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12 OUR LIFE • August 2026 Mykola Horbal Visits Detroit Community: Poetry, Resistance, and the Price of Freedom Myrosia Stefaniuk , Branch 96, Detroit ДІЯЛЬНІСТЬ ВІДДІЛІВ І ЧЛЕНКИНЬ • BRANCH & MEMBER NEWS With the brutal war with russia now in its fifth year, Ukraine’s battle for sovereignty and freedom continues as it has for cen- turies — first from russian tsars, then from the Soviets, and now from Putin and his thugs. Today, the entire Ukrainian nation and diaspora have risen to defend Ukraine’s existence. But it was not always so. When the 1960s–1970s witnessed waves of mass arrests and repression as the Soviet government cracked down on the Ukrainian liberation movement, those who dared to oppose Moscow’s empirical subjugation were few in number. They were primarily courageous young artists, writers, and promi - nent intellectuals known as the Shistdesiatnyky — the 1960s dissidents. In the darkest hours of repression and total russification, the Shistdesiatnyky defended Ukraine’s right to freedom, often at the cost of their own lives. Convicted in closed trials, they were sentenced to imprisonment in Soviet penal institutions, slave labor camps, and exile in extremely harsh environments. Such was the fate of poet, musician, and human rights activist Myko- la Horbal. Born in 1940 in Lemkivshchyna, Horbal was forcibly displaced as a child when his family was deported from its Lemko com- Mykola Horbal (second from right) with Shevchenko Scientific Society board members and event sponsors (l-r): Myrosia Stefaniuk (Branch 96 member, event organizer, and translator of his poetry collection), Nestor Rychtyckyj, and Olena Danylyuk. munity. Resettled later in the Ternopil region, he completed his music educa- tion, taught music, composed songs, and directed choral and instrumental ensembles. In 1970, Horbal, an active member of the Shistdesiatnyky , was arrested, rearrested, and sentenced three times, imprisoned for a total of 16 years for “anti-Soviet agitation and propagan- da,” specifically for his songs, his de- fense of Ukrainian culture and fellow dissidents, and his membership in the Helsinki group. His third and final pris - on term was in the “death zone” of the infamous Perm Camps No. 35 and 36, where Vasyl Stus and others died. In 1988, during perestroika, Horbal was released, completely rehabilitat - ed, and returned to Ukraine, where he held leading roles in Ukrainian politi - cal and social activism, the Ukrainian Helsinki Union, Verkhovna Rada, Kyiv City Council, and numerous organiza- tions. He is the recipient of prestigious awards, including the Vasyl Stus Prize and presidential medals for courage and contributions to the freedom and independence of Ukraine. Mykola Horbal survived the hell of Soviet prisons and concentration camps and was not broken. “Only my body was imprisoned, not my spirit,” he affirmed. Even as he suffered grueling labor, deprivation, and humiliation, and was deprived of the right to be Ukrain - ian, Horbal continued to write poems and songs and to defend human rights, dignity, and truth. His poetic reflections, entitled Details of an Hourglass , were penned during those 16 years in Soviet prisons. Pub- lished in the U.S. by Smoloskyp in 1983 while he was still in prison, his poetry
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