User:Victuallers/olena

Olena Iwaniwna Stepaniw or Jelena Iwanowna Stepaniw or Olena Stepaniw-Daschkewytsch (December 7, 1892 – July 11, 1963) was an Austria-Hungary Ukrainian soldier, public figure and economist.

Life
Stepaniv was born in Vishnivchik in 1892. During the first world war she was a student at Lviv University. While still a student she was given the command of a platoon. She joined the Women's detachment of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen and she was at the battle for Makivka with the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen. She was rewarded by being promoted to second lieutenant and she was awarded a medal for bravery. Ferenc Molnár who was a journalist reported seeing women sharp shooters like Stepaniv serving alongside men, wearing uniforms and gaining medals and promotion.

She was taken prisoner by the Russians after she and others stayed behind to cover a retreat at Bolekhiv. She was held in Tashkent as a prisoner of war where she stayed until 1917. Shelped organise the 1918 uptising in Tashkent as she was a member of the legion's Supreme Military Board. From 1918 to 1919 she again commanded a platoon this time in the Ukrainian Galician Army.

Stepaniv died in Lviv in 1963.