Pankivsky, Kost K.

Pankivsky, Kost K. [Паньківський, Кость; Pan’kivs’kyj, Kost’], b 6 December 1897 in Lviv, d 20 January 1973 in Livingstone, New Jersey, USA. Lawyer and civic and political leader; son of Kost Pankivsky and Yosypa Pankivska. While studying law in Prague (LL D, 1924) he was president of the Group of Ukrainian Progressive Youth. After opening his own law office in Lviv (1924) he often served as defense counsel at political trials and was active in charitable societies, such as the Ukrainian Invalids’ Aid Society and the Child Protection and Youth Care Society, and served as president of the Plai hiking society. In 1941 he was general secretary of the Ukrainian National Council in Lviv, 1941, and president of the Ukrainian Regional Committee. He served as vice-president of the Ukrainian Central Committee (1942–5). After the Second Wold War he engaged in émigré politics. In Germany (1945–9) he belonged to the Ukrainian National State Union and served as vice-president of the Government-in-exile of the Ukrainian National Republic. After emigrating to the United States in 1949, he became president of the Union of Ukrainian National Democrats, chairman of the Representation of the Executive Organ of the Ukrainian National Council, and president of the American branch of the League of the Captive Peoples of Russia. He wrote three books of memoirs: Vid derzhavy do komitetu (From State to Committee, 1957; 2nd edn 1970), Roky nimets’koï okupatsiï (The Years of the German Occupation, 1965; 2nd edn 1983), and Vid komitetu do derzhavnoho tsentru (From Committee to State Center, 1968).

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