Temnytsky, Volodymyr

Temnytsky, Volodymyr [Темницький, Володимир; Temnyc'kyj], b 24 July 1879 in Khlopivka, Husiatyn county, Galicia, d 26 January 1938 in Lviv. Lawyer, journalist, and civic and political leader; brother of Omelian Temnytsky. He studied law at Lviv University and, after the secession of Ukrainian students from Lviv University in 1902, at Cracow and Vienna universities. He was one of the organizers of the 1902 peasant strike in Galicia (see Peasant strikes in Galicia and Bukovyna). A lifelong member of the Ukrainian Social Democratic party (USDP), he served as its leader in 1914–21. During the First World War he was a member of the Combat Board of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen and of the General Ukrainian Council in Vienna and collaborated with the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine. He was appointed deputy minister of foreign affairs in the Council of National Ministers of the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR) in December 1918 and minister of foreign affairs in April 1919. From May 1919 he co-ordinated the efforts of UNR diplomatic missions in Europe to gain recognition and military support for the Ukrainian National Republic. After returning to Galicia in 1922, he resumed his political activities. Together with Lev Hankevych he attempted to revive the USDP in the 1930s. He also contributed political articles to various Galician newspapers and was a member of the Lviv City Council.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]