Tykhy, Oleksa

Tykhy, Oleksa (Oleksii) [Тихий, Олекса (Олексій); Tyxyj, Oleksij], b 27 January 1927 in Izhevka, Kostiantynivka raion, Donetsk oblast, d 5 May 1984 in Perm, RSFSR. Dissident and political prisoner. A teacher in the Donbas, he was first arrested in February 1957, on a charge of ‘Ukrainian nationalism,’ and was sentenced in May to seven years in labor camps and five years’ exile. After being released in 1964, he returned to the Donbas and worked there as a laborer. In November 1976 he became a founding member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. He was arrested in February 1977, and sentenced in July to 10 years in a Mordovian camp and 5 years’ exile. He did not survive his sentence. The transfer of his remains to Kyiv and their interment at the Baikove cemetery in 1989 were accompanied by a massive procession. A collection of his dissident writings and of documents pertaining to his case was published in the United States in 1982.

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