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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, БЕРЕЗЕНЬ 2011 13 LADIA MOHYLIANSKA (1899 − 1937) Ladia Mohylianska was one of the out - standing poets of the 20th century. Ladia’s father, Mykhailo Mohylianksy, was very active in democratic politics and a very well - known literary figure. Writing under the pen name Petro Chubsky, he had great literary talent and taught his children, Ladia and Dmytro, that Ukrainian literature can be creative rather than formulaic. He also taught his children to be nonconformists and to create their own style of writing. He wanted them to write as if they were reaching the heart and soul of everyone who read their work. Ladia and Dmytro followed in their father’s footsteps. They became actively involved in politics and wrote very t ouching works, which often focused on politics, freedom, and love. Ladia was first recognized as an outstanding writer in 1919, and many of her works were published in Chernihiv’s literary journal Prosvita . This was the beginning of her public literary lif e. In the 1920s, many of Ladia’s works were published in New Generation , Life and the Revolution , The Star , and other publications. She became politically outspoken in her writings and wrote against the beliefs of the C ommunist P arty. In the late 1920s, s he joined a group of intellectuals, poets, and writers in Chernihiv, who shared her of anticommunist beliefs. Expressing antigovernment opinions at the time was unacceptable; Ladia, however, continued to write anticommunist articles, hoping to bring aware ness to the people about the many flaws of communism. Many of her works soon appeared in publications outside of Ukraine. Seeing the power she had to influence through her writings, the Soviet government attempted to impose restrictions on her. She was for bidden to write or join any literary group. But these restrictions did not stop Ladia from writing her influential articles and poems. Ladia’s first arrest came in 1929. She was a member of an elite revolutionary literary group, which included Oleh Hamene tsky. Oleh was also quite outspoken and had written about collectivi - zation in small towns throughout Ukraine. His anti - collectivization article s created a populist stirring throughout the land, and the government began arresting anyone who belonged to this literary group or held similar anticollectivization beliefs. When the arrests came, seventy individuals from Chernihiv and Kyiv were sent to Bilomor - kanal, where they were sentenced to hard labor. Ladia was among them. Her sentence was 10 years of hard labor. During her years in the prison camp, there was an enormous fire in Bilomorkanal. The administrator of the prison needed help putting out this fire and offered the prisoners a plea barga in. Those who helped put out the fire would get a reduced sentence. Ladia volunteered to fight the fire, hoping to gain her long awaited freedom. But once the fire was extinguished, she did not gain her freedom — instead, she was taken off hard labor and giv en lighter duties and fewer restrictions. During the ten years she was imprisoned, Ladia was not permitted to write. However, she could not be stopped. She continued to write and submitted many articles for the camp publication. She was rearrested and sen tenced to a hard labor penal camp in the Solovets Islands. There, on July 6, 1937, Ladia, her husband, and brother, Dmytro were shot to death. Ladia was 38 years old. Ladia and her family had strong con - victions. They cared about Ukraine, the Ukrainian pe ople and wanted the best for our country. Though she never left prison, she lives on through the many literary pieces she left the world. ______________________________ Ladia Mohylianska is patroness of UNWLA Branch 124 in St. Petersburg, Florida. The ar ticle was submitted by Olya Czerkas , president of Branch 124 and was based on reference materials from Vadym Skurativsky’s Z napiv zabutykh imen (Half - forgotten Names). We hope that other UNWLA branches will send us information about other “half - forgotten” heroines, especially those women honored as branch patronesses that we seldom hear about and thus know little about. Articles can be in English or Ukrainian, but we hope that many of you will follow Ms. Czerkas’s lead and send bilingual texts.
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