Hryhoriy Kossak

Hryhoriy Kossak
Kossak in Sich Riflemen uniform
Native name	Григорій Коссак
Nickname	Hryts Kossak
Born	(1882-03-07)7 March 1882 Drohobych, Austrian Galicia, Austria-Hungary
Died	3 March 1939(1939-03-03) (aged 56) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Buried	unknown
Allegiance	Austria-Hungary West Ukrainian People's Republic
Branch	Austro-Hungarian Army Ukrainian Galician Army
Service years	1914–1919
Rank	Sotnyk Colonel
Unit	Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen III Corps UHA
Commands	Ukrainian Sich Riflemen Ukrainian Galician Army
Conflicts	First World War Eastern Front Battle of Galicia Battle of Makivka Polish-Ukrainian War Battle of Lemberg
Awards	Miliary Merit Cross 3rd class
Relations	Ivan Kossak
Other work	Teacher
Signature

Hryhoriy (Hryts) Kossak (Ukrainian: Григорій (Гриць) Коссак; 7 March 1882, Drohobych - 3 March 1939, Moscow)^[1] was a Ukrainian teacher, community activist and military officer, who served as a commander of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen and the Ukrainian Galician Army. Later in his life he worked as a lectured at a Red Army officers' school in Kharkiv, but was arrested and executed by Bolshevik authorities.

Hryhoriy Kossak was born on 7 March 1882 in Drohobych in the family of smith Yosyf Kossak.^[2][3] Their house would be regularly visited by Ivan Franko (Kossak would later lead Franko's funeral procession after the writer's death in 1916).^[3] After graduating from the local gymnasium and teachers' seminary, Kossak moved to Berezhany, where he lived until 1908, teaching at a school and heading a branch of Sokil society. Later he returned to the area of Drohobych, where he worked as a pedagogue at a school in Yasenytsia and joined the local Sich movement.^[2]

After the beginning of the Great War Kossak was mobilized to the Austrian Army, where he became an officer of the volunteer Sich Riflemen Legion. In early August 1914 he arrived to Transcarpathia, where the unit was to undergo training. On 9 September Kossak was appointed sotnyk of the 3rd half-kurin (battallion) of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen. In October 1914 his unit engaged Russian troops near the village of Silets, defeating a numerically superior enemy force and entering Drohobych. However, after a short time Kossak's men had to retreat. Starting from late April 1915 Kossak's unit engaged in fights against Russian forces storming the Makivka mountain in the vicinity of Skole. On 2 May his battallion managed o restore control over the height by performing a counterattack against Russian positions. This slowed down the enemy advance and resulted in the success of a later counteroffensive. For his actions in the battle Kossak was awarded Military Merit Cross 3rd class. In August 1915 Kossak was appointed commander of the 1st Regiment of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen. Between 1917 and 1918 he served as commander of the legion's training department.^[2]

Following the start of Polish-Ukrainian War, between 5 and 11 November 1918 Kossak was appointed commander of Ukrainian troops in Lviv, succeeding Dmytro Vitovsky. During the following days his troops were besieged by Polish forces, but held their positions until the official proclamation of the West Ukrainian People's Republic on 13 November. During the battle Kossak rejected proposals from members of the Plast to allow its members to serve in his army as volunteers, claiming that underage and inexperienced fighters would be a burden to the military; this contrasted with the attitude of the Polish side, which actively employed children in fights for Lviv.^[3] After being forced to retreat from the city, Kossak headed the southern group of Ukrainian forces fighting against Poles, serving as commander of the 3rd Corps and rear units of the Ukrainian Galician Army.^[2][1]

After the union of Ukrainian Galician Army with Denikin's White troops, Kossak along with a number of other officers moved to Czechoslovakia, where he was interned in Liberec.^[3] He later emigrated to Vienna, eventually settling in Transcarpathia. In 1924, under the influence of Ukrainization policies introduced by Soviet authorities, Kossak moved to Soviet Ukraine and worked as a teacher of Ukrainian language and culture at a Red Army officers' school in Kharkiv.^[2]

In 1931 Kosak moved to Dnipropetrovsk, where he headed the military department at the local chemistry institute. However, in the same year he was arrested and accused by authorities of participation in the fictional "Ukrainian National Centre". Kossak was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment and exiled to Solovki. In 1933 he was transferred to Maly Irbit in the Urals. After finishing his sentence in 1937, Kossak was barred from returning to Ukraine and moved to Moscow, where his daughter lived. There he worked as a teacher of German language on a factory. However, in 1938 he was arrested for a second time. On 2 March 1939 Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union sentenced Kossak to death, and on the next day he was execued by firing squad. His place of burial is unknown. In 1989 Kossak was posthumously rehabilitated due to insufficient evidence.^[2]

Kossak had many siblings, and his elder brother Ivan would also become a teacher and a military officer.^[1] Hryhoriy's wife Iryna Kossak worked as a teacher at the Ukrainian Pedagogical Society.^[3]