Our first local history expedition this autumn was to the village of Rozkopantsi near Bohuslav, where we met Nadiia Tsiurupa. Her grandfather’s brother, Otaman Yukhym Tsiurupa, became one of the leaders of the uprising against the Bolsheviks in the Bohuslav region in 1920. As a centurion in the UPR (Ukrainian People’s Republic) army, he took part in the First Winter Campaign.
Later, he crossed the Zbruch River with his comrades and lived the rest of his life in Poland. Nadiia’s grandfather, Havrylo Tsiurupa, was shot and secretly buried in Bykivnia in 1938. The Tsiurupa family built a symbolic grave for him at the local cemetery and erected a monument with his name engraved on it.
Thanks to Nadiia, who actively searched for information about her relatives in institutions, archives, and abroad, today not only the family, but we all have the opportunity to learn about this story of Ukrainian resistance to the soviets, the unconquerability of our glorious countrymen from the Bohuslav region. More details later.
Not only did we record these valuable memories and legends, walk through the places where the otaman lived and fought, but we also recorded Nadiia’s stories about the wedding customs and rituals of the Rozkopantsi that she recalled from her childhood.
