MILITARY AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY OF DMYTRO VITOVSKY IN VOLHYNIA (1916–1917)

Abstract

The military and educational activity of Dmytro Vitovsky in Volhynia in 1916–1917 is studied. It is claimed that in the summer of 1915, after a successful offensive by German and Austrian troops, the Ukrainian lands of the western part of Volhynia were occupied by the German and Austrian Empires. The General Ukrainian Council and the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine took various measures to restore national life in the occupied lands. It was noted that for this purpose, in accordance with the order of the 4th Austrian Army Command dated January 29, 1916, Captain («Sotnyk») Dmytro Vitovsky arrived in Kovel. It is concluded that despite the efforts of Captain D. Vitovsky to organize effective military-educational activities in Volhynia in 1916-1917 as one of the commissioners of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, it cannot be said that these efforts were fully realized. Due to a number of internal and mostly external circumstances typical of wartime and occupation of territories, the recruiting and reconnaissance component of D. Vitovsky’s mission, for which the Austrian military command cherished the greatest expectations, did not achieve significant success. Instead, the cultural and educational (at the end of 1916, 17 public schools were organized) and humanitarian activities of the centurion (organization of a refugee camp) proved to be more productive.