Tetiana Mykhailivska-Tsymbal

Throughout the years of my emigration, my deprived homeland, Ukraine, often appeared before my eyes, and I remembered it with pain and longing

Tetiana Mykhailivska-Tsymbal

Tetiana Mykhailivska-Tsymbal was a public figure, philanthropist, and educator of the Ukrainian diaspora in Argentina and the United States. She was also a participant in the Ukrainian revolution of 1917-1921.

She was born on March 20, 1900, in the town of Bratslav, Vinnytsia region, to a nurse Oleksandra Borzhnovska, and a Russian army general, Serhii Mykhailovskyi. She spent her childhood years in Podillia, received her primary education in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, and later studied at the private gymnasium of Yevhenia Kurczynska in Haisyn. In 1917, she graduated from the Second Mariinsky Gymnasium in Odesa with a silver medal.

While studying in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, she joined the local Prosvita organization. She planned to enter the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, but the revolutionary events and the war radically changed her life path.

During the Ukrainian revolution, she acted as a liaison and scout between Mohyliv-Podilskyi and Kyiv. After the defeat of Ukrainian People’s Republic (UPR), she and her husband, Colonel of the UPR Army Ivan Ukhiv, crossed the Dniester and ended up in Romania, where she worked as a teacher in the village of Bochkivtsi. In 1923, she emigrated to Argentina.

In Argentina, she married a Ukrainian émigré artist, Viktor Tsymbal, and took a double surname.
Together with her husband, she was an active participant in Ukrainian community life in Buenos Aires. The Tsymbals joined the activities of the Prosvita organization, organized a drama club and Ukrainian school in Valentín Alsina. Tetiana also contributed financially to the construction of the Taras Shevchenko monument in Buenos Aires and became a member of the Ukrainian Hetman Organization.

After the Second World War, Tetiana Mykhailivska-Tsymbal co-founded the Ukrainian Emigrant Relief Committee. She coordinated the arrival of immigrants to Argentina, helped with settlement and employment, and sent aid to camps for displaced persons.
In 1960, she and her husband moved to the United States. At first she was a member of the 63rd branch of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America (UNWLA) in Detroit, and after moving to Philadelphia, she joined the 44th branch of the UNWLA. She supported the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, funded the publication of monographs, and participated in projects aimed at preserving and promoting Ukrainian culture.

Tetiana Mykhailivska-Tsymbal passed away in 1986. She made a significant contribution to the development of the Ukrainian community in Argentina and the United States, combining social activism with philanthropy and preserving Ukrainian culture abroad.