Olha Basarab

Olha Basarab
Ольга Михайлівна Басараб
Basarab in the uniform of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen
Born
Olha Mykhailivna Levytska

(1889-09-01)1 September 1889
Died12 February 1924(1924-02-12) (aged 34)
NationalityUkrainian
Occupation(s)Political activist, member of Ukrainian Military Organization
Known forCharitable work, political activism, alleged espionage
SpouseDmytro Basarab (m. 1914; d. 1915)

Olha Mykhailivna Basarab (Ukrainian: Ольга Михайлівна Басараб, née Levytska; 1 September 1889 – 12 February 1924) was a Ukrainian political activist and member of the Ukrainian Military Organization who conducted both charitable and humanitarian work that was recognized by the International Red Cross, as well as military or intelligence work on behalf of the Ukrainian underground. She was an executive of the Ukrainian Women's Union branch in Lviv. She was arrested by the Polish police after being accused of working with the Ukrainian Military Organization and of spying for Germany (with whom the Ukrainian Military Organization had a working relationship). Materials indicating cooperation with Germany's intelligence were found at her home.[1] Different accounts of her death in prison exist ranging from suicide to murder. Afterwards she was seen as a martyr and source of inspiration within the Ukrainian community.[2]

  1. ^ "Organizacja Ukraińskich Nacjonalistów 1929-1939" Roman Wysocki
  2. ^ Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak (1988). Feminists despite themselves: women in Ukrainian community life, 1884-1939 Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, University of Alberta pg. 164 "Her death, at first covered up by the Poles, was later presented as a suicide, but the exhumation of her body proved otherwise."