The Struggle of Teacher Volodymyr Andrushko (1929–2012) Against the Soviet Occupation Regime

Abstract

The purpose of the article is a comprehensive study of the participation of teacher Volodymyr Andrushko in the struggle of the Ukrainian people against the Soviet occupation regime during the mid-1940s -early 1990s. The basis of the source base is the documents of the Sectoral State Archives of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSA SBU), the memoirs of V. Andrushko himself and other members of the dissident movement. The methodological basis of the article is the principles of objectivity, historicism, comprehensiveness, continuity, as well as a set of general scientific and special historical methods. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that this problem has not yet become the subject of a full-fledged study in modern Ukrainian historiography. The author concludes that the key factors that influenced the formation of the nationalist worldview of V. Andrushko were upbringing in a family of patriots and reading Ukrainian historical and literary literature. During his confrontation with the Soviet occupation regime, he remained a convinced supporter of the idea of reviving of an independent Ukrainian state. The teacher acted within the framework of the national liberation paradigm of the Ukrainian national movement, clearly considering the Soviet regime on the territory of Ukraine as an occupation. Volodymyr Andrushko adhered to the tactics of solitary resistance, using as the main methods of struggle the distribution of leaflets and posters, the hanging of blue and yellow flags, and the spread of national ideas orally. He was twice arrested for anti-Soviet activity and subjected to judicial repression under political articles; spent a total of almost 11 years in prison and exile. The teacher managed to personally participate in the processes of the fall of the Soviet empire and the revival of Ukrainian statehood, to carry his patriotic views and convictions, love for Ukraine throughout his life.