Renowned Ukrainian dissident, activist Nadia Svitlychna dies (08/13/06)

Renowned Ukrainian dissident, activist Nadia Svitlychna dies

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Nadia Svitlychna, a renowned Ukrainian political activist, former Soviet political prisoner, dissident and the prominent figure in the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, died in her home in New Jersey on Monday, August 7, after a prolonged illness. She was 69.

Ms. Svitlychna was the sister of poet, literary critic, human rights activist, dissident and literary movement leader Ivan Svitlychny, and was well-known for her involvement in the dissemination of "samvydav" literature with "Shestydesiatnyky" authors Lina Kostenko, Vasyl Stus, Vasyl Symonenko and others.

Ms. Svitlychna was the prominent figure in the Ukrainian Helsinki Group's External Representation, which published the Herald of Repression, that was distributed in Ukraine (1980-1985). She edited a pamphlet on Yurii Lytvyn (1980), a Ukrainian political prisoner, helped publish an edition of Vasyl Stus' poetry (1986) and was a laureate of the Taras Shevchenko Prize in Literature. Ms. Svitlychna participated in decolonization rallies and demonstrations in the West, speaking to a crowd of over 8,000 at a 1978 rally in front of the USSR's United Nations Mission in New York. That same year she spoke at the third World Congress of Free Ukrainians on the dissident movement in Ukraine, stressing to youths and organizations the importance of unity among Ukrainians.

Ms. Svitlychna was born on November 8, 1936, in the village of Polovynkyne, Starobilske raion, in the Luhansk Oblast.

From 1953 to 1958 she completed her degree in philology at the Kyiv State University with a concentration in Ukrainian language and literature. After completing her studies, she began working at the state-owned radio station in Kyiv. She was relieved of her position in 1968 for disobeying her superiors by attending a national rally on May 22 at the Taras Shevchenko monument on the centennial of the transfer of the bard's remains to Ukraine from Russia. Afterwards she took a position as a librarian.

Ms. Svitlychna was arrested on April 18, 1972, for her involvement in the Ukrainian dissident literary movement and her defense of political prisoners. She was sentenced on March 23, 1973, to serve four years in a labor camp for women in the Mordovian ASSR, with an unspecified period of exile. After her release in May 1976 she returned to Kyiv, where she was further persecuted and unable to find employment.

On October 12, 1978, she was the first woman Ukrainian political prisoner allowed to emigrate to the United States and arrived on November 8, (her birthday) from Rome, where she stayed for a month with her two sons, Yarema, who was 9 and 6-month-old Ivan. At John F. Kennedy airport outside New York City, she was greeted by members of the local Ukrainian American community with the heartfelt rendition of "Mnohaya Lita" (Many Years).

On Saturday, August 12 requiem services were held at St. Andrew the First-called Ukrainian Orthodox Memorial Church in South Bound Brook, N.J. Mrs. Svitlychna's body will be buried at the renowned Baikove Cemetery in Kyiv.

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