Zenon Kossak (Ukrainian: Зено́н Ко́ссак; 1 April 1907 – 19 March 1939)[1] was an activist in the Ukrainian militant nationalist movement for independence from interwar Poland.

Zenon Kossak
Зенон Коссак
Born(1907-04-01)1 April 1907
Died19 March 1939(1939-03-19) (aged 31)
Cause of deathExecution by firing squad
EducationUniversity of Lviv
Political partyOrganisation of Ukrainian Nationalists

Kossak was born in Drohobych in Galicia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now in Ukraine). He studied law at Lviv University and was one of the organizers of the nationalist movement in Galicia. Kossak was a member of the Ukrainian Military Organization in the late 1920s where he directed the 'combat', then the organizational, activities of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in 1939 as a member of its Home Executive. He became deputy commander of the Carpathian Sich National Defense Organization in Carpatho-Ukraine.

In 1932, Kossak was arrested for his complicity in the murder of Tadeusz Hołówko. In 1934, he was found guilty and sentenced to 8 years in prison. He was released under an amnesty in 1938. In 1939, he was taken prisoner and summarily executed by Hungarian troops in Solotvyna, near Bukshtyn, in Transcarpathia. Also shot was his superior, Mychajło Kołodzinskyj.[2]

He wrote the 44 rules of a Ukrainian Nationalist.[3]

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  1. ^ Marples, David R. (1985). "Danylo Shumuk, Life Sentence: The Memoirs of a Ukrainian Political Prisoner. Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 1984. xxiii, 401 pp". Nationalities Papers. 13 (1): 142–143. doi:10.1017/s0090599200041088. ISSN 0090-5992. S2CID 158053630.
  2. ^ A. Podhajecki, OUN i UPA pod skrzydłami III Rzeszy, Warszawa 2013, s. 76.
  3. ^ Marples, David R. (1985). "Danylo Shumuk, Life Sentence: The Memoirs of a Ukrainian Political Prisoner. Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 1984. xxiii, 401 pp". Nationalities Papers. 13 (1): 142–143. doi:10.1017/s0090599200041088. ISSN 0090-5992. S2CID 158053630.