Shevchenko Society in Lviv to erect plaque honoring civic/political leader

NEW YORK - This year, the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Lviv has launched a project of creating commemorative plaques to be placed on its building in honor of its members who perished in Soviet prisons and camps. Among those members is Volodymyr Starosolsky, the 125th anniversary of whose birth is being marked this year. Among previous commemorative events honoring this civic and political leader was the 1997 conference "Volodymyr Starosolsky: Defender of the Individual and of the Nation," which was organized in Kyiv jointly by the Vasyl Lypynsky Scientific Society and the Young People's Historical Society and supported by the Smoloskyp publishing house.

Starosolsky was a great humanitarian, professor of law and the author of the fundamental studies "Theory of Nations" and "The State and Law." He was also a member of the military command of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (Sichovi Striltsi). First and foremost, he was a great lawyer who gained respect even among his opponents as a brilliant defender in numerous political trials involving Ukrainians when Galicia was under Polish rule.

The list of Starosolsky's achievements can be extended to include his role in the relocation of the Ukrainian Free University from Vienna to Prague when he persuaded Thomas Masaryk to sanction such a move and his role as a deputy minister of foreign affairs in the government of the Ukrainian National Republic.

Starosolsky also had his share of incarcerations, first by the Poles after the November 1 uprising in 1918 and later, in 1939, by the Soviets. He died in the Mariinsky camp in 1942, and was buried in a common grave whose location can no longer be found. A new settlement now occupies this territory; thus, no marker can be placed over Staroslosky's grave. This is one more reason to a commemorative plaque erect in his honor in Lviv.

Those wishing to support the Lviv Shevchenko Scientific Society in its endeavor may send contributions to: Shevchenko Scientific Society, 63 Fourth Ave., New York, NY 10003.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 15, 2003, No. 24, Vol. LXXI

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