Love stories of outstanding Transcarpathians: Augustine Voloshin and Irina Petrik

Uzhgorod.in continues to tell interesting love stories of our famous countrymen. Recently, we published the story of Laszlo Otsyl and Luiza Pereni. Today. we will tell about Augustine Voloshin and Irina Petrik.

The only son in the family of Ivan and Emilia, who also had 6 daughters. For the family, he was just Gusti, but for others – Augustine Voloshin, a political and cultural activist, the president of Carpatho-Ukraine. But it’s on the outside, and there is the other side, where he was a loving husband and a father to 22 orphans.

His faithful companion in life was the daughter of Professor of Uzhgorod gymnasium Irina Petrik, who was a distant relative of Oleksandr Dukhnovich. They engaged in 1896, and got married the same year. 

Irina was worthy of her husband. She supported him in all his endeavors and herself was a very active social and educational activist. She actively helped women, defending their rights and interests. Together with Augustine’s sister Olga, she opened the "Marian congregation of Greek-Catholic girls." The main objective of the organization was to make women’s lives easier. Here, they were taught writing and reading, basics of medicine and hygiene and child care. In 1921, she initiated the "Women’s Union", that conducted numerous educational campaigns. The "Women’s Union" distributed more than 300,000 free meals to the poor in 1932 – 1933.  

Unfortunately, the Voloshin family did not have children of their own, so they put all their efforts in the development of the community. But they found happiness and family comfort in the orphanage, which the family organized in 1933 in their own house on Rakoczy street (the city of Uzhgorod). With the help of Basilian sisters, they organized a sort of a family-type home, where 22 children lived. There, they had everything they needed: shelter, bread and love of two parents – Irina and Augustine. They say, the family even organized a small orchestra and choir.

This idyll was interrupted by the tragic death of Irina after two days of illness and complications. She was missed by a lot of people, and even Czech President Tomas Masaryk expressed his condolence. But, of course, it was Augustine who missed her the most and even posted obituaries on the death of his beloved wife in all the newspapers of Czechoslovakia, which he had access to.      

He commanded to bury him near his wife (now it is the territory of the Museum of Folk Architecture and Life). But it was not to be, because he died in Lefortovo prison in Moscow. It is still not known where his body is. In 2014, two tombstones were set up at the grave of Irina Petrik: for her and for Augustine.