WOMAN IN THE NATIONALIST UNDERGROUND: BETWEEN HEROIC EPIC AND EVERYDAY TRAUMA

Abstract

Research into women’s participation in the Ukrainian liberation movement of the mid-20th century has gone from Soviet criminalization and diaspora glorification to contemporary in-depth anthropological analysis. This article examines the evolution of the image of the «woman from the forest», where ideological clichés have been replaced by a study of the real experience of survival in an environment of absolute hostility. The author analyzes the physical and psychological trials of female underground fighters: from «gasoline sickness » in camouflaged hideouts and extreme medicine to complex challenges of hygiene and physiology. Special attention is paid to the functional roles of women as scouts, couriers, and organizers of the logistics system of «shopping», which was supported by peasant women. Through the prism of ego-documents, the tragic dimension of motherhood in the underground is revealed, where women were forced to choose between the safety of the organization and the lives of their own children. The final act of the study is the resistance of Ukrainian women in the Gulag camps, in particular during the Kengir uprising, where the preservation of identity and solidarity became a form of victory over the totalitarian system. The experience of the underground participants stands as a unique example of the transformation of everyday life into a weapon and of their own lives into the foundation of national memory.