Bright Memory

30.9.2024

The scientific and pedagogical community of LTSNU is deeply saddened by the death of Volodymyr Fedorovych Semystiaha, Associate Professor of the Department of History of Ukraine, Honored Worker of Education of Ukraine, laureate of the Ivan Ohienko Prize.

Volodymyr Fedorovych Semystiaha was born on November 15, 1949 in Svativ region, Luhansk region. He graduated from the History Faculty of the Luhansk Pedagogical Institute. He started working at the Institute in 1973, working his way up from the department’s laboratory assistant to the associate professor of the Department of History of Ukraine. In 1986, he participated in the liquidation of the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

His scientific interests were in the field of research into the history of his native Luhansk region, he studied controversial and little-known pages of the youth underground of Luhansk region, socio-political history of the 20th century. (the German-Nazi occupation regime and its peculiarities in Ukraine, the history of the “Young Guard” underground: myths and reality, the Ukrainian national liberation movement in Ukraine: the end of the 19th – the end of the 20th century).

Since 1999, he has been the head of the literary and historical-philological journal of writers of the Luhansk region “Bakhmutsky Shlyach”, which covered the problems of state formation, national and spiritual revival, regional issues in the all-Ukrainian context. His contribution to the development of historical science and cultural enlightenment in Luhansk region cannot be overestimated. It is difficult to find a person who would so devotedly serve science and national ideas, despite difficult circumstances and life’s challenges.

He was a member of the board of the Luhansk regional organization of the National Union of Local History of Ukraine, the chairman of the Luhansk regional association of the “Prosvita”.

Having headed the Ukrainian-Canadian center “Renaissance”, Volodymyr Fedorovych created a library of historical, artistic and cultural literature on its base. The center, under his leadership, became a focus of cultural and educational activities for the youth of the Luhansk region. For decades, he invested his knowledge, experience and soul in educating new generations of students, forming in them a love for the history of his native land and Ukraine in general.

With the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2014, he did not renounce his state, but launched active propaganda against separatists and Russian mercenaries, which led to his abduction by militants of the Luhansk People’s Republic terrorist group. He spent a terrible 55 days in captivity. On August 16 of the same year, he was released and left for the controlled territory of Ukraine, where he continued his scientific, pedagogical and educational activities.

For many, he was not only a teacher, but also a mentor who was always ready to lend a shoulder and share wisdom. His death is a great loss for the scientific community, students and all those who had the honor of knowing him personally.

The bright memory of Volodymyr Fedorovych will forever remain in our hearts.