Halyna Kuzmenko

Halyna Kuzmenko (1897–1978) was a Ukrainian teacher and revolutionary.

Life
Halyna Kuzmenko was born in Kyiv on 13 January 1897. Her father worked on the Ukrainian Railways and later as a farmer. Kuzmenko became a teacher in 1916. She taught the Ukrainian language and history at a primary school in Huliaipole. There she married the revolutionary leader Nestor Makhno. During the Russian Civil War, she joined the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine and operated a machine gun.

In 1921, Kuzmenko and Makhno fled to Romania. They then went to Poland, where they stayed in an internment camp. They were suspected of plotting treason against the Polish government and put in prison. Kuzmenko gave birth to their daughter in prison. They were acquitted during their trial. They stayed in Poland for another year. Makhno and Kuzmenko argued a lot at this time. They then moved to Paris, where Kuzmenko and Makhno divorced.

During World War II, she was arrested and taken to Berlin. She was used as forced labor by Nazi Germany. After the war, she was arrested by the Red Army. She was then sentenced to penal labour in Mordovia. In the 1950s, Kuzmenko moved to Kazakhstan. She lived there until she died on 23 March 1978.

Sources

Category:1897 births
Category:1978 deaths
Category:Anarchists
Category:Ukrainian educators