Zenon Kuzela

Zenon Frantsyskovych Kuzelya (June 23, 1882 - May 24, 1952) was a prominent Ukrainian linguist, bibliographer, historian, journalist, and civil activist.

He was born in a family of forestry in the village of Poruchyn (today's in Berezhany Raion). Kuzelya studied at Berezhany gymnasium where he organized a secret club called "Young Ukraine". After finishing gymnasium in 1900, he enrolled into the Lviv University. Kuzelya, however, soon moved to Vienna, where he continued to study at the University of Vienna and headed the Ukrainian student society "Sich". After graduating he worked in Vienna, and in 1909 he moved to Chernivtsi, while also becoming a member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Lviv.

With the start of the World War I Kuzela moved back to Vienna, where he worked for a community. From 1916 to 1920 he conducted a culturally educational work for the interned in the camp near Saltzwedel (Germany).

After moving to Berlin, Kuzelya was an editor of a journal called "Ukrainske Slovo" (Ukrainian Word) and publications such as "Ukrainische Kulturberichte" and "Ukrains'ka Nakladnya". In 1943 there was published a big "Ukrainian-German dictionary" that was edited by Zenon Kuzelya and Jaroslav Rudnyckyj, which even to this day is an unsurpassed work.

From 1944 to 1952 Kuzelya worked in Munich as a head of the Ukrainian Student Assistance Commission which helped the Ukrainian students abroad. Along with it he continued to work in mentioned publications and was a co-author of the first part of Encyclopedia of Ukraine (Munich - New-York, 1949). In 1949 Kuzela was appointed the head of the Shevchenko Scientific Society.

Since 1951 Kuzelya lived in Paris.

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