Symon Petlyura
Symon Petlyura (1879–1926) was a notable Ukrainian socialist politician and statesman who played a central role in Ukraine's struggle for independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917. Born in Poltava to modest parents, Petlyura initially pursued a path towards the priesthood but became a journalist and political activist, co-founding the Ukrainian Labor Party. He rose to prominence as a leader during the turbulent years of World War I and the subsequent Russian Civil War, eventually becoming the president of Ukraine during a brief period of autonomy in 1918.
Petlyura's tenure was marked by significant conflict, particularly with the Bolsheviks, and is infamously associated with a series of violent pogroms against Jews in Ukraine, resulting in thousands of deaths. The extent of Petlyura's responsibility for these events remains a contentious subject among historians, with some viewing him as complicit while others argue he condemned such violence. His leadership was short-lived as Soviet forces gained control of Ukraine by late 1919, prompting Petlyura to flee to Poland and later to Europe.
His assassination in Paris in 1926 by a Jewish man seeking revenge for the pogroms further complicated Petlyura's legacy, leaving him a figure of national pride for many Ukrainians while remaining a controversial and painful memory for many Jews. This duality of perception continues to influence Ukrainian-Jewish relations today, reflecting deep historical tensions.
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Subject Terms
Symon Petlyura
President of Ukraine (1918-1919)
- Born: May 10, 1879
- Birthplace: Poltava, Ukraine, Russian Empire (now in Ukraine)
- Died: May 25, 1926
- Place of death: Paris, France
Cause of notoriety: Petlyura was a leader in Ukraine’s unsuccessful fight for independence and seems to have played a role in mass Jewish pogroms. It is estimated that 100,000 civilian Jews were murdered during his rule.
Active: 1918-1924
Locale: Ukraine, Russian Empire
Early Life
Symon Petlyura (SIH-myohn pyeht-LYEW-reh) was born to parents of modest means in Poltava, Ukraine. He received early training for the priesthood but was expelled for his preoccupation with Ukrainian nationalism. As a young adult, he worked as a journalist, first in Kiev as editor of a socialist newspaper, Slovo (meaning “word”), and later in St. Petersburg as editor of Ukrainskaya Zhyzn (“Ukrainian life”). While in Kiev, he also cofounded the Ukrainian Labor Party. In 1914, when World War I broke out, Petlyura joined the Czarist Russian Army, eventually rising to the rank of colonel. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, he served as member of the Central Rada (a de facto parliament), which, in June, 1917, proclaimed Ukraine to be an autonomous republic.
Political Career
In 1917, Germany occupied Ukraine and installed a short-lived puppet government. After the German withdrawal from Ukraine in 1918, Petlyura became one of five members of the new government, the Directorate of Rada. At the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine in 1918, Petlyura emerged as the leading figure within the Directorate and thus became president of Ukraine. It was during this period that many pogroms were perpetrated against Jews in Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of an estimated sixty thousand people. Pogroms are large, violent attacks that not only kill many people but also destroy homes, businesses, and cultural and religious centers.
The Russian Civil War brought the Ukrainian independence movement into conflict with the Bolsheviks, and Jews were perceived as being strongly pro-Bolshevik, which, when combined with the latent anti-Semitism among many people in Ukraine, contributed greatly to pogroms against the Jews. It is still a matter of disagreement as to how much control Petlyura had over his troops or the population and therefore as to what degree he was responsible for the pogroms.
Some historians believe that Petlyura was the architect of the pogroms and that he initiated the infamous attacks in Proskurov, in which more than fifteen hundred Jews were killed by his subordinate Semesenko in 1919. Others argue that Petlyura was not anti-Semitic and had little or no control over bandits and peasants or even some of his own troops. They say that Petlyura had actually issued orders to his army not to be involved in pogroms and had instituted capital punishment for the crime of pogromming. In this view, Petlyura’s only crime was being head of state of the country where the pogroms occurred.
Petlyura’s rule over Ukraine was brief: By the end of 1919, the country was dominated by the Soviets. Petlyura fled to Poland, which recognized his regime as the legal government of Ukraine. In 1920, Petlyura’s remaining troops combined with Polish forces to mount an offensive against the Soviets in Ukraine. They captured a sizable portion of Ukraine’s right bank but eventually had to retreat, as the Soviets successfully launched a counteroffensive. After the Peace of Riga ended the Polish-Soviet War in 1921, Ukraine was divided between Poland and Russia, the latter taking the much larger share.
In 1923, Petlyura fled from Poland, as the Soviet Union was increasingly pressuring the Polish government to extradite him. He first went to Budapest, then to Vienna and Geneva, and finally to Paris, where he settled in late 1924. It was there, on May 25, 1926, that a Ukrainian-born Jew named Sholom Schwartzbard shot Petlyura dead. Schwartzbard’s parents were among fifteen members of his family who had been murdered in the pogroms.
Impact
Symon Petlyura’s efforts for Ukrainian nationalism and his later assassination made him a hero and martyr for many Ukrainians. However, to the great majority of Jews, he remained the man responsible for many of the most terrible pogroms and the deaths of thousands of Jews. This gap in perceptions reinforced tensions and conflicts between Ukrainians and Jews. This tension was exacerbated by the acquittal of Schwartzbard, whose attorney succeeded in justifying assassination as an appropriate act of vengeance. Different perceptions of the history of Ukraine remain a source of conflict between modern Ukrainians and Jews. For example, the fact that a street in Ukraine is named after Petlyura is an affront to the Jewish population there.
Bibliography
Abramson, Henry. A Prayer for the Government: Ukrainians and Jews in Revolutionary Times, 1917-1920. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999. Abramson analyzes the failed efforts of Jewish and Ukrainian activists to address and overcome ethnic violence between Jews and Ukrainians after the fall of the Russian Empire. He focuses especially on the conflicting views of the role of Petlyura.
Hunczak, Taras. “A Reappraisal of Semyon Petlura and Ukrainian-Jewish Relations, 1917-1921.” Jewish Social Studies 31 (1969): 163-183. One of two articles (see Szjakowski citation) published together in one issue that take radically different sides regarding the culpability of Petlyura in the Jewish pogroms.
Palij, Michael. The Ukrainian-Polish Defensive Alliance: An Aspect of the Ukrainian Revolution. Edmonton, Alta.: CIUS Press, 1995. This Ukrainian American scholar provides a thorough account of this period in the history of Ukraine, with a particular emphasis on the relationship and alliance of Polish leader Jósef Piłsudski with Petlyura.
Reid, Anna. Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2000. Reid combines interviews, her own personal experiences, and historical research to provide a readable and fairly complete history of Ukraine’s controversial history.
Reshetar, John S. Ukrainian Revolution, 1917-1920: A Study in Nationalism. Manchester, N.H.: Ayer Company, 1972. This book provides a thorough history and analysis of the Ukrainian national movement, including Petlyura’s role within it.
Szjakowski, Zosa. “Semyon Petlyura and Ukrainian-Jewish Relations, 1917-1921: A Rebuttal.” Jewish Social Studies 31 (1969): 184-213. The second of two articles (see Hunczak citation) that debate the culpability of Petlyura in the Jewish pogroms.