Ordinary Zhytomyr residents hardly know who Olena Levchanivska was. However, the first woman from Volyn to become a deputy of the Polish Sejm deserves the respect of her compatriots, especially since her life was connected with Zhytomyr

The turbulent events of 1917-1919, like a litmus test, revealed brave and strong people who sought a happy future. However, the fate of many was tragic…
On January 21, 1881, a daughter, Olena, was born in the family of Karl von Grodzinsky and Tatiana Pryakhina in Hrodna (now the village of Lyniv) in the Volyn Province. Caring parents organized home education on such a level in a cozy estate that in 1903 the girl passed the external exams for a course at the Alexandria Gymnasium «Northern Capital» – St. Petersburg. Olena wanted to get a good education, and despite widespread prejudices about the role of women, she went to study at the University of Vienna. However, she did not have to finish it – her father died, and Olena Grodzinska returned home. A little later, before the First World War, the girl’s dream will come true: Olena will graduate from the historical department of the Higher Women’s Courses in Moscow. Excellent knowledge and a desire to be useful encouraged the young woman to be active, and Ms. Olena opened a village school in her homeland, in the village of Lyniv. A separate room was set aside for study, and the entire Grodzinski family actively joined the work. During the day, Olena taught children the basics of writing, history and geography, the girl’s brother – mathematics and science, and her mother – Russian. In the evening, Olena Levchanivska organized literary readings for adults. It was at that bright time that a friend and like-minded person, Oleksandr Levchanivsky, a student of the St. Petersburg Electrotechnical Institute and an active participant in the revolutionary student movement, appeared in her life. In 1905, the couple married, and later the young people went to St. Petersburg, where they lived for several years and took an active part in the work of the Ukrainian Community. In July 1913, a daughter was born to the Levchanivskys, and after her birth the couple moved to Zhytomyr, where Oleksandr Levchanivsky got a job in the Zemstvo administration.
Ms. Olena was teaching at an adult school at the time. In Zhytomyr, she co-organized the Ukrainian Club and prepared articles and reports for local magazines, Volynska Gazeta and Hromadyanyn. The Levchanivskys in Zhytomyr revived the activities of the Prosvita society. At the end of 1919, the Levchanivskys returned to Volyn, to Lutsk, where Olena continued her public and educational activities – she took an active part in the work of the Union of Ukrainian Women of Volyn, headed the charitable section of the county «Enlightenment». The defeat of national liberation movements in the twentieth century led to the fact that the lands of Western Volhynia, Western Polissya and Galicia became part of the Commonwealth, whose government pursued an active policy of Polonization of Ukrainians. In 1922, elections to the Polish Sejm took place, which resulted in the election of 20 deputies and six senators to the country’s parliament.
In the Sejm, Olena Levchanivska became the only woman deputy who represented the interests of Ukrainians in Volyn. Working in the Committee on Foreign and Military Affairs, the politician took part in the creation of the Ukrainian Parliamentary (Sejm) Club, defended national interests, raised the problems of the common people, and defended women’s rights. At that time, the unresolved issues of the victims of the First World War, children and the disabled were extremely important. In one of her speeches in the Sejm, Levchanivska stressed that only 1% of the national budget is allocated for labor and social care, with part of these funds going to administrative expenditures. The senator called for help to the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands completely destroyed by the war: «Where the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare should bring help, it brings us only oppression».
While working in the Sejm, Levchanivska was constantly in Warsaw, visiting relatives only on weekends. Daughter Iryna stayed with her neighbor, who also ran the household, during her work. Although the Levchanivskys held high-level government positions, they lived very simply. Neighbors mentioned Levchanivsky’s apartment: «It was an ordinary country cottage: one room bigger, one smaller, kitchen and pantry… Both Mr. Oleksandr and Mrs. Olena were very simple, very kind people. It would not have occurred to us that these people occupy such a high social position».
In September 1923, the politician made a major presentation in Podebrady, Czech Republic, at a summer school meeting of the International Women’s League for Peace and Freedom, of which she was a co-organizer. Based on statistics from the Ministry of Education, the senator demonstrated the government’s political mistakes: in Volyn, according to the Polish parliamentary commission, 494 Ukrainian schools accounted for 85% of the Ukrainian population at that time, while 600 Polish accounted for 11% of the Polish population. Covering the event, the Lviv magazine Nova Khata noted that the Volyn speaker’s speech drew the attention of the world community to the issue of Ukrainian education. A senator from Volyn Voivodeship, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, she was fluent in French, German and Italian and acted as a delegate to the Ukrainian parliamentary representation at many international congresses. During her travels abroad, Ms. Olena often took her daughter with her, who later recalled: «My mother often went abroad. She took me with her. I remember these trips differently. For example, when we were in Podebrady, there were also other children of international activists…. I played with them, and it was very interesting».
Olena Levchanivska’s activity in protecting the rights of Ukrainians was carried out by legal methods, but the authorities perceived her with irritation, calling it anti-state. But they did not dare to arrest the only woman, a representative of Ukrainians in the Senate. After the end of her term in 1927, the senator resigned. At that time, the parliament could no longer actively put pressure on government policy, and Ukrainian deputies lost influence. For these reasons, Olena Levchanivska refused to run for re-election and returned to a calmer and smoother life in Lutsk. Soon the family left Lutsk altogether, moving to their native Liniv.
Olena Levchanivska’s life changed when Soviet troops entered Lyniv in September 1939: a newly formed Soviet village committee confiscated the family estate. In November 1939, the sick senator was summoned for questioning in Gorokhiv, and was soon arrested. The woman had been in Lutsk prison since January 1940, but she also had the strength to support other prisoners there. Olena Levchanivska was sentenced to death on April 24, 1940. It is unknown where she was shot: either in Lutsk or in Kyiv, where some of the prisoners of the Lutsk prison were transported.
Under Soviet rule, the Levchanivskys’ last name was silenced, and no prominent Ukrainian politician was mentioned. We can now pay tribute to the human rights activist, a courageous woman who dedicated her life to the struggle for Ukrainian independence. Despite the fact that Olena Levchanivska lived in Zhytomyr for only two years, one of the city’s alleys is named after the first Ukrainian woman senator.