Oleksandr Oles (born Oleksandr Ivanovych Kandyba, ; 1878–1944) was a prominent Ukrainians writer and poet. He is the father of another Ukrainian poet and political activist, Oleh Olzhych, who perished in the Nazi in 1944. He was tortured and later found dead in his cell at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
Biography
Early years and emigration
He was born on 23 November 1878 in the
Khutor (small village) of Kandyba (now the village of Kandybyne,
Bilopillia Raion,
Sumy Oblast) in Kharkiv province.
He studied at the Kharkiv agriculture school, later at the Kharkiv veterinary institute.
He is one of the representatives of the Ukrainian Cossack family of Kandyba.
Since 1920 he lived in Vienna, where he headed the Union of Ukrainian Journalists and edited the magazine Na Perelomu. Since 1924 he lived in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Oleksandr Oles was one of the founders of the Ukrainian Free University, which moved to Prague from Vienna in 1921.
Family
In 1907 Oles married Vira Svadkovska. They had a son -
Oleh Olzhych, who also became a famous Ukrainian poet.
Oleh was active in the Ukrainian nationalistic resistance in Ukraine during World War II. His ties with
OUN-M led to his arrest by the
Gestapo. He was tortured and later found dead in his cell at Sachsenhausen concentration camp on 10 June 1944.
Death and burial
Oles died in emigration in Prague on 22 July 1944.
He was buried there until early January 2016, when his and his wife's remains were
Exhumation and replaced by the body of Volodymyr Mykhailyshyn, who was the man that had been paying for the family grave.
[ Remains Of Ukrainian Poet In Limbo After Being Exhumed, Radio Free Europe (3 January 2017)][ On 29 January 2017 Oles and his wife Vira were reburied at Lukyanivske cemetery in Ukraine's capital Kyiv.][ In Kyiv Oleksandr Oles was reburied, Ukrayinska Pravda (29 January 2017)] The ceremony was paid for by the Ukrainian government and attended by President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and his wife Maryna Poroshenko.[
]
Works
Among his poetic collections are "Z zhurboyu radist obnymalas" — With Sadness a Joy was Embracing, "Komu povim pechal moyu" — To Whom I'll Tell About My Woes, and others (nine poetry books altogether). Oleksandr Oles also created several dramatic works.
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