Rohach was born in
Velykyi Bereznyi (),
Ung county,
Austria-Hungary (modern-day
Ukraine). From 1933 to 1938, he was the editor of the
Novoyi Svobody newspaper in
Uzhhorod, in
Carpathian Ruthenia, then part of
Czechoslovakia and today in western
Ukraine. Between 1938 and 1939, he was the personal secretary to
Avhustyn Voloshyn, the nominal Prime-Minister of
Carpatho-Ukraine during its several days of independence in March 1939 before it was occupied by
Hungary following the
First Vienna Award. Rohach was an active supporter and member of the Ukrainian scouting movement,
Plast.
Political career , 1938 Rohach was a prolific writer of political pamphlets and short stories dealing with various aspects of
religion, human
morality, the
national question, and the cause for Ukrainian
self-determination. He was a member of the
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and a supporter of the
Andriy Melnyk faction (
OUN-M). He moved to
Kyiv during the
German occupation in order to aid in the re-establishment of a Ukrainian administration in the nation's capital. In January 1942, Rohach became the co-editor of the newspaper
Nove Ukrainske Slovo ("New Ukrainian Word") and the magazine
Lytavry ("Tympani"), which united those active in Ukrainian culture and arts in Kyiv. The newspaper expressed strong
antisemitic sentiments. In 1941, the paper described
Jews as the "greatest enemy of the people."
Arrest and execution In 1941, Rohach was briefly arrested by the
Gestapo during a crackdown on Ukrainian nationalist activities, after he and others refused unconditional cooperation with the Germans. In January 1942, Rohach was allegedly taken to
Babi Yar where he, along with his sister, Anna (Hanna), and his entire staff, was executed although the precise location of his execution is disputed by modern historians.
Per Anders Rudling concludes that the method or location of the executions is unknown but that their bodies probably ended up at Babi Yar. ==Legacy==