Vasyl Kapishovskyi and His Place in History of Ukrainians in Slovakia

Abstract

The article analyses the life of the well-known public, political figure, teacher, scholar, representative of the Ukrainians in Slovakia, Vasyl Kapishovskyi. The author outlines that Kapishovskyi studied in Uzhhorod and later started working as a teacher in the Carpathian part of Ukraine. When the Hungarians occupied this territory in 1939, Kapishovskyi decided to move to the USSR. While living in Moscow, he was trained as an intelligence agent. Further on in 1941 Kapishovskyi was sent and mobilized to the Slovak anti-fascist army. After landing on the territory of Slovakia, he was immediately caught and questioned by the Gestapo. Trying to save his life, Kapishovskyi revealed the secret information about intelligence agents. For this act he was about to face the death penalty, but the Slovak court sentenced him only to fifteen years in prison. He survived his imprisonment and after the war became the head of the Communist Party in Medzhylabirtsi. Moreover, Kapishovskyi was elected the member of the Czech and the Slovak parliaments, as well as the member of the Ukrainian People’s Council and the head of the Education Department in Bratislava (1946-1948). The author of the article underlines that Kapishovskyi was again about to face the death penalty in 1952 when he was accused of the Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism. Nevertheless, he was found not guilty and got back to his responsibilities. Therefore, the article outlines only most important facts of Vasyl Kapishovskyi’s life and activity. The author underlines that further information can be found in his book entitled The Faithful Son of Priashiv published in Uzhhorod in 2014.