Grandfather of Winnipeg man being honoured with stamp in Ukraine

The official invitation to the event where the stamp was unveiled. (Supplied image)

Mykola Maluzynsky was only 40 years old when he was killed by the Nazis in 1943.

Now, 80 years later, the priest is being honoured with a postage stamp in his home country of Ukraine.

Mykola’s family is excited about this honour and hopes it will help keep his legacy alive.

“The stamp is a great honour because he’ll be immortalized that way,” said Mykola’s grandson Taras Maluzynsky.

“It leads to questions, like, ‘Hey, how come this guy got a stamp? What did he do? Where did he live? How did he contribute to our society?”

Mykola, who was born in May of 1903 in western Ukraine, became a priest at the age of 23.

Taras said his grandfather was a leader in the church, who was appointed to the consistory and took on the role of a dean.

“[He was] in charge of younger priests and coordinating events and shifting priests around as they were needed, so he did that in the late 1930s to 1940,” Taras said.

“But, of course, the Second World War began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939.”

During the war, Mykola was labelled a nationalist as he was supporting the local partisans and rebels who wanted an independent Ukraine.

Taras said his grandfather ended up being lured into a local jail after he was told that the partisans in the jail wanted a priest for confession and communion before their executions.

“So he went in with bread and wine and a short service, confessions, gave them a communion,” Taras said.

“Then when he was scheduled to leave, they said, 'Oh, by the way Father, you’re staying too,'” Taras said.

Mykola ended up being shot to death in that jail on Oct. 15, 1943.

“He was 40 years old and a half when he was executed in the city of Rivne, which is in western Ukraine,” Taras said.

“They burned all the bodies so there is no gravesite.”

Nearly 80 years after his death, Mykola is being honoured with a postage stamp in Ukraine.

Taras said the idea was brought forward by the mayor of Lanivtsi, who had also previously honoured Mykola with a memorial plaque in 2019.

The stamp was unveiled on July 28. It features an image of Mykola in the foreground, with his Ukrainian Orthodox parish church in the background.

“The whole idea there is to recognize historical figures who have contributed to the well-being of society,” Taras said.

Taras said the stamp came as a surprise to his family, but is consistent with the fact that Ukrainians are looking into their history and wanting to honour those who impacted the country. The printing of the stamp was limited to 1,000 copies – five were saved for Mykola’s family in Canada.

“In fact, they’re changing the names of streets from the old Russian names,” he said.

“They’re looking at other monuments [and saying], ‘Wait a minute, this guy doesn’t belong here. We have our own heroes and literary figures and church leaders that we want to honour.”