Honouring the memory of poetess Оlena Teligа.

21.02.2019

On February 21, 2019, at 12:00  commemoration in honour of the memory of the poetess Olena Teliga, was held in Babyn Yar. The event was attended by the clergy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, students of the Kyiv Military Lyceum named after Ivan Bogun, and representatives of the public.

The poetess, whose power of the word is compared to Lesya Ukrainka's poetry, was born in 1906 in the Moscow region in the family of Professor Ivan  Shovzheniv, the future minister of the UPR. For a long time, she lived in exile in Europe, but made her life choice in favour of Ukraine, devoting to its independence her talent and her short life. In October 1941, in the hope of national liberation and the revival of independent Ukraine, Olena Teliga arrived as a part of OUN group to occupied by  Germans  Kyiv.

In Kyiv, Olena Teliga headed the Union of Ukrainian Writers, edited the literary and artistic magazine "Litavry" (kettledrums), organized a meal supply for the residents of Kyiv who remained in occupation and suffered from hunger. Even under the threat of arrest and death, Olena Teliga did not leave Kyiv and the struggle for Ukraine. On February 21, 1942, at the thirty-fifth year of life, Olena Teliga, along with her husband, Mikhailo Teliga and other members of the OUN, was shot dead by Nazis at Babyn Yar.

On February 21, 1992, on the 50th anniversary of the death of Olena Teliga and her associates in Babyn Yar, a wooden cross was erected in memory of the executed members of the OUN.

On February 27, 2017, on the corner of the Melnikov and O. Teligi streets, a monument to Olena Teliga and her associates was unveiled.