Mariia Kushnirchuk

Mariia Mykolaivna Kushnirchuk (Ukrainian: Марія Миколаївна Кушнірчук; 27 June 1926 – 14 June 2005) was a volunteer and liaison officer of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and a victim of Soviet (1947–1954) camps. She was a wife of the public nationalist figure and OUN veteran Ivan Proshak.

Biography

Mariia Kushnirchuk was born on 27 June 1926 in the village of Molodiatyn to mixed Polish-Ukrainian family. Her mother, Wanda Rybczyk, was a Polish origin and born in the village of Sloboda-Rungurska (1909–1992). Her father, Mykola Kushnirchuk (1903–1945), was a member of the Soviet Army during the Second World War, held the rank of soldier, and died on 27 April 1945, during the Battle of Berlin.

From 1934 to 1941, she studied at a rural school, where the class teacher was Justyna Shukhevych, a representative of the Shukhevych family.

During the German occupation of Ukraine, when the Nazi authorities actively deported Ukrainian girls to work in Germany, Mariia was forced to change her birth year to 1928 instead of 1926, so that she would not be suitable for hard labor in another country.

In autumn 1944, she joined the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Then she was appointed a food collector for the OUN branch of Molodyatyn, without giving any pseudonym – in fact, she became a volunteer. During 1944–1945, Mariia was able to collect 15 kg of bread and 10 liters of milk – the collection was held twice at that time.