Popovych, Dmytro

Popovych, Dmytro [Попович, Дмитро; Popovyč], b 7 November 1899 in Velyki Komiaty, Transcarpathia, d 3 October 1968 in Khust, Transcarpathia oblast. Greek Catholic priest, educator, and civic leader. After completing his theological studies in Budapest he served as a catechist in Khust, edited religious periodicals, and wrote a number of religious textbooks. He took part in the populist movement and opposed communist and Russophile influences in Transcarpathia. In 1938–9 he was principal of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic gymnasium in Khust, president of the Society of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Priests, and leading member of the Society of Ukrainian Writers and Journalists. In 1949 he was arrested (for a second time) by the Soviets and sentenced to 25 years of hard labor. He returned to Khust in 1956, crippled after years in the mines of Irkutsk.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]