Valentyn Ostapovych Rechmedin (, ; 12 February 1916 – 6 June 1986) was a Ukrainian journalist and writer.

Biography

He grew up in the village of Andrushivka in present

Pohrebyshche Raion Pohrebyshche Raion () was a raion (district) of Vinnytsia Oblast in west-central Ukraine. The administrative center of the district was the town of Pohrebyshche. The raion was abolished and its territory was merged into Vinnytsia Raion on 18 July ...

Vinnytsia Oblast Vinnytsia Oblast (, ), also referred to as Vinnychchyna (), is an oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in central Ukraine. Its capital city, administrative center is Vinnytsia. The oblast has a population of History Vinnytsia Oblast, first established on ...

(

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

), where his father was a teacher. After studies at

Uman Uman (, , ) is a city in Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the east of the historical region of Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River. Uman serves as the administrative c ...

Cooperative Technicum (Уманський кооперативний технікум) he started his career as a journalist in 1934 at ''Molodyi Bilshovyk'' (Молодий Бiльшовик) in

Vinnytsia Vinnytsia ( ; , ) is a city in west-central Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug. It serves as the administrative centre, administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast. It is the largest city in the historic region of Podillia. It also s ...

. In 1939 he started to work at ''Vilna Ukraïna'' (Вільна Україна) and later at ''Leninska Molod'' (Ленінска Молодь) in

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

. Valentyn remained in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

also after the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...

in the summer of 1941. Later he became active in the Soviet partisan movement in the Vinnytsia area. In his partisan group he edited its ''Partyzanska Pravda''. After the war he was awarded the

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he moved to

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

where he worked at the newspapers ''Radianska Ukraïna'', ''Literaturna Ukraïna'' (as deputy chief editor) and ''Kultura i zhyttia'' (as chief editor) and the magazine ''Vitchyzna'' (as deputy chief editor from 1963).Rechmedin, А. P.: ''Sivach krasy i dobra. Rodovid, zhytcha, tvortyist pysmennyka Valentyna Rechmedina''. Kniha-Veha, Vinnytsia 2004. . Valentyn started to write novels after the war. The stories were often based on his own experiences during the war. He always wrote in the

Ukrainian language Ukrainian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first language, first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians. Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of t ...

, but several books have been translated into

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. Valentyn was also a well-known drama and literary critic. In one of his literary critiques of Mykhailo Stelmakh published in May 1972, Rechmedin noted: "The older generation sees itself in the heroes of ''Velyka ridnya'', ''Krov lyudska - ne vodytsia'', ''Pravda i Kryvda'', ''Khlib i sil'' those who had their souls scarred with disaster, poverty, hard work and injustice.Stelmakh, Mykhailo
''Independent Information Portal''. 2007.

Bibliography

*1951 Na verkhovyni *1958 Koly zakypala krov *1960 Viter z berehiv iunosty *1960 Vidchynyv u svit ya dveri... *1961 Vesniani hrozy *1962 Tvii pobratym. Romantychna istoria. *1965 Khodimo zi mnoiu, synu! *1967 Divchyna v ternovomu vinku *1971 Vohon batkovykh ran *1974 Narodzhennia Afrodity *1975 Pora piznikh dorih *1979 Za vesnoiu vesna *1983 Navpereimy doli *1986 Vybrani tvory (Koly zakypala krov & Khodimo zi mnoiu, synu!)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rechmedin, Valentyn 1916 births 1989 deaths People from Vinnytsia Oblast People from Lipovetsky Uyezd Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Ukrainian male writers Ukrainian journalists Ukrainian literary critics Soviet newspaper editors Soviet journalists Soviet writers 20th-century Russian journalists Soviet partisans in Ukraine Recipients of the Order of the Red Star