Levytsky, Severyn

Levytsky, Severyn [Левицький, Северин; Levyc'kyj; pseudonym: Сірий Лев; Siryi Lev], b 6 September 1890 in Shchurovychi, Brody county, Galicia, d 30 January 1962 in Buffalo, New York State, USA. Pedagogue and scout leader. He graduated from Lviv University and taught at the teachers' seminary in Lviv during the interwar period. He headed the Supreme Executive of the Plast Ukrainian Youth Association in 1924–34. After the outlawing of Plast by the Polish authorities he devoted his efforts to ensuring youth activism according to the movement’s principles. In 1941–5 he taught in schools set up by the Ukrainian Central Committee and headed its Ukrainian Teachers' Labor Alliance. He moved to Germany in 1945 as a displaced person. In 1947, at a Plast jamboree in Regensburg, he was elected Nachalnyi Plastun (Head Scout). He emigrated to the United States of America in 1949. He published many articles on educational matters in the Ukrainian press. His work on the early history of Plast, Ukraïns'kyi plastovyi ulad, 1911–45 (The Ukrainian Order of Plast, 1911–45, 1967) was published posthumously.

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