A poet with no final resting place. Biography Of Oleksandr Oles

Alexander Oles

In Prague today forcibly exhumed the remains of Ukrainian poet-symbolist, playwright and publicist Alexander Oles. The reason is quite banal - money. A philanthropist who paid the rent for a place in the cemetery, died and now will be buried in this place. We tell about the life of the poet-emigrant, who for more than 70 years buried in exile.

The biography of the poet

Alexander Oles (real name - Kandyba) was born 5 Dec 1878 in the town of bilopillia, Sumy region.

Was a free listener of the agronomy Department of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, but due to financial problems was forced to leave it. In 1903, the Oles entered the Kharkov veterinary Institute. In 1905 almanac “Bagatta” first published the works of Alexander Oles.

The formation of the poet had at the time of revolutionary upsurge of the liberation movement. With the assistance of the known historian Alexandra Efimenko, who praised the poetry of the young author, at the expense of Ukrainian public figure of Peter Stanitskogo in 1907 he published his collection of poems, “With sadness joy embraced” under the pseudonym Alexander Oles. In 1909 he published the collection “Be my sword!..”. In 1911 - the third book of “Book three”.

In 1917 Oles has published a new book of poems, in which he expressed hope for the restoration of Ukrainian statehood. However, after the Bolshevik October revolution Oles was abroad and periodically lived in Budapest, Vienna, Berlin, and Prague. He published abroad a number of collections, the main theme of which - the longing for the Ukraine.

The last years of the poet was heavy: Hitler’s partition of Czechoslovakia, which sheltered the poet, and his son Oleg (archaeologist and member of the Organization of Ukrainian nationalists) was captured by the Nazis in June 1944, tortured in the concentration camp of Sachsenhausen.

22 Jul 1944 Alexander Oles died in Prague from cirrhosis of the liver, shortly after received a message about death of the son of Oleg olzhich. He is buried at the olšany cemetery with his wife.

In addition to poetry and dramatic works in the creative legacy Olesya - prose, translation from Russian, Belarusian, Polish, Serbian, Bulgarian, German, English, Arabic, publicistic and literary-critical articles.

Why was his body exhumed

Today, January 3, Olesya forced the remains exhumed by the Czech authorities. According to the laws of this country, after the burial, relatives or friends of the deceased should pay rent for a place in the cemetery, to 20 thousand CZK for 10 years (approximately 20 thousand hryvnia - ed.).

The tomb of Alexander Oles in the cemetery in Prague after the exhumation

Until recently, the rent for the grave Olesya pay, on its own initiative, a citizen of the Czech Republic and a native of Ukraine Vladimir Mikhaylishin. Recently, however, Myhaylishyn died, and now his son wants to bury his father in the tomb of Alexander Oles.

The foreign Ministry of Ukraine said that the remains of Alexander Oles and his wife were moved to the Depository of the cemetery until the decision of the relatives of the poet, living in Canada, the place of their final disposal. After that, the Embassy of Ukraine promises to take all measures for reburial.

The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has instructed the foreign Ministry to find out whether it is possible to rebury Alexander Oles in Ukraine.

The head of the Institute of National memory Vladimir vyatrovich expressed the view that the poet should be reburied in the alley of honorary burial Lukyanovka cemetery. He also noted that the state should create a special cemetery for honourable burials of Ukrainians from all over the world, and in Kiev should appear in the national Pantheon. This idea was supported and the Minister of infrastructure Vladimir Omelian.

“Doroshenko, Holovaty, Oles Bandera, Shukhevych, Petliura, Vynnychenko… All the hundreds of heroes who lived by Ukraine, and Ukraine is alive thanks to them. The last refuge, should give the Ukrainian land in Ukrainian Pantheon, not the graveyards of the world”, - he wrote in Facebook.


112.ua


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