The repressive policy of the OGPU-NKVD investigative authorities in relation to the Ukrainian intelligentsia on the example of the cases against Nikanor Kharitonovych Onatskyi

The article examines the repressive policy of the USSR towards the Ukrainian intellectual in the late 1920s and 1930s, using the example of the persecution and investigative actions directed against Nikanor Kharitonovych Onatskyi, the founder of the Sumy Museum of History and Local History, an artist, poet and teacher. The article analyzes the materials of the investigative bodies of the ODPU-NKVS, namely the materials of the acts of searches, denunciations and court verdicts regarding N.Kh. Onatskyi. These repressive measures took place entirely in the context of the time, which was concerned with the gradual extermination of representatives of Ukrainian culture. Considerable attention in the article is devoted to the studies of Ukrainian studies by N. Onatskyi, regarding his study and coverage of the history of Ukrainian culture, ethnography and museology precisely as the cause of persecution and repression, in relation to the Ukrainian researcher. The article attempts to analyze and periodize the repressive measures against N. Onatskyi, namely from their beginning — 1928, when the artist began to be constantly disturbed by the bodies of the ODPU, calling for interrogations and setting up secret surveillance, writing denunciations, and the end of repressive measures against the artist — namely, the court verdict of the NKVD troika in November 1937, and the execution of the artist. The article also attempts to determine the reasons and prerequisites that influenced the beginning and continuation of repressive actions against N. Onatskyi. Among them is his active research on Ukrainian art, culture, ethnography and history. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that, for the first time, an attempt has been made to summarize and highlight information about the entire period of repressive actions against Nikanor Kharytonovych Onatskyi.

Source: Yuvko E. (2022). The repressive policy of the OGPU-NKVD investigative authorities in relation to the Ukrainian intelligentsia on the example of the cases against Nikanor Kharitonovych Onatskyi. Consensus. (3): 5-13

Source web-site: https://konsensus.net.ua/index.php/konsensus/article/view/22/20