Olesia Hudymiak

Olesia Ivanivna Hudymiak ( Proshak) (Ukrainian: Олеся Іванівна Гудимяк (з роду Прошак); born 10 May 1958) is a history teacher and daughter of political prisoners and UPA soldiers Ivan Proshak and Mariia Kushnirchuk.

Biography Olesia Hudymiak was born on May 10, 1958 in Vorkuta in a Ukrainian nationalist family, where her parents were the UPA militaries and Vorkutlag camp victims. In 1986–1989, Hudymiak worked as a labor teacher and a language laboratory assistant at school №1 named after Vasyl Stefanyk till her birth of younger daughter Yuliia.

In 1993, after her maternity leave, Olesia Hudymiak became an history teacher of school №1 till 2022. She has a rank of a "specialist of higher category". In May 2010, she organized the meeting with famous participant of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Myroslav Symchych at the school. It was initiated by a political party "For Ukraine" as a protest against a pro-Russian policy of the minister of education and science of Ukraine Dmytro Tabachnyk. In 2017, she prepared her pupil Ivan Feniak to the 3rd place of the 4th stage of an All-Ukrainian pupils' history olympiad. In 2020–2022, Olesia also taught Taras Symak, a winner of the 3rd stage of the All-Ukrainian pupils' history olympiad in 2026.

In 2019, together with her pupils, Olesia initiated a trip to a three-day seminar in Ivano-Frankivsk, dedicated to the memory of Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who kept a diary during the war and described the horrors. And then there was a field trip, which was conducted by the children participating in the seminar.

Since 2022, Olesia Hudymiak is a history teacher of school in Lisna Slobidka. Olesia is also a member of the Society of Political Prisoners and Repressed People. On August 24, 2023, she was awarded the diploma of a mayor of Kolomyia as a member of the society for contribution to the struggle for Ukrainian independence.

In May 2026, a book about her repressed family "To the Memory of the Unbroken Couple", where Olesia is reminded, was published. On June 4, this book was represented by local historian Illya Kryvoruchko.