Halyna Kuzmenko
Halyna Kuzmenko (1897–1978) was a Ukrainian teacher and revolutionary.
Halyna Kuzmenko | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 13 January 1897 |
| Died | 23 March 1978 (aged 81) |
| Nationality | Ukrainian |
| Occupation | Teacher |
Life
Halyna Kuzmenko was born in Kyiv on 13 January 1897. Her father worked on the Ukrainian Railways and later as a farmer. Kuzmenko became a teacher in 1916. She taught the Ukrainian language and history at a primary school in Huliaipole. There she married the revolutionary leader Nestor Makhno. During the Russian Civil War, she joined the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine and operated a machine gun.[1]
In 1921, Kuzmenko and Makhno fled to Romania. They then went to Poland, where they stayed in an internment camp. They were suspected of plotting treason against the Polish government and put in prison. Kuzmenko gave birth to their daughter in prison. They were acquitted during their trial. They stayed in Poland for another year. Makhno and Kuzmenko argued a lot at this time. They then moved to Paris, where Kuzmenko and Makhno divorced.[2]
During World War II, she was arrested and taken to Berlin. She was used as forced labor by Nazi Germany. After the war, she was arrested by the Red Army. She was then sentenced to penal labour in Mordovia.[1] In the 1950s, Kuzmenko moved to Kazakhstan. She lived there until she died on 23 March 1978.[3]
Halyna Kuzmenko Media
Painting of Halyna Kuzmenko, c. 1919.
Halyna Kuzmenko and Nestor Makhno with 15 of their supporters, in a Polish internment camp.
Family photo of Halyna Kuzmenko (left), Elena Mikhnenko (center) and Nestor Makhno (right).
Elena Mikhnenko (left) and Nestor Makhno (right), in Paris.
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Patterson, Sean (2020). Makhno and Memory: Anarchist and Mennonite Narratives of Ukraine's Civil War, 1917–1921. Manitoba: University of Manitoba Press. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-0-88755-578-7. OCLC 1134608930.
- ↑ Darch, Colin (2020). Nestor Makhno and Rural Anarchism in Ukraine, 1917–1921. London: Pluto Press. pp. 129–139. ISBN 9781786805263. OCLC 1225942343.
- ↑ Darch, Colin (2020). Nestor Makhno and Rural Anarchism in Ukraine, 1917–1921. London: Pluto Press. p. 146. ISBN 9781786805263. OCLC 1225942343.