Antonovych Omelian and Tetiana

The Omelian and Tetiana Antonovych Collection at NaUKMA is relatively small in size, comprising 463 items representing 293 titles, primarily publications in history and political science. The collection also includes 20 rare and valuable documents as well as periodicals. A larger part of the Antonovych Collection and the family’s scholarly archive is housed at the Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Lviv.
Omelian Mykolaiovych Antonovych was born on February 6, 1914 in the town of Dolyna (Ivano-Frankivsk Region). He received his primary education in his hometown and later studied at the Ukrainian Academic Gymnasium in Lviv and Przemyśl. He pursued higher education at the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Lublin, the Higher School of Commerce in Poznań, and the Academy of Commerce in Berlin.
During the 1930s, he was an active member of the Ukrainian youth organizations Plast and Moloda Hromada, as well as the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). In 1933, he was arrested by the Polish authorities for his involvement in the Ukrainian national movement and spent three years in a Polish prison. In September 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo in Berlin, where he had travelled to meet with Stepan Bandera. He was subsequently imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Acting on behalf of the OUN Central Leadership, he carried out assignments in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Germany. Throughout his life, he worked alongside and interacted with many prominent figures who became part of Ukrainian history, including Andrey Sheptytsky, Roman Shukhevych, Stepan Bandera, and Ivan Bahrianyi.
On June 15, 1946, after graduating from the Ukrainian University in Prague, Omelian Antonovych married Tetiana Mykhailivna Terletska. In 1949, the Antonovych family emigrated to the United States. From the first years of his residence in America, Omelian Antonovych became actively involved in the life of the Ukrainian community. In 1954, he was elected President of the Association of Ukrainians of Washington. Although he held a doctorate in law, he devoted more than forty years of his life to the demanding physical work of farming.
Beginning in September 2005, Omelian Antonovych resided permanently in Ukraine. In recognition of his significant contribution to the development and revival of Ukraine and its cultural traditions, he received numerous awards and distinctions. He passed away on February 28, 2008 and was buried at Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv.
Tetiana Mykhailivna Terletska (Antonovych) was born in Vienna on April 15, 1916. She was a Doctor of Medicine, professor, distinguished physician, and a prominent public and cultural figure well known in Ukraine. Tetiana Mykhailivna passed away on September 23, 2001 in Washington, D.C., and was buried at Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv.
In 1980, Tetiana and Omelian Antonovych established a charitable foundation whose principal mission is “to promote the development of Ukrainian culture in various fields, particularly literature, the arts, and the humanities.” Since 1982, the Foundation has awarded annual literary and scholarly prizes often referred to as the “Ukrainian Nobel Prizes” and has provided scholarships and financial support for individual Ukrainian studies projects.
A substantial portion of the Foundation’s resources derives from the Antonovychs’ personal savings and honoraria received for their scholarly publications and research. Among the Foundation’s projects are the Monument to the Fighters for the Ukrainian State, the Boikivshchyna Museum and the restoration of a church in Dolyna, the reconstruction of the Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library in Lviv, and the renovation of the NaUKMA Undergraduate Library, which bears the names of Tetiana and Omelian Antonovych.
Petrenko-Tseunova, Olha. “The Shared Cause of Omelian Antonovych” [electronic resource]. The Ukrainian Week, February 6, 2024.

The collection is fully represented in the Electronic Catalogue.
Collection Profile.