Oleksandr Oles

Oleksandr Kandyba
Native name
Олександр Іванович Кандиба
Born(1878-11-23)23 November 1878
Bilopillia, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire
Died22 July 1944(1944-07-22) (aged 65)
Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Pen nameOleksandr Oles
Occupationwriter and poet
NationalityUkrainian
Alma materKharkiv veterinary institute
Period1906-1944
ChildrenOleh Olzhych

Oleksandr Oles (born Oleksandr Ivanovych Kandyba, Ukrainian: Олександр Іванович Кандиба; 1878–1944) was a prominent Ukrainian writer and poet. He is the father of another Ukrainian poet and political activist, Oleh Olzhych, who perished in the Nazi labor camps in 1944.

Life

He was born on 23 November 1878 in the khutir (small village) of Kandyba (now the village of Kandybyne, Bilopillia raion, Sumy Oblast) in Kharkiv province.[1] He studied at the Kharkiv agriculture school, later at the Kharkiv veterinary institute.[2]

He is one of the representatives of the Ukrainian Cossack family of Kandyba.[3]

In 1907 he married Vira Svadkovska. They had a son - Oleh Olzhych, who also became a famous Ukrainian poet.[4]

Since 1920 he lived in Vienna, where he headed the Union of Ukrainian Journalists and edited the magazine Na Perelomu. Since 1924 he lived in Prague (Czechoslovakia). Oleksandr Oles was one of the founders of the Ukrainian Free University, which moved to Prague from Vienna in 1921.[5]

Oleh was active in the Ukrainian nationalistic resistance in Ukraine during World War II for OUN-M and was for this arrested by the Gestapo and tortured and then executed at Sachsenhausen concentration camp on 10 June 1944.[4]

Collections

Among his poetic collections are "Z zhurboyu radist obnymalas" — With Sadness a Joy was Embracing, "Komu povim pechal moyu" — To Whom I'll Tell About My Woes, and others (nine poetry books altogether). Oleksandr Oles also created several dramatic works.

Death

Oles died in emigration in Prague on 22 July 1944.[1] He was buried there until early January 2016 when his and his wife remains were exhumed and replaced by the body of Volodymyr Mykhailyshyn, who was the man that had been paying for the family grave.[6][7] On 29 January 2017 Oles and his wife Vira were reburied, paid for by the Ukrainian government, in (Ukraine's capital) Kyiv, in the Lukyanivske cemetery.[7] President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and his wife Maryna Poroshenko took part in this ceremony.[7]

Example of his work

The sky has embraced the sea,
The sea has spilled into the sky…
The whole world they have forgotten
And have sunk in the fogs of the sky
I have dreamed of being with you,
Our souls are close mates.
You are like the blue sky
And your thoughts are like wandering clouds.

References

  1. ^ a b "Oleksandr Oles (1878–1944): SINGER OF THE UKRAINIAN SOUL". Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  2. ^ "Oleksander Oles". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  3. ^ "Видатний український поет Олександр Олесь | Державний Архів Харківської Області". archives.kh.gov.ua. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  4. ^ a b ""He made a sacrifice, and we survived." To the 80th anniversary of the death of Oleh Olzhych". Istorychna Pravda (in Ukrainian). 10 June 2024. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  5. ^ УІНП. "1921 – заснування Українського Вільного Університету". УІНП (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-05-14.
  6. ^ Remains Of Ukrainian Poet In Limbo After Being Exhumed, Radio Free Europe (3 January 2017)
  7. ^ a b c (in Ukrainian) In Kyiv Oleksandr Oles was reburied, Ukrayinska Pravda (29 January 2017)