Lviv dedicates plaque remembering lawyer/political activist Volodymyr Starosolsky

LVIV - Citizens of Lviv will now always be reminded of Volodymyr Starosolsky (1878-1942) as they pass by his former home, at 14 Copernicus St., where he worked and lived from 1905 through 1918. A plaque honoring the Ukrainian lawyer, sociologist, and civic and political leader was blessed there on May 30 in the presence of 500 onlookers.

Mr. Starosolsky's daughter, Uliana Starosolsky traveled to Lviv from New York to take part in this unveiling. Ms. Starosolsky spoke of the tablet as a symbolic homecoming for her father, from Siberia where he was exiled in 1939, to his home in Lviv.

The Shevchenko Scientific Society, to which Starosolsky belonged since 1923, organized the effort to erect this memorial symbol. The president of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Ukraine, Oleh Romaniv, attended the ceremony, along with Taras Andrusiak, head of the society's Law Commission; Prof. Zoriana Romovska, a national deputy; Petro Franko, head of the Union of Political Prisoners and the Repressed; and former political prisoner Yurii Shukhevych, who is a relative of the Starosolskys.

The Rev. Mykhailo Kviatkovsky of the Ukrainian Catholic University blessed the tablet and held a requiem service for the repose of Starosolsky's soul. The Slovianka choir of the Blessed Mother sang during this tribute to Starosolsky.

Volodymyr Starosolsky was remembered for his participation in the organization of the secession of Ukrainian students from Lviv University; his prominent role as one of the organizers and the first president of the paramilitary Ukrainian Sich Riflemen society; and for his involvement as a lawyer in the defense of Ukrainian political prisoners who fought against the occupation of Ukraine by the Polish regime.

Starosolsky was arrested by the Soviets in 1939 and sentenced to hard labor in Siberia, where he died in 1942.

Members of Plast belonging to the Lytsari Zaliznoyi Ostrohy fraternity placed a wreath composed of blue and yellow flowers underneath the memorial plaque. The Slovianka Choir, under the direction of conductor Vasyl Stefanovych, also sang patriotic songs dating back to Starosolsky's period during the solemn ceremony that lasted almost two hours.

Sculptor Oleh Kupustiak and architect Vasyl Kamenschyk, two artists from Lviv, designed the memorial tablet honoring Starosolsky.

The story above is based on a Ukrainian-language article by Oleh Romaniv that appeared in Svoboda.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 25, 2004, No. 30, Vol. LXXII

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