Poltavets-Ostryanitsa, Ivan Vasilievich

Childhood

He was born on September 26, 1890 in Balakliya near Smela (according to other sources in Subotov near Chigirin ). The family came from an old Cossack family. At an early age, lost his father. The upbringing and education of the son was dealt with by the mother - a rural teacher.

Military career

He graduated from the Elizavetgrad cavalry school . Member of the First World War, Colonel. He claimed to be a descendant of Hetman Yakov Ostryanitsa , the leader of the uprising of the Ukrainian people against the Poles in 1638. Skoropadsky recalled him: “I know his family ... ” wrote Skoropadsky, “the assumption that he has a fake name is completely wrong ... His mother is a decent woman ... really assuming that he is a genius ... He graduated from the Elizavetgrad school, went to some kind of infantry the regiment, then transferred to the Kuban, being itself the Kuban Cossack, was fond of the history of Ukraine, wrote something about this. During the war, according to General Ragosa , he was an outstanding officer, had all the orders, including St. George's weapons. He was sent to Petrograd to an armored car school. Then began his political Ukrainian activity, which ended with the fact that under Kerensky he had to flee south from Petrograd ... ” ^[1]

Ukrainian Revolution

One of the organizers of the Ukrainian military demonstration in Petrograd in March 1917. Already at the age of 27, in 1917, he, having behind him the experience of officer service in the tsarist army and the battles of the First World War , became the organizer of the congress of the Free Cossacks in Chigirin ^[2] .

The congress took place in Chyhyryn on October 3–7. 200 delegates represented 60 thousand free Cossacks of the Kiev region, Chernihiv region, Poltava region, Katerinoslav region, Kherson region, Kuban. It was from his “filing” that General P. Skoropadsky became the chieftain of the entire Free Cossacks of Ukraine . Cossacks wanted to elect Poltava as the ataman of the Cossacks, but he refused to accept the first, suggesting that the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Corps General P. Skoropadsky be elected as the Chief Ataman of the Cossacks, and Professor Mikhail Grushevsky as the Honorary Ataman, after which they were unanimously elected. Poltavets himself became only the Punishment Ataman of the Free Cossacks . Skoropadsky learned about his election by accident, for him it was a surprise.

On November 10, 1917, the ataman of the Free Cossacks, Poltavets-Ostryanitsa, with the general foreman, moved to the White Church . The Congress of Free Cossacks decided that the power of the Central Rada could not cope with its tasks, so it was decided to put the hetman at the head of Ukraine. The main political principles of the Free Cossacks were as follows:

• 1. Independent Ukrainian Cossack state.
• 2. Firm national state power - dictatorship.
• 3. Organization of the Cossack army as the main pillar of independence and statehood of Ukraine.
• 4. The solution of the land issue in favor of low-land and landless Cossacks and citizens.
• 5. Union with the Cossack and Caucasian states.
• 6. Ensuring by law the social rights and interests of Ukrainian workers.
• 7. Immediate proclamation of autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. ^[one]

Original text (in Ukrainian)

• 1. Self-government of the Ukrainian Kozatsk state.
• 2. The firm national national power - the dictatorship.
• 3. Organizations of the Kozatsky vіyska as the head of the self-determination of the sovereignty and dominion of Ukraine.
• 4. Razv'yazannya land nutrition for the corridor of low-land and landless cossacks and bulk.
• 5. Union with the Cossack and Caucasian powers.
• 6. Securing the law of social rights and interests of Ukrainian robots.
• 7. Negayne reverberation autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church. ^[one]

The future hetman met I. Poltavets-Ostryanitsa in Kiev after the work of the Congress of Free Cossacks was completed . On December 12, 1917, Pavel Skoropadsky left Vasilkov for the White Church, where for a month already the General foreman of the Free Cossacks had been . At the station, Poltavets-Ostryanitsa built a guard of honor. “The Poltavets started ... a complete external order, ” Skoropadsky recalled. “The Poltava man organized the deal with the meager means that he had, pretty well ... The library, a small staff of agents, and, in addition, a Cossack hundred were kept. Of course, she had to resort to additional funds, mainly helped gr. Branitskaya, but I think that it could not do without indemnities imposed on the Jews, although I have no definite data on this ” ^[3] .

When the Bolsheviks began to attack Kiev in December 1917, the commander of the Central Rada’s troops, Yuri Kapkan, turned to the White Church to help the Cossacks. Poltavets sent several thousand free Cossacks to defend Kiev. This sharply raised the prestige of the General Cossack Council in the eyes of the Central Council.

Since that time, Poltavets and Skoropadsky worked closely both in the Free Cossacks and in the Ukrainian People’s Gromad, an organization that, with the support of the German occupation authorities, prepared and then carried out a “coup d'etat” and established Hetmanism . It was surrounded by I. Poltavets and Colonel G. Zelenevsky P. Skoropadsky April 29, 1918 arrived at the premises of the Kiev circus Krutikov, where at the All-Ukrainian Congress of Khleborobov he was proclaimed hetman of all Ukraine.

After the proclamation of the Getman, Poltavets-Ostryanitsa was the general clerk (secretary) of Pan Getman. Entered the inner circle of Getman.

Describing the character of I. Poltavets-Ostryanitsa, P. Skoropadsky recalled that he “to top all his Ukrainian tendencies even cut his hair, as we did in ancient times, pans had their hair cut . ” Getman also wrote: “A clever man, a great Ukrainian enthusiast, a hetman, extremely ambitious, an adventurer in the full sense of the word, he could be lined up for a patriotic enterprise. He had a very high opinion of himself, he really spoke very well and owned a pen and drew very well. Often he wanted to play a role he could not handle, was very subject to flattery ... "

The officer for the instructions of the headquarters of the Zaporizhzhya corps, Vartolomey Yevtimovich, recalled Poltava: “Visually middle-aged, heavily buzzing, stringy, kind of wiggle-nosed, with clear-eyed nose, with black-curly and black-and-white hair, Vousom, scho vіdtіnyuvav garno virіzanі vusta " . Adhering to ancient traditions, Poltavets dressed luxuriously - “at the dear Karmazini, with unceasing Damascus at the time of fighting, with expensive golden shawls, at the most sap'yants, at some melodious tones, you can clearly and carefully hear the music, it’s very clear and tidy. vzrtsіv ". Yevtimovich wrote that Poltavets-Ostryanitsa was "nibbling up from an old portrait" and was a "classic looker of a Ukrainian male type . " He spoke Ukrainian, “coquettishly written from the old slovnitstva archaisms” ^[1] .

Wrangel , being in Kiev, then recalled Poltavts: “In the reception room I was struck by a colonel with a shaved head and a tuft of hair on the top of his head, who had been recommended by the regimental clerk“ Ostrana-Poltavets ”. He spoke exclusively on the “Ukrainian Move”, although he was a professional Russian officer. ”

General Secretary of the Hetman Chancellery

The hetman’s own office was officially part of his main apartment and the structural part of the headquarters of the hetman’s pan, but in reality it was a completely autonomous institution with direct subordination to Skoropadsky personally.

The desire of I. Poltavets-Ostryanitsa to expand the hetman's office headed by him did not materialize, including due to opposition from the hetman himself. P. Skoropadsky on this occasion recalled that the general clerk “certainly wanted to inflate his office into an entire institution, but I reduced it” ^[4] .

Poltava was a great connoisseur of the customs of historical Hetmanism. Carefully adhered to the Cossack traditions, he actually became the main ceremonial master of the Hetman court.

Ivan Poltavets has a large role in the preparation of the hetman universal from October 16, 1918 on the restoration of the Cossacks.

“You, Cossacks, are the descendants of the glorious knights-Cossacks, We urge you to wear with honor the Cossack zupans we have given and take good care not to cover them and the clay of the Cossacks and those great glorious pages of our history with shame and shame, which we still have proud ... Let the shadows of our great ancestors give us all the power and strength to truthfully and honestly fulfill the task that now confronts Us and the Ukrainian State. ”

Original text (in Ukrainian)

“You, Kozaks, are the sites of the glorious persons of the Zaporizhzhya, I have an honor to honor you to bestow the gifts of honor and honor to those who do not shout their words and honor to the great, thank you very much ... Thousand of our great ancestors to give us all the strength and strength of honestly honestly to see those that now stand before us and the Ukrainian State. "

Emigration

After the fall of the hetman, Poltavets-Ostryanitsa emigrated to Germany and settled in Munich in 1920 (he lived on Nordenstrasse, 1. Tel .: 24 937). According to some reports, in 1921 he returned to Ukraine, where he headed the group of Haidamaks of the Cold Yar who fought against the Bolsheviks ^[1] .

In 1923, he created the Ukrainian National Cossack Society (Ukrainian National Cossack Partnership ) abroad. The few UNACOTO cells operated mainly in Volyn, but in the early 1930s ceased to exist. In January 1923, Poltavets-Ostryanitsa founded the UNACOTO branch in Munich , and in October 1923 in Berlin . During 1923-1924, the society published the newspaper "Ukrainian Cossack." From the very beginning, the movement used the ideology of National Socialism, having the prospect of using it in Ukraine. UNAKOTO saw its goal in creating a strong Cossack army. In parallel, he established contacts with Russian monarchist circles.

We believe , ”wrote Ivan Poltavets-Ostryanitsa,“ that any of our most modest personal desires should go aside, and in their place should be: 1. Nationalism. 2. National socialism. 3. Cossacks as self-defense of the nation and 4. Artful diplomacy that understands the tactics of today, which is covered in one word - dictatorship, and the domination of the national people's party by the time the state is created and can manifest its true will without the mutilated revolution of democracy and the Jewish minority . The program documents of the society noted that it was democratic principles that became the main cause of the defeat of the National Liberation War .

The charter contained discriminatory clauses regarding representatives of other nations, it was argued that only a Cossack can be a citizen of the Ukrainian Power , and only a Ukrainian by blood can be a Cossack, without a difference of religion . All foreigners, like Jews, were deprived of the right to take part in the administration of the Ukrainian Power.

In 1926, he was the main contender for an honorary emigration position of the Chief Ataman of the UPR army and even for hetmanism. Using the abdication of Pavel Skoropadsky on December 14, 1918 and the assassination of Simon Petlyura on May 25, 1926 and referring to the decisions of the First All-Ukrainian Congress of the Free Cossacks in Chyhyryn, Ivan Poltavets proclaimed himself the Hetman of Ukraine. At the same time, he argued that he was descended from the Zaporozhye hetman Yakov Ostryanitsy. On July 1, 1926, he published 1 Universal for the Ukrainian Cossack People, which proclaimed "The Hetman and National Leader of All Ukraine on both sides of the Dnieper and the Cossack and Zaporozhye troops . " After the publication of the Manifesto of 1926, Poltavec proclaims himself a dictator of the Ukrainian National Cossack Republic .

In the 1920s, Poltavets-Ostryanitsa met Alfred Rosenberg . He maintained friendly relations with him. According to unverified data, at the suggestion of Rosenberg, Poltavets-Ostryanitsa joined the Nazi party ^[5] .

In Ukraine, according to Poltavets, the 1st insurgent kosh operated, which numbered about 40,000 underground members. In Poland was the 2nd kosh (1,500 people). Ivan Voloshin (Kravchenko) was appointed Koshev. The general representative of Volyn was the coronet general of the Ukrainian Sovereign Fleet Vladimir Savchenko-Belsky from Kovel. It was alleged that three regiments operated in Volyn - in Kovel (chieftain Zakhar Doroshenko), in Dubno (chieftain Naum Tadeev), in Lutsk (chieftain Colonel Pavel Minchenko). The Cossacks were attracted by the ideas of integral nationalism, and therefore in the 1930s there were also members of the OUN in UNACOTO. Poltavets claimed that UNACOTO had eight cats (in Bulgaria, Romania, Germany, Czechoslovakia and even Morocco).

Since 1936, UNAKOTO has been transformed into the Ukrainian National Cossack Movement (Ukrainian National Cossack Movement - UNAKOR ) ^[4] . The purpose of UNACOR , as indicated in the charter, is to organize a new specific Ukrainian-Cossack national-socialist fascist way of life .

Poltavets repeatedly tried to arrange a Cossack army as part of the Wehrmacht , addressed letters to Adolf Hitler and Alfred Rosenberg, in which he declared on behalf of the Ukrainian Cossacks that the Brest-Litovsk treaty for the Ukrainian people, by which Germany and Ukraine became allies, remained in force . In 1942, realizing that the restoration of Ukrainian statehood was impossible, he withdrew from political activity ^[2] . He lived in Berlin on Spiernstrasse, 8b.

He died in Munich in 1957.

• Biography
• Hetman of stranger banks Dnіpra
• Ivan Poltavets-Ostryanitsya, punishment from the aman of the Vilnius Cossack (Ukrainian)
• Istorichna dovidka about Ivan Poltavtsia-Ostryanitsy (Ukrainian)