Kedyulich family
During the interwar period, many Perechyn residents were actively involved in the development of the Ukrainian nationalist movement. These included, in particular, the large family of Kedyulych, who was noted for his active participation in the development of the Ukrainian national movement. Among them, the most famous members of the movement were brothers Ivan and Panas and their sister Maria. Family members had to pay a heavy price for their beliefs. Their father, Mikhail, who was an active «educator», was held by the Hungarian occupiers in a concentration camp in Turya Remety, after which he soon died at home. His youngest son Panas, who was guarding the Sejm (legislature) of Carpathian Ukraine, was executed by the Hungarians on March 15, 1939. His older brother Ivan Kedyulych, a well-known UPA commander, died in a battle with the PCIA (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs) in September 1945 in the Ternopil region. Another brother, Andriy, despite being a Red Army volunteer and fighting in Bratislava, later spent six years in Stalinist camps, and his brother Vasyl went through German concentration camps. Each of these people deserves a separate page of history, but for now will be a story about Mary.
Maria Khiminets (Kedyulych) 1915-2014
Maria Kedyulych was born on September 16, 1915, in Perechyn (then the Hungarian Committee). She studied at the Perechyn school, and later continued her studies at the State Trade Academy in Mukachevo. Her father and brothers took an active part in the Ukrainian nationalist movement and were involved in the activities of the local «Prosvita». The sister did not lag behind her brothers and at the age of 14 under the influence of literature from Galychyna, local magazines «Bdzhilka», «Dzvinochok», that wrote about youth organizations «Sokil», «Plast», she created a youth organization «Sichovychok» in Perechyn, which joined more than 40 girls. Using literature, she taught girls dance and rhythmic exercises.
In her memoir «Echoes of the Stormy Years» Maria Khiminets recalled: «I felt Ukrainian, not Rusyn, and I kept telling the girls what we should call ourselves». The Sichovichkas demonstrated their skills in Uzhhorod on May 28-29, 1934, when the Women's Union was holding the Convention. The girls performed in front of thousands of people with a new program. Maria was then 18 years old and she remembers: «how proud we felt, how grown-up and necessary, for the region, for our people. We went out on the field to the sounds of the orchestra «Prosvita», dressed in blue and yellow uniforms. The convention of Ukrainian women in Transcarpathia was a demonstration of women's strength and willingness to continue the struggle for their rights. The work of the women's «OUN Youth», headed by Maria Kedyulych at the Mukachevo Trade Academy, as well as in Uzhhorod, Berehove and Khust, was especially successful.
In 1934 she married Yulian Khiminets (1911-1994), who worked as a secretary at the Mukachevo Trade Academy, where she studied. Julian was the leader of the «OUN» in Subcarpathian Russia, the secretary of Mukachevo's «Prosvita», in 1938-39 carried out instructions of the Carpathian Ukraine leader, Augustyn Voloshin, and also provided communication between the Ukrainian Nationalists and the Main Command of the Carpathian Sich. Maria lived with Julian all her life. Later, already in exile, the couple raised four children.
After the proclamation of the Carpathian Ruthenia autonomy and the formation of the military organization «Carpathian Sich» (November 1938), Maria became actively involved in its work. In January 1939, the women's divisions of the «Carpathian Sich» were established. They were headed by Stefania Tysovska, and Maria Khiminets became the organizational officer at that time. She helped organize training courses for women's department leaders, where they studied the history and geography of Ukraine, literature, and provided physical education and medical classes. From the beginning of 1939 Maria together with her colleagues initiated rallies, various festive, thematic events that took place in different cities of the region. In particular, on January 22, 1939, more than three thousand members of the «Women's Sich» took part in the celebration of the Unification of Ukraine. During the military confrontation between Ukrainians and Hungarian troops in March 1939, Maria Khiminets facilitated the organization of a sanitary station at the Ukrainian headquarters, the kitchen and the establishment of telephone communication, and also, together with other members of the movement, sewed uniforms and national flags for the soldiers.
After the occupation of Carpathian Ukraine, Maria and her husband emigrated to Austria, and later, after the war, left for the United States. There Maria and Yulian Khimintsi became the founders of the Transcarpathian fellowship «Carpathian Union». The couple was engaged in charity, maintained relations with OUN activists, in particular, were related to the family of OUN-UPA leader, Oleksa Gasyn. They did not forget about their native land either: she and her husband raised significant funds for the construction of a monument to Taras Shevchenko, the reconstruction of the People’s House, and the publication of the independent magazine «Krayanka» in Uzhhorod.
Only during the independence of Ukraine did Yulian and Maria Khiminets have had the opportunity to visit Transcarpathian region. They first arrived in 1991, when they took part in the International Scientific Conference «Ukrainian Carpathians: Ethnos, History, Culture», which took place from August 26 to September 1. Each spoke at the conference with a separate report on the events of 1938-1939. Maria then visited her native Perechyn. Seeing that the faithful people were praying there in the rain, she initiated a fundraiser in the United States, thanks to which a new Greek Catholic church was built in Perechyn.
A book of memoirs by Maria Kedyulych-Khiminets, about the events in Carpathian Ruthenia in 1938 – 1939, with title - «Echoes of Stormy Years» Maria published already in exile. Lyubov Dmytryshyn, a journalist and a native of Transcarpathia, encouraged Maria to write her memoirs. These memoirs were later republished in Transcarpathia in 2011 and presented in Uzhhorod. In that book, she notes that: «In America, I don't feel lonely, but my soul longs for my homeland. I live with memories of Transcarpathia, Perechyn, Uzhhorod, Mukachevo. I want to visit once again where we were young, happy in spite of everything, happy from the very thought that everything in life is still ahead. I want to walk down the street named after Yulian Khiminets in Mukachevo, and if won’t meet my native land, I wish everyone to live happily on their native land, in independent Ukraine!». In addition to her memoirs, Maria took part in arranging her husband's memoirs and publishing the most complete collection of his works, The Thorny Way to Ukraine.
Maria died on June 4, 2014 in the United States. She is buried next to her husband in the Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery of the Holy Spirit in Campbell Hall (Hamptonburg, Orange County, New York). At the time of her death, she had 6 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. Her sister Olena still lived in Perechyn at that time. Ukrainian patriotic orientation was inherent in Maria for the rest of her life, as well as devotion to her roots. The names of her six grandchildren are quite eloquent: Dartsa, Genyo, Mikhas, Katya, Nina, Andriy.
On April 12, 2016, the head of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration, Hennadiy Moskal, renamed V. Tereshkova Street in honor of Maria Khymynets in the Perechyn city.
Photo 1-2. Ivan and Panas Kedyulychi
Photo 3. Maria Khiminets
Photo 4. Maria and Julian Khimintsi
Photo 5. Leaders of the «Women's Sich» Stefania Tysovska (left) and Maria Khiminets (right)
Photo 6. Maria and Yulian Khimintsi at a banquet with the participation of Augustyn Voloshin and other figures of Carpathian Ukraine.
References:
In the Transcarpathian region, the women's Carpathian Sich and its leaders are an example of service to the nation and the state:
Gavrosh Alexander. Maria Kedyulych-Khiminets memoirs «Echoes of Stormy Years» were presented in Uzhhorod:
Ukrainian Carpathias. Materials of the International Scientific Conference «Ukrainian Carpathians: Ethnos, History, Culture», which took place from August 26 to September 1. Uzhhorod: Karpaty, 1993.
Hiiminets Julian. My observations from Transcarpathia. New York: published by the Carpathian Union. 1984.
Shelepets Volodymyr. UPA hero Ivan Kedyulych from Perechyn called on nationalists to unite:
