Ostap Vyshnia

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Description

  Ostap Vyshnia, whose real name was Pavlo Hubenko, was born in 1889 in the village of Chechva near the town of Hrun, Zinkiv district, Poltava region (now Sumy region), into a large (17 children) peasant family. Pavlo spent his childhood among the local rural population. He knew well the life, language, and traditions of the Poltava region, which was later reflected in his works. The Poltava region with its rich culture and vivid folklore motifs influenced the development of his future satirical style. His works, such as the Vyshneva Smiles series, in particular the village smiles, reflect a deep understanding of rural life and the folk worldview.
   Ostap Vyshnia's humor often focused on social issues, including exposing bureaucracy, the effects of Russification, and injustice, which was close to his heart. Despite his popularity, Vyshnia was repressed during the Stalinist era, and only after his exile was he able to return to literary activity and coverage of important social issues. 

   In the 1940s, Ostap Vyshnia visited Poltava to honor the memory of Ivan Kotliarevskyi, visited his grave, and spoke at literary evenings. There are entries about this in his diary “My thoughts, my thoughts...”. Ostap Vyshnia also took an active part in promoting the idea of creating a literary and memorial museum of Ivan Kotliarevskyi at all levels from Poltava to Kyiv. In 1948, the 150th anniversary of the publication of the first three parts of the "Aeneid" was celebrated, and Ostap Vyshnia headed the committee that organized the festivities. It was he who suggested that the literary intelligentsia approach the authorities with the idea of creating a museum dedicated to Kotliarevsky. It was not an easy task, as the city was badly destroyed after the war. However, after a long search, a suitable building was found-a mansion from the early nineteenth century that miraculously survived the bombing. According to legend, the house belonged to Vasyl Kapnist, a famous poet and public figure. Finally, in 1952, the Kotliarevsky Literary and Memorial Museum opened its doors to the first visitors.
Ostap Vyshnia died on September 28, 1956. He was buried at the Baikove Cemetery in Kyiv.
   In Poltava, the former Starokladovyshchenska Street, which began to be built up in the mid-nineteenth century, was renamed in honor of Ostap Vyshnia. There is residential development on the odd part of the street, and Park named after I.P. Kotliarevskyi  faces the odd side.

Speciality

The life of Ostap Vyshnia's older brother is also connected to Poltava. In early 1924, the humorist writer Vasyl Hubenko, having been demobilized from the Red Army, moved from the North Caucasus to Ukraine. In Poltava, he got a job at the Vesti newspaper as a branch manager and later moved to Kharkiv. Vasyl Hubenko was shot by the Bolshevik authorities on July 15, 1937, in Kyiv on charges of participating in a Ukrainian counter-revolutionary nationalist organization.