Mariya Livytska

Mariya Livytska
Марія Лівицька
Livytska in 1905
First Lady of Ukraine
In role
1926–1954
PresidentAndriy Livytskyi
Preceded byOlha Petliura
Succeeded byMelaniya Vytvytska
Personal details
Born
Mariya Varpholomiivna Tkachenko

(1879-04-09)April 9, 1879
Zhmerynka, Russian Empire (now Zhmerynka, Ukraine)
DiedAugust 16, 1971(1971-08-16) (aged 92)
Yonkers, New York City, N.Y, United States
SpouseAndriy Livytskyi
ChildrenMykola Livytskyi
Hatalia Livytska-Kholodna
OccupationFormer First Lady of Ukraine

Mariya Varpholomiivna Livytska (née: Tkachenko; April 9, 1879 – August 16, 1971) was a Ukrainian writer, memoirist, and public figure. She was an Activist in the Ukrainian women's movement and headed the Union of Ukrainian Women in Poland. She was married to the president of the Ukrainian People's Republic in the exile of Andriy Livytskyi.[1]

In 1897 she graduated from the Fundukleivka Women's Gymnasium in Kyiv and worked as a private teacher in and 1898–1899), while engaging in public and party activities. She became a member of the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party, the Ukrainian Social Democratic Labour Party, and became acquainted with its activists Mykola Mikhnovsky, Mykola Porsh. She was a member of the Kyiv student community, which included Dmytro Antonovych, Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Olexander Scoropis-Yoltukhivsky, Andriy Livytskyi, Liudmyla Starytska-Cherniakhivska, Maria Hrinchenko.

Maria Livytska took an active part in the activities of the Ukrainian Women's Society in the revolutionary events of 1905–07. In 1920 she moved to Warsaw, where she headed the Union of Ukrainian emigrants in Poland. At the end of the Second World War, she moved to Germany and lived in Karlsruhe. In 1957 she moved to the United States.

She died on August 16, 1971, in Yonkers, New York.[2]