Looking for info on the Landega family (Dmetro)

[Hannia]

During the First World War Bukovyna was a war zone and therefore suffered great losses. In 1915 Ukrainian representatives from Bukovyna and from Galicia organized the General Ukrainian Council in Vienna (with Mykola Vasylko as vice-president).

1918–40. On 25 October 1918 the Ukrainian Regional Committee, with Omelian Popovych as chairman, was established in Chernivtsi to represent the Ukrainian National Council in Bukovyna. This committee organized a massive public rally in Chernivtsi on 3 November to demand that Bukovyna be attached to Ukraine, and on 6 November it took power in the Ukrainian part of Bukovyna, including Chernivtsi. Romanian moderates, led by A. Onciul, accepted the division of Bukovyna into Ukrainian and Romanian sections, but Romanian conservatives under I. Flondor's leadership rejected this idea. On 11 November the Romanian army occupied Chernivtsi and all Bukovyna in spite of resistance from the Ukrainians. The General Congress of Bukovyna, which was hastily summoned by the Romanians, declared the unification of Bukovyna with Romania on 28 November. The Treaty of Saint-Germain, signed on 10 September 1919, recognized Romania's right to the part of Bukovyna settled by Romanians. On 10 August 1920 the Treaty of Sèvres ceded all of Bukovyna to Romania. Official representatives of the Western Ukrainian National Republic, the Ukrainian National Republic, and the Ukrainian SSR protested this action.

The Romanian government canceled all the autonomous powers of Bukovyna and turned it into an ordinary Romanian province. The Ukrainian school system was dismantled; Ukrainian cultural and civic life was restricted; and the Ukrainian church was persecuted (Romanian was introduced into the liturgy). In 1918–28 and 1937–40 Bukovyna found itself in a state of siege. Ukrainians were particularly oppressed when the Liberal party was in power, and they made few gains when the National Peasant party took office. In the 1920s the Ukrainian section of the Social Democratic Party of Bukovyna (led by Vasyl Rusnak) became active. The left wing of the party (under Serhii Kaniuk) became the Communist Party of Bukovyna. In time the Ukrainian National party (1928–38), under the leadership of Volodymyr Zalozetsky-Sas, Vasyl Dutchak, and Yurii Serbyniuk, became the legal political representative of the Ukrainian population. Having reached an understanding with Romanian political parties, the Ukrainian National party won several seats in the
Romanian parliament. When Romania became an authoritarian state in 1938, the position of Ukrainians in Bukovyna grew even worse. In the 1930s an underground nationalist movement led by Orest Zybachynsky and Denys Kvitkovsky gained strength. To counteract it, the Romanian government staged two political trials in 1937.

In spite of government persecution, Ukrainian organizations—such as the People's Home in Chernivtsi (headed by O. Kupchanko); the Ukrainska Shkola educational society (led by A. Kyryliv and Teofil Bryndzan); the musical societies Bukovynskyi Kobzar (Chernivtsi 1920–40) and the Ukrainian Male Choir; the Women's Hromada in Bukovyna (headed by Olha Huzar); the student societies Zaporozhe, Chornomore, and Zalizniak; and the Ukrainian Theater (headed by Sydir Terletsky and Ivan Dutka) - continued their cultural activities. The publication of the daily Chas (Chernivtsi) by Lev Kohut, several weeklies—Khliborobs’ka pravda, Ridnyi krai (Chernivtsi), Rada (Chernivtsi), and Samostiinist’—and the journal Samostiina dumka was an important achievement.

Under Romanian domination there were 155 Ukrainian Orthodox parishes (out of a total of 310), 135 Ukrainian priests, and 330,000 church members in Bukovyna. The Greek Catholic church had 17 parishes and 17 priests. In 1923–30 it constituted the Bukovynian apostolic administration with its center in Seret. Then it became a general vicariate subordinated to the Romanian diocese of Baia Mare.

1940–5. On 28 June 1940 the Romanians withdrew from the Ukrainian part of Bukovyna in response to an ultimatum from the USSR, and Soviet troops moved in. By decision of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on 2 August, northern Bukovyna, together with northern Bessarabia and a small part of old Romania containing the town of Hertsa, became Chernivtsi oblast. During the year-long Soviet occupation some radical changes took place in Bukovyna: private property was nationalized; farms were partly collectivized; and education was Ukrainianized. At the same time all Ukrainian organizations were disbanded, and many publicly active Ukrainians were either killed or exiled. A significant part of the Ukrainian intelligentsia had emigrated to Romania or Germany when the Soviet occupation began. When the German-Soviet war broke out and the Soviet troops retreated from Bukovyna, Ukrainians tried to establish their own local government, but they could not withstand the advance of the Romanian army. In July 1941 almost 1,000 Bukovynians fled to Galicia, where they formed the Bukovynian Battalion of 1941 under the leadership of Petro Voinovsky. This company joined the OUN expeditionary groups of the OUN (Melnyk faction) and reached Kyiv. In 1941–4 the Romanians set up a military dictatorship in Bukovyna (which was turned into a Generalgouvernement), established concentration camps, put prominent Ukrainians (Olha Huzar, M. Zybachynsky, and others) on trial, prohibited any kind of civic and cultural work, and introduced total Romanianization. At this time partisan groups sprang up in the mountains of Bukovyna forming the Bukovynian-Ukrainian Self-Defense Army. Under V. Luhovy's leadership these units fought the Romanians and, in 1944, the Soviets.

In March 1944 Soviet troops occupied northern Bukovyna for the second time. The Paris Peace Treaty of 1947 between the Allies and the Romanians (see Paris Peace Treaties of 1947) recognized the Soviet-Romanian border that had been established in 28 June 1940. The Soviet government created in Bukovyna the same conditions of life as in the Ukrainian SSR.

[Sharlenegarlins]

I just wanted to thank you all for your help. I have micro films coming and have found out so much so far. My Grandfathers, Fathers name was Nicolja and his mother name was Katherina. Everything is coming into place I hope. I have 14 letters that I need to get translated. I can not do it because of the way the writting is. So I hope to have them sone soon. It should give me alot more information.
Thanks again

[Hannia]

Hello Sharlene,

Received your PM. Have you completed Vikno Church Records and have you gotten the letters translated ?

The list I provided is the Landega living in Vikno. Do you want to send each one a letter?
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You are researching a predominantly non-digitized world. I couldn't find a Vikno White Pages online.

Once you have the names you are looking for, ask Sylvie, member here, to help you w/telephone books. She and her husband have traveled extensively in Ukraine and all along the way she has collected Telephone Books for many of these places. If she has the book for Vikno, she will do a look up for you.

[Sharlenegarlins]

Thanks Hannia,

I have all letters translated and have lots of names. Some where sad because I found out that my great uncle was in the second WW and was wounded twice. once in the arm and in the head. He Lived though. My great GM lived till 1967 or 8. Found old pics tht I now can put names too. Thanks for your help. Still waiting for the micro films. They were in the vault and should be here in the next few weeks
Sharlene

[Hannia]

Once you have the info from the church records, you can proceed with search in your ancestral selo. That too will open up your eyes to people and events not included in the family stories.

In genealogy one hears about hitting walls. My contention is if you do things systematically and document as you go, it becomes a simpler and more accurate process.