Olha Yuriivna Hasyn (Ukrainian: Ольга Юріївна Гасин, nee Pelenychka, 19 September 1913, Koniukhiv, Austria-Hungary – 27 July 1979, Brovary, Soviet Union) – undercover agent of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, assistant and liaison officer of Roman Shukhevych, the leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, and of Oleksa Hasyn, her husband and an important figure in UIA. In her native village there is a museum dedicated to her. Also, a street in Brovary is named after her.
Biography
Olha Pelenychka was born on 19 September 1913 (in some sources 1912 is listed as a year of birth) in the village of Konyukhiv, Austria-Hungary, now Stryi Raion, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. She graduated from Stryi women's gymnasium and the Agricultural courses of Ukrainian Women's Union, after which she for some time worked as a teacher. As of year 1937, she was the leader of the Stryi chapter of Ukrainian Women's Union. From her first day in this organization she took an active part in its activity.
In 1936 she married with Oleksa Hasyn, who lived in the same village with her. She joined her husband in ideas of Ukrainian nationalism. In the Ukrainian Women's Union she was opposed to the predominance of feminism over nationalism. Later she became an undercover agent of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists under the pseudonym "Lesya", as well as the assistant and liaison officer of Roman Shukhevych and Oleksa Hasyn, in particular, she was responsible for appointing confidential apartments for them in Lviv.
On 25 January 1949 she was arrested by soviet law enforcement in Dobriany. Before it, she left her children in the Lviv house of daughter of priest from her native village, but NKVD found them anyway. A week later, on 31 January soviet law enforcement tracked down her husband, Oleksa Hasyn, and he committed suicide during arrest attempt. After that, soviet law enforcement released Olha Hasyn hoping that she will lead them to somebody else from the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, but she cut all contacts and even tried to escape from surveillance. In March 1949 she was arrested again. In 1950 the Special Council of the NKVD sentenced her to 10 years of imprisonment in Gulag camp in Tayshet, Irkutsk Oblast. She spent only 6 years there.
She was released in 1956, but she was forbidden to return to Western Ukraine, because she refused to abandon her political ideas. After a year of living in multiple places and marrying her second husband Mykola Makoda, who was also a former political prisoner, she settled in Brovary, a satellite city of Kyiv, where she lived until her death on 27 July 1979.
Family
- Maria, sister
- Oleksa Hasyn, first husband, Ukrainian political and military figure
- Oleh, son, born 1940. Was brought up with a changed surname in the family of Bodnari. who lived in Lviv. Before the 4th grade he was taught at home and was not even allowed to go outside, so that he could not tell anyone who he really was. Later he graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
- Oksana, daughter, born 1942. Was put into the orphanage with a special regime. Later graduated from Lviv Polytechnic.
- Daryna, daughter, born 1943. Was put into the orphanage with a special regime. Later graduated from Ukrainian National Forestry University.
- Mykola Makoda, second husband, former political prisoner.
Sources
