April 21, 2022
By Paul Scarlata
Bio of Maria Rovenchuk – Labunka (aka "Iryna" and "Virna") of the UPA
From the book Pechenizhyn by Mykhailo Dovirak, Kolomyia Publishing, 2005, page 61 (translated by Maria’s son Illya Labunka)
Maria Rovenchuk, the daughter of Illya, was born on February 12, 1924 in the village of Pechenizhyn, of the Kolomyia district, Stanislaviv Voivodeship [present day Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast] as the first child into a family of peasants-homesteaders. The following year, Maria’s brother Matiy was born and then Andriy. Maria’s father served in World War I as cavalryman in the Austrian Army. Afterwards, he served in the “UHA” [Ukrainian Galician Army] and ultimately in the army of the “UNR” [Ukrainian People’s Republic].
After completing 6th grade of elementary school in Pechenizhyn, in 1938 Maria registered at the Ukrainian-language, private gymnasium in Kolomyia. During the first Soviet occupation, Maria continued her education at the local, Soviet 10-grade school, and subsequently – during the German occupation – at the Kolomyia state gymnasium with instruction in the Ukrainian language.
In 1942, as a 6th -grade gymnasium student, Maria became a member of the banned Ukrainian scouting organization “PLAST” as well as a member of the OUN’s youth network. Shortly afterwards, she joined the insurgent movement. Initially, Maria served as a political educator in “Spartan’s” company (unit 59, Tactical Sector 21), mainly focusing on teaching “The History of Ukraine” according to Ukraine’s pre-eminent historian, Mykhailo Hrushevsky.
In the autumn of 1943, the OUN dispatched Maria Rovenchuk to Peremyshl [present-day Poland], where, once her gymnasium studies there were to be completed, Maria Rovenchuk had instructions to engage in the Ukrainian resistance against the German occupation. Thus, after receiving her high school-level diploma (division A) in March 1944, Maria Rovenchuk underwent appropriate organizational training in the form of theoretical and practical workshops. Now, as a full-fledged OUN member, Maria was dispatched to the Yaroslav region [present-day Poland] and charged with organizing the women’s network of the OUN. The territory of her activity was structured as an organizational unit under the title: The 2nd OUN Region “Baturyn” of the so-called “Zakerzonnia” land. From this moment on Maria Rovenchuk − now known under her nom de guerre “Iryna” – became a member of the Regional Command as leader of the women’s network of the above-mentioned OUN region. “Iryna” diligently fulfilled this responsibility until the Ukrainian underground in the Zakerzonnia region was liquidated as a result of the Polish-implemented forced resettlement policy known as “Operation Vistula.”
For the remainder of 1944, − as regional head of the women’s network of the OUN for the Yaroslav Region – “Iryna” supervised the network’s expansion of cooperation with the medical centers of the Ukrainian Red Cross.
1944 also saw the deportation to northern Russia of “Iryna’s” patriotic, unwavering parents, who were sentenced to serve in a forced labor camp in Arkhangelsk Oblast; “Iryna’s” father, Illya Rovenchuk, perished there in 1958, while “Iryna’s” mother returned to her native village after 14 years in exile, albeit an invalid, following a lumbering accident.
“Iryna’s” younger brother Andriy managed to flee during the deportation process and found refuge thanks to his older brother Matiy, who was also serving in the ranks of the UPA at this time. In 1948, Andriy was captured, arrested and deported to a concentration camp in northern Russia where we worked in the gold mines as a slave laborer for 10 years.
In the autumn of 1945, following orders from the OUN’s Supreme Command, “Iryna” went into deep hiding into the Syniava forest [present-day Poland]. There she became an operative of a clandestine, underground publishing operation, which produced official reports of the terrain’s activity, transcriptions of local short-wave radio broadcasts, etc.
The winter of 1946-47 was particularly difficult, as evidenced by the unceasing round-ups instigated by the Polish Communist military forces throughout the countryside. During the winter of 1946-1947, “Iryna” spent the entire time hidden deep in a forest inside an underground bunker alone with only a typewriter and a stack of various documents slated for editing. For a period of 4 months, “Iryna” did not see any live person; due to the intense snowfalls that season, none of her fellow insurgents were able to visit her. Very often, “Iryna” could hear the sound of a scuttling animal or the thumping sound of the enemy’s boots on the ground above the bunker…all the while counting the seconds of her life as it flashed before her eyes, with her loaded pistol at her side….
In 1947, “Iryna” received orders to take a train, for organizational reconnaissance purposes, to the northwestern coast of Poland of the so-called “Regained Territories” − an area to which a significant portion of the Ukrainian population of the Lemko region had been forcibly resettled. During her clandestine activity in the city of Koszalin, “Iryna” was arrested by the Polish Military Police. While being transported by train from Koszalin to Yaroslav, “Iryna” managed to escape from the hands of the Polish soldier who was escorting her. For almost a year, “Iryna” lived in various locations throughout Poland with no legal status.
In December 1948, “Iryna’s” brother Matiy (nom de guerre “Loza”) died a heroic death as a soldier of the UPA. In the summer of 1948, “Iryna” − along with a group of 4 other UPA insurgents and members of the Ukrainian underground − embarked on a trek heading West. After overcoming incredible challenges, and following a long, perilous journey, “Iryna” and her fellow insurgents crossed the Czech-German border and finally reached the American Zone of Occupation in Germany on August 18, 1948. Already in the autumn of that same year, “Iryna” matriculated as a student of the Ukrainian Free University in Munich under the pseudonym Iryna Surmach. On August 2, 1952, “Iryna” married Miroslav Labunka (one of the future rectors of the Ukrainian Free University).
In 1955, the Labunka family sailed to the shores of the United States. As a devoted wife and mother of three children, Maria Labunka found the time to engage in community affairs. Over the course of 17 years she taught at the Ukrainian Heritage Saturday School (“Ridna Shkola”) in Philadelphia, PA; served as a counselor in the local branch of the Ukrainian scouting organization “PLAST”, as well as a camp counselor for the organization’s summer program in the Catskill Mountains of New York State; and was an active member of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America.
During Maria’s years in the insurgency, in addition to her nom de guerre “Iryna”, Maria also had the nom de guerre “Virna” [“Faithful”], a moniker which suited her well. When the opportunity finally arose (in 1991) to freely travel to and throughout Ukraine, Maria Rovenchuk-Labunka, with great joy and satisfaction, often visited the Hutsul region of the Carpathian Mountains and her native village of Pechenizhyn, situated in the foothills of the Carpathians.
On October 17, 1996, following a grave illness, Maria Rovenchuk-Labunka passed away. Maria is buried in the UPA veterans’ section at the Ukrainian Cemetery of St. Andrew the First-Called in the American city of South Bound Brook, New Jersey.
