Vsevolod Oleksandrovych Holubovych ( uk, Всеволод Олександрович Голубович; February 1885 – 16 May 1939) was the Prime Minister of the

Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 1 ...

from January to March 1918.Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies
/ref>

Early period

Holubovych was born in the village of Poltavka, Baltsky Uyezd,

Podolia Governorate The Podolia Governorate or Podillia Governorate (), set up after the Second Partition of Poland, was a governorate (''gubernia'', ''province'', or ''government'') of the Russian Empire from 1793 to 1917, of the Ukrainian People's Republic from 1 ...

. Vsevolod's father was Oleksandr Holubovych (Aug. 25, 1846 - Nov. 28, 1902) and his mother Iryna Ovsiyevna Yefremovych (Apr.29, 1859 - Oct.2, 1921). Born into a priest family, Holubovych as was expected to start his education in the Podilia Spiritual Seminary of Ivan Bohoslov (

Kamianets-Podilskyi Kamianets-Podilskyi ( uk, Ка́м'яне́ць-Поді́льський, russian: Каменец-Подольский, Kamenets-Podolskiy, pl, Kamieniec Podolski, ro, Camenița, yi, קאַמענעץ־פּאָדאָלסק / קאַמעניץ, ...

). Remarkable is the fact that the same seminary was attended by another future

Prime Minister of Ukraine The prime minister of Ukraine ( uk, Прем'єр-міністр України, ) is the head of government of Ukraine. The prime minister presides over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of th ...

Volodymyr Chekhivsky Volodymyr Musiyovych Chekhivsky ( uk, Володимир Мусійович Чехівський; russian: Владимир Моисеевич Чеховский; July 19, 1876 in Kiev Governorate – November 3, 1937 in Sandarmokh) was a Ukrainia ...

as a teacher. Vsevolod by the end of his studies in the seminary started to be interested in the political life in the country and in 1903 joined the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party. Vsevolod decided to deviate from his family occupation, enrolling in the Engineering Department of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. In 1905 he was arrested for the first time and was excluded from the university. It took his mother's influence and connections to refrain Vsevolod from interrogations and reinstatement back into university. The administration of KPI reviewed her son's case and charged him with a simple administrative warning. Vsevolod was allowed to complete his studies in 1915 when Holubovych finally received his diploma in civil engineering (road network specialization). Considering all the complications that involved to reinstate him back in school, he nonetheless chose to ignore the warning and together with his friend

Ivan Nemolovsky Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

, who just returned from

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, established the Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party. The party has already was earning the popularity amongst various categories of population in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

and especially in the Ukrainian lands.

Professional life

Upon graduating Holubovych got a job as a professional railway engineer at the Southern Railways. Still in school, in 1914 he already worked as an assistant manager at a some station in

Kharkiv Governorate Kharkiv Governorate ( uk, Харківська губернія, translit=Kharkivska huberniia) was a governorate of Ukraine from 1918 to 1925. The region was re-established in 1918 as the Kharkov Governorate plus southern regions of Kursk Gove ...

. According to his family documents as an assistant to the railway division in

Odesa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrati ...

, Holubovych was receiving 1500

ruble The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named ''rub ...

s pay and 375 rubles in living allowances. In September 1917 he was the chief of the department of water, highway, and road communications for the Romanian Front. In spring 1917 Holubovych created an Odesa department of the Ukrainian Socialist Revolutionary Party (UPSR) amongst the railway workers of the Odesa network. As the leader of that party he was elected to the Odesa City Council (Duma) and by April 1917 Holubovych headed the council.

Revolution

He was a member of the Odesa Ukrainian Hromada, from the name of which he sent a petition to the

Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government ( rus, Временное правительство России, Vremennoye pravitel'stvo Rossii) was a provisional government of the Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately ...

to give Ukraine its territorial autonomy. Due to the Soviet aggression on Ukraine without declaration of war and poor management of the State Affairs on the part of Volodymyr Vynnychenko, the Central Council was forced to appoint Vsevolod Holubovych as the head of Ukrainian government on January 31, 1918. Holubovych also headed the Ukrainian delegation to

Brest-Litovsk Brest ( be, Брэст / Берасьце, Bieraście, ; russian: Брест, ; uk, Берестя, Berestia; lt, Brasta; pl, Brześć; yi, בריסק, Brisk), formerly Brest-Litovsk (russian: Брест-Литовск, lit=Lithuanian Br ...

and negotiated the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers ( Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russi ...

. After a German-backed coup, which installed Pavlo Skoropadskyi as

Hetman ( uk, гетьман, translit=het'man) is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders. Used by the Czechs in Bohemia since the 15th century. It was the title of the second-highest military ...

of Ukraine on April 29, Holubovych was arrested and convicted in

kidnapping In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

of banker A. Dobryi. He was imprisoned until December 16, 1918 in Lukyanivka. In August 1920 was arrested again by the Special team of the 14th Army. A year later he was convicted to five years in prison as part of the ''Ukrainian SR process'' together with some other Ukrainian politicians such as Serhiy Ostapenko. Holubovych was amnestied right away on December 1921. In 1931 he was arrested together with his wife in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

and later convicted now as part of the famous ''Ukrainian national center'' and imprisoned in

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl ( rus, Ярослáвль, p=jɪrɐˈsɫavlʲ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluenc ...

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

. He died in imprisonment in 1939.

Family

* Oleksandr Kochanowsky ( uk, Олександр Кохановський), a nephew, electrical-engineer ( Kharkiv Technological Institute). Kochanovsky was born in Vinnytsia on May 25, 1904 and was a son of Zina Holubovych (sister of Vsevolod Holubovych). He was a member of the Ukrainian Society of Engineers. One of his several hobbies was to write poetry.

References

External links