Turning the pages back... January 30, 1962 (01/27/02)

Turning the pages back...

January 30, 1962

On January 30, 1962, Severyn Levytsky, who went by the pseudonym Siryi Lev (Gray Lion), passed away, having distinguished himself during his lifetime as an educator, historian, soldier and scout leader.

Levytsky was born on September 6, 1890, in Schurovychi, Brody county of the Lviv region. He began his life of public activism while a student at Lviv University, participating in a 1911 student strike. As a result of his political involvement, many jobs were closed to him by the Polish government, so Levytsky found employment with Ukrainian public organizations.

During World War I, Levytsky fought in the ranks of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen. After completing his military service, he worked at the Ukrainian teachers' college in Lviv. It was there that he became acquainted with Dr. Oleksander Tysovsky, founder of Plast Ukrainian Youth Organization. During this period, Levytsky's sister Olga (Levytska) Basarab, recipient of the International Red Cross for aiding the wounded and imprisoned, died a heroic death after being tortured for her membership in the Sich Riflemen and the Ukrainian Military Organization, which protested the Polish occupation of Ukraine.

In 1924 Levytsky was elected to the position of supreme commander of Plast, and his tenure saw the spread of Plast to the Volhyn region. When Plast was declared illegal by the Polish government, he helped ensure its survival through underground activity via the organization Plai and the magazine Vohni.

During World War II, Levytsky headed the Ukrainian Youth Education Society, and was named "Nachalnyi Plastun" (Chief Scout), head of the Supreme Plast Council, and Head of the Plast Seniors at a congress in Regensburg, Germany, in 1947.

He emigrated to the United States in 1949 and settled in Buffalo, N.Y., and published articles on the topic of education, as well as wrote a book on the early history of Plast titled "Ukrainskyi plastovyi ulad," published posthumously.

Severyn Levytsky's death was widely mourned by members of Plast throughout the world and by countless others who had known him as Siryi Lev.

Sources: Commemorative envelope issued by the Sokil Plast Camp-Museum. Lviv: Dyvosvit Publishers, 1997. Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Volume III, edited by Danylo Husar Struk. Toronto: University of Toronto Press Inc., 1993.

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