{"id":25454,"date":"2024-12-09T11:51:14","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T09:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrcy.news\/?p=25454"},"modified":"2024-12-08T20:06:13","modified_gmt":"2024-12-08T18:06:13","slug":"stalin-silenced-these-ukrainian-writers-the-war-made-them-famous-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrcy.news\/2024\/12\/09\/stalin-silenced-these-ukrainian-writers-the-war-made-them-famous-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Stalin Silenced These Ukrainian Writers. The War Made Them Famous Again"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

In Ukraine, they are known as the \u201cExecuted Renaissance,\u201d pioneering literary artists whose lives were snuffed out by Stalin\u2019s brutal purges in the 1930s.<\/p>\n

Living together in\u00a0an apartment building<\/a>\u00a0and embracing experimental art forms, these writers, poets and directors spearheaded a flourishing of Ukrainian culture and identity about a century ago.<\/p>\n

But that golden age was short-lived. The Soviet regime soon began to surveil, arrest and ultimately\u00a0execute about half of the writers<\/a>\u00a0in an effort to stifle Ukrainian culture. For decades, their works were banned and their legacy nearly erased.<\/p>\n

Until now.<\/p>\n

In the face of Russia\u2019s invasion, the story of the Executed Renaissance has been given new resonance as many Ukrainians seek to reclaim their cultural heritage. The lives of the writers are being told in a\u00a0musical<\/a>, a\u00a0feature movie<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0a memoir<\/a>. There is even a fashion line themed around them, with\u00a0sweatshirts riddled with bullet holes<\/a> to symbolize their killings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big trend,\u201d said Yaryna Tsymbal, the author of \u201cOur Twenties<\/a>,\u201d an anthology of Ukrainian literature from the 1920s. She said the demand for projects about the artists came \u201cfrom everywhere: publishing houses, magazines, theaters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
Mykhail Semenko, left, with his wife and children. Mr. Semenko was a poet and resident of Slovo House.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>via Kharkiv Literature Museum<\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

The sudden interest after a century of silence reflects a broader phenomenon in wartime Ukraine. Many people have embraced Ukrainian culture \u2014 like\u00a0folk songs<\/a>,\u00a0poetry<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0overlooked painters<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 to affirm their identity and counter\u00a0Moscow\u2019s attempts to erase their country\u2019s cultural heritage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the story of the artists has particularly struck a chord with Ukrainians, because they have viewed it as a warning of what could happen if Ukraine loses the war: the silencing of their culture, once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they seek in this story of the Executed Renaissance is the inspiration to keep fighting,\u201d said Oleksandr Khomenko, the director of the musical. \u201cThey don\u2019t want history to repeat itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

At the center of this story is Slovo House, a writers\u2019 residence named after the Ukrainian for \u201cword.\u201d Completed in 1929 in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, then the capital of Soviet Ukraine, it was a modern building in which each apartment had its own bathroom and telephone, a luxury at the time, said Tetiana Pylypchuk, the head of the Kharkiv Literature Museum.<\/p>\n

The 60 or so writers who lived there with their families partly financed the project, but its completion relied on Soviet approval and funding,\u00a0scholars say<\/a>. At the time, the Communist leadership in Moscow sought to build loyalty across the Soviet Union by promoting national cultures, in a reversal of czarist-era Russification policies.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian culture thrived as a result, and Slovo House, with its vibrant community of writers and playwrights living under one roof, symbolized this renaissance. There was\u00a0Mykola Khvyliovyi<\/a>, a charismatic novelist who wrote of breaking free from Moscow\u2019s yoke, and\u00a0Mykhail Semenko<\/a>, a poet whose futurist verses revitalized Ukrainian literature.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n