“We had a great celebration of holidays. We saved some bread and we dried it. Later we broke it into very small parts, so it looked kind of like flour. Using this flour we baked cakes. We saved it and baked cakes with it. We were given a tiny piece of butter. Very little. But when all of us – twenty people – shared our butter, it was like some kind of frosting. We saved some sugar too. Sometimes we received packages. We always celebrated holidays. We were singing. We held Holy Masses. We were not afraid. And when Stalin died… we sang a song that was very popular among the Ukrainian Insurgent Army soldiers, it was called “Oh, in the mead there is a red snowball tree”. They were even shouting, ‘Shut up!’ They were so afraid of us. They were so afraid even of a song.”
“They have come. First of all, they made an impression of an extremely well-organized army; secondly, they were so clean… We did not have water, but we had pumps… They would wash themselves under those pumps. They were super clean. They were very arrogant. But they stayed only until 1941. Everything was “Nur für Deutsche” [for the Germans only – ed.], everything was prohibited. You’re not allowed to sit on that bench, in the theatre there were many rows “nur für Deutsche”, we were not allowed to sit there. We felt discrimination. It was horrible”.
“We used only our pseudonyms. My pseudonym was “Yarka”. We did not even know last names of each other, because everything was kept as such a secret, we did not want somebody to know our last names. So we did not know them and we never asked. When I was directed to the underground forces for the first time, I was directed by the Master of Pharmacy Solhan Yaroslav [the head of a district pharmaceutical department of the Ukrainian Red Cross – ed.]. He sent me to a subdivision called “Burlaky”… And I was sent as a nurse, as a messenger with Przemyśl, and as an informer: I was supposed to tell them about everything that was going on in Przemyśl, and my dad was helping me. They wanted me to let them know as soon as any kind of riot arose. We had a good connection. This was my job during all those years. Also I brought them civil clothes, because sometimes they changed their clothes and went to Przemyśl. Sometimes they went even further. So I brought them civil clothes. I brought them undershirts. My mom found those clothes somewhere. I even brought them money.”
“After the first semester we were coming back from the lecture. I was walking on Pekarska Street. Both Zenya and Halya were with me. Halya walked away. We were laughing and talking about life. And suddenly we saw a car and two men. One of them told me in Russian, ‘Get in the car’. I told him, “Excuse me, but why do I have to get in the car?” – ‘Do not talk. Just get in the car’. I told him, “I will not do it!” I thought they were some kind of criminals or something. He showed me his documents from the KGB. And then they put us in that car by force. It might have been a black “Opel”, I’m not sure. I used to know cars rather well. They put me in that car and drove me to Dzerzhynskoho Street. They brought us to some kind of an office. Zenya was taken to one room, and I was taken to the other. And then they started to question me. Of course, I denied everything in the beginning. I did not even want to talk to them. I told them, “How dare you?” Because I knew that everything I was doing was connected with Poland. I did not have anything to do with the USSR. I knew it. They told me, ‘There is no trial for saying “no”’. I started to speak very slowly. I was kept there for two days. They were slapping me on the face. They put me next to the wall and did like this: took my head and… [showing – ed.]. I am glad that I am not completely stupid. After this they took me to Lontskoho Street.”
Yaroslava Hasyuk (Kryzhanivska) was born on December 28th, 1925, in the town of Przemyśl, Lviv province (now Podkarpackie province, Poland). She studied at a middle school in Przemyśl, and later at a private female gymnasium. In 1943 she joined the “Unatstvo” - the youth branch of the OUN (her pseudonym was “Yarka”). She served as a nurse of the Ukrainian Red Cross in the subdivision “Burlaky”. During the years of the Nazi occupation she worked as a pharmacist in Przemyśl. In 1946 she was resettled to Lviv as a result of agreement between the USSR and Poland on mutual exchange of population in the border territory. In the same year she was arrested while carrying out a task for the OUN. She remained under investigation for two months, and was released due to the lack of evidence. In 1947 she entered the Lviv State Medical Institute. On February 21st, 1948, she was arrested for the second time. She was betrayed by an acquaintance of hers from the underground forces of the OUN. She was kept in Lviv NKVD prison #1 on Lontskoho Street until October 1948. She was sentenced according to the article 54-1 “a” of the Criminal Codex of the Ukrainian SSR (“treason”) to 25 years of corrective-labor camps and 5 years of deprivation of rights. In October 1948 she was transferred to Lviv NKVD prison #2 on Zamarstynivska Street, in November 1948 - to Lviv NKVD prison #4 (“Brygidky”), from where she was deported to Inta, the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR (now the Republic of Komi, Russian Federation). She served her sentence in one of the corrective-labor camps in Inta. She was released in June 1956. Yaroslava Hasyuk came back to Lviv and married Oleh Hasyuk, former political prisoner. Now, she lives in Lviv.
A play “Lady Dulska’s morality”. Yaroslava Hasyuk (Kryzhanivska) is the third one sitting from the right. Director of the play Gabriella Zapolska. Przemyśl, General Governorate, 1943–1944.
A play “Lady Dulska’s morality”. Yaroslava Hasyuk (Kryzhanivska) is the third one sitting from the right. Director of the play Gabriella Zapolska. Przemyśl, General Governorate, 1943–1944.
Christmas holidays in exile. Yaroslava Hasyuk (Kryzhanivska) is standing in the second row, the third one from the left; Oleh Hasyuk is in the third row, the second one from the left. Inta, the Komi Autonomous Soviet, 1956.
Christmas holidays in exile. Yaroslava Hasyuk (Kryzhanivska) is standing in the second row, the third one from the left; Oleh Hasyuk is in the third row, the second one from the left. Inta, the Komi Autonomous Soviet, 1956.
Ukrainian women-political prisoners after the release from the camp in a special settlement. Yaroslava Hasyuk (Kryzhanivska) is in the top row, the second one from the right. Inta, the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR, 24.04.1955.
Ukrainian women-political prisoners after the release from the camp in a special settlement. Yaroslava Hasyuk (Kryzhanivska) is in the top row, the second one from the right. Inta, the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR, 24.04.1955.
