Wednesday, September 28, 2016

The Sich Society

The Koshuba family in Butsniv, Galicia.  Joseph, in the second row has a Sich sash

There are several photographs of my ancestors wearing sashes.  Their children and grandchildren had no idea  why the person was swearing the sash or what the sash meant. I have pictures of my grandfather, John Koshuba and his brother Joseph wearing a uniform with a sash.  My great aunt Kathrine Pylatiuk and her husband Olexa wore the sashes on their wedding day. I have a family picture of the Kociuba (Koshuba) family, wearing sashes in a picture taken in their village, Butsniv in Galicia, and the sashes looked like the ones worn by family in Minnesota.  A  helpful person was able to read the Ukrainian letters on the sash, and told me that it was a Sich society sash. Was this the same Sich society as the one in Minneapolis?  My research told me the answer is yes.

Joseph(left) and John Koshuba(right), wearing Sich sashes.
The Sich society was started in 1900 in Shiatyn County in Galicia by Kyrylo Tryliovskyi, as a physical education and firefighting organization. Members of the Ukrainian Radical Party were instrumental in starting the group. Its mission was to promote national consciousness and patriotism, and to raise the educational and cultural level of the peasants and people of the working class. Members wore Ukrainian folk costumes and a crimson sash over their shoulder, inscribed with the name of the wearer's village.  They also wore a hat with a red feather and a star-shaped badge on it.

Katherine and Olexa Pylatiuk wearing sashes
 In 1912, the Sich Society was renamed the Ukrainian Sich Union (USU).    It grew quickly and by 1913,  there were over 900 branches and 80,000 members in Galicia and in Ukrainian communities abroad.  The group published song books, annual almanacs and a magazine, Zoria. The Ukrainian Sich Union was a parent of the Legion of Sich Riflemen, a unit of the Austrian-Hungarian army during World War I, fighting Russia on the Eastern Front. After the War, the unit became a regular unit of the West Ukrainian People's Republic.  In 1919, The Ukrainian Sich Riflemen became part of the Ukrainian Galician Army, participating in the Polish-Ukrainian War.  It was disbanded in 1920.

Ukrainian Sich Riflemen. Photo: Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine

The society continued after World War I, when Galicia became part of Poland. In 1924 it was abolished by  Polish government  authorities.
In the United States, The Sich Society began as a physical education and rifle society in 1915.  By 1920, there were 60 branches and 3,000 members.  From 1918  to 1923 they put out a biweekly publication, Sichovi Visty. In Minneapolis, a group called the Zaparhrozia Sich Social Society was organized in 1915.  My grandfather and uncle were members.  Other than the pictures above, I have found no other information about this group.

"The Sich Society", Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine
"Ukrainian Sich Riflemen" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Photo credits:
The Koshuba Family, collection of E. Wons
Joseph and John Koshuba, collection of Pauline Noznick
Katherine and Olexa Pylatiuk, the Pylatiuk Family.