Oprishki

Ukrainian insurgents who fought against serfdom and national oppression in the western Ukrainian regions of Galicia, Bukovina, and Transcarpathia between the 16th and first half of the 19th centuries. Supported by the local people and successfully taking advantage of the mountainous terrain, small detachments of Oprishki meted out punishment to the landlords, leasers of estates, moneylenders, and innkeepers who were especially hated by the people. Groups of Oprishki participated in all the major popular movements: the national liberation war of the Ukrainian people in the mid-17th century, the Polish peasant insurrection in Kraków Województwo in 1651, and the haida-mak revolts in the Right-bank Ukraine. They were most active in the 1740’s, under the leadership of O. V. Dovbush. The movement was stamped out by the Austrian government in the first half of the 19th century. There are many folk ballads and legends about the Oprishki, and many artists and writers have celebrated them in their works.