Is Petlyura a national hero or a historical adventurer? Who is a petliura in a civil war?

Name: Simon Petlura

Age: 47 years old

Place of Birth: Poltava, Ukraine

A place of death: Poltava, Ukraine

Activity: Chief Ataman of the Army and Navy

Family status: was married

Simon Petlyura - biography

In the mass consciousness, the hysterical image of one of the leaders of Ukrainian nationalists during the Civil War, Symon Petliura, was created thanks to Soviet cinema of the 1930s. In modern Ukraine they have gone to the other extreme. A bust was erected to him in the city of Rivne, and a postage stamp with his portrait was issued. What was Petliura like in reality, his life biography?

The residents of St. Petersburg who now live in house No. 30 on the 7th line of Vasilyevsky Island do not even suspect that they live in a historical place. From the fall of 1908 to the fall of 1911, the future head ataman of the Ukrainian Directory, Simon Petlyura, lived in one of the apartments of this former apartment building. At that time, he was a modest accountant of the Karavan tea company.

Simon Petlyura - youth

Like Stalin and Dzerzhinsky, Simon Vasilyevich in his youth prepared for a career as a priest. However, he was expelled from the last year of the bursa, having become interested in political journalism. A talented descendant of the Cossacks, Petliura became a self-taught journalist, writing thousands of articles on a variety of topics during his short life.

Petlyura painstakingly studied the history of Little Russia and became a recognized expert on the St. Petersburg period in the life of Taras Shevchenko and Nikolai Gogol. In the popular magazine “Slovo” he wrote a column on the history of Little Russia. At the same time, he entered the capital’s circle of Little Russian intellectuals, communicating, among other things, with the venerable historian Mikhail Grushevsky. All this gave the provincial a chance to become a highly educated person, albeit without a university diploma, and to take a worthy place in literature. But it was Grushevsky who helped him take the first step towards the fleeting glory of the Kyiv dictator.

The author of “History of Ukraine” himself was accepted into the Masonic lodge back in Paris, in 1903. Simon Petliura was initiated, at the instigation of Grushevsky, into the capital’s lodge in 1909. And in 1911, already in Moscow, it was erected by freemasons into the third degree of the Masonic hierarchy. Probably this circumstance, as well as his marriage, contributed to the fact that three years before the First World War he left St. Petersburg forever.

Simon Petlyura - battle for Kyiv

In December 1918, the troops of the protege of the French Masonic lodges, Simon Petliura, occupied Kyiv practically without fighting. Petlyura gave his predecessor Pavel Skoropadsky the opportunity to leave for his native Germany (this is not an exaggeration: the hetman of all Ukraine was born in the German town of Wiesbaden, in a family mansion). Where does this liberalism come from? Fulfillment of the Masonic vow. Before the First World War, Skoropadsky was initiated into the Freemasons in St. Petersburg. The lieutenant general of the tsarist army combined his uniform with the apron of free masons.

Both leaders of Ukrainian sovereignty owed their positions in Kyiv in the turbulent year of 1918 precisely to their adherence to the idea of ​​independence from Russia. Only in Berlin they bet on the hereditary aristocrat Skoropadsky, and in Paris - on the self-taught journalist Petliura. Naive in their nobility, the cadets and officers of the White Guard believed that they were defending Kyiv and Russia, but in fact the two capitals of the “European Union of 1918” They argued about whose dictation the Little Russians should live under...

Petlyura took power in Kyiv on the night of December 15, 1918. He escaped from the city on the night of February 2, 1919. His reign turned out to be short-lived - only 45 days. It is interesting that the “coronation” of the failed monarch of Ukraine Pavel Skoropadsky took place in the building of the Kyiv circus. “Inauguration” of Social Democrat and Republican Symon Petliura - on the stage of the Kyiv Opera House. Neither one nor the other chose, for example, the Kiev Pechersk Lavra as the place to proclaim their power. Maybe both felt the incompatibility of their titles with the holy monastery?..

If Skoropadsky at least commanded regiments, a brigade and an army corps, managed hereditary enterprises and had leadership experience, then Petliura was a “pure” orator-journalist. Until the age of 39, before his proclamation as chief ataman, if he ruled anyone, it was only his wife.

His entire policy was aimed at seizing power in Kyiv and waiting for valuable instructions from the real rulers from Paris and London. However, on New Year's Eve 1919, they had no time for Ukraine: they were dividing the world after the end of the First World War. Moreover, the long-time patron of Ukrainian nationalists, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, collapsed.

Petlyura was in confusion: what to do now? Banquets, welcoming speeches, interviews with journalists - all this is close and understandable to him. How to live, how to govern the country? He either proclaimed the nationalization of commercial banks and large enterprises, or canceled it. The business world of Ukraine was confused, the economy finally went to the black market. The actual power in Kyiv was seized by the siege corps of the Sich Riflemen - a kind of armed sector of radical nationalists.

Petliura pretended that these “national guards” - “stormtroopers of 1919” - obeyed him. And throughout Ukraine, Jewish pogroms were raging, perpetrated by Petliura’s troops. From European capitals he expected military reinforcements, money and recognition. But I received absolutely nothing.

On January 28, 1919, a member of the Directory, Sergei Ostapenko, returned to Kyiv from Odessa, where the French consul was quartered. He brought the demands of the French - so shocking that they were not even discussed... The treasury was empty. Anarchy was now seizing not only the provinces, but also Kyiv itself. And from the east the guns of the armored trains of the Red Army roared. A dictatorship was approaching. On the night of February 2, driven into a corner, Petliura fled from Kyiv.

Murder of Petliura

While the Soviet-Polish war was going on, Petlyura tried to introduce himself as a real politician - either in Poland or in Venfia... And after in 1923 the USSR demanded that Warsaw hand him over as a war criminal, he fled to Paris. Simon Vasilyevich was sheltered by the “brothers” of the Masons, but they could not protect him from retribution. On May 25, 1926, three days after his 47th birthday, the former chief ataman was shot by the anarchist Samuel Schwartzbard - in retaliation for the Jewish pogroms committed by the Petliurists. At the trial, the killer was acquitted...

Simon Petliura - biography of personal life

Petlyura's widow Olga Afanasyevna and only daughter Lesya were poor in the capital of France. The white emigration did not accept them; the Jewish lobby in Paris did not forget the terrible pogroms in Ukraine. The daughter inherited her father's literary talent and became a poetess. But she did not live long: in 1941, at the age of 30, she died in Nazi-occupied Paris from tuberculosis. Petlyura had no grandchildren. Relatives - sister and nephews who remained in their homeland came under repression by the OGPU.

Early years and education

Born in Poltava. He studied at the Poltava Theological Seminary. In 1900 he joined the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party. He worked as a journalist, adhered to left-wing nationalist views, and was one of the founders and leaders of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Labor Party.

In Kuban

In the summer (according to other sources, autumn) of 1902, S. Petliura moved to Kuban, where he first got a job as a teacher, but it turned out that with his seminary education he could only teach in church schools, where education was very poorly organized. A few months later, S. V. Petlyura was arrested for revolutionary activities and after that could not work as a teacher [unauthoritative source?]. Knowing this, he was invited to be his assistant by F.A. Shcherbina, who at that moment was working with the archive of the Kuban Cossack Army to write the fundamental work “History of the Kuban Cossack Army.” Petlyura received an extremely positive assessment from F.A. Shcherbina for this work. In addition, several of his published works are known in local periodicals and in collections. At the same time, his research on the history of Kuban was published in the Literary and Scientific Bulletin.

The last Prime Minister of the Kuban People's Republic, Vasily Ivanis, wrote in 1952 about the outstanding diligence and hard work of S. V. Petlyura when working in the Kuban archives and his contribution to their study.

Among his journalistic works there is an article about the famous Kuban historian, first secretary of the Kuban Statistical Committee, chairman of the Caucasian Archaeographic Commission E. D. Felitsyn, with whom S. Petliura was personally acquainted.

Petliura stayed in Kuban for no more than two years. Being under threat of another arrest for his revolutionary activities, he was forced to leave Kuban. S. V. Petlyura subsequently dedicated a number of his works to Kuban, published in both journalistic and scientific publications.

Much later, in 1912, and being far from Kuban, S. V. Petlyura, having become the editor of the magazine “Ukrainian Life”, published a number of publications about Kuban, the authors of which were both himself and the Kuban correspondents of the magazine.

It was no coincidence that S. V. Petlyura sympathized with Kuban, since the Kuban people had a favorable attitude towards Ukraine [unauthoritative source?].

During the First World War

During the First World War, he worked in the All-Russian Union of Zemstvos and Cities, created in 1914 to help the government of the Russian Empire organize supplies for the army.

Proclamation of the UPR

After the proclamation of the Ukrainian People's Republic, he became the secretary general of military affairs of the new government, but was soon dismissed (according to other sources, he resigned himself). Participated in battles against the Red Guards. In December 1917, from volunteers, mainly foremen and Cossacks from Kyiv military schools, he formed the military unit of the Gaydamat Kosh, becoming its chieftain.

After the establishment of the dictatorship of Hetman Skoropadsky (Ukrainian State) he was in opposition to the new regime. In November 1918, he took part in the uprising against Skoropadsky; on December 14, his militia occupied Kyiv. The Ukrainian People's Republic was restored, and Vladimir Vinnychenko became its head.

On February 10, 1919, after the resignation of Vinnychenko, Petliura actually became the sole ruler of Ukraine. In the spring of the same year, trying to stop the Red Army's seizure of the entire territory of Ukraine, he reorganized the UPR army. He conducted active negotiations with the Entente representative office on the possibility of joint action against the Bolshevik army, but did not achieve success.

On April 21, 1920, after the fall of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic, Symon Petlyura, on behalf of the UPR, concluded an agreement with Poland on a joint campaign against Kyiv, with the aim of expelling Soviet troops. In exchange for support, the UPR agreed to establish a border between Poland and Ukraine along the Zbruch River, thereby recognizing the entry of Galicia into Poland.

Professor of the Jagiellonian University Jan Jacek Bruski, on the pages of the Ukrainian newspaper Den, assessed the Pilsudski-Petliura agreement of 1920 as follows:

In exile

After the defeat and expulsion of the Polish-Petliura troops from Ukraine, the Riga Peace Treaty was signed, and Petliura emigrated to Poland. In 1923, the USSR demanded that Warsaw extradite Petliura, so he moved to Hungary, then to Austria, Switzerland and in October 1924 to France.

Murder of Petliura

Schwartzbard himself, in his first confessions to the French police, said that he had heard about brutal pogroms from fellow believers whom he met in 1917 on the road from St. Petersburg to Odessa. This is evidenced by publications in the French press of that time: in the newspapers Eco de Paris, Paris-Midi and others. Schwarzbard's lawyer, Henri Torres, put forward a different version of the defense: about 15 Schwarzbard relatives, including parents, killed in Ukraine by Petliurists during the Jewish pogroms (the Jewish Encyclopedia also writes about this). Torres justified Symon Petliura’s personal responsibility for the pogroms of Ukrainian Jews by the fact that Petliura, as head of state, was responsible for everything that happened in the territory he controlled.

Petliura’s associates and relatives presented more than 200 documents at the trial, indicating that Petliura not only did not encourage anti-Semitism, but also harshly suppressed its manifestations in his army. However, they were not taken into account, since lawyer Torres testified that most of them were drawn up after the fact, after the expulsion of the Petliuraites from Ukraine, and none were signed by Petliura personally.

Ukrainian historian Dmitry Tabachnik, who devoted several works to the murder of Petliura, refers to the Jewish historian Semyon Dubnov, who claimed that the archives of Berlin contain about 500 documents proving Petliura’s personal involvement in the pogroms. The historian Cherikover spoke similarly at the trial.

Schwartzbard was completely acquitted by a French jury.

According to the testimony of Simon Petliura’s comrades, he allegedly tried as best he could to stop the pogroms and cruelly punished those who participated in them. For example, on March 4, 1919, Petliura’s “ataman” Semesenko, 22 years old, gave his “Zaporozhye Brigade”, stationed near Proskurov, the order to exterminate the entire Jewish population in the city - Semesenko, on the eve of the pogrom, declared that there would be no peace in the country, as long as there is at least one Jew left there. On March 5, the entire “brigade” of 500 people, divided into three detachments, led by officers, entered the city and began killing Jews. They broke into houses and often massacred entire families. Over the course of the whole day, from morning to evening, more than a thousand people were killed, including women and children. They killed exclusively with cold steel. The only person killed by a bullet was an Orthodox priest who, with a cross in his hands, tried to stop the fanatics. A few days later, Semesenko imposed an indemnity of 500 thousand rubles on the city and, having received it, thanked in an order the “Ukrainian citizens of Proskurov” for the support they provided to the “People’s Army”. It was reported that because of this, on March 20, 1920, on the orders of Petlyura, he was shot

However, witnesses A. Chomsky and P. Langevin, who spoke at the Schwarzbard trial, testified that the “trial” and “sentence” were staged, and Semesenko himself was secretly released on the orders of Petliura.

Memory

State honors

On May 16, 2005, President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko signed a Decree on perpetuating the memory of Symon Petliura (along with other figures of the UPR) and erecting monuments to him in the city of Kyiv and others. However, as of 2012, there is no monument to Petliura in Kyiv.

Streets of Simon Petliura

Monuments to Simon Petliura

Under President Yushchenko, it was planned to erect a monument to Symon Petlyura in the center of Kyiv, at the intersection of Vladimirskaya Street and Taras Shevchenko Boulevard. However, this was not done.

On May 23, 2007, the opening ceremony of the memorial sign to Simon Petliura took place in Poltava. The event was accompanied by clashes between the police on one side, and communists and members of right-wing parties on the other. The head of the Poltava Regional State Administration Valery Asadchev, people's deputy Nikolai Kulchinsky, first deputy chairman of the Poltava Regional State Administration Ivan Bliznyuk, deputy head of the Poltava Regional Council Petro Vorona and deputy chairman of the UNP Ivan Zaets took part in the ceremony of laying the memorial sign. In his speech, Valery Asadchev said: “When the first monument to Petliura in Ukraine is built on the site of the stone, its opening will be an event on an all-Ukrainian scale.”

Petlyura's works published in Ukrainian

Information provided by the National Library of Ukraine.

1. The fight against the “Great United Russia” // Liberal Way. - 1991. - No. 7. - P.771-776.
2. On the day of the Ukrainian Holy Power // Liberal Way. - 1990. - No. 1. - P.3-4.
3. Selected documents / All-Ukrainian Partnership named after. T. Shevchenko / A. V. Golota (comp.). - K.: Dovira Firm, 1994. - 271 p.
4. Drahomanov on the Ukrainian question // Voice of the past. - 1913. - No. 9. - P.299-304.
5. Commandment // Free Way. - 1950. - No. 5. - P.22..
6. I. Franko - sings of national honor (Uriv.) // Divoslovo. - 1996. - No. 8. - P.3-4.
7. On the history of the scientific society named after Shevchenko in Lviv // Voice of the Past. - 1915. - No. 1. - P.264-272.
8. Sheet to A.V.Nikovsky: [The sheet contains information about the problems of the zagal-political and sovereign development of the nation] // Inform. Ukr. Bulletin Libraries im. S. Petlyuri in Paris. - 1990. - No. 53. - P.2-3.
9. M. P. Drahomanov and his correspondence // Education. - 1909. - No. 9-10. - P.42-50.
10. The demand for Ukrainian literature // Book. - 1918. - No. 7. - P.375-376. The statistics cover the needs of Ukrainian military literature.
11. Ship's pardon document: The Schwarzbard trial. - Paris: Nationalist view in Europe, 1958. - 152 p.
12. The soul of our people: Statistics about T. G. Shevchenko. - Kh.: Eye, 1991. - 19 p.
13. Moscow louse: Proven uncle Seeds about how Moscow louse eats Ukraine and what needs to be done with them. - Paris: Nationalist view in Europe: B-ka im. S. Petlyuri, 1966. - 100 p. Zmist: p.101.
14. Unforgettable. - K.: Hour, 1918. - 80 p. Contains literary-critical miniatures about the work of T. Shevchenko, I. Karpenko-Kary, I. Frank, M. Kotsiubynsky, K. Mikhalchuk.
15. Statti. - K.: Dnipro, 1993. - 341 p.
16. Statistics, sheets, documents / Cent. com. tribute to the memory of Simon Petlyuri in America. - New York: Ukr. Vilna Academy of Sciences in the USA, 1956. - 480 p.
17. Statti, sheets, documents / Ukr. Vilna AN in the USA. B-ka im. S. Petlyuri in Paris. - New York, 1979. - T.2. - 627 p. Zmist: p.623-627.
18. Statti. Leaves. Documents / Institute of Research on Modern History of Ukraine in the USA, Foundation im. Simona Petlyuri in Canada / V. Sergiychuk (comp.). - K.: View im. Reindeer Carts, 1999. - T.3.-615p.

Literature about Petlyura

• Ivanis V. M. Simon Petliura - President of Ukraine. - Kiev: Naukova Duma, 1993.
• Simon Petliura and the Ukrainian national revolution. Zb. Prats Another for the competition of petliurists of Ukraine / V. Mikhalchuk (compiled). - Kiev: Rada, 1995
• Simon Petlyura and his homeland / Comp. V. Mikhalchuk. Kiev, 1996.
• Simon Petlyura in the context of Ukrainian national liberties: Zb. Sci. prac / Institute of History of Ukraine NAS of Ukraine / V. Verstyuk (ed.). - Fastiv: Polyfast, 1999.
• Finkelstein Yu. Simon Petlyura. Rostov-on-Don, 2000.
• Litvin S. Court history: Simon Petliura i Petliurian. Kiev, 2001.
• Sushko Yu. M. Loop for Petliura. - M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2012. - 287 pp., 3000 copies, ISBN 978-5-227-03713-7

A more complete list of literature about Petlyura

Film incarnations

• 1926 - P.K.P. - Nikolai Kuchinsky
• 1928 - Arsenal - Nikolai Kuchinsky
• 1939 - Shchors - Georgy Polezhaev
• 1957 - Truth - Yuri Lavrov
• 1971 - The Kotsyubinsky Family - Konstantin Stepankov
• 1973 - Old Fortress - Evgeny Evstigneev
• 1987 - At the edge of the sword - Vladimir Talashko

For a long time he was called “the worst enemy of the Ukrainian people,” “the leader of counter-revolutionary gangs,” “a traitor who sold Ukraine to everyone.” Today, for many, he is a “great patriot,” “a hero of the Ukrainian revolution,” “the leader of the national liberation movement who gave his life for the freedom of Ukraine.” May 2009 marked the 130th anniversary of his birth.

He was born in the suburbs of Poltava in the family of a cab driver. As a child, he didn’t stand out in anything special. Helped his father, studied at the bursa, then at the seminary. After the first year of seminary, Semyon (that was his real name) was left for the second year. In the end, he was expelled from the seminary. Some time later, Petliura tried to pass the exams for the seminar course as an external student, but failed. So he remained a dropout. And this is a direct path to revolution.

While still in the seminary, Petliura began to call himself in the French manner and demanded that others address him that way. But even under his new name he remained an unremarkable person. He was a member of the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party (RUP). Distributed leaflets. Gotcha. Was arrested. Released on bail (father had to sell the only tithe of forest land that belonged to the family). Fled abroad. After the announcement of amnesty in 1905, he returned to his homeland. He joined the Ukrainian Social Democratic Labor Party, which was formed on the ruins of the RUP. But even in this dwarf party he played a secondary role.

With the defeat of the revolution, Petliura’s revolutionary activities also died out. He gets a job at the Ukrainian-language newspaper Rada. But he didn’t fit in at court (he was too uncultured and ill-mannered). Simon Vasilyevich moves to another Ukrainian-language newspaper - Slovo. Becomes its editor. Writes articles. And among other things, he is trying to settle scores with former employers. He accuses the Rada of... Ukrainian nationalism. (An interesting detail: the label “Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism” is not at all an invention of Soviet times. Before the revolution, the newspaper “Slovo”, edited by Petliura, was engaged in attaching this label to opponents. Except that it sounded a little different: “petty-bourgeois Ukrainian nationalism”).

In 1909, Slovo closed due to lack of readers. Simon Vasilyevich leaves for St. Petersburg. Works as an accountant in a private company. In the evenings he attends meetings of the Ukrainian Community. Joins the Masonic lodge. It helps your career. Over time, the Masons help Petliura move to Moscow (there, by the age of thirty, he has the first and only woman in his life). When the magazine “Ukrainian Life” opened in 1912, Simon Vasilyevich got a job there. Here he meets the beginning of the First World War.

Petliura responded to this terrible event with a special article. Calls on Ukrainians to fulfill their patriotic duty on the battlefield. He himself does everything possible to avoid mobilization. The Masonic "brothers" define it as Zemgor - the All-Russian Zemstvo and City Union, a public organization involved in supplying troops. Work in Zemgora guaranteed exemption from conscription into the army and, in addition, was very profitable in financial terms. This is how Petliura “fought” until 1917.

The revolution opened up new prospects for him. Simon Vasilievich travels to Kyiv, where the Ukrainian movement has intensified. And he arrives on time. The newly created Central Rada is preoccupied with creating its own armed forces. On her initiative, the Ukrainian Military Committee was founded. But Lieutenant Nikolai Mikhnovsky, who was vying for the post of head of the committee, did not suit the Central Rada politicians. Mentally unbalanced, imagining himself to be a Ukrainian Napoleon, he did not want to obey anyone. There were no other candidates. This is where Petliura turned up. Although not a military man, but related to the army, obedient (as they thought then), Simon Vasilyevich was a suitable candidate. And he ended up at the head of the “Ukrainian troops”. Troops that still needed to be created.

At the beginning of "glorious" deeds

The task turned out to be difficult. It was mainly deserters who responded to the committee's call. As one of the participants in those events recalled, these “volunteers” were ready to declare themselves not only Ukrainians, but also Chinese, just so as not to fight. The slogan: “We will not go to the front until Ukrainian regiments are formed from us” appealed to them. Of course, even having organized themselves into such regiments, the deserters did not want to hear about the front. They cursed Petlyura, who came to them with persuasion, threatening to kill him if he came again. Frightened Simon Vasilyevich learned his lesson. Creating real shelves is a risky business. It is much safer to sit in your office and write orders, knowing in advance that no one will carry them out. This is what Petlyura did.

However, while the “military committee” was something like a “private shop,” the “activities” of its chairman looked like innocent fun. Complications began after the fall of the Provisional Government and the proclamation of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR). Simon Vasilyevich became the General Secretary (Minister) of Military Affairs, but continued to “amuse himself” with order-making. In response to threats from the Council of People's Commissars to the Central Rada, Petliura ordered Ukrainian troops near Petrograd to begin operations against the Bolshevik capital.

It was hardly possible to come up with something more stupid. There were no “Ukrainian troops” near Petrograd. Unless you count the Ukrainian soldiers of the Northern Front as such, who these days en masse abandoned the trenches and went home. Petliura’s stupid (there’s no other word for it!) order only accelerated the Reds’ invasion of Ukraine. An invasion that revealed the worth of the “Ukrainian regiments” created by Simon Vasilyevich. They scattered even before the enemy approached...

In December 1917, Petliura was removed from the post of minister, accusing him of defeats. The accusation, to be honest, was not entirely fair. In conditions of general collapse, a truly courageous person, a professional, probably would not have been able to create combat-ready units from deserters. Where is Petlyura? They simply made him a scapegoat. But he did not remain in this role for long.

Successes and failures

In January 1918, Simon Vasilyevich became the commander of the Haidamak Kosh of Sloboda Ukraine. Kosh (about 150 fighters) was formed by former officer Nikolai Chebotarev. But being a little-known person, Chebotarev offered command to a more significant figure - the former Minister of War. At the head of the kosh, Petlyura set out from Kyiv to the “Bolshevik front”. True, he didn’t have a chance to smell gunpowder that time. An uprising broke out in the Ukrainian capital, and the Haidamaks had to urgently return back.

Petliura’s biographies tell how he showed unprecedented heroism in battles with the rebels, how he fearlessly led his cat to storm the Arsenal plant under enemy fire. This is all fiction. The Gaidamaks entered Kyiv when the uprising in most areas had already been suppressed. Arsenal, surrounded by UPR troops, still held out. But upon learning that reinforcements had approached the besiegers, the plant’s defenders lost heart. They stopped resisting.

But what the Petliurists really took part in was the execution of prisoners. It’s difficult to call the shooting of unarmed people heroic. Moreover, a few days later the Haidamaks, together with their “heroic” commander, fled in unison from the Red Guards who burst into Kyiv.

They returned with the Germans. At the request of the Central Rada, the German army launched an offensive against the Bolsheviks, drove them out of Right Bank Ukraine and approached Kyiv. To create the appearance of liberation of the capital by Ukrainian troops, the Germans stopped on the outskirts and allowed units of the UPR army into the city, which had already been abandoned by the Reds. Among them was the kosh of Sloboda Ukraine. But if the majority of Ukrainian formations, having paraded through the streets of Kyiv, went on to fight, the Petliurites were in no hurry. Simon Vasilyevich sought his appointment to a high post in the government and therefore delayed the cat. Every morning the bodies of people killed and robbed by them were found on the streets. The patience of the Germans (and they were the real power) quickly ran out. Kosh was taken out of the city and disbanded. Petliura was dismissed. He found himself out of work again.

Not for long. Perhaps, with the help of former colleagues in the Masonic lodge (they are never former), Simon Vasilyevich was made the head of the Kyiv provincial zemstvo. In this position he met the hetman's coup. Unlike most Ukrainian figures, the head of the Kyiv Zemstvo did not immediately go over to the opposition. On the contrary, he became a frequent visitor to Skoropadsky, asking for a loan of one hundred million rubles (“for zemstvo activities”). The hetman did not object. However, he suggested that money be allocated to pay certain bills. Petliura wanted to have the entire amount at his complete and uncontrolled disposal. The refusal pushed him into the camp of the enemies of the hetman’s regime.

The opposition did not worry Skoropadsky much. There was practically no fighting with her. Only from time to time one of the oppositionists was arrested for several days. This is what they did with Petliura. But Simon Vasilyevich was unlucky. Two days after the arrest, the Russian Socialist Revolutionaries killed the German Field Marshal Eichhorn in Kyiv. The terrorist attack led to a tightening of repression. Perhaps that is why Petliura was not released on time. Or maybe in the whirlpool of events they simply forgot about him. Be that as it may, Simon Vasilyevich had to spend a long three and a half months behind bars. But every cloud has a silver lining. Being in prison raised his authority. And when Petliura was released, he was immediately offered to take part in a conspiracy against the hetman.

Chief Ataman

The anti-hetman uprising was the peak in Petliura’s political career. While the other conspirators were conferring, Simon Vasilyevich secretly rushed to the White Church. There stood a regiment of Galician Sich Riflemen - the striking force of the conspiracy. Petlyura told the archers that he was authorized to start an uprising. He proclaimed the re-establishment of the UPR and declared himself the chief ataman of the republican troops. Not suspecting that there was an impostor in front of them, the archers obeyed. Later, officers of the UPR army cursed and said that Petliura started the uprising “yak Pylyp z konopel”, without sufficient preparation. But what did the lives of several hundred or even thousands of people mean to Simon Vasilyevich? The main thing is that he (he!) was in charge, he became the chief ataman!

In fact, when the real leaders of the conspiracy arrived in the Streltsy camp, it was already too late. The rebels were sure that their leader was Petliura. To expose him would be to cause unnecessary confusion. And everything was left as is. Moreover, military leadership talent was not required from the chief ataman. Combat operations were led by rifle commanders. And the enemy was weak - the resistance of the hetmans was broken in four weeks.

The entry of the victors into Kyiv was marked by mass murders and robberies. The bloody Sabbath continued throughout the Petliur era. During the period of the civil war, power in Kyiv changed 13 times, but, according to Kyiv inhabitants, under no one was the rampant criminality as violent as under Petliura. Meanwhile, a new thunderstorm was approaching. The rebel groups consisted mainly of peasants dissatisfied with Skoropadsky's land policy. Having overthrown the hetman, they went home. Simon Vasilyevich had only the archers and small units of the Haidamaks at his disposal. And from the east the red troops of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic were again advancing.

It was still possible to be saved. French troops landed in southern Ukraine. The French were ready to help with troops and weapons, but demanded that “bandit Petliura” resign. Simon Vasilyevich could not agree to such a sacrifice. Negotiations broke down. The UPR was doomed. Some of Petliura's leaders delicately call their exodus from Kyiv in February 1919 an "accelerated retreat." But this was not a retreat. It was a shameful flight. The Reds drove the chief ataman all the way to the border. Only after moving to Galicia did he catch his breath. Everyone thought that Petliurism was over. However, the situation changed again.

In the summer of 1919, the offensive of Denikin's army began. Unable to restrain the White Guards, the Bolsheviks chose to surrender the territory of the Ukrainian Right Bank to Petlyura. They hoped that the chief ataman would not come to an agreement with Denikin. And they were not mistaken. The Petliurists (reinforced by reinforcements from Galicians) clashed with the Whites in Kyiv itself (where both entered from different sides almost simultaneously). The White Guards did not intend to conflict, but the Haidamaks were raising trouble. The skirmishes escalated into battle. Here it became clear who was who. The Petliurites outnumbered the enemy seven times. But Denikin had an army, Petliura had a gang. At the first shots, the army of the chief ataman began to scatter. Several thousand UNE soldiers surrendered (the number of those who surrendered exceeded the number of White Guards who took them prisoner). Simon Vasilyevich was in despair. He dreamed of riding into Kyiv on a white horse. Khreshchatyk has already been decorated with portraits of the chief ataman. A ceremonial parade was being prepared. And everything had to be cancelled. For Petliura it was a tragedy.

For the power of the Soviets

Much has been written about Petliurism. But both Soviet historians and their opponents carefully avoided one topic - the role of Simon Vasilyevich in the establishment of Soviet power in Ukraine. And he played a significant role. Wanting to take revenge on the whites, the chief ataman stopped hostilities against the Bolsheviks. He passes through his territory the red divisions, defeated by Denikin’s troops near Odessa and, it would seem, doomed to death. The UPR delegation is conducting negotiations in Moscow on the subordination of the Petliura army to the Revolutionary Military Council, which was to include a representative of Petliura. Without waiting for the end of the negotiations, Simon Vasilyevich orders an offensive against the Whites.

It seems that he calculated everything correctly. The main forces of the White Guards are concentrated against the Reds. In Right Bank Ukraine, Denikin has less than 10 thousand soldiers. The chief ataman has 40 thousand (the majority are Galicians). The Bolsheviks promise to help with weapons and ammunition. Father Makhno is operating in the rear of Denikin’s troops. Everything is working out in Petlyura’s favor. But…

It took the Whites only two weeks to defeat the enemy. The Petliurites surrendered en masse. The Galician units went over to Denikin. The Haidamaks rebelled. Even the personal guards left Simon Vasilyevich’s command. He flees to Volyn. There are still loyal troops there. You can organize a defense. But Petliura thinks only about her own salvation. And then an episode occurred that should have been called funny if it were not for the sad circumstances that accompanied it.

Many people probably remember anti-Soviet political jokes. One of them told how the October Revolution almost failed (the white armored car was stolen, and Lenin exchanged the second armored car for a cap). And few people knew that this story was based on a real fact. Only it all happened not to the “leader of the world proletariat,” but to the “hero of the Ukrainian revolution.” He ran, unconscious from fear. Where? The Poles were the closest. The latter, however, demanded that an armored car be given to them for a place in a freight car heading to Poland. This was the only armored car remaining in the UPR army. Captured in battle, he was the pride of the Haidamaks. But Simon Vasilyevich “waved without looking.” Petliura’s adjutant Alexander Dotsenko, who told this story, forever remembered the eyes of Petliura’s soldiers and officers who watched their “most valuable treasure in the war” being taken away. But the chief ataman had no time for sentimentality. Finding himself in a carriage filled with various rubbish, he smiled happily and rejoiced at the successful deal. Probably, at that moment, Simon Vasilyevich did not realize that his political death had come.

Natural ending

Why did the UPR die? First of all, due to the lack of popular support. The idea of ​​an independent Ukraine was not popular then. But there was another reason - Simon Vasilyevich Petliura. He was in the wrong place and he knew it. The chief ataman was an incompetent commander, but he did not resign. Feeling how despised he was by professional soldiers, he was suspicious of career officers, and this affected the combat effectiveness of his troops. He had little understanding of government affairs. But instead of recruiting smart assistants, he carefully made sure that no one from his circle was smarter than himself. As a result, the cabinet of ministers of the UPR consisted of people “downright terrible in their intellectual squalor” (this, according to Dotsenko, was the general opinion about the then Ukrainian government). And it is not so important whether Petliura’s ministers were “complete idiots” (as Stepan Baran, deputy chairman of the National Rada, a kind of parliament in the UPR, said about them) or simply figures who did not possess “statesmanship” (as Simon Vasilyevich’s longtime friend Alexander would put it) Salikovsky). Those in power were incapable of governing the country. There couldn’t be anyone else next to Petliura. And therefore its ending is natural.

For a short time, the chief ataman returned to Ukraine with the Poles. But he was no longer the boss here. Jozef Pilsudski even rode into Kyiv on a white horse in May 1920. Simon Vasilievich was allowed to come later. And then - a new flight. Misadventures in emigration. Tragic end in Paris.

Death of a hero?

On May 25, 1926, at the beginning of three o'clock in the afternoon, an already middle-aged and clearly worn-out man was sadly wandering along one of the Parisian streets (not crowded at this afternoon). He was dressed sparsely. A worn jacket and worn-out shoes indicated an unenviable financial situation. There was nowhere for the man to rush. A little before reaching the intersection, he stopped at the window of a bookstore, looking at the publications displayed there. At that moment, a man in a work blouse caught up with him and called him by name. As soon as the owner of the worn jacket turned around, the man pulled out a revolver and opened fire. The first shots knocked the unfortunate man onto the sidewalk. Turning pale from pain and fear, he managed to shout pleadingly: “Enough! Enough!” But the killer continued to shoot. A total of seven bullets were fired before a nearby police officer disarmed the gunman. The latter did not resist, did not try to break free and run away. His victim, writhing in agony, was taken to a nearby hospital. But the help of doctors was no longer needed. This is how Simon Vasilyevich Petlyura ended his life.

The killer turned out to be Samuel Schwartzbard, a Jew, a native of the Russian Empire, who lived in Ukraine for a long time. Schwartzbard stated that he wanted to avenge the deaths of his loved ones who died in pogroms against Jews during the Civil War. Representatives of historical science from the Ukrainian diaspora confidently spoke about the “hand of Moscow.” True, without providing any convincing evidence. The “Kremlin trace” is also actively “searched” by modern Ukrainian historians. But so far no success. “Despite all the obvious connections between Schwarzbard and the NKVD, no documentary evidence of the involvement of the Soviet secret service was found,” notes the comments to the memoirs of Isaac Mazepa, prime minister of the Petliura government.

Version one: crime of the GPU

Purely hypothetically, one can, of course, assume that Schwarzbard acted on orders from Moscow. But the question arises: “Why?” The explanations given by the supporters of the “Chekist” version boil down to the fact that, they say, Petliura posed a danger to the Bolsheviks as the leader of the Ukrainian movement. The point, however, is that by the mid-1920s he was not a leader of any kind. The Galicians (and they were the backbone of the Ukrainian movement) fiercely hated the former head of the Directory as a traitor who agreed on behalf of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) to give Galicia to the Poles. Without power, without an army, without money, hated and despised, Petliura had no chance of becoming a leader again. Suffice it to remember that only a few hundred people signed up for the Pro-Petliura Union of Ukrainian Emigrant Organizations of France. The Bolsheviks knew all this very well. And although Soviet propaganda continued to call the entire Ukrainian movement “Petliura,” the Kremlin was not at all mistaken about this. Any attempts by Simon Vasilyevich to become a leader again were doomed to failure. They could only cause new squabbles among the emigrants, which naturally played into the hands of the Bolsheviks
Something else also attracts attention. Murder of Ataman Alexander Dutov. The kidnapping and murder of Ataman Boris Annenkov, generals Alexander Kutepov and Evgeny Miller. Liquidation of Colonel Yevgeny Konovalets. These are operations brilliantly carried out by Soviet intelligence. Having completed the “work,” the performers calmly walked away from persecution. Not a single agent was caught. In the case of Petlyura, the killer did not even run away. This doesn't look like a GPU special operation. Thus, the version of the “hand of Moscow,” even if it has a right to exist, still seems unlikely.

Version two: revenge for pogroms

This version seems the most plausible. Refuting it, domestic historians point out that Petliura was not an anti-Semite, did not organize Jewish pogroms, and sometimes even tried to prevent them. The “army” of the UPR largely consisted of individual gangs led by their own atamans (“batkas”). They obeyed the command of Chief Ataman Petliura only nominally. In fact, each “father” arbitrarily ruled the controlled territory. It was these atamans who basically organized the pogroms. They organized it in defiance of Petlyura’s prohibitions (they didn’t care about his prohibitions). Simon Vasilyevich most often could not prevent them or punish them for what they had done. And even if in some cases he could, he was afraid to do it. Words condemning the pogroms were first heard nine months after they began. This is the famous order No. 131. It didn’t cost the “fathers” anything to oppose him, undermining the already precarious position of the head of state. When a delegation of Jews once again broke through to him at the Mamienka station with a plea to stop the pogrom, he declared: “Listen, I I don't interfere with what my army does, and I can't stop them from doing what they think they need to do!" (From the transcript of the trial of S. Schwarzbard). It was during the period of bloody pogroms of February-August 1919 that Simon Petlyura became a complete anti-Semite. This was greatly facilitated by the terrible pogrom in Proskurov on February 15-18, 1919 by Ataman Samosenko, commander of the Zaporozhye Cossack Brigade named after Petliura, and the 3rd Haidamaks Regiment (both units were regular troops of the Ukrainian People's Republic). In a few hours, mostly with cold steel (a shot cost 50 rubles), about 1,500 thousand people were killed. In general, in three days – up to 4 thousand. According to the Committee of the Russian Red Cross in Kyiv, Petliura's regular troops committed pogroms in 120 cities and towns, the gang of br. Sokolovsky - in 70, Zeleny's gang - in 15, Struk's gang - in 41, the gang of Sokolov and his assistants - in 38, Grigoriev's gang - in 40, the gangs of Lyashchenko, Golub and others - in 16), and in total by September 1919 pogroms were committed in 353 cities and towns.
Was Schwartzbard aware of these nuances? Hardly. He saw only what an ordinary man in the street who found himself in the whirlpool of those events could see. Were there pogroms in Ukraine? Were. Those who called themselves soldiers of the UPR “army” took part in them. And this “army” and the republic itself was led by Simon Vasilyevich Petlyura.

Third version: Masonic.

This version is not discussed by historians. Journalists don't talk about her.

Long before the revolution, Simon Vasilyevich joined the Masonic lodge. This boosted his career. Largely thanks to the assistance of the “Order of Freemasons” (as the Masons are sometimes called), Simon Vasilyevich ascended to the heights of power and found himself at the head of the UPR. However, in 1919, significant disagreements emerged between Petliura and the order.

The events that took place in Ukraine in 1917-1919 convinced the top leadership of the organization that attempts to implement the idea of ​​​​an independent Ukrainian state were premature. Indeed: the majority of Ukrainians (Little Russians) in national terms did not separate themselves from the Great Russians. Slogans of independence were not popular among the population. A forced separation of Ukraine from Russia would cause a backlash among the masses, strengthening the desire for unification. “The Ukrainian people have no consciousness, do not show organizational abilities, the Ukrainian movement arose thanks to German influences, the current situation is so chaotic,” the influential American freemason Ljord told the former Minister of War of the UPR Alexander Zhukovsky in Paris in 1919.

In connection with the current situation, the Freemasons adjusted their political plans. In the Parisian lodges (Paris was one of the world centers of Freemasonry) the project of transforming the former Russian Empire into a Union of Republics was discussed. An important place in this project was given to Ukraine. It was to become one of the union republics, in a federal connection with other parts of the disintegrated empire. Only after a long time, when the Ukrainians managed to firmly establish the consciousness that they were an independent nationality (and not the Little Russian branch of the Russian nation), did the Freemasons consider it possible to raise the question of the state independence of Ukraine.

The project was actively supported by the head of Ukrainian Freemasonry Sergei Markotun. But Petliura didn’t like the plan. Simon Vasilyevich saw better than anyone else that the people do not want separation from Russia. In a narrow circle, he even once called the Ukrainians an “immature nation” for this. The problem was different. In an independent Ukraine, Petliura could lay claim to the leading role. In Ukraine, which is in a federal connection with Russia, no. Petlyura rejected the project, demanding immediate support from the Freemasons for the idea of ​​complete independence of the country. He quarreled with Markotun and left his subordination. True, in order not to break with the order, Simon Vasilyevich immediately founded and headed the new “Grand Lodge of Ukraine”. But the highest Masonic authorities did not approve of the “rebellion.” The order was strong because it knew how to put strategic plans above the ambitions of its individual members. And without such support, Simon Vasilyevich quickly became what he was before - a political zero.

Petlyura did not give up. Finding himself in exile, he negotiated with the “free masons,” sought recognition of his “lodge,” and tried to regain the support of the order. To no avail. And yet hope did not die. Simon Vasilyevich passionately desired a return to big politics. Most likely, this desire was especially inflamed in May 1926. Just then a coup d'état organized by the Freemasons took place in Poland. A member of the order, Jozef Pilsudski, who several years ago seemed to have lost power forever, again became the head of the country. The Order helped him return.

Petliura wanted the same for himself. He probably again began to seek support in the Masonic lodges. And, perhaps, having again encountered a refusal, he snapped, tried to blackmail the “brothers”, threaten with exposure, with the betrayal of Masonic secrets. The order always responded to such threats in the same way. The answer to Simon Vasilyevich could have been Schwarzbard’s shots...

This version is confirmed by the acquittal of the killer. You can have different attitudes towards the identity of the killer and his victim. The extent of Petliura’s responsibility for the Jewish pogroms can be assessed differently. The judges could take into account mitigating circumstances and punish the offender not too harshly. In the end, it was possible to obtain a pardon from the President of France. But the jury was faced with clearly formulated questions: “Is the accused Samuil Schwartzbard guilty of voluntarily shooting at Simon Petliura on May 25, 1926? Did his shots and the wounds from them lead to death? Did Schwartzbard have the intention to kill Simon Petliura?” To give a negative answer to these questions meant to openly mock justice.

In conclusion, an interesting detail. On the eve of the trial, Leon Blum, a prominent French politician and member of parliament (who later became prime minister), was approached by Schwartzbard's wife. She asked the politician to use all his influence to save her husband from a death sentence (which, according to the law, was quite possible to receive for murder). Blum told Madame Schwartzbard that she had nothing to worry about - the defendant would be acquitted. And so it happened. Leon Blum was a Freemason...

Dry residue.

The third version has only one weak point. Like the first, it has the only indisputable fact - the presence of Freemasons (like the first - the presence of Bolsheviks). But the facts in both versions are chronically lacking. Their supporters easily classify anyone as a Freemason or an agent of the Cheka-NKVD-KGB-FSB, depending on the views of the authors of such versions. But besides the Freemasons in France there were also numerous Jews and just normal people (of whom the jury consisted). One more important fact should be taken into account. The trial took place just a few years after the French invasion of Russia. The French hated the Bolsheviks, rightfully accusing them of betraying their Entente allies during the First World War. Finally, the French bourgeoisie were simply afraid of the revolutionary movement that had risen throughout Europe and the strengthening of the left thanks to the Bolshevik victory in Russia. And yet, the version of the “Hand of Moscow” was not accepted. And numerous testimonies of atrocities, and testimonies of French citizens, played their role. When at the trial one of the witnesses unbuttoned her blouse to prove the atrocities of the Petliurites (her breasts were cut off), the jury’s decision was a foregone conclusion.

When preparing the article, I read about a hundred testimonies of witnesses and accused (and the Bolsheviks tried some of the captured Petliurists). After this, Yavorivsky’s bill from Yulia Tymoshenko’s bloc on celebrating Petliura’s birthday at the state level seems like a mockery.

Simon Vasilyevich Petlyura (1879 - 1926) - Ukrainian political and military leader, freemason, not recognized as a “brother”. Adhering to left-wing nationalist views, he dedicated his life to the idea of ​​liberating Ukraine. To escape from the “triangle of death,” Petliura gave part of the Ukrainian lands to Poland, but he made a mistake - she soon concluded an agreement with Russia. For the rest of his years he was forced to hide in Paris. Where he was brutally murdered by a man who believed that Simon Petliura was responsible for the genocide of the Jewish people.

In 1918, a hetman's coup took place, but Petliura continued to criticize the activities of this government. The patience of the authorities came to a limit, and in July 1918 Symon Petliura was arrested and imprisoned for four months. In the fall of 1918, the Ukrainian army found itself in the “triangle of death”, surrounded by the white army of A. Denikin, Bolshevik troops and the Polish army of General J. Haller.

The killer's lawyer put forward the following version of the defense: 15 relatives of Schwarzbard, including his parents, were killed by Petliurists in Ukraine during pogroms against Jews. The lawyer believed that even if these pogroms took place without Petlyura’s knowledge, he still bore personal responsibility for the crime, being the head of state. Ukrainian historian Dmitry Tabachnik claims that in the archives of Berlin there are about 500 documents that contain evidence of Petliura’s personal involvement in the pogroms. There are similar opinions of other historians on this topic.

Petliura’s associates presented more than 200 documents to the trial, irrefutably demonstrating that Petliura harshly suppressed all manifestations of anti-Semitism in his army. For example, on March 20, 1920, he ordered the execution of 22-year-old Ataman Semesenko because he gave the order to his “Zaporozhian Brigade” to exterminate the entire Jewish population in the city of Proskurovo. His 500 thugs, divided into three groups, broke into houses and massacred entire families, not even sparing young children. More than a thousand people were killed during the day, mostly with bladed weapons. They only killed an Orthodox priest with a bullet when he, holding a cross in his hands, tried to stop the fanatics. It was reported that because of this crime, on March 20, 1920, on the orders of Petlyura, the ataman was shot.

Witnesses A. Chomsky and P. Langevin, who spoke on the side of the defense, testified that the “trial” and “sentence” were staged, and Semesenko was secretly released on the orders of Petlyura. The lawyer also proved that most of the documents allegedly proving Petliura’s non-involvement in the pogroms were drawn up after the expulsion of the Petliuraites from Ukraine and were not signed by Petliura at all.

This version was also accepted by the French court, which acquitted the killer. In turn, leaders of the Ukrainian emigration almost unanimously (with a few exceptions) rejected the accusation of pogroms and declared Schwartzbard an agent of the GPU, and Petliura a patriot of his people.

PETLURA Simon Vasilievich

(1879-1926), political and military figure, publicist, one of the leaders of the Ukrainian national movement in the first quarter of the 20th century, who became a character in Bulgakov’s novel “The White Guard” (1922-1924) and the feuilleton “Kiev-City” (1923). P. was born in 1879 into the family of a cab driver. He studied at the theological seminary, then at Kharkov University, and completed his education at Lviv University in Austrian Galicia. He was one of the leaders of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party. In 1914-1917 was the chairman of the Main Control Commission of the Zemstvo Union on the Western Front, and after the February Revolution of 1917 - chairman of the Ukrainian Front Committee. Since the fall of 1917, P. was the secretary (minister) of the Central Rada for military affairs, and at the end of 1917 - beginning of 1918 - also the commander of the troops of the Central Rada. After the Central Rada returned to Kyiv along with the Austro-German troops in March 1918, P. resigned and at the first Kiev provincial zemstvo meeting was elected chairman of the Kyiv zemstvo council, and subsequently - chairman of the council of the All-Ukrainian Zemstvo Union. On August 11, 1918, P. was arrested by order of the government of Hetman P. P. Skoropadsky (1873-1945). At the beginning of November 1918 he was released from prison. On November 14, 1918, in Bila Tserkva, P. issued an appeal for an uprising against Skoropadsky, created the Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic - a collective government body made up of representatives of parties opposition to the hetman's regime, and was proclaimed chief ataman - commander-in-chief of the Directory's troops, which took Kyiv on December 14, 1918 and who overthrew the power of Skoropadsky. On February 3, 1919, P.'s troops left Kyiv under the pressure of the Red Army; on August 31, 1919, they reoccupied the city, but were forced to leave on the same day under pressure from the White Volunteer Army. In May 1920, the UPR government, led by P., with the support of Polish troops, returned to Kyiv, but already in June it was forced to leave it. After the conclusion of the Soviet-Polish truce on October 12, 1920 and the defeat inflicted by the Red Army on Ukrainian troops in November 1920, P. emigrated to Poland, and subsequently to France. He published articles in Ukrainian publications outside the USSR. On May 25, 1926, P. was killed by S. Schwarzbard, who was avenging the pogroms against Jews carried out by Ukrainian troops. In October 1927, the killer P. was acquitted by a French court.

Bulgakov, being an opponent of the separation of Ukraine from Russia, had a negative attitude towards the activities and personality of P. In the novel “The White Guard”, he, among other things, is called “zemgusar” - a contemptuous nickname that front-line officers used to call employees of the Union of Zemstvos and Cities who worked in the rear in supplying troops. Probably, the writer was familiar with A. Pavlovich’s essay “Petliura”, which appeared in April 1919 in the Rostov magazine “Don Wave”. Its author talks about the uncertainty of his hero’s past: “...I was brought up, if I’m not mistaken, in a seminary, or generally in some kind of religious educational institution, then I studied at Kharkov University and completed my education, it seems, in Austria.” Pavlovich also conveys widely spread contradictory rumors about P.: “Petliura rebelled against the hetman!” - “Petliura is a rebel! Petliura is a Bolshevik!” - “Petliura in Poltava, Petliura in Kyiv, Petliura in Fastov.” Everywhere he inspires the troops, everywhere he makes speeches. And yet no one sees or knows Petliura... Petliura is something mythical.” The author of the essay admitted that if the mood of Petliura’s army “still began to lean towards Bolshevism, then Petliura, no matter how much he wanted, could not restrain this phenomenon.” At the same time, Pavlovich treated the chief ataman, who then, in the spring of 1919, had not yet been defeated, with respect and without antipathy, considering P. an “intelligent man” and an “honest revolutionary”, not guilty, in particular, of Jewish pogroms committed by his soldiers, whom P. was unable to curb (Jewish pogroms in Ukraine and in general in the “Pale of Settlement” were carried out by military personnel of all opposing armies).

In exactly the same way, Bulgakov in “The White Guard” talks about the lack of clarity of P.’s past and comes to the same conclusion as Pavlovich: “Well, so I’ll tell you what: it didn’t happen. Did not have! This Simon did not exist at all... Just a myth generated in Ukraine in the fog of the terrible year 18.” Like the author of the essay in “Don Wave,” the writer lists conflicting rumors about P.’s whereabouts and appearance: “Petliura in the palace receives French ambassadors from Odessa... Petliura is presented to the president in Berlin on the occasion of the conclusion of an alliance... Petliura may take residence in Bila Tserkva . Now Bila Church will be the capital... He is in Vinnitsa... Petliura is in Kharkov... Petliura is in Belgium..." P. here is endowed with a resemblance to the devil, who, according to tradition, has an indefinable appearance and the ability to simultaneously be in different distances from each other other places. At the end of The White Guard, which was not published at the time due to the closure of the Rossiya magazine, P. in Alexei Turbin’s dream was likened to an evil spirit that disappears at dawn with the first crow of the roosters (later, in The Master and Margarita, exactly like this and the shadowless administrator with the Ukrainian surname Varenukha disappeared, leaving financial director Rimsky alone): “Peturra!.. Peturra... Peturra... Alexey snores... But Peturra will no longer be... It won’t be, it’s over. Probably, somewhere in the sky the roosters are already crowing, early in the morning, which means that all the evil spirits have melted, flown away, curled up in a ball in the distance behind Bald Mountain (the place of the witches’ Sabbath near Kiev, according to Slavic mythology. - B.S.) and more will not come back. It's over." P.'s connection with the other world is emphasized in Bulgakov's novel by the number of the cell from which he was released, which brought misfortune to the city. This number is 666, the “number of the Beast,” associated in the Apocalypse with the Antichrist.

Having not received support from England and France, P., unlike Jozef Pilsudski (1867-1935) in Poland, was never able to fulfill the mission of a national leader - the creator of a viable Ukrainian state. Ukrainian culture itself, unlike Polish culture, existed for only a few decades before 1917, and the national Ukrainian idea could not receive the necessary support from the population. Most peasants united in detachments or even simply criminal gangs that pursued only local interests and were often equally hostile to everyone - whites, reds, Germans, Poles, and sometimes even P. Bulgakov himself saw the fruits of the efforts of the “honest revolutionary” " He understood that P.’s myth was reinforced by peasant hatred of landowners, officers and the German occupiers who supported them. In the finale of “The White Guard,” “only the corpse testified that Petliura was not a myth, that he really was...” For Bulgakov, undeniable evidence of P.’s activities in Ukraine were the thousands of dead innocent people, for whom he placed responsibility on the chief ataman. At the same time, the author of “The White Guard” agreed with M. Pavlovich that Petliura’s troops were easily inclined towards Bolshevism, and in Bulgakov’s novel such “turnover” of Ukrainian soldiers is emphasized not only by the red color of their fathers’ shlyks, but also, in the unpublished in the magazine "Russia" ending, with the fact that in the finale Alexei Turbin in a dream sees among the Bolsheviks the very Petliurists who pursued him on Malo-Provalnaya and almost killed him on the day of the hetman's fall.

Bulgakov Encyclopedia. - Academician. 2009 .

See what "PETLURA Simon Vasilievich" is in other dictionaries:

Simon Vasilyevich Petlyura Simon Vasilyovich Petlyura Simon Petlyura ... Wikipedia

- (1879 1926) Ukrainian politician. Member of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Labor Party; was among the organizers of the Central Rada (1917) and the Directory (1918), its head from February 1919. In the Soviet-Polish war he took the side... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

One of the leaders of the Ukrainian counter-revolutionary bourgeois nationalist movement in 1918–20 (see Petliurism). Born into a cab driver's family. He was expelled from the theological seminary for participating in... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

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- (1879 1926), Ukrainian politician. Member of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Labor Party; was among the organizers of the Central Rada (1917) and the Directory (1918), its head from February 1919. In the Soviet-Polish war he took the side... ... encyclopedic Dictionary