February 20 — 120th anniversary of Ulas Samchuk’s birthday

Ulas Samchuk, one of the most prominent Ukrainian writers of the 20th century, was born on February 20, 1905. Foreign literary critics called him the Ukrainian Homer, indicating that he opened an unknown before Ukraine to the world.

Ulas Samchuk is the author of the novel “Mariia” – the first work of fiction dedicated to the Holodomor of 1932-1933. It became a literary monument to the millions of Ukrainians who died from the famine organised by the Stalinist regime. Samchuk, as a contemporary of those tragic events, sought to convey the truth about the suffering of the farmers and preserve the national memory.

• “Mariia stands over the child and thinks: “You’ll die, my little child. There’s not a bit of bread left for you in the whole world… Just a little bit of bread…” She looks out the window. In the yard, the trees are sprouting buds. The land is still feeding them, and Marx’s laws have not forbidden them from giving birth to new life and new joy.”

In his article “The People or Rabble?” (1941), the writer summarised his vision of the “national problem”: “It does matter who speaks what, what gods they pray to, and what books they read. It does matter what names the streets of our cities have, it does matter whether Shevchenko or Pushkin is dominant for us. It does matter how often we hear who we teach at school, it does matter what our attitude to Russian literature is. Yes! It does matter… And if it does not matter, then it means that it does not matter to you who we are!”

In 1957, Samchuk’s novel “Darkness” (the second part of the “Ost” trilogy) was published, which was perhaps the first in world literature to talk about the Gulag system. It is, therefore, not surprising that the Soviet special services were “interested” in the writer. The propaganda of the time even tried to conduct a “debunking” campaign against him.

Ulas Samchuk’s creative legacy remains crucial today. His historical novels inspire us to reflect on the past, honour the memory of our ancestors, and reflect on past events so as not to repeat our mistakes.