Olena Kysilevska

Olena Kysilevska or Olena Kysilewska (1869–1956) was a Ukrainian social activist, journalist and writer. She was a senator (1928-1935) on behalf of the Ukrainian National Democratic Union (UNDO) party.

Life and work Olena was born 24 March 1869 in Monastyryska, Buchach County, Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire, into the family of a priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Fr. Lev Simenovich. She spent her childhood in the village of Filvarky (now Pidhorodne), which is now united with the town of Monastyryska. After the death of her father-priest, she entered the Vidylov School in Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk) in 1884. She became active in the women's movement in Galicia, joining the Tovarystvo Rus'kykh Zhinok (Association of Ukrainian Women) which had been founded in 1884 by Natalia Kobrynska.

Writer Kysilevska began publishing short stories and articles on education and women's rights in almanacs and journals in 1910, and from 1912 she edited a women's page in the newspaper Dilo. During World War I, she was a member of the Red Cross relief committee for prisoners of war and the wounded in Vienna, Austria. After the war, she became a member of the executive of the Union of Ukrainian Women in Lviv. Silskyi Hospodar had been founded in 1899 and it was the most important agriculture organisation in Galicia. Others involved were Iryna Pavlykovska, Kharyta Kononenko and I. Dombchevska.

As a result of the Second World War, Kysilevska lived as a displaced person in Northern Europe until she immigrated to Canada in 1948 to join her son Vladimir Kaye-Kysilewsky, a historian, journalist and publisher. That same year Olena was elected the first president of the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations, a position she held until her death.

Death Kysilevska died 29 March 1956 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

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