Author Dr. Anastasia Shevchenko
University of Lausanne, Department of History
Project description
One of the leading trends in modern historiography has been the use of approaches and methods for comprehension of the subject field of the «new family history», which is part of the «new historical science», or anthropologically focused social history.
Due to their social status, the families of Orthodox priests along with the Cossack officers, nobles, intelligentsia families for centuries accumulated cultural and historical experience. In modern times, they gave the society a number of representatives of the political and intellectual elite. The Hoshkevychs played a significant role among such families.
The purpose of the research is to study the history of the Hoshkevych family as a social and cultural community and its interaction with the cultural and historical environment for several generations.
The chronological limits of the research cover the history of the Hoshkevych family from the end of the 17th century and at least until the middle of the 20th century. The lower limit of the paper deals with the origins of the Hoshkevych family, their first documented presence in Ukraine and the formation of the dynasty of priests. The upper limit deals with the end of the life and work of the priest Leonid Hoshkevych (Father Leonid) and archaeologist Iryna Fabricius, and the gradual extinction of the dynasty.
In the study of the history of the Hoshkevych family, theoretical and methodological principles of the «new family history» are supplemented by methods and terminology of genealogy, prosopography, intellectual history, biography, and given the breadth of professional activity of individual members of the family – by church history, archaeology, etc.
The academic novelty of the research lies in the attempt to reconstruct the Hoshkevych dynasty; the determination of the factors of the Hoshkevychs’ social status and professional activity transformation in the post-reformation period. The polarization of political orientations of the Hoshkevych family members due to the crisis of the Russian Empire and the establishment of Soviet power was analyzed on the basis of some examples; the Family Archive of Leonid Hoshkevych’s family, which is stored in the funds of the Kherson Regional Universal Scientific Library named after Oles Honchar, was analyzed for the first time; intellectual biographies of Viktor Hoshkevych and Iryna Fabricius were reconstructed for the first time; a number of little-known archival sources on Hoshkevych’s network connections were updated, which allowed to inscribe the history of the family in the context of the social, cultural and public life of Ukraine in the 18th – first half of the 20th century.
Who are the Hoshkevych family members?
The question seems simple, and so does the answer: this research is an attempt to put the micro-history of one family into the context of an era.
What is history? Is it politics, culture, or everyday life? Is it possible to understand an era solely through political and cultural markers? Of course, not. Each social character in history had their own historical reality. Creating a collective family biography, reconstructing the social environment and historical context that influenced the formation of socio-cultural family traditions makes it possible to explore various social challenges on a real micro-example of one family. The peculiarity of studying the history of Ukraine is the existence of the so-called periods of statelessness, during which the preservation of national identity was not ensured by state institutions. In such circum – stances, families played the role of a system that preserved, produced, and transmitted both universal and national values. In this context, family history is one of the means of studying the socio-political, socio-cultural and intellectual history of Ukraine. At the same time, the understanding of the phenomenon of family history in the socio-cultural life of Ukraine is incomplete without studying the history of the families of Orthodox clergy, who, due to their social position, have accumulated cultural and historical experience for centuries and in modern times have given society a number of representatives of the political and intellectual elite. The Hoshkevych family is a landmark among them.
Why the Hoshkevych family members?
The Hoshkevych family is represented by a whole range of church leaders of the late 17th and early 20th centuries, among them, it is enough to name Hryhorii Hoshkevych,
a lecturer at the «Kyiv-Mohyla Academy» and abbot of the Kyiv Sophia Monastery (late 17th – early 18th centuries), missionary, first imperial consul in Japan and publisher of the first Japanese-Russian dictionary, Yosyp Hoshkevych (1814–1875), or Kherson church and religious leader Leonid Hoshkevych (Father Leonid), who helped to save more than 100 Jews during the Holocaust. The economic and social crises of the clergy in the first half of the 19th century, the loss of high social status by priests, in the modernisation period of the Russian Empire in the late 19th century manifested in the social and professional transformation of the representatives of the priestly Hoshkevych family, and the conditional destruction of the «priesthood is a father’s business» template.
The development of industry and transport, the spread of education and political liberalisation of society, and the actual overcoming of class restrictions opened up new opportunities for vertical social mobility in different social strata. Given the highly educated nature of priestly families, the children of the clergy sought new, more profitable ways of professional fulfilment. In the face of these changes, the Hoshkevych family members chose the most promising areas of activity for themselves: bureaucracy, military affairs, public and scientific activities. A striking example of this process is the life and work of Kateryna Hoshkevych (Butovych, Sukhomlynova) (1882–1921?), the wife of the military minister Volodymyr Sukhomlynov, and her cousin Mykola (Mykhailovych) Hoshkevych (1878–1938), who were involved in espionage and corruption intrigues at the court of the last Russian emperor. In contrast to them, the life of a provincial official and Doctor Mikhailo Hoshkevych (1853–?) is presented. Equally interesting was the choice of life strategies of officers Fedir Fabrytsius (1876–?) and Mykola (Leonidovych) Hoshkevych (1895–1919). Separately, we investigated the Hoshkevych family’s contribution to historical science by reproducing «intellectual biographies of the public figure, archaeologist, and museum historian Viktor Hoshkevych and his adopted daughter, archaeologist Iryna Fabrytsius. Particularly interesting were the findings about the activities of Viktor Hoshkevych, who was long perceived by scholars as a provincial archaeologist and «Hero of Soviet Labour». The image created by the «builders of socialism» was perceived by post-Soviet historians as a cliché. However, our research made it possible to reveal him as a restrained, but still «Ukrainophile», liberal and theoretical historian who, despite his «second-rate» status, put forward scientific hypotheses and entered into discussions with «top» colleagues. The scientist had a wide range of scientific communications, his publications were cited by international colleagues – all this is evidence of the high appreciation of his scientific work and the recognition of the scientific significance of his work among researchers of ancient history. After the October Revolution, the intellectuals of the Hoshkevich family took a position of apolitical stance. However, given their background and civic position, it is obvious that they did not support the Bolsheviks’ rise to power and remained classist elements. This is especially evident in the life of Iryna Fabrytsius, who, despite her significant contribution to the development of South Ukrainian archaeology, worked in the shadow of her colleagues. Her scientific achievements include the work «Archaeological Map of the Black Sea Region of the Ukrainian SSR». Her publications on Scythological research were of particular importance.
Project results
This project is a logical continuation of the author’s dissertation, which was defended in Ukraine at the Zaporizhzhya National University in December 2021. Unfortunately, further work on the study was overwhelmed by the war in Ukraine. Thanks to the Scholars at Risk and the support of the University of Lausanne, the author was able to complete her monograph Рід Гошкевичів у соціокультурному житті України: “нова сімейна історія (“The Hoshkevych Family in the Socio-Cultural Life of Ukraine: “New Family History”).
This monograph was published with the support of the Department of History and the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lausanne and is currently available for free viewing and downloading at this link
Other publications
Organization and participation in conferences, scientific seminars, webinars
Presentation of the book “Rid Hoshkevychiv u sotsiokulturnomu zhytti Ukrainy: “nova simeina istoriia” (“The Hoshkevych Family in the Socio-Cultural Life of Ukraine: “New Family History” :
15.12.2023 / 12h30 – 13h30 / Genève – Uni Mail, Room M4389 (program in attachments)
Words of gratitude!
If you pay attention to the publication date, you will understand that this book was created during the Russian full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine, so I want to express my first words of gratitude to the defenders of Ukraine, who, despite incredibly difficult conditions, fight and give their lives for our future, every day giving hope for peace in our independent Ukraine.
Thank you! Glory to the heroes!
The war has changed my way of thinking and made me value life above all else. Therefore, first of all, I thank those who helped me in a difficult time. I would like to express my incredibly warm words of gratitude to my honored friend and mentor UNIL and EPFL Рrofessor Béla Kapossy and his family (wife Clio and their adorable children) for their kindness, support and help.
I am very grateful to my colleagues from the Faculty of Arts, the Department of History for their friendliness and support. I thank the management of the University of Lausanne (l’Université de Lausanne), in particular the rector Frédéric Herman, the dean of the Faculty of Arts (la Faculté des lettres) Léonard Burnand, the workers of the department of International Relations and all colleagues for the opportunities and active support of Ukrainian scientists and students in Switzerland.
This monograph is the result of a dissertation study carried out within the walls of the Zaporizhzhia National University with the assistance of the staff of the Faculty of History, my appreciation for you, dear colleagues. I would like to express my special thanks to my dear teacher, who opened the world of science to me – Рrofessor Vitalii Andrieiev and his wife, PhD in History, Svitlana Andrieieva, who had provided me with intellectual support during the entire period of work on this research. Please accept my sincere thanks.
Studying the family history of the Hoshkevych family contributed to the acquaintance with excellent researchers of the intellectual history of the Kherson region. In particular, some research results presented in this monograph were obtained in co-authorship with Anton Kostenko, PhD in History, and introduced in joint publications [290], [291], [210]. Thank you, Anton, for your fruitful and effective work.
I send sincere words of gratitude to my colleagues from the Kherson State University, my alma mater, most of whom I have the honor to call my friends.
I am very grateful to the directorate and staff of the Kherson Regional Universal Scientific Library named after Oles Honchar for their help in searches, provided materials of Leonid Hoshkevych’s archive and in general for their professionalism. I am also grateful to the staff of the Scientific Archive of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, who provided me with professional and friendly support.
I want to end by thanking the people closest to me, because this book would not have seen the “daylight” without the support of my family and friends. First of all, I am grateful to my husband Andrii Derevianko, daughter Ameliia Derevianko, and my parents Taisiia Shevchenko and Vitalii Shevchenko for your love and care. Also to my dear Liudmyla Derevianko and Tamara Balabanova.
Difficult times gave me the opportunity to meet incredible people who became very close friends for our family. I send warm words of gratitude to Michel Miazza and Sandrine Heller Miazza, Dominic Bühlmann and Marie-Christine Bühlmann Miazza, Florent Miazza and Margot Thome Miazza – you are in my heart forever!
And of course I thank my dear friends: the Volkis, the Tokarev, the Hrushytski , the Shovkun, the Semikopenko-Skolybog and the Semchyshak families, thank you for being in my life, my darlings!
Sincerely yours, Anastasiia
Contact: Anastasiia.Shevchenko@unil.ch
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