Ostrovsky, Volodymyr P.

Ostrovsky, Volodymyr P. [Островський, Володимир; Ostrovs'kyj], b 18 June 1881 in Reiovets, Kholm region, d 7 April 1950 in Stanislav (now Ivano-Frankivsk). Educator, journalist, and civic leader. After graduating from a teachers' seminary in Kholm (1901) he taught in elementary schools in and around Kholm and in Warsaw. In 1917 he taught at a Ukrainian school in Vinnytsia and edited the daily Shliakh (1919). In 1921 he moved to Warsaw, where he joined the editorial board of the daily Ukraïns’ka trybuna (Warsaw) and edited the biweekly Dukhovna besida and his own papers, Nash svit, Nasha besida, and Narid. After settling in Lutsk in 1928, he was active in many Ukrainian organizations and was president of the local Prosvita and Silskyi Hospodar societies and the People's Home co-operative. He also edited Ukraïns’ka hromada (Lutsk), Nash svit, and Nova doba and contributed to several Lviv papers.

Ostrovsky was a member of the Central Committee of the Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance. His short stories about life in the Kholm region appeared in the press and in separate collections, such as Kholms'ki opovidannia (Kholm Short Stories, 1923) and Blakytni ochi (Azure Eyes, 1936). He wrote many novelettes, historical and contemporary, including Khrest ottsia Vasylia (Father Vasyl’s Cross, 1926) and Kniaz' Syla-Tur (Prince Syla-Tur, 1938). After the Soviet occupation of Volhynia in 1939, he fled to the Gorlice region in the Generalgouvernement. In 1945 he was taken by the Soviet authorities to Stanyslaviv, where he later died.

[This article was updated in 2023.]