NARRATIVES ABOUT THE DEPORTATION FROM THE POLISH-UKRAINIAN BORDER OF PARTICIPANTS OF THE DISSIDENT MOVEMENT: MARIA HEL, LYUBOV WOZNIAK-LEMYK AND HANNA MYKHAILENKO

This paper analyzes the memoirs of dissident women Maria Hel, Lyubov Wozniak-Lemyk, and Hanna Mykhailenko, who originated from Zakerzonia. It examines their experiences of deportation, the ways in which these experiences are represented, and the impact of forced displacement on their life choices. The memoirs emphasize the women’s involvement in the national liberation and human rights movements. However, the narratives also reflect on life in the Polish-Ukrainian borderlands, the social and cultural activities of the Ukrainian community during the interwar period, and memories of family members' participation in the OUN and UPA. The content of the memoirs of women dissidents about deportation includes stories about the immediate course of forced deportation, subsequent living conditions, difficulties of a material and household nature, the reasons and prerequisites for deportation are singled out, with mentions or a brief retelling of official orders. Maria Hel and Hanna Mykhailenko place primary responsibility for the deportations on Soviet authorities, while also acknowledging the inter-ethnic Polish-Ukrainian conflict and the Ukrainian underground movement in their native regions. Lyubov Wozniak-Lemyk, who moved to Lviv in 1920 and lived there until the outbreak of Second World War, was an active participant in the Ukrainian national liberation movement, being a member of Plast and the OUN. His familiarity with the Trans-Curzonia region helped her craft an underground identity, and that she used stories of deportation as a means of protection from Soviet special services. The paper concluded that the experience of forced deportation from the Polish-Ukrainian border did not prevent these women from opposing the Soviet regime or engaging in further political and human rights activism. Instead, it is hypothesized that forced migration, combined with their families’ active involvement in the national liberation movement of the 1930s and 1940s, influenced their life trajectories. Keywords: women, dissidence, Ukraine, national liberation movement, human rights movement, deportation from the Polish-Ukrainian border, Zakerzonia.