Anatole Vakhnianyn

Anatole Vakhnianyn (Ukrainian: Анатоль Вахнянин (September 19, 1841, in Sieniawa – February 11, 1908), was a Ukrainian political and cultural figure, composer, teacher and journalist.

Vakhnianyn was born in Sieniawa, Przeworsk County, today a part of Poland but at that time a part of the Austrian Empire. He came from a clerical family of noble origins; his father, Klym Vakhnianyn, and grandfather, Iakiv Vakhnyanin, were Greek-Catholic priests. His mother, Karolina Veith, was the daughter of a Czech-German officer stationed at the Przemysl garrison. Karolina's brother Wilhelm married a Polish woman and was the maternal grandfather of Kazimierz Świtalski, Prime Minister of Poland (1929). The languages spoken in his home were Polish and German. Anatole Vakhnianyn's sister, Antonina, was the maternal grandmother of Ukrainian-American community leader Omelian Pleshkewycz.

After completing studies at Przemysl's gymnasium, in 1859 Vakhnianyn began studying theology in Lviv's seminary. During this time, he came to recognize the deeper "beauty of Ukrainian poetry and prose" and became heavily involved in Ukrainian literature and music. In 1863, he married Jozefa de Wankowicz, a distant cousin and member of a noble family. In 1865, Vakhnianyn organized the first Shevchenko concert in western Ukrainian lands, in Przemyśl. Moving to Vienna in 1865 where he studied philosophy at the University of Vienna, he organized the first Ukrainian student organization there (Sich) and became its first head.

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