Vasyl Stus

Vasyl Stus
Василь Стус
Born	(1938-01-06)January 6, 1938 Rakhnivka [uk], Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Died	September 4, 1985(1985-09-04) (aged 47) Perm-36, Kuchino, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Ukrainian
Citizenship	Soviet
Alma mater	Donetsk National University
Occupation	poet
Known for	poems, human rights activism with participation in the Ukrainian Helsinki Group
Movement	dissident movement in the Soviet Union
Spouse	Valentyna Popeliukh
Children	Dmytro
Awards	Shevchenko National Prize, Antonovych Prize
Signature

Vasyl Semenovych Stus (Ukrainian: Васи́ль Семе́нович Стус; January 6, 1938 – September 4, 1985) was a Ukrainian poet, translator, literary critic, journalist, and an active member of the Ukrainian dissident movement. For his political convictions, his works were banned by the Soviet regime and he spent 13 years in detention until his death in Perm-36—then a Soviet forced labor camp for political prisoners, subsequently The Museum of the History of Political Repression—after having declared a hunger strike on September 4, 1985. On November 26, 2005, the Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko posthumously awarded him the highest national title: Hero of Ukraine.^[1] Stus is widely regarded as one of Ukraine's foremost poets.