Yaroslav Steshenko
Ukrainian bibliographer and bibliographical scholar (1904–1939)
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Yaroslav Ivanovych Steshenko (6 April [O.S. 24 March] 1904–11 March 1939; Ukrainian: Ярослав Іванович Стешенко) was a Ukrainian and Soviet bibliographer, bibliographical scholar, bibliophile and art critic.[1][2][3][4] Frequently arrested by the Soviet authorities, Steshenko died in a gulag camp and is considered part of the Executed Renaissance.[1][2][4]
Yaroslav Ivanovych Steshenko
6 April [O.S. 24 March] 1904
Kyiv National Economic University, 1930
- bibliographer
- bibliographical scholar
- art critic
Yaroslav Steshenko | |
|---|---|
Ярослав Стешенко | |
| Born | Ярослав Іванович Стешенко Yaroslav Ivanovych Steshenko 6 April [O.S. 24 March] 1904 Kyiv, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) |
| Died | 11 March 1939 (aged 34) Nagaev Bay, Russian SSR, USSR (Now Russia) |
| Education | Kyiv Higher Institute of Education, 1921 Kyiv National Economic University, 1930 |
| Occupations |
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| Parents |
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| Relatives | Mariia Starytska (aunt) Liudmyla Starytska-Cherniakhivska (aunt) Mykhailo Starytsky (grandfather) Veronika Chernyakhivska (cousin) Mykola Lysenko (great-uncle) |
Biography
Steshenko was born 6 April [O.S. 24 March] 1904 in Kyiv, Russian Empire (present-day, Ukraine) to Ivan Steshenko and Oksana Steshenko (née Starytska).[1][2][3] Steshenko's father was a politician, literary scholar, poet, writer, translator and his mother was a children's writer, translator and teacher.[2][5][6][7] Steshenko was the younger brother of the actress Iryna Steshenko.[2][8] Through his mother Steshenko was the grandson of Mykhailo Starytsky and Sofiia Starytska, and the nephew of Mariia Starytska and Liudmyla Starytska-Cherniakhivska.[6][7][4] Steshenko was also the cousin of Veronika Chernyakhivska, and the great-nephew of Mykola Lysenko.[4]
In 1918, aged 14, Steshenko witnessed the assassination of his father by members of the Red Army.[9][4] In 1920, Steshenko graduated from gymnasium in Kyiv.[1] During this time Steshenko also attended a course in librarianship, and worked at the Dneprosoyuz book warehouse from 1919 to 1920.[1][2] From 1920 to 1921, Steshenko studied literary cycles at the Kyiv Higher Institute of Education.[1][2] In 1930[a], Steshenko graduated from Kyiv National Economic University.[1][2]
Career
In 1928, Steshenko became a member of the Russian Bibliographic Society at Moscow University and became a member of the Leningrad Society of Bibliophiles in 1929.[1][2]
Steshenko compiled indexes of works by Heorhiy Narbut and Sergiy Maslov, and co-authored a catalogue of publications of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences with Mykola Ivanchenko.[2][10]
Steshenko collected bookplates, and was a corresponding member of the Leningrad Society of Bookplate Artists.[1][2] Part of Steshenko's bookplate collection is housed at the Museum of Outstanding Figures of Ukrainian Culture.[4]
Arrests and death
In 1921, aged 17, Steshenko was arrested on charges of belonging to a counter-revolutionary youth organisation, but was later released due to lack of evidence.[1][2] Steshenko was arrested in 1923 on charges of belonging to the anti-Bolshevik Cossack Council of Right-Bank Ukraine, but was later released due to lack of evidence.[1][2]
In autumn 1929, Steshenko was imprisoned as part of the Union for the Freedom of Ukraine trial.[2] Steshenko plead not-guilty and was later released in 1930 due to the absence of criminal wrongdoing.[2] In 1933, Steshenko was arrested in Kharkiv as part of the "Archaeologists–Zhupans" (Ukrainian: Археологів–Жупанів) case and was exiled to Uralsk, Kazakh SSR (present-day Oral, Kazakhstan).[1] Steshenko was sentenced in 1936 to hard labor at a gulag camp in Kolyma.[1]
On 11 March 1939 Steshenko died aged 34 at a gulag camp in Nagaev Bay.[1][2][4] Steshenko was posthumously rehabilitated in September 1956.[1][2]
Legacy
A compilation of Steshenko's letters by Yevhen Pshenichny was published as Yaroslav Steshenko: Epistolary Monologue in 2020.[4]
Publications
- Steshenko, Yaroslav (1926) Heorhii Narbut: Posthumous Exhibition of Works, T. Shevchenko All-Ukraine Historical Museum. Kyiv: Derzhvydav Ukraїny. [2][11]
- Ivanchenko, M.; Peretz, V.; Steshenko, Y. (1927). Sergiy Maslov 1902–1927. Kyiv: Ukrainian Scientific Institute of Book Studies. [10]
- Steshenko, Yaroslabv; Ivanchenko, M. (1930). Systematic Catalog of Publications of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 1918–1929'. Kyiv: All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.