not kill his great spirit which has reunited and rededicat ed the U krainian people to its great principle of freedom and in dependence. Hence it may be truthfully asserted that instead of killing the name and fame of Petlura, the felonious inm ates of Kremlin had created the reaction which caused the greater glorifi cation of the name. Simon Petlura had ‘been surviv ed by liis wife Olga and their daughter Lessya. Olga realized at the time- she m arried the ardent U krainian pat riot that she would have to tread, together with him, a perilous path of struggle. True, she remained in his shadow, but she assisted him with her counsel and consola tion, sharing patiently his grim life of struggle and exile. In her momentous devotion she came to understand that she belonged to no one else but U kraine and its good cause of freedom for which her husband died. A fter his death, there began her devout Messianic life. She en dured the inferno of trial of the assassin when the name and memory of her buslband had been blackened by the enemies of free dom of Ukraine. She took up the task of up bringing her daughter who grew to be a talented and educated girl. Still there had been another grief in store for the widow. The young Lessya got affected with tuberculosis. The m other took all possible measures to save her life but in vain. The daujghter died in 1941. Then she had to submit also to this fate w ith patience. A t the same tim e she did not forget that on the grave of her husband, whose name has a pro found meaning for the U krainian people, ought to be erected a m o num ent w orthy of the celebrated m artyr. She undertook the task, and w ith the aid of many U krain ian contributors, it was fruitful, and a tomb has been built on the grave in the M onparnasse cem e tery at Paris. Since 1926 no U k rainian who stops in the French capital or just passes through it, ever fails to visit the cem etery and to pay homage to the remains of Simon Petlura. The old and lonesome Madam Olga Petlura has become of right the F irst Lady of Ukraine. The f ON MARCH 29, 1956 Olena Kisilevska died at Ottawa, Ontario, Canada the pioneer of Ukranian feminist movement, President of the W orld Federation of U krainian W omen’s Organizations. H er loss brought grief to all organized Ukrainian women in the Free World. Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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