Druzhyna Kniahyni Olhy

Druzhyna Kniahyni Olhy [Дружина Княгині Ольги; Company of Princess Olha]. A women’s organization established in 1938 in Lviv in place of the Union of Ukrainian Women, which was banned by the Polish authorities. The organization formally presented itself as a political organization to avoid the need for government confirmation of its statutes. Its program emphasized the woman’s role in the Ukrainian national struggle. The organization had a three-level structure with county and local branches. It published its own biweekly, Hromadianka. The presidium of the organization consisted of Konstantyna Malytska, Milena Rudnytska, and Olena Fedak-Sheparovych. The organization functioned until the Soviet occupation of Galicia in 1939.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]