“Many people... tried to speak Ukrainian”. Ukraine 1917–1919 in the memories of General V. V. Bunyakovsky

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of unpublished memories of Major General V. V. Bunyakovsky about his life in 1917–1919 in Ukraine. Bunyakovsky’s memories are kept in the Russian State Military Historical Archives and in the State Archives of the Russian Federation, and were originally kept in the Russian Foreign Historical Archives in Prague. The preserved body of the general’s memories covers the period from the First World War to emigration, but one of the most interesting parts concerns the 1917–1919 period. In 1917–1918 Bunyakovsky was a member of the liquidation commission of the Nicholas Military School in Kiev, which he led; in the Ukrainian army of Hetman P. P. Skoropadsky in 1918 he was a member of the commission for the organization of military schools; in the Red Army in 1919 he headed the department of military educational institutions of the People’s Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR. The general was an eyewitness to large-scale historical events, including multiple changes of power in Kiev, met with a number of historical figures of that period and described his impressions in detail. Memories were written during his stay in exile in Serbia in the mid-1920s.

Received: 11.12.2023.
Revised: 23.01.2024.
Accepted: 12.03.2024.

Citation
Ganin A. V. “Many people... tried to speak Ukrainian”. Ukraine 1917–1919 in the memories of General V. V. Bunyakovsky // Slavic Almanac. 2024. No 1–2. P. 29–54 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31168/2073-5731.2024.1-2.02