Symon Petlura
Encyclopedia
Symon Vasylyovych Petliura was a publicist, writer, journalist, Ukrainian
politician, statesman, and national leader who led Ukraine's struggle for independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917
.
During the period of Ukrainian independence in 1918–1920, he was Head of the Ukrainian State
.
On May 25, 1926 Petliura was assassinated
in Paris by the Jewish anarchist Sholom Schwartzbard
.
, Ukraine, the son of Vasyl Petliura and Olha Marchenko, urban dwellers of Cossack
extraction. Cossack, as opposed to peasant heritage, allowed certain privileges regarding land ownership, taxes and access to education in the Russian Empire, of which most of Ukraine was then part. Petliura's initial education was obtained in parochial schools, and he planned to become an Orthodox
priest.
In 1898 while attending the Russian Orthodox Seminary in Poltava
, Petliura joined the Ukrainian Revolutionary Party
(RUP). When his membership was discovered in 1901, he was expelled from the seminary. In 1902, under threat of arrest, he moved to Yekaterinodar
in the Kuban
where he worked for 2 years initially as a schoolteacher and later in the archives of the Kuban Cossack Host
where he helped organize over 200 thousand documents. In December 1903, he was arrested for organizing a RUP
branch in Yekaterinodar and for publishing inflammatory anti-tsarist articles in the Ukrainian press outside of Imperial Russia. He was released in March 1904, moving briefly to Kiev
and then emigrating to the Western Ukrainian city of Lviv
then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In Lviv, Petliura lived under the name of Sviatoslav Tagon working alongside Ivan Franko
, Volodymyr Hnatiuk
publishing and working as an editor for the "Literaturno-Naukovy Zbirnyk" Journal (Literary-Scientific Collection), the Shevchenko Scientific Society
and as a co-editor of "Volya" magazine. He contributed numerous articles to the Ukrainian language press in Galicia.
At the end of 1905, after amnesty was declared, Petliura returned briefly to Kiev
but soon moved to the Russian capital of Petersburg
in order to publish the socialist-democratic
monthly magazine Vil’na Ukrayina (Free Ukraine). After Russian censors closed this magazine in July 1905, he moved back to Kiev where he worked for the magazine Rada (Council). In 1907–09 he became the editor of the literary magazine Slovo (Word) and co-editor of Ukrayina (Ukraine).
Because of the closure of these publications by the Russian Imperial authorities, Petliura was forced to once again move from Kiev
to Moscow in 1909, where he worked briefly as an accountant. There, he married Olha Bilska (1885–1959), with whom he had a daughter, Lesia (1911–42). From 1912 he was a co-editor of the influential Russian-language journal Ukrainskaya zhizn’ (Ukrainian life) until May 1917.
of 1876, Petliura found more freedom to publish Ukraine oriented articles in Saint Petersburg
than in Ukraine. There, he published the magazine "Vil'na Ukrayina" (Independent Ukraine, ) until July 1905. Tsarist censors, however, closed this magazine, and Petliura moved back to Kiev.
In Kiev, Petlura first worked for "Rada" (Council: Ukrainian – Радa). In 1907 he became editor of the literary magazine "Slovo
" (The Word: Ukrainian – Слово). Also, he co-edited the magazine "Ukrayina" (Ukraine, ).
In 1909, these publications were closed by Russian imperial police, and Petliura moved back to Moscow to publish. There, he was co-editor of the Russian language magazine "Ukrayinskaya Zhizn" (Ukrainian Life) to familiarize the local population with news and culture of what was known as Malorossia. He was chief editor with this publication from 1912 to 1914. In Moscow he married his wife Olha Bilska in 1915 (later she was also known as her husband under the surname of Marchenko). There, in Moscow was born the daughter of Peliura, Lesia (Olesia).
in May 1917 as a delegate, where he was elected head of the Ukrainian General Army Committee on May 18. With the proclamation of the Ukrainian Central Council
on June 28, 1917, Petliura became the First Secretary for military matters.
Disagreeing with the politics of the then Head of the General Secretariat
Volodymyr Vynnychenko
, Petliura left the government and became the head of the Haydamatskyj Kish of Sloboda Ukraine
(in Kharkiv
), a military formation that in January–February 1918 was forced back to protect Kiev during the Uprising on the Arsenal Plant
and prevent capturing the capital by the Bolshevik
Red Guard
.
After the Hetmanate Putsch (April 28, 1918), Petliura was arrested by the Skoropadsky
administration and spent four months incarcerated in Bila Tserkva
.
After his release, Petliura participated in the anti-Hetmanate putsch and became a member of the Directorate of Ukraine
as the Chief of Military Forces. With the fall of Kiev and the emigration of Vynnychenko from Ukraine, Petliura became the leader of the Directorate in February 1919. In his capacity as head of the Army and State, he continued to fight both Bolshevik
and White
forces in Ukraine for the next ten months.
s, Anton Denikin
's White Russians, and the Romania
ns. By autumn of 1919, most of Denikin's White Russian
forces were defeated — in the meantime, however, the Bolsheviks had grown to become the dominant force in Ukraine.
December 5, 1919, which had previously recognized him as the head of the legal government of Ukraine. In April 1920, as head of the Ukrainian People's Republic
, he signed an alliance in Warsaw
with the Polish government, agreeing to a border on the River Zbruch and recognizing Poland's right to Galicia in exchange for military aid in overthrowing the Bolshevik
regime. Polish forces, reinforced by Petliura's remaining troops (some two divisions), attacked Kiev on May 7, 1920 in what became a turning point of the 1919–21 Polish-Bolshevik war. Following initial successes, Piłsudski's and Petliura's forces were pushed back to the Vistula River and the Polish capital, Warsaw
. The Polish Army managed to defeat the Bolshevik Russians, but were unable to secure independence for Ukraine. Petliura directed the affairs of the Ukrainian government-in-exile from Tarnów
and when the Soviet Union requested Petliura's extradition from Poland, the Poles engineered his "disappearance," secretly moving him from Tarnów to Warsaw.
, with the establishment of the Soviet Union
on December 30, 1922, Petliura, in late 1923 left Poland for Budapest
, then Vienna
, Geneva
and finally settled in Paris in early 1924. Here he established and edited the Ukrainian language newspaper Tryzub (Trident
).
Ivan Kuchuhura Kucherenko
.
, conductor Oleksander Koshetz
and bandurist
Vasyl Yemetz
, to allow them to travel internationally and promote an awareness of Ukrainian culture. Koshetz created the Ukrainian Republic Capella
and took it on tour internationally, giving concerts in Europe and the Americas. One of the concerts by the Capella inspired George Gershwin
to write "Summertime
", based on the lullaby Oi Khodyt Son Kolo Vikon (The dream passes by the Windows) All three musicians later emigrated to the United States.
Petliura's articles had a significant impact on the shaping of Ukrainian national awareness in the early 20th century. He published articles and brochures under a variety of noms de plume, including V. Marchenko, V. Salevsky, I. Rokytsky, and O. Riastr.
s continued to be perpetrated on Ukrainian ethnic territory, and the number of Jews killed during the period is estimated to be from 35,000 to 50,000.
The debate about Petliura's role in the pogroms has been a topic of dispute since Petliura's assassination and Schwartzbard's trial. In 1969, the Journal of Jewish Studies published two opposing views by scholars Taras Hunczak
and Zosa Szajkowski
, views still frequently cited.
Some historians claim that Petliura, as the head of the government, did not do enough to stop the pogroms. They suggest this lack of activity knowingly encouraged them, thus strengthenng his base of support among his soldiers, commanders and the peasant population at large, by appealing to antisemitic sentiments. They also suggest that many of the atrocities were committed by the forces directly under the command of the Directorate and loyal to Petliura. According to a Jewish former member of the Ukrainian government's cabinet, Solomon Goldelman, Petliura was afraid to punish officers or soldiers engaged in crimes against Jews for fear of losing their support. Nevertheless, Goldelman consistently defended Petliura and his record. Petliura is said to have once said, "it is a pity that pogroms take place, but they uphold the discipline of the army.
Historians have pointed out that Petliura himself never demonstrated any personal antisemitism, and it is documented that he actively sought to halt anti-Jewish violence on numerous occasions, introducing capital punishment for the crime of pogroming. Taras Hunczak of Rutgers University
writes that "to convict Petliura for the tragedy that befell Ukrainian Jewry is to condemn an innocent man and to distort the record of Ukrainian-Jewish relations".
Because the Soviet Union saw Petliura and Ukrainian nationalism
as a threat, it was in its interest to tarnish his reputation. A propaganda campaign to this end included accusations of anti-Jewish crimes. Hunczak insists that "Petliura's own personal convictions render such responsibility highly unlikely, and all the documentary evidence indicates that he consistently made efforts to stem pogrom activity by UNR troops."
In 1921 Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the father of Revisionist Zionism
, signed an agreement with Maxim Slavinsky, Petlura's representative in Prague, regarding the formation of a Jewish gendarmerie
which was to accompany Petliura’s putative invasion of Ukraine, and would protect the Jewish population from pogroms. This agreement did not materialize, and Jabotinsky was heavily criticized by most Zionist groups. Nevertheless he stood by the agreement and was proud of it.
On May 25, 1926, while walking on rue Racine, not far from boulevard Saint-Michel, Petliura was approached by Sholom Schwartzbard
. Schwartzbard asked him in Ukrainian, "Are you Mr. Petliura?" Petliura did not answer, only raised his walking cane. Then as Schwartzbard claimed in court he pulled out a gun and shot him five times. Some state the there were two more after he was lying on the ground. That is how Schwartzbard described the incident:
Schwartzbard was claiming that he was walking around Paris with Petliura's photo in one pocket and his handgun in another, peering in the faces of the Paris residents just to find his victim.
Schwartzbard was a Ukrainian-born Jewish anarchist. He participated in the Jewish self defense of Balta
, for which the Russian Tsarist government sentenced him to 3 months in prison for "provoking" the Balta pogrom, and was twice convicted for taking part in anarchist "expropriation" (burglary) and bank robbery in Austro-Hungary. He later joined the French Foreign Legion
(1914–1917) and was wounded in the Battle of the Somme. It is reported that Schwartzbard told famous fellow anarchist leader Nestor Makhno
in Paris that he was terminally ill and expected to die, and that he would take Petliura with him; Makhno forbade Schwartzbard to do so.
The French Secret service had been keeping an eye out on Schwartzbard from the time he had surfaced in the French capital and had noted his meetings with known Bolsheviks. During the trial the German special services also informed their French counterparts that Schwartzbard had assassinated Petlura on the orders of Galip, an emissary of the Union of Ukrainian Citizens. He had received orders from the head of the Soviet Ukrainian government, Christian Rakovsky
, an ethnic Bulgarian and a revolutionary leader from Romania
. The act was consolidated by Mikhail Volodin, who arrived in France August 8, 1925 and who had been in close contact with Schwartzbard.
Schwartzbard's parents were among fifteen members of his family murdered in the pogroms in Odessa.
The core defense at the Schwartzbard trial
was — as presented by the noted jurist Henri Torres
— that he was avenging the deaths of more than 50,000 Jewish victims of the pogroms, whereas the prosecution (both criminal and civil) tried to show that:
Both sides brought on many witnesses, including several historians. A notable witness for the defense was Haia Greenberg (aged 29), a local nurse who survived the Proskurov
pogroms and testified about the carnage. She never said that Petliura personally participated in the event, but rather some other soldiers who did said that they were directed by Petliura. Several former Ukrainian officers testified for the prosecution.
After a trial lasting eight days the jury acquitted Schwarzbard.
Petliura is buried alongside his wife and daughter in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris, France.
Petliura's two sisters, Orthodox nuns who had remained in Poltava, were arrested and shot in 1928 by the NKVD
(the Soviet secret police). It is claimed that in March 1926 Vlas Chubar
(the Russian Commissar to Ukraine), in a speech given in Kharkiv
and repeated in Moscow, warned of the danger Petliura represented to Soviet power. It is after this speech that the command was allegedly given to assassinate Petliura.
in 1991, previously restricted Soviet archives have allowed numerous politicians and historians to review Petliura's role in Ukrainian history. Some consider him a national hero who strove for the independence of Ukraine. Several cities, including Kiev, the Ukrainian capital and Poltava
, the city of his birth, have erected monuments to Petliura, with a museum complex also being planned in Poltava. To mark the 80th anniversary of his assassination, a twelve-volume edition of his writings, including articles, letters and historic documents, has been published in Kiev by the Taras Shevchenko University
and the State Archive of Ukraine. In 1992 in Poltava
a series of readings known as "Petlurivski chytannia" have become an annual event, and since 1993 these take place annually at Kiev University
.
In June 2009 the Kiev city council
renamed Komintern's Street (located in the Shevchenkivskyi Raion
) into Symon Petliura Street to commemorate the occasion of his 130th birthday anniversary.
). One of Ukrainian-Jewish leaders in independent Ukraine wrote that "Petlyura did not want or was not able to defend Ukrainian Jews from his own army".
Recently uncovered documents and letters to prominent Jewish community leaders demonstrate Petlura's support for the re-establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. In a "in the name of" the Jewish population of Ukraine, former Jewish affairs minister Pinchas Krasny thanked Petlura for his support for the vote in the League of Nations of July 24, 1922 regarding the formation of a Jewish state in Palestine. A further reflection regarding Petlura's position regarding Jews is demonstrated by another interesting fact. In exile, as the Head Otаman of the Ukrainian forces he was functioning in great material difficulties. In February 1921 he assigned Jewish refugees from Ukraine in Poland 15 thousand Polish Marks in aid.
, mocking Skoropadsky and the Bolshevik Red Guard
.
News of Petlura’s assassination in the summer of 1926 was marked by numerous revolts in eastern Ukraine particularly in Boromlia, Zhehailivtsi, (Sumy province), Velyka Rublivka, Myloradov (Poltava province), Hnylsk, Bilsk, Kuzemyn and all along the Vorskla River
from Okhtyrka
to Poltava
, Burynia, Nizhyn
(Chernihiv province) and other cities. These revolts were brutally pacified by the Soviet administration. The blind kobzars Pavlo Hashchenko
and Ivan Kuchuhura Kucherenko
composed a duma
(epic poem) in memory of Symon Petlura. To date Petlura is the only modern Ukrainian politician to have a duma created and sung in his memory. This duma became popular among the kobzars of left-bank Ukraine and was sung also by Stepan Pasiuha
, Petro Drevchenko
, Bohushchenko, and Chumak.
The Soviets also tried their hand at portraying Petlura through the arts in order to discredit the Ukrainian national leader. A number of humorous songs appeared in which Petlura is portrayed as a traveling beggar whose only territory is that which is under his train carriage. A number of plays such as the “Republic on wheels” by Mamontov and the opera “Shchors” by Boris Liatoshinsky and “Arsenal” by Georgy Maiboroda portray Petlura in a negative light, as a lackey who sold out Western Ukraine to Poland, often using the very same melodies which had become popular during the fight for Ukrainian Independence in 1918.
Petlura continues to be portrayed by the Ukrainian people in its folk songs in a manner similar to Taras Shevchenko
and Bohdan Khmelnytsky
. He is likened to the sun which suddenly stopped shining.
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
politician, statesman, and national leader who led Ukraine's struggle for independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
.
During the period of Ukrainian independence in 1918–1920, he was Head of the Ukrainian State
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
.
On May 25, 1926 Petliura was assassinated
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
in Paris by the Jewish anarchist Sholom Schwartzbard
Sholom Schwartzbard
Sholem Schwarzbard was a Bessarabian-born Jewish poet and anarchist, known primarily for the assassination of the Ukrainian nationalist leader Symon Petliura...
.
Life before the Revolution
Petliura was born on May 10, 1879, in PoltavaPoltava
Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....
, Ukraine, the son of Vasyl Petliura and Olha Marchenko, urban dwellers of Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
extraction. Cossack, as opposed to peasant heritage, allowed certain privileges regarding land ownership, taxes and access to education in the Russian Empire, of which most of Ukraine was then part. Petliura's initial education was obtained in parochial schools, and he planned to become an Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
priest.
In 1898 while attending the Russian Orthodox Seminary in Poltava
Poltava
Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....
, Petliura joined the Ukrainian Revolutionary Party
Revolutionary Ukrainian Party
The Revolutionary Ukrainian Party was a political party in early 20th century Ukraine, founded February 11, 1900 by students in Kharkiv.-History:...
(RUP). When his membership was discovered in 1901, he was expelled from the seminary. In 1902, under threat of arrest, he moved to Yekaterinodar
Krasnodar
Krasnodar is a city in Southern Russia, located on the Kuban River about northeast of the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. It is the administrative center of Krasnodar Krai . Population: -Name:...
in the Kuban
Kuban
Kuban is a geographic region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, Volga Delta and the Caucasus...
where he worked for 2 years initially as a schoolteacher and later in the archives of the Kuban Cossack Host
Kuban Cossacks
Kuban Cossacks or Kubanians are Cossacks who live in the Kuban region of Russia. Most of the Kuban Cossacks are of descendants of two major groups who were re-settled in the Western Northern Caucasus during the Caucasus War in the late 18th century...
where he helped organize over 200 thousand documents. In December 1903, he was arrested for organizing a RUP
Revolutionary Ukrainian Party
The Revolutionary Ukrainian Party was a political party in early 20th century Ukraine, founded February 11, 1900 by students in Kharkiv.-History:...
branch in Yekaterinodar and for publishing inflammatory anti-tsarist articles in the Ukrainian press outside of Imperial Russia. He was released in March 1904, moving briefly to Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
and then emigrating to the Western Ukrainian city of Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In Lviv, Petliura lived under the name of Sviatoslav Tagon working alongside Ivan Franko
Ivan Franko
Ivan Yakovych Franko was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, political activist, doctor of philosophy, the author of the first detective novels and modern poetry in the Ukrainian language....
, Volodymyr Hnatiuk
Volodymyr Hnatiuk
Volodymyr Hnatiuk , was a Ukrainian ethnographer, writer, literary scholar, translator, and journalist, and was one of the most influential and notable Ukrainian ethnographers....
publishing and working as an editor for the "Literaturno-Naukovy Zbirnyk" Journal (Literary-Scientific Collection), the Shevchenko Scientific Society
Shevchenko Scientific Society
The Shevchenko Scientific Society is a Ukrainian scientific society devoted to the promotion of scholarly research and publication. Unlike the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine the society is a public organization that was reestablished in Ukraine in 1989 after almost 50 years of exile...
and as a co-editor of "Volya" magazine. He contributed numerous articles to the Ukrainian language press in Galicia.
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
but soon moved to the Russian capital of Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
in order to publish the socialist-democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
monthly magazine Vil’na Ukrayina (Free Ukraine). After Russian censors closed this magazine in July 1905, he moved back to Kiev where he worked for the magazine Rada (Council). In 1907–09 he became the editor of the literary magazine Slovo (Word) and co-editor of Ukrayina (Ukraine).
Because of the closure of these publications by the Russian Imperial authorities, Petliura was forced to once again move from Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
to Moscow in 1909, where he worked briefly as an accountant. There, he married Olha Bilska (1885–1959), with whom he had a daughter, Lesia (1911–42). From 1912 he was a co-editor of the influential Russian-language journal Ukrainskaya zhizn’ (Ukrainian life) until May 1917.
Journalism and publications
As the editor of numerous journals and newspapers, Petliura published over 15 000 critical articles, reviews, stories and poems under an estimated 120 nom-de-plumes. His prolific work in both the Russian and Ukrainian languages helped shape the mindset of the Ukrainian population in the years leading up to the Revolution in both Eastern and Western Ukraine. His prolific correspondence was of great benefit when the Revolution broke out in 1917, as he had contacts throughout Ukraine.Publications Before 1914
As the Ukrainian language had been outlawed in the Russian Empire by the Ems UkazEms Ukaz
The Ems Ukaz, or Ems Ukase , was a secret decree of Tsar Alexander II of Russia issued in 1876, banning the use of the Ukrainian language in print, with the exception of reprinting of old documents. The ukaz also forbade the import of Ukrainian publications and the staging of plays or lectures in...
of 1876, Petliura found more freedom to publish Ukraine oriented articles in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
than in Ukraine. There, he published the magazine "Vil'na Ukrayina" (Independent Ukraine, ) until July 1905. Tsarist censors, however, closed this magazine, and Petliura moved back to Kiev.
In Kiev, Petlura first worked for "Rada" (Council: Ukrainian – Радa). In 1907 he became editor of the literary magazine "Slovo
Slovo
Slovo is a British electronic band started by guitarist Dave Randall. The group's first album "nommo" was released in 2002 and their second and latest album, Todo Cambia, was released on September 17, 2007....
" (The Word: Ukrainian – Слово). Also, he co-edited the magazine "Ukrayina" (Ukraine, ).
In 1909, these publications were closed by Russian imperial police, and Petliura moved back to Moscow to publish. There, he was co-editor of the Russian language magazine "Ukrayinskaya Zhizn" (Ukrainian Life) to familiarize the local population with news and culture of what was known as Malorossia. He was chief editor with this publication from 1912 to 1914. In Moscow he married his wife Olha Bilska in 1915 (later she was also known as her husband under the surname of Marchenko). There, in Moscow was born the daughter of Peliura, Lesia (Olesia).
Publications after Emigration
In Paris, Petliura continued the struggle for Ukrainian independence as a publicist. In 1924, Petlura became the editor and publisher of the weekly journal "Tryzub" (Trident: Ukrainian – Тризуб). He contributed to this journal using various pen names, including V. Marchenko, and V. Salevsky.New Views on Petliura's Publications
Petliura's correspondence with all the noted Ukrainian literary figures of the time and his many articles addressing the problems of Ukrainian self-awareness and cultural development were unavailable during the Soviet period and have only recently been made available for study. Previously all the journals which he published and edited were only available in main Academic library in Moscow, in the vaults with restricted access. Currently scholarship in Petliura's monumental legacy is being collected, published and carefully studied. New documents continue to be discovered.Rise to Power
Petliura attended the first All-Ukrainian Army Congress held in KievKiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
in May 1917 as a delegate, where he was elected head of the Ukrainian General Army Committee on May 18. With the proclamation of the Ukrainian Central Council
Tsentralna Rada
The Tsentralna Rada or Central Rada at first was the All-Ukrainian council that united political, public, cultural, professional organizations. Later after the All-Ukrainian National Congress that council became the revolutionary parliament of Ukraine...
on June 28, 1917, Petliura became the First Secretary for military matters.
Disagreeing with the politics of the then Head of the General Secretariat
General Secretariat of Ukraine
The General Secretariat of Ukraine was the main executive institution of the Ukrainian People's Republic from June 28, 1917 to January 22, 1918.It closely related to the today's Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine...
Volodymyr Vynnychenko
Volodymyr Vynnychenko
Volodymyr Kyrylovych Vynnychenko - Biography :Vynnychenko was born in Yelisavetgrad , the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire in a family of peasants. His father Kyrylo Vasyliovych Vynnychenko earlier in his life was a peasant-serf has moved from a village to the city of Yelisavetgrad where...
, Petliura left the government and became the head of the Haydamatskyj Kish of Sloboda Ukraine
Sloboda Ukraine
Sloboda Ukraine was a historical region which developed and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the southwestern frontier of the Tsardom of Russia....
(in Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
), a military formation that in January–February 1918 was forced back to protect Kiev during the Uprising on the Arsenal Plant
Kiev Arsenal January Uprising
Kiev Arsenal January Uprising, sometimes called simply the January Uprising or the January Rebellion , was the Bolshevik organized workers' armed revolt that started on January 29, 1918 at the Kiev Arsenal factory during the Ukrainian-Soviet War....
and prevent capturing the capital by the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
Red Guard
Red Guards (Russia)
In the context of the history of Russia and Soviet Union, Red Guards were paramilitary formations consisting of workers and partially of soldiers and sailors formed in the time frame of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
.
After the Hetmanate Putsch (April 28, 1918), Petliura was arrested by the Skoropadsky
Pavlo Skoropadsky
Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi 3 May 1873, Wiesbaden, Germany – 26 April 1945, Metten monastery clinic, Bavaria, Germany) was a Ukrainian politician, earlier an aristocrat and decorated Imperial Russian Army general...
administration and spent four months incarcerated in Bila Tserkva
Bila Tserkva
Bila Tserkva is a city located on the Ros' River in the Kiev Oblast in central Ukraine, approximately south of the capital, Kiev. Population 203,300 Area 34 km².-Administrative status:...
.
After his release, Petliura participated in the anti-Hetmanate putsch and became a member of the Directorate of Ukraine
Directorate of Ukraine
The Directorate, or Directory was a provisional revolutionary state committee of the Ukrainian National Republic, formed in 1918 by the Ukrainian National Union in rebellion against Skoropadsky's regime....
as the Chief of Military Forces. With the fall of Kiev and the emigration of Vynnychenko from Ukraine, Petliura became the leader of the Directorate in February 1919. In his capacity as head of the Army and State, he continued to fight both Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
and White
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
forces in Ukraine for the next ten months.
1919
With the outbreak of hostilities between Ukraine and Soviet Russia in January 1919, and with Vynnychenko's emigration, Petliura ultimately became the leading figure in the Directorate. During the course of the year, he continued to defend the fledgling republic against incursions by the BolshevikBolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s, Anton Denikin
Anton Ivanovich Denikin
Anton Ivanovich Denikin was Lieutenant General of the Imperial Russian Army and one of the foremost generals of the White movement in the Russian Civil War.- Childhood :...
's White Russians, and the Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
ns. By autumn of 1919, most of Denikin's White Russian
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
forces were defeated — in the meantime, however, the Bolsheviks had grown to become the dominant force in Ukraine.
1920
Petliura withdrew to PolandSecond Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
December 5, 1919, which had previously recognized him as the head of the legal government of Ukraine. In April 1920, as head of the Ukrainian People's Republic
Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...
, he signed an alliance in Warsaw
Treaty of Warsaw (1920)
The Treaty of Warsaw of April 1920 was an alliance between the Second Polish Republic, represented by Józef Piłsudski, and the Ukrainian People's Republic, represented by Symon Petlura, against Bolshevik Russia...
with the Polish government, agreeing to a border on the River Zbruch and recognizing Poland's right to Galicia in exchange for military aid in overthrowing the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
regime. Polish forces, reinforced by Petliura's remaining troops (some two divisions), attacked Kiev on May 7, 1920 in what became a turning point of the 1919–21 Polish-Bolshevik war. Following initial successes, Piłsudski's and Petliura's forces were pushed back to the Vistula River and the Polish capital, Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. The Polish Army managed to defeat the Bolshevik Russians, but were unable to secure independence for Ukraine. Petliura directed the affairs of the Ukrainian government-in-exile from Tarnów
Tarnów
Tarnów is a city in southeastern Poland with 115,341 inhabitants as of June 2009. The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarnów Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east-west connection...
and when the Soviet Union requested Petliura's extradition from Poland, the Poles engineered his "disappearance," secretly moving him from Tarnów to Warsaw.
After the Revolution
Bolshevik Russia persistently demanded that Petliura be handed over. Protected by several Polish friends and colleagues, such as Henryk JózewskiHenryk Józewski
Henryk Józewski was a Polish visual artist, politician, a member of government of the Ukrainian People's Republic, later an administrator during the Second Polish Republic....
, with the establishment of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
on December 30, 1922, Petliura, in late 1923 left Poland for Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, then Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
and finally settled in Paris in early 1924. Here he established and edited the Ukrainian language newspaper Tryzub (Trident
Coat of arms of Ukraine
The state coat of arms of Ukraine or commonly the Tryzub is the national coat of arms of Ukraine, featuring the same colors found on the Ukrainian flag; a blue shield with yellow trident, called the tryzub...
).
Promoting a Ukrainian cultural identity
During his time as leader of the Directorate, Petliura was active in supporting Ukrainian culture both in Ukraine and abroad.Supporting culture in Ukraine
Petlura introduced the awarding of the title "People's Artist of Ukraine" to artists who had made significant contributions to Ukrainian culture. A similar title award was continued after a significant break under the Soviet regime. Among those who had received this award was blind kobzarKobzar
A Kobzar was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment.-Tradition:Kobzars were often blind, and became predominantly so by the 1800s...
Ivan Kuchuhura Kucherenko
Ivan Kuchuhura Kucherenko
Ivan Iovych Kuchuhura-Kucherenko Ivan Iovych Kuchuhura-Kucherenko Ivan Iovych Kuchuhura-Kucherenko (July 7, 1878—November 24, 1937 was a Ukrainian minstrel (kobzar) and one of the most influential kobzars of the early 20th century...
.
Promoting Ukrainian culture abroad
He also saw the value in gaining international support and recognition of Ukrainian arts through cultural exchanges. Most notably, Petliura actively supported the work of cultural leaders such as the choreographer Vasyl AvramenkoVasyl Avramenko
Vasyl Kyrylovych Avramenko was a Ukrainian actor, dancer, choreographer, balletmaster, director, and film producer, credited with spreading Ukrainian folk dance across the world...
, conductor Oleksander Koshetz
Oleksander Koshetz
Oleksander Koshetz was a Ukrainian choral conductor, arranger, composer, ethnographer, writer, musicologist, and lecturer. He helped popularize Ukrainian music around the world...
and bandurist
Bandurist
A bandurist is a person who plays the Ukrainian plucked string instrument known as the bandura.-Types of performers:There are a number of different types of bandurist who differ in their paricular choice of instrument, the specific repertoire they play and manner in which they approach their...
Vasyl Yemetz
Vasyl Yemetz
Vasyl' Kostovych Yemetz was born in the village of Sharivka, 40 km from Kharkiv, Ukraine. Son of Kost' and Yevdokia . Married to Maria Horta-Doroshenko...
, to allow them to travel internationally and promote an awareness of Ukrainian culture. Koshetz created the Ukrainian Republic Capella
Ukrainian Republic Capella
The Ukrainian Republic Capella was a musical company during and after World War I which toured Europe and North America with the intent to promote Ukrainian culture abroad. The main sponsor of the Capella was Symon Petlura.-Background:During World War I, many events shook Eastern Europe...
and took it on tour internationally, giving concerts in Europe and the Americas. One of the concerts by the Capella inspired George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
to write "Summertime
Summertime (song)
"Summertime" is an aria composed by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward, the author of the novel Porgy on which the opera was based, although the song is also co-credited to Ira Gershwin by ASCAP....
", based on the lullaby Oi Khodyt Son Kolo Vikon (The dream passes by the Windows) All three musicians later emigrated to the United States.
Paris
In Paris, Petliura directed the activities of the government of the Ukrainian National Republic in exile. He launched the weekly Tryzub, and continued to edit and write numerous articles under various pen names with an emphasis on questions dealing with national oppression in Ukraine. These articles were written with a literary flair. The question of national awareness was often of significance in his literary work.Petliura's articles had a significant impact on the shaping of Ukrainian national awareness in the early 20th century. He published articles and brochures under a variety of noms de plume, including V. Marchenko, V. Salevsky, I. Rokytsky, and O. Riastr.
Role in pogroms
Anti-Jewish pogroms accompanied the Revolution of 1917 and the ensuing Russian Civil War. The Ukrainian state promised Jews full equality and autonomy, and Arnold Margolin, a Jewish minister in Petliura's government, declared in May 1919 that the Ukrainian government had given Jews more rights than they enjoyed in any other European government. However, Petliura lost control over most of his armed forces, who then engaged in killing Jews. During Petliura's term as Head of State (1919–20), pogromPogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
s continued to be perpetrated on Ukrainian ethnic territory, and the number of Jews killed during the period is estimated to be from 35,000 to 50,000.
The debate about Petliura's role in the pogroms has been a topic of dispute since Petliura's assassination and Schwartzbard's trial. In 1969, the Journal of Jewish Studies published two opposing views by scholars Taras Hunczak
Taras Hunczak
Taras Hunczak is a historian and professor emeritus at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. He lectures in Ukrainian, Russian, and East-European history.Dr. Hunczak has written extensively on Ukrainian history, the twentieth century in particular....
and Zosa Szajkowski
Zosa Szajkowski
Zosa Szajkowski is a Jewish French-American historian born in Poland, whose work is important in Jewish Historiography, the transfer of Jewish archives to the United States, and who was condemned for thefts of documents.- Biography :Zosa Szajkowski is born on 10 January 1911, at Zaręby Kościelne...
, views still frequently cited.
Some historians claim that Petliura, as the head of the government, did not do enough to stop the pogroms. They suggest this lack of activity knowingly encouraged them, thus strengthenng his base of support among his soldiers, commanders and the peasant population at large, by appealing to antisemitic sentiments. They also suggest that many of the atrocities were committed by the forces directly under the command of the Directorate and loyal to Petliura. According to a Jewish former member of the Ukrainian government's cabinet, Solomon Goldelman, Petliura was afraid to punish officers or soldiers engaged in crimes against Jews for fear of losing their support. Nevertheless, Goldelman consistently defended Petliura and his record. Petliura is said to have once said, "it is a pity that pogroms take place, but they uphold the discipline of the army.
Historians have pointed out that Petliura himself never demonstrated any personal antisemitism, and it is documented that he actively sought to halt anti-Jewish violence on numerous occasions, introducing capital punishment for the crime of pogroming. Taras Hunczak of Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
writes that "to convict Petliura for the tragedy that befell Ukrainian Jewry is to condemn an innocent man and to distort the record of Ukrainian-Jewish relations".
Because the Soviet Union saw Petliura and Ukrainian nationalism
Ukrainian nationalism
Ukrainian nationalism refers to the Ukrainian version of nationalism.Although the current Ukrainian state emerged fairly recently, some historians, such as Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Orest Subtelny and Paul Magosci have cited the medieval state of Kievan Rus' as an early precedents of specifically...
as a threat, it was in its interest to tarnish his reputation. A propaganda campaign to this end included accusations of anti-Jewish crimes. Hunczak insists that "Petliura's own personal convictions render such responsibility highly unlikely, and all the documentary evidence indicates that he consistently made efforts to stem pogrom activity by UNR troops."
In 1921 Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the father of Revisionist Zionism
Revisionist Zionism
Revisionist Zionism is a nationalist faction within the Zionist movement. It is the founding ideology of the non-religious right in Israel, and was the chief ideological competitor to the dominant socialist Labor Zionism...
, signed an agreement with Maxim Slavinsky, Petlura's representative in Prague, regarding the formation of a Jewish gendarmerie
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
which was to accompany Petliura’s putative invasion of Ukraine, and would protect the Jewish population from pogroms. This agreement did not materialize, and Jabotinsky was heavily criticized by most Zionist groups. Nevertheless he stood by the agreement and was proud of it.
Assassination
Sholom Schwartzbard
Sholem Schwarzbard was a Bessarabian-born Jewish poet and anarchist, known primarily for the assassination of the Ukrainian nationalist leader Symon Petliura...
. Schwartzbard asked him in Ukrainian, "Are you Mr. Petliura?" Petliura did not answer, only raised his walking cane. Then as Schwartzbard claimed in court he pulled out a gun and shot him five times. Some state the there were two more after he was lying on the ground. That is how Schwartzbard described the incident:
"When I saw him fall I knew he had received five bullets. Then I emptied my revolver. The crowd had scattered. A policeman came up quietly and said: 'Is that enough?' I answered: 'Yes.' He said: 'Then give me your revolver.' I gave him the revolver, saying: 'I have killed a great assassin.'
"When the policeman told me Petlura was dead I could not hide my Joy. I leaped forward and threw my arms about his neck."
Schwartzbard was claiming that he was walking around Paris with Petliura's photo in one pocket and his handgun in another, peering in the faces of the Paris residents just to find his victim.
Schwartzbard was a Ukrainian-born Jewish anarchist. He participated in the Jewish self defense of Balta
Balta, Ukraine
Balta is a small city in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Baltsky Raion , and located approximately 200 kilometers from the oblast capital, Odessa...
, for which the Russian Tsarist government sentenced him to 3 months in prison for "provoking" the Balta pogrom, and was twice convicted for taking part in anarchist "expropriation" (burglary) and bank robbery in Austro-Hungary. He later joined the French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
(1914–1917) and was wounded in the Battle of the Somme. It is reported that Schwartzbard told famous fellow anarchist leader Nestor Makhno
Nestor Makhno
Nestor Ivanovych Makhno or simply Daddy Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
in Paris that he was terminally ill and expected to die, and that he would take Petliura with him; Makhno forbade Schwartzbard to do so.
The French Secret service had been keeping an eye out on Schwartzbard from the time he had surfaced in the French capital and had noted his meetings with known Bolsheviks. During the trial the German special services also informed their French counterparts that Schwartzbard had assassinated Petlura on the orders of Galip, an emissary of the Union of Ukrainian Citizens. He had received orders from the head of the Soviet Ukrainian government, Christian Rakovsky
Christian Rakovsky
Christian Rakovsky was a Bulgarian socialist revolutionary, a Bolshevik politician and Soviet diplomat; he was also noted as a journalist, physician, and essayist...
, an ethnic Bulgarian and a revolutionary leader from Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. The act was consolidated by Mikhail Volodin, who arrived in France August 8, 1925 and who had been in close contact with Schwartzbard.
Schwartzbard's parents were among fifteen members of his family murdered in the pogroms in Odessa.
The core defense at the Schwartzbard trial
Schwartzbard trial
The Schwartzbard trial was a sensational 1927 French murder trial that resulted in a mistrial of international proportions. At the trial Sholom Schwartzbard was accused of murdering the Ukrainian immigrant and head of the Ukrainian government-in-exile Symon Petlura in Paris...
was — as presented by the noted jurist Henri Torres
Henri Torres
Henry Torrès was a flamboyant French trial lawyer and politician, and a prolific writer on political and legal matters.-Family:Henry Torrès was born in Les Andelys in 1891...
— that he was avenging the deaths of more than 50,000 Jewish victims of the pogroms, whereas the prosecution (both criminal and civil) tried to show that:
- (i) Petliura was not responsible for the pogroms and
- (ii) Schwartzbard was a Soviet agent.
Both sides brought on many witnesses, including several historians. A notable witness for the defense was Haia Greenberg (aged 29), a local nurse who survived the Proskurov
Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine
Khmelnytskyi is a city in Ukraine in the region of Podillia. It is located on the Southern Buh River and about from the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. The town's original name was Płoskirów, later Proskurov, but in 1954 was renamed Khmelnytskyi. It is the center of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast in western...
pogroms and testified about the carnage. She never said that Petliura personally participated in the event, but rather some other soldiers who did said that they were directed by Petliura. Several former Ukrainian officers testified for the prosecution.
After a trial lasting eight days the jury acquitted Schwarzbard.
Petliura is buried alongside his wife and daughter in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris, France.
Petliura's two sisters, Orthodox nuns who had remained in Poltava, were arrested and shot in 1928 by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
(the Soviet secret police). It is claimed that in March 1926 Vlas Chubar
Vlas Chubar
Vlas Yakovlevich Chubar was a Ukrainian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician.-Early career:Chubar was born in Fedorovka, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire . He became a Marxist revolutionary early in life and joined the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labor...
(the Russian Commissar to Ukraine), in a speech given in Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
and repeated in Moscow, warned of the danger Petliura represented to Soviet power. It is after this speech that the command was allegedly given to assassinate Petliura.
Ukraine
With the dissolution of the Soviet UnionDissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
in 1991, previously restricted Soviet archives have allowed numerous politicians and historians to review Petliura's role in Ukrainian history. Some consider him a national hero who strove for the independence of Ukraine. Several cities, including Kiev, the Ukrainian capital and Poltava
Poltava
Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....
, the city of his birth, have erected monuments to Petliura, with a museum complex also being planned in Poltava. To mark the 80th anniversary of his assassination, a twelve-volume edition of his writings, including articles, letters and historic documents, has been published in Kiev by the Taras Shevchenko University
Kiev University
Taras Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , colloquially known in Ukrainian as KNU is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is the third oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and Kharkiv University. Currently, its structure...
and the State Archive of Ukraine. In 1992 in Poltava
Poltava
Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....
a series of readings known as "Petlurivski chytannia" have become an annual event, and since 1993 these take place annually at Kiev University
Kiev University
Taras Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , colloquially known in Ukrainian as KNU is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is the third oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and Kharkiv University. Currently, its structure...
.
In June 2009 the Kiev city council
Kiev City Council
Kiev City Council or Kyivrada is the city council of Kiev municipality, the highest representative body of the city community. The members of city council are directly elected by Kievans and the council is chaired by the Mayor of Kiev .The council meets in a 1950s City Council building...
renamed Komintern's Street (located in the Shevchenkivskyi Raion
Shevchenkivskyi Raion
Shevchenkivskyi Raion is an administrative raion of the city of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It was established on April 4, 1937...
) into Symon Petliura Street to commemorate the occasion of his 130th birthday anniversary.
Israel
In Israel and the Jewish world Petlura is mostly remembered by some as the leader in charge of Ukraine when pogroms took place Yad Vashem and the writing on the street sign honoring Schwartzbard in BeershebaBeersheba
Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
). One of Ukrainian-Jewish leaders in independent Ukraine wrote that "Petlyura did not want or was not able to defend Ukrainian Jews from his own army".
Recently uncovered documents and letters to prominent Jewish community leaders demonstrate Petlura's support for the re-establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. In a "in the name of" the Jewish population of Ukraine, former Jewish affairs minister Pinchas Krasny thanked Petlura for his support for the vote in the League of Nations of July 24, 1922 regarding the formation of a Jewish state in Palestine. A further reflection regarding Petlura's position regarding Jews is demonstrated by another interesting fact. In exile, as the Head Otаman of the Ukrainian forces he was functioning in great material difficulties. In February 1921 he assigned Jewish refugees from Ukraine in Poland 15 thousand Polish Marks in aid.
Ukrainian Diaspora
In the Western Ukrainian diaspora, Petlura is remembered as a national hero, a fighter for Ukrainian independence, a martyr, who inspired hundreds of thousands to fight for an independent Ukrainian state. He has been inspiration for original music, and youth organizations .Petlura in Ukrainian folk song
During the revolution Petlura became the subject of numerous folk songs, primarily as a hero calling for his people to unite against foreign oppression. His name became synonymous with the call for freedom. 15 songs were recorded by the ethnographer rev. prof. K. Danylevsky. In the songs Petlura is depicted as a soldier, in a manner similar to Robin HoodRobin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
, mocking Skoropadsky and the Bolshevik Red Guard
Red Guards (Russia)
In the context of the history of Russia and Soviet Union, Red Guards were paramilitary formations consisting of workers and partially of soldiers and sailors formed in the time frame of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
.
News of Petlura’s assassination in the summer of 1926 was marked by numerous revolts in eastern Ukraine particularly in Boromlia, Zhehailivtsi, (Sumy province), Velyka Rublivka, Myloradov (Poltava province), Hnylsk, Bilsk, Kuzemyn and all along the Vorskla River
Vorskla River
The Vorskla River , located in Russia and northeastern Ukraine, is a south-flowing tributary of the Dnieper River.An ancient fort, thought to be Gelonos, is on the Vorskla south of Okhtyrka. In 1399, the Battle of the Vorskla River was fought in the area...
from Okhtyrka
Okhtyrka
Okhtyrka is a city in Ukraine, a raion centre within Sumy Oblast. It is situated near the Vorskla River, on an eleven-mile spur of the Kiev–Kharkiv railway line. It is home to Akhtyrka air base...
to Poltava
Poltava
Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....
, Burynia, Nizhyn
Nizhyn
Nizhyn is a city located in the Chernihiv Oblast of northern Ukraine, along the Oster River, north-east of the nation's capital, Kiev. It is the administrative center of the Nizhynsky Raion, though the city itself is also designated as a district in the oblast...
(Chernihiv province) and other cities. These revolts were brutally pacified by the Soviet administration. The blind kobzars Pavlo Hashchenko
Pavlo Hashchenko
Pavlo Ivanovych Hashchenko was a Ukrainian kobzar and bandura player.Hashchenko was originally from Poltava province but lived most of his life in the village of Konstantynivka, Bohodukhiv county, Kharkiv province....
and Ivan Kuchuhura Kucherenko
Ivan Kuchuhura Kucherenko
Ivan Iovych Kuchuhura-Kucherenko Ivan Iovych Kuchuhura-Kucherenko Ivan Iovych Kuchuhura-Kucherenko (July 7, 1878—November 24, 1937 was a Ukrainian minstrel (kobzar) and one of the most influential kobzars of the early 20th century...
composed a duma
Duma (epic)
A Duma is a sung epic poem which originated in Ukraine during the Hetmanate Era in the sixteenth century...
(epic poem) in memory of Symon Petlura. To date Petlura is the only modern Ukrainian politician to have a duma created and sung in his memory. This duma became popular among the kobzars of left-bank Ukraine and was sung also by Stepan Pasiuha
Stepan Pasiuha
Stepan Artemovych Pasiuha was originally from the town of Velyki Pysarivky, Bohodukhiv county, in the Kharkov Governorate of the Russian Empire. He learned to play the bandura from Dmytro Trochenko . He had seven dumy in his repertoire:*1. Marusia Bohuslavka*2...
, Petro Drevchenko
Petro Drevchenko
Petro Semenovych Drevchenko was also known by the surname of Drevkin and Drygavka.-Biography:Drevchenko was born in 1863 in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire to a family of servants. From the age of 12 he lived in Kharkiv, in the area of Zalutin. At the age of 13 he came down with...
, Bohushchenko, and Chumak.
The Soviets also tried their hand at portraying Petlura through the arts in order to discredit the Ukrainian national leader. A number of humorous songs appeared in which Petlura is portrayed as a traveling beggar whose only territory is that which is under his train carriage. A number of plays such as the “Republic on wheels” by Mamontov and the opera “Shchors” by Boris Liatoshinsky and “Arsenal” by Georgy Maiboroda portray Petlura in a negative light, as a lackey who sold out Western Ukraine to Poland, often using the very same melodies which had become popular during the fight for Ukrainian Independence in 1918.
Petlura continues to be portrayed by the Ukrainian people in its folk songs in a manner similar to Taras Shevchenko
Taras Shevchenko
Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko -Life:Born into a serf family of Hryhoriy Ivanovych Shevchenko and Kateryna Yakymivna Shevchenko in the village of Moryntsi, of Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire Shevchenko was orphaned at the age of eleven...
and Bohdan Khmelnytsky
Bohdan Khmelnytsky
Bohdan Zynoviy Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky was a hetman of the Zaporozhian Cossack Hetmanate of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . He led an uprising against the Commonwealth and its magnates which resulted in the creation of a Cossack state...
. He is likened to the sun which suddenly stopped shining.
See also
- List of national leaders of Ukraine
- Ukrainian People's RepublicUkrainian People's RepublicThe Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...
- Ukrainian Civil War
- German Ost (East)
- Anton Denikin
English
- Biography of Petliura on website of the Ukrainian government
- Petlura site in Poltava (Documents, articles and photographs) (Time Magazine on the Petlura trial)
- Turning the pages back...May 25, 1926 (Ukrainian Weekly account of shooting of Petliura)
- Review of books on Petliura
- Review of Henry Abramson's A Prayer for the Government: Ukrainians and Jews in Revolutionary Times
- The Odyssey of the Petliura Library and the Records of the Ukrainian National Republic during World War II
Non-English
- "Unknown Symon Petliura: history of an interview," Zerkalo NedeliZerkalo NedeliZerkalo Nedeli , usually referred to in English as the Mirror Weekly, is one of Ukraine’s most influential analytical newspapers published weekly in Kiev, the nation's capital. It was founded in 1994, and as of 2006 its print circulation was 57,000. It offers political analysis, original...
(Mirror Weekly), July 7–13, 2001. Available online in Russian and in Ukrainian. - "A Belated Idealist," Zerkalo NedeliZerkalo NedeliZerkalo Nedeli , usually referred to in English as the Mirror Weekly, is one of Ukraine’s most influential analytical newspapers published weekly in Kiev, the nation's capital. It was founded in 1994, and as of 2006 its print circulation was 57,000. It offers political analysis, original...
(Mirror Weekly), May 22–28, 2004. Available online in Russian and in Ukrainian. - "Symon Petliura as opponent of Jewish pogroms," Zerkalo NedeliZerkalo NedeliZerkalo Nedeli , usually referred to in English as the Mirror Weekly, is one of Ukraine’s most influential analytical newspapers published weekly in Kiev, the nation's capital. It was founded in 1994, and as of 2006 its print circulation was 57,000. It offers political analysis, original...
(Mirror Weekly), July 25–31, 1996. Available online in Russian. - Article published in the "Archives of the Ukrainian Security Service" on Petlura and the GPU re his assassination based on recently discovered materials from the vaults of the Ukrainian Security Service in Ukrainian.
- Symon Petlura in opposition to Jewish Pogroms (in Russian)
- Petlura web site in Poltava Web site of documents pertaining to Symon Petlura in Ukrainian, Russian and English.