Monument to Ukrainian Nationalists

		A monument to Ukrainian nationalists was erected on the grounds of the Jewish cemetery, on the outskirts of town. The names of five individuals, who died for the nationalist cause, are inscribed on the memorial.

By way of introduction, during and after the Second World War, Tovste was a hotbed of Ukrainian nationalist resistance, with a well-organised and disciplined youth cell of the Ukrainian Nationalists Organisation (UNO). The local underground organisation was formed in February 1940 and, after an interruption during the war, it restored its activities in December 1944 to resist the Stalinist regime.

From the second half of 1948 to May 1951 an underground publishing house was operating in Tovste village, in Holovna Str. (now Chumatska Str.), where the Motychko family lived. One daughter, Orysya Motychko, was working at both the state publishing house and at the underground operation run out of her father’s house. The underground publishing house printed leaflets and magazines addressing the populace, such as: “How Stalin authorities murder Ukrainian collective-farmers”, “For Independence”, “Underground Word” etc. It was headed by Myroslav Guk, Vasyl Melnyk, and Vasyl Vintoniv. They were ultimately discovered and killed in 1951.

How the monument to honour the five nationalists came to be situated in the Jewish cemetery is the subject of differing views: one holds that it was located there after it was learned that Orysya Motychko and her colleagues were buried there; another holds that erecting the monument was a condition for constructing the nearby holocaust memorial.

Source:
Pawlyk, J.  History of Tovste. Chortkiv, 2000. and pers. comm.