“Nobody thought that Soviets would come”
Volodymyr Semkiv was born in 1929 in Zhovkva town, Lviv region. In 1946 he graduated from secondary school. Soon he became a liaison of UPA (URA) and spread anti-Soviet postcards. On the 1st of January 1950 Volodymyr‘s family was imprisoned in Lviv jail on Zamarstynivs‘ka st., but on the 1st of February they were deported to the Far East. In one month train came to Pivan‘ station which is 11 km far from Komsomol‘sk-on-Amour. His family found itself on the settlement Paryn. There Volodymyr was working on forestry. After two years of work he was accused of distributing of rebellious leaflets found in his father‘s house in Zhovkva. On the 15th of February 1952 Volodymyr was arrested. He was transferred from Komsomol‘sk-on-Amour to Habarovs‘k, where he was held for two months. In June 1952 Volodymyr was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment in concentration camp of strict regime in Balin city for anti-Soviet propaganda. He spent in a concentration camp for about 2 years, but after the death of Stalin he got under amnesty. In 1956, Volodymyr returned to settlement Paryn to parents. In 1969 he came back to the Motherland. After Ukraine gained independence in 1991, he became a head of the Organization of political prisoners and repressed in Zhovkva district. Now he lives in Zhovkva, Lviv region.