Yaroslav Halan  Yaroslav Olexandrovych Halan (in Ukrainian: "Ярослав Олександрович Галан", party nickname "Comrade Yaga"; July 27, 1902, Dynów – October 24, 1949, Lviv) was a Ukrainian Soviet anti-fascist writer, playwright, publicist, member of the Communist Party of Western Ukraine since 1924, killed by nationalist insurgents in 1949. Yaroslav Halan was born on July 27, 1902, in Dynów (now Poland) to the family of Olexandr Halan, a minor post-office official. As a child he lived and studied in Peremyshl. He enjoyed a large collection of books gathered by his father, and was greatly influenced by the creativity of the Ukrainian socialist writer Ivan Franko. At school, Yaroslav's critical thoughts brought him into conflict with priests who taught theology. At the beginning of the First World War his father, along with other "unreliable" elements who sympathized with the Russians, was placed in the Thalerhof internment camp by the Austrian authorities. Eventually Galitzia was taken by the Russians. During the next Austrian offensive, in order to avoid repressions, his mother evacuated the family with the retreating Russian army to Rostov-on-Don, where Yaroslav studied at the gymnasium and performed in the local theatre. Living there, Halan witnessed the events of the October Revolution. He became familiar with Lenin’s agitation. Later these events formed the base of his story "Unforgettable Days". While in Rostov-on-Don, he discovered the works of Russian writers such as Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, Vissarion Belinsky, and Anton Chekhov. Halan often went to the theatre. Thus his obsession with this art was born, which in the future determined his decision to become a playwright. After the war Halan returned to Galitzia (annexed by Poland), where in 1922 he graduated from the Peremyshl Ukrainian Gymnasium. He then studied at the Triest Higher Trade School in Italy, and in 1922 enrolled in the University of Vienna. In 1926 he transferred to the Jagiellonian University of Kraków, from which he graduated in 1928 (according to some sources he didn't pass the final exams). Halan then began working as a teacher of the Polish language and literature at a private gymnasium in Lutsk.