Yaroslava Stecko Ukrainian political and public figure Date of Birth: 14.05.1920 Country: Ukraine

1. Education and Organizational Beginnings
2. Wartime Activities and Exile
3. Munich-Based Activities
4. Leadership and Political Career
5. Return to Ukraine and Political Establishment
6. Parliamentary Representation
7. Later Years and Legacy

Education and Organizational Beginnings

Yaroslava Stetsko was a Ukrainian political and social activist. She began her studies at the Lviv Polytechnic Institute in the 1930s. In 1938, she joined the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), where she met her future husband, Yaroslav Stetsko. The young couple advanced within the OUN after its split into OUN(b). While Yaroslav served as deputy to Stepan Bandera, Yaroslava led OUN(b)'s women's department and youth affairs department.

Wartime Activities and Exile

After the creation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in 1942, Yaroslava actively contributed to the establishment of the UPA Red Cross. Despite her husband's arrest in 1941, Yaroslava was only apprehended in 1943. During the German retreat in 1944, she fled to Germany, where her husband was interned.

Munich-Based Activities

In Munich, the Stetskos became prominent figures in the Ukrainian nationalist diaspora. Yaroslav was elected president of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN), while Yaroslava served as a member of its Central Committee and later as its press bureau chief. From 1948 onwards, she became editor of ABN's publications "ABN-Korrespondenz" and "Ukrainian Review."

Leadership and Political Career

Following Stepan Bandera's assassination in 1959, Yaroslav Stetsko became the head of OUN(b), with Yaroslava serving as his deputy. After the creation of the World Anti-Communist League and ABN's affiliation with it, Yaroslava became a member of ABN's permanent delegation. From 1968, she was responsible for OUN(b)'s foreign policy.

Return to Ukraine and Political Establishment

After her husband's death in 1986, Yaroslava Stetsko took over his leadership roles in OUN(b) and ABN. In 1991, she returned to Ukraine for the first time in 47 years and permanently settled there the same year. Her primary goal was to establish a political party based on OUN(b), and in 1992, she founded the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists (KUN). She served as its leader until her death.

Parliamentary Representation

KUN participated in the first parliamentary elections of independent Ukraine in 1994, and Stetsko was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in a by-election in 1997. Despite being the oldest member of parliament, she opened the first session of the newly elected body in 1998. She served as a deputy for three terms, the last of which was under the "Our Ukraine" electoral list in 2002.

Later Years and Legacy

Due to illness, Stetsko underwent treatment in Munich, where she passed away in 2003. She was proficient in eight languages and was awarded the Order of Saint Olga III degree in 2000. Yaroslava Stetsko's legacy as a prominent nationalist figure, political leader, and unwavering advocate for Ukrainian independence continues to be respected and remembered in Ukraine and abroad.