Dmytro Andrievsky

XX page → Belgium → Political figure

One of the first ideologists of Ukrainian nationalism, Dmytro Andrievsky was born in the village of Budky, Poltava province. From youth he took an active part in the Ukrainian national movement. An engineer by profession, in 1919–20, Andrievsky worked as a member of the diplomatic mission of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in Switzerland, later became a consul of the UPR in this country. After defeat of the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917–21 he was forced to emigrate to Belgium, but he did not stop political activities. In Brussels he headed the Ukrainian National Council and the European Association of Ukrainian Organisations.

In 1927, the First Conference of Ukrainian Nationalists was held in Berlin, at which Andrievsky (as ideological reader), Ye. Kono-valets, M. Stsiborsky and V. Martynets were elected to the first staff of the Leadership of Ukrainian Nationalists. At that time his numerous articles appeared in the journals Natsionalna Dumka and Rozbudova Natsii. He took an active part in the work of the Group of Ukrainian National Youth as well. Andrievsky’s authority was so high that after the Constituent Congress of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists in 1929 in Vienna he filled the position of political adviser of the Leadership of Ukrainian Nationalists. He also worked as adviser for the OUN foreign policy, holding in his activity the thesis that it was necessary for OUN to cooperate with other Ukrainian political forces.

After a split in OUN in 1940, Andrievsky was one of the leaders of the organisation under A. Melnyk. During World War II he carried on extraordinarily active nationalistic work for which he was imprisoned by the German authorities in the concentration camp in Bratz (1944). He was lucky to survive and in 1948 Dmytro Andrievsky became a member of the Ukrainian National Rada and its Executive Body created by efforts of the UPR government in exile and many Ukrainian organisations and parties. In his numerous publicistic works Dmytro Andrievsky re-created the stages of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists’ activity, methodically set forth the main principles of the Ukrainian nationalist ideology, elucidated the questions of Ukrainian foreign policy and diplomacy. Up to this day particularly worthy of note are his works such as Our Position; The Way of Development; Circumstances of the 1930 s and Leadership of Ukrainian Nationalists; Russian Colonialism and Soviet Empire. D. Andrievsky died in the city of Dornstadt (Germany).