PARTICIPATION OF NADIIA SUROVTSOVA IN UKRAINIAN NATIONAL-DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION (1917–1921)

Abstract

Nadiia Surovtsova (1896 — 1985) belongs to outstanding figures of the different periods of Ukrainian history: her childhood and youth are connected with pre-revolutionary Uman and violent events of the first Russian bourgeois revolution (1905–1907), her early youth — with World War I (1914–1918) and National-democratic revolution (1917–1921), conscious life and active social-political, literature, journalist and scientific activity — with foreign life of Ukrainian emigration in Austria and creative Bohemia of metropolitan Kharkiv (1918–1927), with Stalin repression period in Soviet Ukraine and prisoned life of Ukrainians in the Northern camps and special settlements (1927–1957). After thirty years of prison in 1957 Nadia Surovtsova returned to Ukraine in Uman — firstly amnestied, and then rehabilitated for the fault of corpus delicti (she was accused in Polish-Germany spying), but lived out her days at secret services’ stare, which incriminated every possible crimes to the woman and empoisoned her last minutes of life, because the struggle with nonconformism, dissent in the USSR in 1970 was growing very fast. However, any prohibitions to print, to pursue science, to communicatewith friends and colleagues did not exterminate humanism and optimism, which became slogans of life and struggle of this unique personality. In the memory of those who remembered her, and with independence declaration of Ukraine — in consciousness of our numerous compatriots, Nadia Surovtsova, a talented writer, journalist, public woman, diplomat, historian, regional ethnographer, was a symbol of wisdom, fortitude, courage and women’s charm. Her biography, scientific activity, creative inheritance became a subject of investigation of many scientists from different branches of knowledge — historians, scholars in literature, regional ethnographers, among which it is worth to name Ya. Dashkevich, Yu. Doikov, R. Korogodskyi, M. Kotsiubynskyi, I. Kryvoshei, O. Ototuyk, L. Padun-Lukianova, P. Synytskyi, Yu. Horunzhyi, О. Shevchenko and others. Succession of scientifi c works (more than ten works) were written by L.Yakymenko, among which there is a defended Candidate’s dissertation “Nadia Surovtseva: Fortune, Feature-documentary Creativity, Critical Reception” and monograph “Nadia Surovtseva: Life and Creativity”. At the same time, the participation of Nadiia Surovtsova in the Ukrainian national-liberation revolution events (1917–1921) has not enlightened properly in pointed works that is why it needs well-grounded and comprehensive research, which is a subject of our article. Nadiia Surovtsova took an active part in social and political life of Ukrainian society in the period of started national-liberation competitions of 1917–1921s. Especially it is necessary to stress on her fruitful activity in Uman. Nadia Surovtseva read out the First Universal, ukranianized military parts, went a lot to the villages, informing people about changes in county’s life. She was a participant of numerous social-political organizations, associated with Uman activists-revolutionists. She worked at diplomatic positions, was at the backgrounds of Ukrainian diplomacy, was in close contacts with the heads of Central Council (Tsentralna Rada), Hetmanate, Directoire of the Ukrainian National Republic, was relevant to the solutions of state importance, participated in fateful for our state (though unsuccessful from the organizational point of view) visit of ambassadors to Paris peaceful conference (1918). There are Nadia Surovtseva’s memoirs about this and other events that give us an opportunity to feel an epoch coloring and estimate the deeds of that time politicians, basing on objective characteristics of participant-eyewitness.