Lopatynsky, Yurii

Lopatynsky, Yurii [Лопатинський, Юрій; Lopatyns'kyi, Jurij; noms de guerre: Kalyna, Sheik], b 12 April 1906 in Ternopil, Galicia, d 16 November 1982 in Hunter, New York State. Ukrainian Insurgent Army staff officer. Having received officer training in the Polish army (1928–30), he served as an officer in the Carpathian Sich (November 1938–March 1939) and in the Nachtigall Legion of Ukrainian Nationalists (April–September 1941). After spending 18 months in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp he returned to Ukraine in December 1944 and served at Ukrainian Insurgent Army headquarters. In May 1945 he conducted negotiations with the Polish Home Army. At the end of the year he arrived in Munich and became deputy chief of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Mission. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel (1950) and awarded the Gold Cross of Merit (1952). After emigrating to the United States of America (1953) he served as president of the Former Members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and board member of the Prolog Research Corporation.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]