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Arkadiy Averchenko

Arkadiy Averchenko (1881–1925) was a satirical writer, playwright, and theater critic, a native of Sevastopol. At the end of 1918–1920 he lived in Crimea, worked in the Sevastopol press, and published anti-Bolshevik satirical works.

Overview

Arkadiy Averchenko was born in 1881 in Sevastopol. He gained wide renown as editor of the journal "Satyricon." After finding the Bolshevik regime unacceptable to himself, in 1918 he returned to his native Sevastopol. From July 1919 he worked for the newspaper "Yug" (later "Yug Rossii"), supporting the struggle against Bolshevism.

While staying in Sevastopol in the autumn of 1920, confined to bed by illness, Averchenko expressed a wish to meet Levko Chykalenko, a member of the Ukrainian delegation. During their conversation Averchenko asked in detail about the Ukrainian national movement and the UNR's struggle against the Bolsheviks, the Whites, and the Poles. In December 1920 he evacuated to Istanbul, later lived in Prague, where he died in 1925.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Origin and the Crimean period: A native of Sevastopol, he returned to the city in 1918–1920.
  • Meeting with Levko Chykalenko (1920): Arranged by the artist Sashko Voloshyn in Sevastopol. Averchenko listened with great attention and emotion to the account of the history of the Ukrainian movement, showing deep interest in the fate of Ukraine.
  • Emigration: He left via Turkey and Bulgaria for Prague, where he spent the last years of his life.
  • Journey to Crimea in 1920 (Abridged) — Memoirs of Levko Chykalenko about his personal acquaintance with Averchenko in Sevastopol in the autumn of 1920 ("Krymska svitlytsia," 2020, Nos. 3–9).
  • Sevastopol — The writer's native city and the place of the meeting with the Ukrainian delegation.
  • Levko Chykalenko — Ukrainian figure who left memoirs of his conversation with Averchenko.