Oleksa Dovbush

Born in 1700 in the village of Pechenezhin, in the present-day Ivano-Frankovsk Oblast; died Aug. 24 (Sept. 4), 1745, in the village of Kosmachi, in the present-day Ivano-Frankovsk Oblast. Leader of the Carpathian oprishki, peasants who fought against the oppression of feudalism and serfdom. The son of a poor peasant.

At the head of a detachment of peasant rebels, Dovbush executed bold attacks on the estates of the szlachectwo (Polish nobility or gentry) and leaseholders, seizing their property and distributing it to the peasants. From 1738 to 1745, Dovbush’s detachment fought in Galician Carpathia, Bukovina, and Transcarpathia against Polish, Hungarian, and Ukrainian feudal lords. He died at the hands of a local rich man. Dovbush’s name is widely known not only in the Ukraine but also in Poland, Moldavia, and Hungary.