A new memorial plaque for Oleh Olzhych unveiled in Zhytomyr

The new information plaque commemorating a prominent Ukrainian freedom fighter Oleh Olzhych was inaugurated at the beginning of Olzhych Street in Zhytomyr on August 24, with many public figures and Mayor Volodymyr Deboi present, the city council having endorsed the decision. Olena Halahuza, a journalist, led the effort to install the plaque in the street where Olzhych was born. Chairman of the Olzhych Foundation’s board Serhii Kot recalled in his speech that a volume of Olzhych’s articles had been published in the “Armor-Piercing Political Writing” series, part of The Day’s Library project. Members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN)’s local branch helped with the plaque installation effort. Its predecessor was installed 20 years ago, only to be stolen by some local vandals later on.

However, some members of the public pointed out to what they saw as excessive political correctness of the new plaque’s text, mentioning neither Olzhych’s role in the OUN nor his death in a Nazi concentration camp.

Famous Zhytomyr historians Heorhii Mokrytsky and Ruslan Kondratiuk went on from Olzhych Street to conduct, on their own initiative, an over three-hour-long walking tour “A Ukrainian View of Zhytomyr’s Ukrainian Heritage,” which aroused great interest among the citizenry. Even old residents discovered a number of previously unknown sights related to Ukraine’s independence struggle or famous Ukrainians, including Lesia Ukrainka, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Viacheslav Lypynsky, Oleh Olzhych, Omelian Senyk, Mykola Stsiborsky, and Ivan Feschenko-Chopivsky.