Bon Oleksandr

Оstap Vyshnia under thе DPU’s survailance in 1920s

Section: Sources of biographical research

Abstract: Purpose of the article. Ostap Vyshnia is one of the remarkable figures of Ukrainian "Shot Renaissance"; due to his work at the UNR authorities from the beginning of 1920s he was the object of surveillance for soviet punitive state bodies. Many works are devoted to the writer’s arrest and 10 years imprisonment. These repressions against the satirists were committed by the punitive bodies due to his active role in UNR authorities from the beginning of 1920s. The objective of this article is to show the forms and methods of soviet intelligence services surveillance against the well-known writer and the extent of their penetration in the humanitarian community in 1920s. We also aimed at understanding the communication circle of the writer, which was of interest to the soviet intelligence agencies. Methodology is based on principles of scientific objectivity, systematism and historism. The following historical methods were used: biographical, problem-thematical, micro historical, retrospective, prosopographical. Scientific novelty is based on reflection on the forms and methods of surveillance by the soviet punitive bodies over the known writers. Based on this, the main aspects of satirist’s life that were of interest to punitive bodies are depicted, the depth of intrusion into humanitarians life is also analyzed. We analyze his participation in civil life of soviet Kharkiv, his contacts with Ukrainian emigrants, his contacts with Ukrainian humanitarians aside from Kharkiv, i.e. in Middle East. Conclusions. From the beginning, Ostap Vyshnia was of interest to punitive bodies as connected one to Ukrainian party of social revolution istsand a worker of UNR authorities. Then, as a self-sufficient and person with influence. Ostap Vyshnia has been surveilled, as it derives from the documents, by at least eleven "special workers" and two additional ones that cannot be identified. Without a doubt, the documents collected by DPU about Ostap Vyshnia were the basis for his subsequent arrest in 1930s.

Keywords: Ostap Vyshnia, punitive state bodies, Ukrainian humanitarian intellectuals, 1920s.

  Full-text PDF    https://doi.org/10.15407/ub.23.335     Citation

• Bon Oleksandr (Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Ukraine, Kyiv, [email protected]) ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3287-5955

Cite:
Bon Oleksandr (2022). Оstap Vyshnia under thе DPU’s survailance in 1920s. Biographistica Ukrainica, (23) 335-348. (In Ukrainan). https://doi.org/10.15407/ub.23.335

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