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{{short description|Ukrainian military leader (1879–1926)}}
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{{family name hatnote|Vasylyovych|Petliura|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
'''Symon Petlyura''' ({{lang-uk|Симон Петлюра}}; also spelled Simon, Semen, Semyen Petliura or Petlura, ], ] – ], ]) was a ] ] ] and statesman, one of the leaders of Ukraine's unsuccessful fight for independence following the ]. He was briefly the ] during the ]. Petlyura was ] in ] in 1926.
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}


{{Infobox officeholder
== Biography ==
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Symon Petliura
| native_name = {{Nobold|Симон Петлюра}}
| native_name_lang = uk
| honorific-suffix =
| image = Symon_Petlura_1919.jpg
| imagesize = 250px
| smallimage =
| caption = Petliura in 1919
| office = 2nd Chairman of the ]
| term_start = 11 February 1919
| term_end = 25 May 1926<br/>'''(In exile from 18 March 1921)'''
| predecessor = ]
| successor = ]{{smallsup|1}}
| primeminister = {{plainlist|
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
}}
| office1 = ] of Military Affairs
| primeminister1 = ]
| term_start1 = 28 June 1917
| term_end1 = 6 January 1918
| predecessor1 = ''Position established''
| successor1 = ]
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1879|05|22|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Poltava, ] (now ], ], ])
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1926|05|25|1879|05|10|df= yes}}
| death_place = ], ]
| spouse = {{marriage |] |1910}}<ref>. dead link</ref>
| party = ] (1900–1905)<br>] (1905–1919)
| children = Lesya (1911–1941)
| alma_mater = Poltava Orthodox Seminary
| residence =
| occupation = ] and ]
| allegiance = ]
| branch = ]
| serviceyears = 1914–1922
| rank = Chief Otaman
| unit =
| commands = Haidamaka Kish of Sloboda Ukraine
| battles = {{tree list}}
* ]
** ]
* ]
* ]
{{tree list/end}}
| awards =
| signature = Symon Petlura Signature 1920.png
| footnotes = {{smallsup|1}}As ]
}}


'''Symon Vasyliovych Petliura'''{{efn|Also rendered as ''Simon Petlura'',<ref>Magocsi, Paul Robert. 2010. ''A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 538.</ref> ''Symon Petlura'',<ref>Zamoyski, Adam. 2007. ''Warsaw 1920: Lenin's Failed Conquest of Europe''. London: HarperPress, p. viii.</ref> or ''Symon Petlyura''.<ref>Marples, David R. 2008. ''Heroes and Villains: Creating National History in Contemporary Ukraine''. Budapest: Central European University Press, p. 57.</ref>}} ({{langx|uk|Симон Васильович Петлюра}};<!--Probably inapplicable here {{langx|ru|Симон Васильевич Петлюра}}--> {{OldStyleDate|22 May|1879|10 May}} – 25 May 1926) was a ] ] and ]. He was the Supreme Commander of the ] (UNA) and led the ] during the ], a part of the wider ].
Petliura was born in ]. He was co-founder (1905) of the Ukrainian Labor Party and editor (1905-1909) of ''Slovo'' (Word) and ''Ukrainskaya Zhyzn'' (Ukrainian Life). During ] Petlyura served in the ] army. After the 1917 ] he was a member of the ] (a ''de facto'' parliament) which in June of 1917 proclaimed Ukraine an autonomous ]. In July he became minister of military affairs. Soon afterward, the ] (Germany and Austria-Hungary) occupied Ukraine and installed a puppet government, thereby ending the brief rule of the Autonomous Council.


Petliura was born to a family of ] heritage in ]. From an early age he embraced socialism and Ukrainian nationalism, which he advocated through his highly prolific career as a journalist. After the 1917 ] overthrew the Tsarist monarchy, the ] was proclaimed and Petliura was elected head of its military. The Republic was briefly interrupted by the pro-German ], but in late 1918 Petliura, along with other members of the socialist ], organised a ] and overthrew the regime, restoring the Republic. He became the leader of the Directorate in early 1919, after the ] invaded Ukraine and drove the UNA to ]. Facing imminent defeat, Petliura entered an alliance with ]'s ]. The ] concluded with Polish victory but Ukraine remained under Soviet control, forcing Petliura into exile. He initially directed the ] from Poland, but eventually settled in Paris.
In November of 1918, after the start of withdrawal of German and Austrian-Hungarian occupation forces from Ukraine, Petlyura became one of the five members of the new government, the Directorate of the ''Rada'', and again within it took up the post of ''Holovnyi'' ] (chief war leader). In January1919, following the start of the war between the Soviet Russia and Ukraine, he became the leading figure within the Directorate. In the ], he fought against ]s, ], ], Ukrainians under ], and the ]. In late 1918 Ukraine was occupied by ] forces, but in autumn 1919 most of the Whites were defeated by the ]s, who became the dominant force in Ukraine.


During the Civil War, the UNA were responsible for the ], and Petliura's role in the pogroms has been a topic of dispute. In 1926, Petliura was assassinated in Paris by Jewish anarchist ], who had lost relatives in the pogroms.
At the end of 1919, Petliura withdrew to ], which recognized him as the legal government of Ukraine. In March 1920, as head of the ], he signed an alliance in ] with the Polish government, agreeing to a border on the River ] and recognizing Poland's right to ] and ] in exchange for Polish help in overthrowing the ] regime. In 1920, Polish forces, reinforced by Petliura's remaining troops (some 2 divisions), ] in a turning point of the ] (1919-1921). Following temporary successes, ]'s and Petliura's forces were pushed back to the ] River and the Polish capital, ]. The Polish Army managed to defeat the Soviet Russians, but were unable to secure independence for Ukraine, which after the ] was divided between Poland and Russia, the latter taking the lion's share. Petliura directed the Ukrainian ] from ] and, later, ].
]


== Career to 1917 ==
In 1923, with the ] increasingly pressuring the Polish government to hand over Petliura, he fled first to ], then ] and ], and eventually settled in ] in late 1924.


Born on {{OldStyleDate |22 May|1879|10 May}}<ref name="eou">{{Cite web |date=2015-08-30 |title=Petliura, Symon |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CP%5CE%5CPetliuraSymon.htm |access-date=2024-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150830052405/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CP%5CE%5CPetliuraSymon.htm |archive-date=30 August 2015 }}</ref> in a suburb of ] (then part of the ]), Symon Petliura was the son of Vasyl Pavlovych Petliura and Olha Oleksiyivna (née Marchenko), of ] background{{fact|date=October 2023}}. His father, a Poltava city resident, had owned a transportation business; his mother was a daughter of an ] ] (priest-monk). Petliura obtained his initial education in ]s, and planned to become an ] priest.{{efn|The Petliura family was very pious. His two sisters became nuns and his nephew Stepan Ivanovych Skrypnyk became the ] of the ] (in office 1991-1993).}}
== Petliura's role in pogroms ==


Petliura studied in the Russian Orthodox Seminary in ] from 1895 to 1901.<ref name=eou/> While there he joined the ] society in 1898.<ref name=eou/> When his membership in Hromada was discovered in 1901, he was expelled from the seminary.<ref name=eou/> In 1900 Petliura joined the ] (RUP).<ref name=eou/> In 1902, under threat of arrest, he moved to ] in the ], where he worked for two years – initially as a schoolteacher and later as an archivist for the ]<ref name=eou/> helping to organize over 200,000 documents. In December 1903 he was arrested for organizing a ] branch in Yekaterinodar and for publishing inflammatory anti-tsarist articles in the Ukrainian press outside of Imperial Russia (in Austrian-controlled Lemberg, currently named ], in ]).<ref name=eou/> Released on bail in March 1904, he moved briefly to ] and then to ].<ref name=eou/>
During the rule of Petliura, a series of mass ]s were perpetrated against the ]s of Ukraine. Estimates of the number of civilian Jews murdered range from 35,000 to 100,000.


In Lviv, Petliura lived under the name of '''Sviatoslav Tagon''',<ref> {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131219071044/http://poltava-repres.narod.ru/petlura/tvor/tom_1/128.htm |date= December 19, 2013 }}. (in reference to the Library of S.Petliura and A.Zhuk)</ref> working alongside ] and ] as an editor for the journal ''{{ill|Literaturno-Naukovyi Vistnyk|uk|Літературно-науковий вістник}}'' ("Literary Scientific Herald"), the ] and as a co-editor of ''{{ill|Volia (newspaper)|uk|Воля (газета)|lt=Volya}}'' newspaper. He also contributed numerous articles to the Ukrainian-language press in ].
Some historians have claimed that Petliura did nothing to stop the pogroms, but some have claimed that he himself was not an ] and he tried to stop them by introducing capital punishment for the crime of pogromming, evidenced by the execution of the notorious pogromist Semesenko, and that Petliura's only crime was being the head of state of country where the pogroms happened. The controversy over Petliura's role has continued to this day. The ''Journal of Jewish Studies'', in 1969's issue 31:3, published two opposing views by scholars Taras Hunczak and Zosa Szjakowski which are still frequently cited.


At the end of 1905, after an nationwide amnesty was declared by the authorities, Petliura returned briefly to ], but soon moved to the Russian capital of ] in order to publish the ] monthly magazine ''Vil’na Ukrayina'' ("Free Ukraine") along with {{ill|Prokip Poniatenko|uk|Понятенко Прокіп Дмитрович}} and ].<ref name=eou/> After Russian censors closed this magazine in July 1905, he moved back to Kyiv where he worked for the newspaper ''{{ill|Rada (newspaper)|uk|Рада (газета)|lt=Rada}}'' ("The Council"). In 1907–09 he became the editor of the literary magazine ''Slovo'' ({{langx|uk|Слово|links= no}}, ''The Word'') and co-editor of ''Ukrayina'' ({{langx |uk|Україна|links=no}}, "Ukraine").
At the time, Ukraine was a major Jewish population centre, and during the ], an estimated 70,000 to 250,000 civilian Jews were killed in the atrocities throughout the former ]; the number of Jewish orphans exceeded 300,000. In his book ''200 Years Together'', Russian novelist ] provides the following numbers: out of estimated 900 mass pogroms, about 40% were perpetrated by the forces led by Petliura, 25% by the ] and various nationalist and anarchist gangs, 17% by the ], especially forces of ], and 8.5% by the ]. These figures can be contrasted to those of Candian Researchers P. Potichnyj and H. Aster, who citing "reliable Jewish sources" claim that out of 35,000 civilians killed, 27,000 died at the hands of Whites, 6,000 were killed by nationalist and anarchist gangs, and between 1500 and 2000 died at the hands of Ukrainian military units.


Because of the closure of these publications by the Russian Imperial authorities, Petliura had once again to move from Kyiv. He went to ] in 1909, where he worked briefly as an accountant. There in 1910 he married Olha Bilska (1885–1959), with whom he had a daughter, Lesia (1911–1942). From 1912 until May 1917, he served as a co-editor of the influential ] journal ''{{ill|Ukrayinskaya Zhizn|uk|Украинская Жизнь}}'' (''Ukrainian Life'').
]
]


==Journalism and publications==
== Petliura's assassination ==
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2011}}
As the editor of numerous journals and newspapers, Petliura published over 15,000 critical articles, reviews, stories and poems under an estimated 120 noms-de-plume. His prolific work in both the Russian and Ukrainian languages helped shape the mindset of the Ukrainian population in the years leading up to the Revolution in both Eastern and Western Ukraine. His prolific correspondence was of great benefit when the Revolution broke out in 1917, as he had contacts throughout Ukraine.


===Publications before 1914===
On ], 1926, while window shopping along a Paris boulevard, he was approached by a man who asked in Ukrainian, "Are you Mr. Petliura?" When he responded in the affirmative, the man, a Ukrainian-born ] ] named ], shouted (according to his later deposition) "Defend yourself, you bandit!" Petliura raised his cane and Schwartzbard pulled out a gun, shooting him three times, while exclaiming "This, for the pogroms; this for the massacres, this for the victims." When police rushed to him to make their arrest, he reportedly calmly handed over his weapon, saying, "You can arrest me, I've killed a murderer."
As the Ukrainian language had been outlawed in the Russian Empire by the ] of 1876, Petliura found more freedom to publish Ukraine oriented articles in ] than in Ukraine. There, he published the magazine ''Vilna Ukrayina'' ({{langx|uk|Вільна Україна|links=no}}, "Independent Ukraine") until July 1905. Tsarist censors, however, closed this magazine, and Petliura moved back to Kyiv.


In Kyiv, Petliura first worked for ''Rada''. In 1907 he became editor of the literary magazine ''Slovo''. Also, he co-edited the magazine ''Ukrayina''.
Schwartzbald's parents were among fifteen members of his family murdered in the pogroms. The core of his defence was&mdash;as presented by noted ] ]&mdash;that he was avenging the deaths of victims of the pogroms. This premise found favour with the French jury, who acquitted him.


In 1909, these publications were closed by Russian imperial police, and Petliura moved back to Moscow to publish. There, he was co-editor of the Russian-language journal ''Ukrayinskaya Zhizn'' to familiarize the local population with news and culture of what was known as ]. He was the chief editor of this publication from 1912 to 1914. In Moscow, he married his wife Olha Bilska in 1915 (later she was also known as her husband under the surname of Marchenko). There, in Moscow was born the daughter of Petliura, Lesia (Olesia).
Petliura is buried in the ] in Paris, France.


===Publications after emigration===
== External links ==
In Paris, Petliura continued the struggle for Ukrainian independence as a publicist. In 1924, Petliura became the editor and publisher of the weekly journal {{ill|Tryzub (newspaper)|uk|Тризуб (газета)|lt=''Tryzub''}} (''Trident''). He contributed to this journal using various pen names, including V. Marchenko, and V. Salevsky.{{cn|date=February 2024}}
* (Ukrainian Weekly account of shooting of Petliura)
*
*
*"A Belated Idealist," '']'' (Mirror Weekly), May 22-28, 2004. Available online and .
*"Unknown Symon Petliura: history of an interview," '']'' (Mirror Weekly), July 7-13, 2001. Available online and .
*"Symon Petliura as opponent of Jewish pogroms," '']'' (Mirror Weekly), July 25-31, 1996. Available online .


==Revolution in Ukraine==
]
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2011}}
]
]
]
]
]


===Rise to power===
]
In May 1917 Petliura attended the First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soldier Deputies held in ] as a delegate. On 18 May he was elected head of the ], today seen as the ultimate progenitor of the modern ]. With the proclamation of the ] on 28 June 1917, Petliura became the first Secretary (Minister) for Military Affairs.
]

]
Disagreeing with the politics of the then chairman of the ] ], Petliura left the government and became the head of the {{ill|Haydamaky Kish|uk|3-й Гайдамацький піхотний полк}}, a military formation of ] (in ]). In January–February 1918 the Haidamaka Kish was forced back to protect Kyiv during the ] and to prevent the capture of the capital by the ] ].
]

]
After the April ], ]'s government arrested Petliura and incarcerated him for four months in ].
]

]
Petliura participated in the ] of November 1918 and became a member of the ] as the Chief of Military Forces.<ref name="pk">{{cite book |last1=Kenez |first1=Peter |title=Red Attack, White Resistance; Civil War in South Russia 1918 |date=2004 |publisher=New Academia Publishing |location=Washington, DC |isbn=9780974493442 |pages=272}}</ref> Following the fall of Kyiv (February 1919) and the emigration of Vynnychenko from Ukraine, Petliura became the leader of the Directorate on 11 February 1919. In his capacity as head of the Army and State, he continued to fight both ] and ] forces in Ukraine for the next ten months.
]

]
===1919===
]
{{see also|Ukrainian–Soviet War}}
With the outbreak of hostilities between Ukraine and Soviet Russia in January 1919, and with Vynnychenko's emigration, Petliura ultimately became the leading figure in the Directorate. During the winter of 1919 the Petliura army lost most of Ukraine (including Kyiv) to Bolsheviks and by March 6 relocated to ]. In the spring of 1919 he managed to extinguish a ] led by ] who saw Petliura cooperating with socialists such as ]. During the course of the year, Petliura continued to defend the fledgling republic against incursions by the ]s, ]'s White Russians, and the Romanian-Polish troops. By autumn of 1919, most of Denikin's ] forces were defeated — in the meantime, however, the Bolsheviks had grown to become the dominant force in Ukraine.

] and Symon Petliura in ] during the ]]]
] and Symon Petliura ], May 1920]]

===1920===
On 5 December 1919, Petliura withdrew to ], which had previously recognized him as the head of the legal government of Ukraine. In April 1920, as head of the ], he signed an ] with the Polish government, agreeing to a border on the ] and recognizing Poland's right to ] in exchange for military aid in overthrowing the ] régime. Polish forces, reinforced by Petliura's remaining troops (some two divisions), ] on 7 May 1920, in what proved a turning point of the 1919–21 ]. Following initial successes, ]'s and Petliura's forces had to retreat to the ] and to the Polish capital, ]. The Polish Army defeated the Bolshevik Russians in the end, but the ] remained in parts of Ukraine and therefore Ukrainians were unable to secure their independence. Petliura directed the affairs of the Ukrainian ] from ] in ], and when the Soviet government in Moscow requested Petliura's extradition from Poland, the Poles engineered his "disappearance", secretly moving him from Tarnów to Warsaw.

===After the revolution===
] persistently demanded that Petliura be handed over. Protected by several Polish friends and colleagues, such as ], with the establishment of the ] on 30 December 1922, Petliura, in late 1923 left Poland for ], then ], ] and finally settled in Paris in early 1924. Here he established and edited the Ukrainian-language newspaper ''Tryzub''.

==Promoting a Ukrainian cultural identity==
During his time as leader of the Directorate, Petliura was active in supporting ] both in Ukraine and in the ].

===Supporting culture in Ukraine===
Petliura introduced the awarding of the title "]" to artists who had made significant contributions to Ukrainian culture. A similar titled award was continued after a significant break under the Soviet regime. Among those who had received this award was blind ] ].

===Promoting Ukrainian culture abroad===
He also saw the value in gaining international support and recognition of Ukrainian arts through cultural exchanges. Most notably, Petliura actively supported the work of cultural leaders such as the choreographer ], conductor ] and ] ], to allow them to travel internationally and promote an awareness of Ukrainian culture. Koshetz created the ] and took it on tour internationally, giving concerts in Europe and the Americas. One of the concerts by the Capella inspired ] to write "]", based on the lullaby "]"<ref>]. "Olexander Koshetz Ukraine's Great Choral Conductor." ''Forum'' 67, 1986: 15.</ref> All three musicians later emigrated to the United States.

==Life in exile==
In Paris, Petliura directed the activities of the government of the Ukrainian National Republic in exile. He launched the weekly ''Tryzub'', and continued to edit and write numerous articles under various pen names with an emphasis on questions dealing with national oppression in Ukraine. These articles were written with a literary flair. The question of national awareness was often of significance in his literary work.

Petliura's articles had a significant impact on the shaping of Ukrainian national awareness in the early 20th century. He published articles and brochures under a variety of noms de plume, including V. Marchenko, V. Salevsky, I. Rokytsky, and O. Riastr.<ref>Encyclopedia of Ukraine – Paris–New York 1970, vol 6, (p 2029–30)</ref>

==Role in pogroms==
{{Antisemitism sidebar}}
Petliura is considered a controversial figure connected with the ].<ref name="f1">{{Cite book |last1=Kas?i?anov |first1=Heorhi? Volodymyrovych |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HjFjTRL5O_4C&dq=Symon+Petliura+Ukraine&pg=PA54 |title=A Laboratory of Transnational History: Ukraine and Recent Ukrainian Historiography |last2=Ther |first2=Philipp |date=2009-01-01 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-963-9776-26-5 |language=en}}</ref><ref name= KP30609SP/><ref name=decon>{{cite journal|url=http://www.woolf.cam.ac.uk/uploads/pogromschina.pdf|title=Whither pogromshchina – historiographical synthesis or deconstruction?|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309202323/http://www.woolf.cam.ac.uk/uploads/pogromschina.pdf|archive-date=March 9, 2014|first=Lars|last=Fischer|journal=East European Jewish Affairs|volume=38|number=3|date=December 2008|pages=303–320|doi=10.1080/13501670802450939 |s2cid=147673768 }}</ref> According to ], "before the advent of Hitler, the greatest mass murder of Jews occurs in Ukraine in the course of the Civil War. All participants in the conflict were guilty of murdering Jews, even the Bolsheviks; however the ] had the largest number of victims."<ref name="Kenez">{{Cite book |last=Kenez |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vREGB60UPWMC&pg=PA166 |title=Civil War in South Russia, 1919-1920: The Defeat of the Whites |date=1977-01-01 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-03346-7 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Was Symon Petliura "an antisemite who massacred Jews during a time of war"? |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/the-centenary-of-the-proskuriv-pogrom/ |access-date=2022-04-25 |website=openDemocracy |language=en}}</ref> The number of Jews killed during the period is estimated to be between 50,000 and 200,000.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tenorio |first=Rich |title=20 years before the Holocaust, pogroms killed 100,000 Jews – then were forgotten |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-before-the-holocaust-pogroms-killed-100000-jews-then-were-forgotten/ |access-date=2022-04-25 |website=www.timesofisrael.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Veidlinger |first=Jeffrey |date=2022-02-23 |title=The Killing Fields of Ukraine |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/history/articles/killing-fields-ukraine |access-date=2022-04-25 |magazine=Tablet Magazine}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=JTA |title=Ukraine honors nationalist whose troops killed 50,000 Jews |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/ukraine-honors-nationalist-whose-troops-killed-50000-jews/ |access-date=2022-04-25 |website=www.timesofisrael.com |language=en-US}}</ref> A total of 1,236 violent attacks on Jews had been recorded between 1918 and 1921 in Ukraine. Among them, 493 were carried out by ] soldiers under the command of Symon Petliura, 307 by independent Ukrainian warlords, 213 by ]'s army, 106 by the ], and 32 by the ].<ref>]. ''A Concise History of the Russian Revolution''. Vintage Books. 1996. p. 262.</ref><ref name=assassin>''Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia'', Michael Newton, two volumes, ABC-CLIO, 2014, pp. 418–420</ref>

{{Quote box|width=50%|align=right|title=Order Issued by the Main Command of the Armies of the Ukrainian National Republic
|quote=It is time to realize that the world Jewish population—their children, their women—was enslaved and deprived of its national freedom, just like we were.
<br/>
It should not go anywhere away from us; it has been living with us since time immemorial, sharing our fate and misfortune with us.
<br/>
I decisively order that all those who will be inciting you to carry out pogroms be expelled from our army and tried as traitors of the Motherland. Let the courts try them for their actions, without sparing the criminals the severest punishments according to the law. The government of the UNR, understanding all the harm that pogroms inflict on the state, has issued a proclamation to the entire population of the land, with the appeal to oppose all measures by enemies that instigate pogroms against the Jewish population...
|source=Chief Otaman Petliura, 26 August 1919<ref name=KP30609SP>, ] (June 30, 2009)</ref>}}

The newly formed Ukrainian state (]) promised Jews full equality and autonomy. ], a Jewish assistant minister in Petliura's UPR government, declared in May 1919 that the Ukrainian government had given Jews more rights than they enjoyed in any other European government.<ref name=Strauss>Strauss, ed. (1993). pp. 1307–1309.</ref> However, after 1918, military units became involved in pogroms against Jews. During Petliura's term as Head of State (1919–20), pogroms continued to be perpetrated on Ukrainian territory.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jta.org/1926/07/22/archive/50000-jews-killed-in-petlura-pogroms-paris-court-hears|title=50,000 Jews Killed in Petlura Pogroms, Paris Court Hears|publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|date=22 July 1926|access-date=30 May 2017}}</ref><ref name=Subtelny>{{cite book|first=Orest|last=Subtelny|author-link=Orest Subtelny|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HNIs9O3EmtQC&q=0802083900|title=Ukraine: A History|edition=4th|pages=363–364|publisher=University of Toronto Press|date=2009|isbn=978-1442697287}}</ref>

Petliura's role in the pogroms has been a topic of dispute since his assassination in 1926 and the succeeding ]. In 1969, the journal ''Jewish Social Studies'' published two opposing views regarding Petliura's responsibility in pogroms against Jews during his reign over Ukraine, by scholars ]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hunczak|first=Taras|date=1969|title=A Reappraisal of Symon Petliura and Ukrainian-Jewish Relations, 1917–1921|journal=Jewish Social Studies|volume=31|issue=3|pages=163–183|jstor=4466501}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Zosa|last=Szajkowski|date=1969|title='A Reappraisal of Symon Petliura and Ukrainian-Jewish Relations, 1917–1921': A Rebuttal|journal=Jewish Social Studies|volume=31|issue=3|pages=184–213|jstor=4466502}}</ref> Later the ''Journal'' published letters from the two authors.<ref>{{cite journal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807020444/http://shron.chtyvo.org.ua/Hunchak_Taras/Vidkryte_obhovorennia_statti_A_Reappraisal_of_Symon_Petliura_and_Ukrainian-Jewish_Relations.pdf|archive-date=August 7, 2016|url=http://shron.chtyvo.org.ua/Hunchak_Taras/Vidkryte_obhovorennia_statti_A_Reappraisal_of_Symon_Petliura_and_Ukrainian-Jewish_Relations.pdf|jstor=4466608|journal=Jewish Social Studies|title=Communications|first1=Taras|last1=Hunczak|first2=Zosa|last2=Szajkowski|volume=32|number=3|date=July 1970|pages=246–263}}</ref>

According to Hunczak, Petliura actively sought to halt anti-Jewish violence on numerous occasions, introducing capital punishment for carrying out pogroms.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Taras Hunczak|last=Hunczak|first=Taras|date=1985|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305000710/http://shron1.chtyvo.org.ua/Hunchak_Taras/Symon_Petliura_and_the_Jews.pdf|url=http://shron1.chtyvo.org.ua/Hunchak_Taras/Symon_Petliura_and_the_Jews.pdf|archive-date=March 5, 2018|title=Symon Petliura and the Jews: A Reappraisal|location=Toronto|publisher=Ukrainian Historical Association|page=33|series=Ukrainian Jewish studies|number=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Hunczak|first=Taras|date=1993|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=/pages/p/e/petliurasymon.htm|title=Symon Petliura|encyclopedia=Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine|access-date=April 25, 2022}}</ref> Conversely, he is also accused of not having done enough to stop the pogroms<ref name=Strauss/> and being afraid to punish officers and soldiers engaged in crimes against Jews for fear of losing their support.<ref name=Strauss2>Strauss, ed. (1993). p. 1321.</ref><ref name="Friedman 1976">Friedman (1976).</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2022}}

==Assassination==
{{main|Schwartzbard trial}}
] ] and ] laying flowers at Symon Petliura's grave in Paris, 2005]]

On 25 May 1926, at 14:12, by the Gibert bookstore, Petliura was walking on Rue Racine near ] of the ] in Paris and was approached by ]. Schwarzbard asked him in Ukrainian, "Are you Mr. Petliura?" Petliura did not answer but raised his walking cane.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,731176-2,00.html#ixzz0gBckOLa7|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030102658/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,731176-2,00.html#ixzz0gBckOLa7|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 30, 2007|title=FRANCE: Petlura Trial|date=7 November 1927|magazine=]|access-date=April 17, 2015}}</ref> Schwarzbard pulled out a gun, proclaimed "dirty dog, killer of my people, defend yourself!" and shot him five times. Evading a lynch-mob attempting to avenge Petliura, Schwarzbard gave himself into the police with a note reading: "I have killed Petliura to avenge the death of the thousands of pogrom victims in Ukraine who were massacred by Petliura's forces without his taking any steps to prevent these massacres." The ] reported on 27 May 1926 that Petliura's "pogrom bands" were responsible for killing tens of thousands of Jews.<ref>{{cite news |title= Semion Petlura, Leader of Ukrainian Pogrom Bands, Killed |newspaper=] |issue=483 |location= New York |date=27 May 1926 |agency=] (JTA) |url= https://www.jta.org/archive/semion-petlura-leader-of-ukrainian-pogrom-bands-killed |access-date=11 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title= Tragedy Leading to Schwartzbard's Act in Shooting Petlura, Is Described |newspaper=Jewish Daily Bulletin |issue=484 |date=28 May 1926 |via=JTA |url= https://www.jta.org/archive/daily-digest-of-public-opinion-on-jewish-matters-98}}</ref>{{failed verification |reason= The second source doesn't contained the cited title. Error(s), or additional source(s) not listed here?|date=March 2022}}

Schwarzbard was an anarchist of Jewish descent, born in Ukraine. He participated in the Jewish self-defense of ] in 1905. The Russian Tsarist government sentenced him to 3 months in prison for "provoking" the Balta pogrom.<ref>Friedman (1976). p. 58.</ref> He was twice convicted of taking part in anarchist "expropriation" (burglary) and bank robbery in ]. He later joined the ] (1914–1917) and was wounded in the ]. It is reported that Schwarzbard told famous fellow anarchist leader ] in Paris that he was terminally ill and expected to die and that he would take Petliura with him; Makhno forbade Schwarzbard to do so.<ref name="Makhno forbade">{{Cite web |last=Gazeta.ua |date=2006-05-25 |title=Махно заборонив "Чорній бороді" стріляти у Петлюру |url=https://gazeta.ua/articles/history-newspaper/_mahno-zaboroniv-cornij-borodi-strilyati-u-petlyuru/113694 |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=Gazeta.ua |language=uk}}</ref>

Schwarzbard's parents were among fifteen members of his family murdered in the pogroms in Odesa. The core defense at the ] was — as presented by the noted jurist ] — that he was avenging the deaths of more than 50,000 Jewish victims of the pogroms, whereas the prosecution (both criminal and civil) tried to show that Petliura was not responsible for the pogroms and that Schwarzbard was a Soviet agent. After a trial lasting eight days the jury acquitted Schwarzbard.<ref name="Friedman 1976"/>{{page needed|date=March 2022}}<ref>{{Cite magazine |magazine= Time |title= FRANCE: Petlura Trial |date= 7 November 1927 |url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,731176,00.html |access-date= 24 May 2010 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20120913230841/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,731176,00.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 13 September 2012 }}</ref>

According to a defected KGB operative ], Schwarzbard was a Soviet (]) agent and acted on the order from a former chairman of the Soviet Ukrainian government and current ], ]. The special operation of the ] was consolidated by GPU agent Mikhail Volodin, who arrived in France 8 August 1925, and who had been in close contact with Schwarzbard.<ref name="Makhno forbade" /><ref name=assassin/><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200510143318/https://deltafinance.com.ua/ru/news/ |date=2020-05-10 }}, Newsru.ua, May 22, 2009</ref><ref>, "Tyzhden.ua", June 15, 2011</ref>

It is claimed that in March 1926, ] (Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine), in a speech given in ] and repeated in Moscow, warned of the danger Petliura represented to Soviet power. It was after this speech that the command had allegedly been given to assassinate Petliura.<ref>''Ukrainian'': Shelest, V. Symon Petliura – Liudyna i derzhavnyk Toronto, 1997, p.47.</ref>
Petliura was buried alongside his wife and daughter in the ] in Paris.

Petliura's two sisters, Orthodox nuns who had remained in Poltava, were arrested and shot in 1928 by the NKVD.<sup>]]</sup>
<!--== In popular culture ==
Mentions in ], impressions of Petliura in other socialist countries like China-->

==Legacy==
===Ukraine===
With the ] in 1991, previously restricted Soviet archives have allowed numerous politicians and historians to review Petliura's role in Ukrainian history. Some consider him a national hero who strove for the independence of Ukraine. Several cities, including ], the Ukrainian capital, and ], the city of his birth, have erected monuments to Petliura, with a museum complex also being planned in Poltava. Petliura's statue, unveiled in ] in October 2017, was denounced as disgraceful and deplorable by the ].<ref>, ] (17 October 2017)<br/>{{cite news|title=WJC denounces 'disgraceful and deplorable' Ukrainian monument honoring anti-Semitic nationalist leader|url=http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/world-jewish-congress-denounces-disgraceful-and-deplorable-ukrainian-monument-honoring-anti-semitic-nationalist-leader-10-2-2017|access-date=28 October 2017|work=]|date=17 October 2017}}</ref> To mark the 80th anniversary of his assassination, a twelve-volume edition of his writings, including articles, letters and historic documents, has been published in Kyiv by ] and the State Archive of Ukraine. In 1992 in ], a series of readings known as ''"Petliurivski chytannia"'' have become an annual event, and since 1993, they have taken place annually at ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://petlura.poltava.ua/|title=Симон Петлюра|access-date=April 17, 2015}}</ref>

In June 2009, ] renamed Comintern Street (located in ]) as {{ill|Symon Petliura Street (Kyiv)|uk|Вулиця Симона Петлюри (Київ)|lt=Symon Petliura Street}} to commemorate the 130th anniversary of his birth.<ref>, ] (June 18, 2009)</ref>

In modern-day Ukraine, Petliura has not been as ] as ] (who played a much smaller role in the ]), since Petliura was too closely associated with violence to make a good symbolic figure.<ref name=Birth>] (2007). . ], {{ISBN|978-0-19-530546-3}}.</ref> In a 2008 poll of "Famous Ukrainians of all times" (in which respondents did not receive any lists or tips), Petliura was not mentioned (Hrushevsky came in sixth place in this poll).<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714151746/http://ratinggroup.com.ua/en/products/politic/data/entry/14005/ |date=July 14, 2014 }}, ] (2012/05/28)</ref> In the 2008 TV project '']'' ("Greatest Ukrainians"), he placed 26th.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130324180250/http://greatukrainians.com.ua/top_sto/ |date=2013-03-24 }}, ].</ref>

A nephew of Symon Petliura, ], became Patriarch Mstyslav of the ] on 6 June 1990.

In December 2022, the city of ] – ] from ] – decided to rename ] Street as Symon Petliura Street.<ref>{{cite web |author=|title=Bandera Street appeared in the liberated Izium|url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2022/12/3/7379110/|website=] |date=3 December 2022|access-date=3 December 2022|language=Ukrainian}}</ref>

===Ukrainian diaspora===
For part of the Western Ukrainian diaspora, Petliura is remembered as a national hero, a fighter for Ukrainian independence, a martyr, who inspired hundreds of thousands to fight for an independent Ukrainian state.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} He has inspired original music,<ref>{{dead link|date=June 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> and youth organizations.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051024000504/http://www.cym.org/us/ellenville/Oselia50_UWarticle.asp |date=October 24, 2005 }}</ref>

===Petliura in Ukrainian folk songs===
During the revolution Petliura became the subject of numerous folk songs, primarily as a hero calling for his people to unite against foreign oppression. His name became synonymous with the call for freedom.<ref>Danylevsky (1947). p. 3.</ref> 15 songs were recorded by the ethnographer rev. prof. K. Danylevsky. In the songs Petliura is depicted as a soldier, in a manner similar to ], mocking Skoropadsky and the Bolshevik ].

News of Petliura's assassination in the summer of 1926 was marked by numerous revolts in eastern Ukraine particularly in Boromlia, Zhehailivtsi, (Sumy province), Velyka Rublivka, Myloradov (Poltava province), Hnylsk, Bilsk, Kuzemyn and all along the ] from ] to ], Burynia, ] (Chernihiv province) and other cities.<ref>Danylevsky (1947). p. 6.</ref> These revolts were brutally pacified by the Soviet administration. The blind ] ] and ] composed a '']'' (epic poem) in memory of Symon Petliura. To date Petliura is the only modern Ukrainian politician to have a duma created and sung in his memory. This duma became popular among the kobzars of left-bank Ukraine and was sung also by ], ], Bohushchenko, and Chumak.<ref>Danylevsky (1947). p. 8.</ref>

The Soviets also tried their hand at portraying Petliura through the arts in order to discredit the Ukrainian national leader. A number of humorous songs appeared in which Petliura is portrayed as a traveling beggar whose only territory is that which is under his train carriage. A number of plays such as ''The Republic on Wheels'' by Yakov Mamontov and the opera '']'' by ] and ''Arsenal'' by ] portray Petliura in a negative light, as a lackey who sold out Western Ukraine to Poland, often using the very same melodies which had become popular during the fight for Ukrainian Independence in 1918.

Petliura continues to be portrayed by the Ukrainian people in its folk songs in a manner similar to ] and ]. He is likened to the sun which suddenly stopped shining.

{{S-start}}
{{Succession box| title=] of Military Affairs | before=position created | after=] | years=June 1917 – January 1918}}
{{Succession box| title=Chief of ]<br/><small>Chief ]</small> | before=position created | after=] | years=Nov. 1918 – May 1926}}
{{S-end}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Ukraine}}
* ]
* ]
* ]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* Danylevskyi/Danylevsky, Rev. Prof. K. (1947). ''Petliura v sertsiakh i pisniakh svoho narodu''. Regensburg: Nakladom filii Tovarystva ukrayinskykh politychnykh v’iazniv v Regensburzi. P. 11.
* Danylevskyi/Danylevsky, Rev. Prof. K. O. (1951). ''Petliura v sertsiakh i pisniakh svoho narodu''. Pittsburgh, USA: Vidbytka z Narodnoho Slova. P. 24.
* Encyclopedia of Ukraine – Paris-New York 1970, Volume 6, pp.&nbsp;2029–30.
* {{cite book|author=] |title= Pogromchik: The Assassination of Simon Petlura |year= 1976 |publisher=] |location= New York |isbn= 0805511628 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1yxqQgAACAAJ}}
* Schwartzbard, Sholom: '''' (]). Excerpt from a book by Petliura's assassin explaining his actions.
* {{cite book |editor=] |title= Hostages of modernization: studies on modern antisemitism, 1870-1933/39 |volume= 2 |year= 1993 |publisher= W. de Gruyter |location= Berlin |isbn= 3110137151 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=QNptAAAAMAAJ}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
===English===
* {{in lang|en}} Symon Petliura, ], ] - ] (audiobook).
*
* (Documents, articles and photographs)
*{{Cite magazine
|title=Petlura Trial
|date=7 November 1927
|magazine=]
|url=http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,731176,00.html
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050414174341/http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,731176,00.html
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=April 14, 2005
|access-date=2008-08-09
}} (''Time'' magazine on the Petlura trial)
*{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (Ukrainian Weekly account of shooting of Petliura)
*{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*
*
*{{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Petlura, Simon |short=x}}

===Non-English===
* by Alik Gomelsky.
*"Unknown Symon Petliura: history of an interview," '']'' (Mirror Weekly), July 7–13, 2001. Available online and .
*"A Belated Idealist," '']'' (Mirror Weekly), May 22–28, 2004. Available online and .
*"Symon Petliura as opponent of Jewish pogroms," '']'' (Mirror Weekly), 25–31 July 1996. Available online .
* in Ukrainian.
*
* Web site of documents pertaining to Symon Petliura in Ukrainian, Russian and English.
* {{PM20|FID=pe/013499}}

{{UkrainePresidents}}
{{Ukrainian Bolshevik Revolution}}
{{Chiefs of the General Staff of Ukraine 1918-1921}}
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Latest revision as of 00:49, 7 January 2025

Ukrainian military leader (1879–1926) In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Vasylyovych and the family name is Petliura.

Symon Petliura
Симон Петлюра
Petliura in 1919
2nd Chairman of the Directorate
In office
11 February 1919 – 25 May 1926
(In exile from 18 March 1921)
Prime Minister
Preceded byVolodymyr Vynnychenko
Succeeded byAndriy Livytskyi
Secretary of Military Affairs
In office
28 June 1917 – 6 January 1918
Prime MinisterVolodymyr Vynnychenko
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byMykola Porsh
Personal details
Born(1879-05-22)22 May 1879
Poltava, Russian Empire (now Poltava, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine)
Died25 May 1926(1926-05-25) (aged 47)
Paris, France
Political partyRUP (1900–1905)
USDLP (1905–1919)
Spouse Olha Bilska ​(m. 1910)​
ChildrenLesya (1911–1941)
Alma materPoltava Orthodox Seminary
OccupationPolitician and statesman
Signature
Military service
AllegianceUkrainian People's Republic
Branch/serviceUkrainian People's Army
Years of service1914–1922
RankChief Otaman
CommandsHaidamaka Kish of Sloboda Ukraine
Battles/wars
As President of Ukraine in exile

Symon Vasyliovych Petliura (Ukrainian: Симон Васильович Петлюра; 22 May [O.S. 10 May] 1879 – 25 May 1926) was a Ukrainian politician and journalist. He was the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian People's Army (UNA) and led the Ukrainian People's Republic during the Ukrainian War of Independence, a part of the wider Russian Civil War.

Petliura was born to a family of Cossack heritage in Poltava. From an early age he embraced socialism and Ukrainian nationalism, which he advocated through his highly prolific career as a journalist. After the 1917 February Revolution overthrew the Tsarist monarchy, the Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed and Petliura was elected head of its military. The Republic was briefly interrupted by the pro-German Ukrainian State, but in late 1918 Petliura, along with other members of the socialist Directorate of Ukraine, organised a revolt and overthrew the regime, restoring the Republic. He became the leader of the Directorate in early 1919, after the Bolsheviks invaded Ukraine and drove the UNA to Galicia. Facing imminent defeat, Petliura entered an alliance with Józef Piłsudski's Poland. The Polish–Soviet War concluded with Polish victory but Ukraine remained under Soviet control, forcing Petliura into exile. He initially directed the government-in-exile from Poland, but eventually settled in Paris.

During the Civil War, the UNA were responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Jewish civilians, and Petliura's role in the pogroms has been a topic of dispute. In 1926, Petliura was assassinated in Paris by Jewish anarchist Sholem Schwarzbard, who had lost relatives in the pogroms.

The building of the Poltava Theological Seminary at the beginning of the 20th century

Career to 1917

Born on 22 May [O.S. 10 May] 1879 in a suburb of Poltava (then part of the Russian Empire), Symon Petliura was the son of Vasyl Pavlovych Petliura and Olha Oleksiyivna (née Marchenko), of Cossack background. His father, a Poltava city resident, had owned a transportation business; his mother was a daughter of an Orthodox hieromonk (priest-monk). Petliura obtained his initial education in parochial schools, and planned to become an Orthodox priest.

Petliura studied in the Russian Orthodox Seminary in Poltava from 1895 to 1901. While there he joined the Hromada society in 1898. When his membership in Hromada was discovered in 1901, he was expelled from the seminary. In 1900 Petliura joined the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party (RUP). In 1902, under threat of arrest, he moved to Yekaterinodar in the Kuban, where he worked for two years – initially as a schoolteacher and later as an archivist for the Kuban Cossack Host helping to organize over 200,000 documents. In December 1903 he was arrested for organizing a RUP branch in Yekaterinodar and for publishing inflammatory anti-tsarist articles in the Ukrainian press outside of Imperial Russia (in Austrian-controlled Lemberg, currently named Lviv, in Galicia). Released on bail in March 1904, he moved briefly to Kyiv and then to Lemberg.

In Lviv, Petliura lived under the name of Sviatoslav Tagon, working alongside Ivan Franko and Volodymyr Hnatiuk as an editor for the journal Literaturno-Naukovyi Vistnyk [uk] ("Literary Scientific Herald"), the Shevchenko Scientific Society and as a co-editor of Volya [uk] newspaper. He also contributed numerous articles to the Ukrainian-language press in Galicia.

At the end of 1905, after an nationwide amnesty was declared by the authorities, Petliura returned briefly to Kyiv, but soon moved to the Russian capital of Petersburg in order to publish the socialist-democratic monthly magazine Vil’na Ukrayina ("Free Ukraine") along with Prokip Poniatenko [uk] and Mykola Porsh. After Russian censors closed this magazine in July 1905, he moved back to Kyiv where he worked for the newspaper Rada [uk] ("The Council"). In 1907–09 he became the editor of the literary magazine Slovo (Ukrainian: Слово, The Word) and co-editor of Ukrayina (Ukrainian: Україна, "Ukraine").

Because of the closure of these publications by the Russian Imperial authorities, Petliura had once again to move from Kyiv. He went to Moscow in 1909, where he worked briefly as an accountant. There in 1910 he married Olha Bilska (1885–1959), with whom he had a daughter, Lesia (1911–1942). From 1912 until May 1917, he served as a co-editor of the influential Russian-language journal Ukrayinskaya Zhizn [uk] (Ukrainian Life).

Members of the first General Secretariat of the Ukrainian Central Rada. 1917 year. Standing (from left to right): Pavlo Hrystiuk, Mykola Stasiuk, Borys Martos. Seated (from left to right): Ivan Steshenko, Hristofor Baranovskyi, Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Serhii Yefremov, Simon Petliura

Journalism and publications

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As the editor of numerous journals and newspapers, Petliura published over 15,000 critical articles, reviews, stories and poems under an estimated 120 noms-de-plume. His prolific work in both the Russian and Ukrainian languages helped shape the mindset of the Ukrainian population in the years leading up to the Revolution in both Eastern and Western Ukraine. His prolific correspondence was of great benefit when the Revolution broke out in 1917, as he had contacts throughout Ukraine.

Publications before 1914

As the Ukrainian language had been outlawed in the Russian Empire by the Ems Ukaz of 1876, Petliura found more freedom to publish Ukraine oriented articles in Saint Petersburg than in Ukraine. There, he published the magazine Vilna Ukrayina (Ukrainian: Вільна Україна, "Independent Ukraine") until July 1905. Tsarist censors, however, closed this magazine, and Petliura moved back to Kyiv.

In Kyiv, Petliura first worked for Rada. In 1907 he became editor of the literary magazine Slovo. Also, he co-edited the magazine Ukrayina.

In 1909, these publications were closed by Russian imperial police, and Petliura moved back to Moscow to publish. There, he was co-editor of the Russian-language journal Ukrayinskaya Zhizn to familiarize the local population with news and culture of what was known as Malorossia. He was the chief editor of this publication from 1912 to 1914. In Moscow, he married his wife Olha Bilska in 1915 (later she was also known as her husband under the surname of Marchenko). There, in Moscow was born the daughter of Petliura, Lesia (Olesia).

Publications after emigration

In Paris, Petliura continued the struggle for Ukrainian independence as a publicist. In 1924, Petliura became the editor and publisher of the weekly journal Tryzub [uk] (Trident). He contributed to this journal using various pen names, including V. Marchenko, and V. Salevsky.

Revolution in Ukraine

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Rise to power

In May 1917 Petliura attended the First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soldier Deputies held in Kyiv as a delegate. On 18 May he was elected head of the Ukrainian General Military Committee, today seen as the ultimate progenitor of the modern Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. With the proclamation of the Central Council of Ukraine on 28 June 1917, Petliura became the first Secretary (Minister) for Military Affairs.

Disagreeing with the politics of the then chairman of the General Secretariat Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Petliura left the government and became the head of the Haydamaky Kish [uk], a military formation of Sloboda Ukraine (in Kharkiv). In January–February 1918 the Haidamaka Kish was forced back to protect Kyiv during the Uprising at the Kyiv Arsenal Plant and to prevent the capture of the capital by the Bolshevik Red Guard.

After the April 1918 Ukrainian coup d'état, Pavlo Skoropadskyi's government arrested Petliura and incarcerated him for four months in Bila Tserkva.

Petliura participated in the Anti-Hetman Uprising of November 1918 and became a member of the Directorate of Ukraine as the Chief of Military Forces. Following the fall of Kyiv (February 1919) and the emigration of Vynnychenko from Ukraine, Petliura became the leader of the Directorate on 11 February 1919. In his capacity as head of the Army and State, he continued to fight both Bolshevik and White forces in Ukraine for the next ten months.

1919

See also: Ukrainian–Soviet War

With the outbreak of hostilities between Ukraine and Soviet Russia in January 1919, and with Vynnychenko's emigration, Petliura ultimately became the leading figure in the Directorate. During the winter of 1919 the Petliura army lost most of Ukraine (including Kyiv) to Bolsheviks and by March 6 relocated to Podolia. In the spring of 1919 he managed to extinguish a coup-d'etat led by Volodymyr Oskilko who saw Petliura cooperating with socialists such as Borys Martos. During the course of the year, Petliura continued to defend the fledgling republic against incursions by the Bolsheviks, Anton Denikin's White Russians, and the Romanian-Polish troops. By autumn of 1919, most of Denikin's White Russian forces were defeated — in the meantime, however, the Bolsheviks had grown to become the dominant force in Ukraine.

Polish General Antoni Listowski and Symon Petliura in Berdychiv during the Kyiv offensive
Józef Piłsudski and Symon Petliura Kyiv, May 1920

1920

On 5 December 1919, Petliura withdrew to Poland, which had previously recognized him as the head of the legal government of Ukraine. In April 1920, as head of the Ukrainian People's Republic, he signed an alliance in Warsaw with the Polish government, agreeing to a border on the River Zbruch and recognizing Poland's right to Galicia in exchange for military aid in overthrowing the Bolshevik régime. Polish forces, reinforced by Petliura's remaining troops (some two divisions), attacked Kyiv on 7 May 1920, in what proved a turning point of the 1919–21 Polish-Bolshevik war. Following initial successes, Piłsudski's and Petliura's forces had to retreat to the Vistula River and to the Polish capital, Warsaw. The Polish Army defeated the Bolshevik Russians in the end, but the Red Army remained in parts of Ukraine and therefore Ukrainians were unable to secure their independence. Petliura directed the affairs of the Ukrainian government-in-exile from Tarnów in Lesser Poland, and when the Soviet government in Moscow requested Petliura's extradition from Poland, the Poles engineered his "disappearance", secretly moving him from Tarnów to Warsaw.

After the revolution

Bolshevik Russia persistently demanded that Petliura be handed over. Protected by several Polish friends and colleagues, such as Henryk Józewski, with the establishment of the Soviet Union on 30 December 1922, Petliura, in late 1923 left Poland for Budapest, then Vienna, Geneva and finally settled in Paris in early 1924. Here he established and edited the Ukrainian-language newspaper Tryzub.

Promoting a Ukrainian cultural identity

During his time as leader of the Directorate, Petliura was active in supporting Ukrainian culture both in Ukraine and in the Ukrainian diaspora.

Supporting culture in Ukraine

Petliura introduced the awarding of the title "People's Artist of Ukraine" to artists who had made significant contributions to Ukrainian culture. A similar titled award was continued after a significant break under the Soviet regime. Among those who had received this award was blind kobza player Ivan Kuchuhura-Kucherenko.

Promoting Ukrainian culture abroad

He also saw the value in gaining international support and recognition of Ukrainian arts through cultural exchanges. Most notably, Petliura actively supported the work of cultural leaders such as the choreographer Vasyl Avramenko, conductor Oleksander Koshetz and bandurist Vasyl Yemetz, to allow them to travel internationally and promote an awareness of Ukrainian culture. Koshetz created the Ukrainian Republic Capella and took it on tour internationally, giving concerts in Europe and the Americas. One of the concerts by the Capella inspired George Gershwin to write "Summertime", based on the lullaby "Oi Khodyt Son Kolo Vikon" All three musicians later emigrated to the United States.

Life in exile

In Paris, Petliura directed the activities of the government of the Ukrainian National Republic in exile. He launched the weekly Tryzub, and continued to edit and write numerous articles under various pen names with an emphasis on questions dealing with national oppression in Ukraine. These articles were written with a literary flair. The question of national awareness was often of significance in his literary work.

Petliura's articles had a significant impact on the shaping of Ukrainian national awareness in the early 20th century. He published articles and brochures under a variety of noms de plume, including V. Marchenko, V. Salevsky, I. Rokytsky, and O. Riastr.

Role in pogroms

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Petliura is considered a controversial figure connected with the pogroms of Jews during his rule of the Ukrainian National Republic. According to Peter Kenez, "before the advent of Hitler, the greatest mass murder of Jews occurs in Ukraine in the course of the Civil War. All participants in the conflict were guilty of murdering Jews, even the Bolsheviks; however the Volunteer Army had the largest number of victims." The number of Jews killed during the period is estimated to be between 50,000 and 200,000. A total of 1,236 violent attacks on Jews had been recorded between 1918 and 1921 in Ukraine. Among them, 493 were carried out by Ukrainian People's Republic soldiers under the command of Symon Petliura, 307 by independent Ukrainian warlords, 213 by Denikin's army, 106 by the Red Army, and 32 by the Polish Army.

Order Issued by the Main Command of the Armies of the Ukrainian National Republic

It is time to realize that the world Jewish population—their children, their women—was enslaved and deprived of its national freedom, just like we were.
It should not go anywhere away from us; it has been living with us since time immemorial, sharing our fate and misfortune with us.
I decisively order that all those who will be inciting you to carry out pogroms be expelled from our army and tried as traitors of the Motherland. Let the courts try them for their actions, without sparing the criminals the severest punishments according to the law. The government of the UNR, understanding all the harm that pogroms inflict on the state, has issued a proclamation to the entire population of the land, with the appeal to oppose all measures by enemies that instigate pogroms against the Jewish population...

Chief Otaman Petliura, 26 August 1919

The newly formed Ukrainian state (Ukrainian People's Republic) promised Jews full equality and autonomy. Arnold Margolin, a Jewish assistant minister in Petliura's UPR government, declared in May 1919 that the Ukrainian government had given Jews more rights than they enjoyed in any other European government. However, after 1918, military units became involved in pogroms against Jews. During Petliura's term as Head of State (1919–20), pogroms continued to be perpetrated on Ukrainian territory.

Petliura's role in the pogroms has been a topic of dispute since his assassination in 1926 and the succeeding Schwarzbard's trial. In 1969, the journal Jewish Social Studies published two opposing views regarding Petliura's responsibility in pogroms against Jews during his reign over Ukraine, by scholars Taras Hunczak and Zosa Szajkowski. Later the Journal published letters from the two authors.

According to Hunczak, Petliura actively sought to halt anti-Jewish violence on numerous occasions, introducing capital punishment for carrying out pogroms. Conversely, he is also accused of not having done enough to stop the pogroms and being afraid to punish officers and soldiers engaged in crimes against Jews for fear of losing their support.

Assassination

Main article: Schwartzbard trial
Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko and his wife laying flowers at Symon Petliura's grave in Paris, 2005

On 25 May 1926, at 14:12, by the Gibert bookstore, Petliura was walking on Rue Racine near Boulevard Saint-Michel of the Latin Quarter in Paris and was approached by Sholem Schwarzbard. Schwarzbard asked him in Ukrainian, "Are you Mr. Petliura?" Petliura did not answer but raised his walking cane. Schwarzbard pulled out a gun, proclaimed "dirty dog, killer of my people, defend yourself!" and shot him five times. Evading a lynch-mob attempting to avenge Petliura, Schwarzbard gave himself into the police with a note reading: "I have killed Petliura to avenge the death of the thousands of pogrom victims in Ukraine who were massacred by Petliura's forces without his taking any steps to prevent these massacres." The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on 27 May 1926 that Petliura's "pogrom bands" were responsible for killing tens of thousands of Jews.

Schwarzbard was an anarchist of Jewish descent, born in Ukraine. He participated in the Jewish self-defense of Balta in 1905. The Russian Tsarist government sentenced him to 3 months in prison for "provoking" the Balta pogrom. He was twice convicted of taking part in anarchist "expropriation" (burglary) and bank robbery in Austria-Hungary. He later joined the French Foreign Legion (1914–1917) and was wounded in the Battle of the Somme. It is reported that Schwarzbard told famous fellow anarchist leader Nestor Makhno in Paris that he was terminally ill and expected to die and that he would take Petliura with him; Makhno forbade Schwarzbard to do so.

Schwarzbard's parents were among fifteen members of his family murdered in the pogroms in Odesa. The core defense at the Schwarzbard trial was — as presented by the noted jurist Henri Torres — that he was avenging the deaths of more than 50,000 Jewish victims of the pogroms, whereas the prosecution (both criminal and civil) tried to show that Petliura was not responsible for the pogroms and that Schwarzbard was a Soviet agent. After a trial lasting eight days the jury acquitted Schwarzbard.

According to a defected KGB operative Peter Deriabin, Schwarzbard was a Soviet (NKVD) agent and acted on the order from a former chairman of the Soviet Ukrainian government and current Soviet Ambassador to France, Christian Rakovsky. The special operation of the GPU was consolidated by GPU agent Mikhail Volodin, who arrived in France 8 August 1925, and who had been in close contact with Schwarzbard.

It is claimed that in March 1926, Vlas Chubar (Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine), in a speech given in Kharkiv and repeated in Moscow, warned of the danger Petliura represented to Soviet power. It was after this speech that the command had allegedly been given to assassinate Petliura. Petliura was buried alongside his wife and daughter in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.

Petliura's two sisters, Orthodox nuns who had remained in Poltava, were arrested and shot in 1928 by the NKVD.

Legacy

Ukraine

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, previously restricted Soviet archives have allowed numerous politicians and historians to review Petliura's role in Ukrainian history. Some consider him a national hero who strove for the independence of Ukraine. Several cities, including Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and Poltava, the city of his birth, have erected monuments to Petliura, with a museum complex also being planned in Poltava. Petliura's statue, unveiled in Vinnytsia in October 2017, was denounced as disgraceful and deplorable by the World Jewish Congress. To mark the 80th anniversary of his assassination, a twelve-volume edition of his writings, including articles, letters and historic documents, has been published in Kyiv by Taras Shevchenko University and the State Archive of Ukraine. In 1992 in Poltava, a series of readings known as "Petliurivski chytannia" have become an annual event, and since 1993, they have taken place annually at Kyiv University.

In June 2009, Kyiv City Council renamed Comintern Street (located in Shevchenkivskyi District) as Symon Petliura Street [uk] to commemorate the 130th anniversary of his birth.

In modern-day Ukraine, Petliura has not been as lionized as Mykhailo Hrushevsky (who played a much smaller role in the Ukrainian People's Republic), since Petliura was too closely associated with violence to make a good symbolic figure. In a 2008 poll of "Famous Ukrainians of all times" (in which respondents did not receive any lists or tips), Petliura was not mentioned (Hrushevsky came in sixth place in this poll). In the 2008 TV project Velyki Ukraïntsi ("Greatest Ukrainians"), he placed 26th.

A nephew of Symon Petliura, Stepan Skrypnyk, became Patriarch Mstyslav of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church on 6 June 1990.

In December 2022, the city of Izium – recently liberated from Russian forces – decided to rename Maxim Gorky Street as Symon Petliura Street.

Ukrainian diaspora

For part of the Western Ukrainian diaspora, Petliura is remembered as a national hero, a fighter for Ukrainian independence, a martyr, who inspired hundreds of thousands to fight for an independent Ukrainian state. He has inspired original music, and youth organizations.

Petliura in Ukrainian folk songs

During the revolution Petliura became the subject of numerous folk songs, primarily as a hero calling for his people to unite against foreign oppression. His name became synonymous with the call for freedom. 15 songs were recorded by the ethnographer rev. prof. K. Danylevsky. In the songs Petliura is depicted as a soldier, in a manner similar to Robin Hood, mocking Skoropadsky and the Bolshevik Red Guard.

News of Petliura's assassination in the summer of 1926 was marked by numerous revolts in eastern Ukraine particularly in Boromlia, Zhehailivtsi, (Sumy province), Velyka Rublivka, Myloradov (Poltava province), Hnylsk, Bilsk, Kuzemyn and all along the Vorskla River from Okhtyrka to Poltava, Burynia, Nizhyn (Chernihiv province) and other cities. These revolts were brutally pacified by the Soviet administration. The blind kobzars Pavlo Hashchenko and Ivan Kuchuhura Kucherenko composed a duma (epic poem) in memory of Symon Petliura. To date Petliura is the only modern Ukrainian politician to have a duma created and sung in his memory. This duma became popular among the kobzars of left-bank Ukraine and was sung also by Stepan Pasiuha, Petro Drevchenko, Bohushchenko, and Chumak.

The Soviets also tried their hand at portraying Petliura through the arts in order to discredit the Ukrainian national leader. A number of humorous songs appeared in which Petliura is portrayed as a traveling beggar whose only territory is that which is under his train carriage. A number of plays such as The Republic on Wheels by Yakov Mamontov and the opera Shchors by Boris Liatoshinsky and Arsenal by Heorhiy Maiboroda portray Petliura in a negative light, as a lackey who sold out Western Ukraine to Poland, often using the very same melodies which had become popular during the fight for Ukrainian Independence in 1918.

Petliura continues to be portrayed by the Ukrainian people in its folk songs in a manner similar to Taras Shevchenko and Bohdan Khmelnytsky. He is likened to the sun which suddenly stopped shining.

Preceded byposition created Secretary of Military Affairs
June 1917 – January 1918 		Succeeded byMykola Porsh
Preceded byposition created Chief of General Bulawa
Chief Otaman
Nov. 1918 – May 1926 		Succeeded byAndriy Livytskyi

See also

Notes

  1. Also rendered as Simon Petlura, Symon Petlura, or Symon Petlyura.
  2. The Petliura family was very pious. His two sisters became nuns and his nephew Stepan Ivanovych Skrypnyk became the Patriarch Mstyslav of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (in office 1991-1993).

References

  1. Biography of Petlura. dead link
  2. Magocsi, Paul Robert. 2010. A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 538.
  3. Zamoyski, Adam. 2007. Warsaw 1920: Lenin's Failed Conquest of Europe. London: HarperPress, p. viii.
  4. Marples, David R. 2008. Heroes and Villains: Creating National History in Contemporary Ukraine. Budapest: Central European University Press, p. 57.
  5. ^ "Petliura, Symon". 30 August 2015. Archived from the original on 30 August 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  6. All pseudonyms and cryptonyms of Symon Petliura Archived December 19, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. (in reference to the Library of S.Petliura and A.Zhuk)
  7. Kenez, Peter (2004). Red Attack, White Resistance; Civil War in South Russia 1918. Washington, DC: New Academia Publishing. p. 272. ISBN 9780974493442.
  8. Klymkiw, Walter. "Olexander Koshetz Ukraine's Great Choral Conductor." Forum 67, 1986: 15.
  9. Encyclopedia of Ukraine – Paris–New York 1970, vol 6, (p 2029–30)
  10. Kas?i?anov, Heorhi? Volodymyrovych; Ther, Philipp (1 January 2009). A Laboratory of Transnational History: Ukraine and Recent Ukrainian Historiography. Central European University Press. ISBN 978-963-9776-26-5.
  11. ^ The Jewish card in Russian operations against Ukraine, Kyiv Post (June 30, 2009)
  12. Fischer, Lars (December 2008). "Whither pogromshchina – historiographical synthesis or deconstruction?" (PDF). East European Jewish Affairs. 38 (3): 303–320. doi:10.1080/13501670802450939. S2CID 147673768. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2014.
  13. Kenez, Peter (1 January 1977). Civil War in South Russia, 1919-1920: The Defeat of the Whites. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03346-7.
  14. "Was Symon Petliura "an antisemite who massacred Jews during a time of war"?". openDemocracy. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  15. Tenorio, Rich. "20 years before the Holocaust, pogroms killed 100,000 Jews – then were forgotten". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  16. Veidlinger, Jeffrey (23 February 2022). "The Killing Fields of Ukraine". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  17. JTA. "Ukraine honors nationalist whose troops killed 50,000 Jews". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  18. Richard Pipes. A Concise History of the Russian Revolution. Vintage Books. 1996. p. 262.
  19. ^ Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia, Michael Newton, two volumes, ABC-CLIO, 2014, pp. 418–420
  20. ^ Strauss, ed. (1993). pp. 1307–1309.
  21. "50,000 Jews Killed in Petlura Pogroms, Paris Court Hears". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 22 July 1926. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  22. Subtelny, Orest (2009). Ukraine: A History (4th ed.). University of Toronto Press. pp. 363–364. ISBN 978-1442697287.
  23. Hunczak, Taras (1969). "A Reappraisal of Symon Petliura and Ukrainian-Jewish Relations, 1917–1921". Jewish Social Studies. 31 (3): 163–183. JSTOR 4466501.
  24. Szajkowski, Zosa (1969). "'A Reappraisal of Symon Petliura and Ukrainian-Jewish Relations, 1917–1921': A Rebuttal". Jewish Social Studies. 31 (3): 184–213. JSTOR 4466502.
  25. Hunczak, Taras; Szajkowski, Zosa (July 1970). "Communications" (PDF). Jewish Social Studies. 32 (3): 246–263. JSTOR 4466608. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2016.
  26. Hunczak, Taras (1985). Symon Petliura and the Jews: A Reappraisal (PDF). Ukrainian Jewish studies. Toronto: Ukrainian Historical Association. p. 33. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2018.
  27. Hunczak, Taras (1993). "Symon Petliura". Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  28. Strauss, ed. (1993). p. 1321.
  29. ^ Friedman (1976).
  30. "FRANCE: Petlura Trial". Time. 7 November 1927. Archived from the original on 30 October 2007. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  31. "Semion Petlura, Leader of Ukrainian Pogrom Bands, Killed". Jewish Daily Bulletin. No. 483. New York. Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA). 27 May 1926. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  32. "Tragedy Leading to Schwartzbard's Act in Shooting Petlura, Is Described". Jewish Daily Bulletin. No. 484. 28 May 1926 – via JTA.
  33. Friedman (1976). p. 58.
  34. ^ Gazeta.ua (25 May 2006). "Махно заборонив "Чорній бороді" стріляти у Петлюру". Gazeta.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 15 October 2024.
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  36. UNP requests Chernomyrdin to hand over archive documents about the assassination of Petliura Archived 2020-05-10 at the Wayback Machine, Newsru.ua, May 22, 2009
  37. "Convenient" assassination, "Tyzhden.ua", June 15, 2011
  38. Ukrainian: Shelest, V. Symon Petliura – Liudyna i derzhavnyk Toronto, 1997, p.47.
  39. Ukraine Unveils Statue Honoring Nationalist Leader Behind Regime That Killed Up to 50,000 Jews, Haaretz (17 October 2017)
    "WJC denounces 'disgraceful and deplorable' Ukrainian monument honoring anti-Semitic nationalist leader". World Jewish Congress. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  40. "Симон Петлюра". Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  41. Kyiv Council Renames Kominterna Street Into Petliura Street, Ukrainian News Agency (June 18, 2009)
  42. Yekelchyk, Serhy (2007). Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation. Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-530546-3.
  43. Famous Ukrainians of all times Archived July 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Sociological group "RATING" (2012/05/28)
  44. Top 11–100 Archived 2013-03-24 at the Wayback Machine, Velyki Ukraïntsi.
  45. "Bandera Street appeared in the liberated Izium". Ukrayinska Pravda (in Ukrainian). 3 December 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  46. Melnyk, Lubomyr
  47. Ukrainian Youth Association (CYM) – US Archived October 24, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  48. Danylevsky (1947). p. 3.
  49. Danylevsky (1947). p. 6.
  50. Danylevsky (1947). p. 8.

Bibliography

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