Yevhen Chykalenko

Yevhen Kharlampiyovych Chykalenko
Yevhen Kharlampiyovych Chykalenko
	Chykalenko in 1897
Born	21 December 1861; Pereschory, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire (now in Ukraine)
Died	20 June 1929 (aged 67); Prague, Czechoslovakia
Nationality	Ukrainian
Occupation(s)	Public figure, philanthropist, landowner, publisher, patron of the arts
Known for	Initiator of the convocation of the Central Rada, Ukrainian national revival

Yevhen Kharlampiyovych Chykalenko (Ukrainian: Євге́н Харла́мпійович Чикале́нко; born 21 December 1861 in Pereschory, Kherson Governorate; died 20 June 1929 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) was a Ukrainian public figure, philanthropist, landowner, publisher and patron of the arts. He was one of the initiators of the convocation of the Central Rada in 1917.^[1] He played an important role in the Ukrainian national revival in the early 20th century by co-funding the only Ukrainian-language newspapers in the Russian Empire.^[2]

He was a patron of various causes: Umanets-Komarov's Russian-Ukrainian Dictionary (Lviv, 1893–1898) was published with his money; he helped the Kyivska Staryna magazine by giving an award (1,000 rubles) for the best written history of Ukraine and paying royalties for Ukrainian works of literature published in Kyivska Staryna; he organized the Mordovets Foundation at the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Lviv to help Ukrainian writers. Mordovets fund to help Ukrainian writers, financed the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party's weekly "Selyanyn" in Lviv, and became the main founder of the "Academic House" in Lviv (2,5000 rubles), encouraging young people from the Naddniprians to go to Lviv for studies.

During his time in the Central Rada, Chykalenko was an advocate for the inclusion of the Jewish population into the Ukrainian national movement. Chykalenko would often pursue pro-Jewish rhetoric with his colleagues and highlight that a large portion of the Jewish population could communicate in the Ukrainian language prior to the Russian Empire's policies of "russification" in an attempt to ease tensions.^[3]

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Pushkin Street in Kyiv was renamed Yevhen Chykalenko Street in his honor.^[4]

References

^ Shapoval, Yuriy (28 June 2022). "Authentic Stories: A Pocket, Ukraine, and Yevhen Chykalenko". Kyiv Post. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
^ "Chykalenko, Yevhen". encyclopediaofukraine.com. Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
^ Hyrych, Ihor; Telvak, Vitalii; Telvak, Viktoria; Yanyshyn, Bohdan (2022). "Jews and the Ukrainian National Liberation Movement of the 19th – Early 20th Centuries" (PDF). Codrul Cosminului. XVIII (2): 289–308. doi:10.4316/CC.2022.02.03. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
^ Ash, Timothy Garton (19 August 2023). "Putin, Pushkin and the decline of the Russian empire". Financial Times. Retrieved 23 August 2023.