Oleksandr Hryhorovych Barvinsky () (June 8, 1847 – December 25, 1926) was an important western Ukrainian cultural figure and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, a founder of the Christian Social Party in western Ukraine. He also was a member of the Austrian parliament, chaired the Shevchenko Scientific Society and held the post of secretary of education and religious affairs of the West Ukrainian National Republic. It was during his chairmanship that the Shevchenko Scientific Society was turned into a well established academy of sciences.

Biography

Oleksandr Barvinsky was born on June 8, 1847, in Shliakhtyntsi, a village near

Ternopil Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. The populatio ...

in western Ukraine (at the time, part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

), into the family of a Ukrainian Catholic priest. Like many Western-Ukrainian priestly families Barvinskys were of noble origin and belonged to Jastrzębiec coat of arms. From 1868 he began teaching at gymnasiums (secondary schools) in western Ukraine until 1888, when he began teaching at Lviv's teacher's seminary and later the theological seminary. Collaborating with Panteleimon Kulish, Barvinsky helped create textbooks for Ukrainian schools, and was largely responsible for the use of Ukrainian

orthography An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis. Most national ...

and for the term of Ruthenian-Ukrainian within the schools in eastern Galicia.Encyclopedia of Ukraine, "Oleksander Barvinsky" written by Elie Borschak
/ref> In 1890, Barvinsky was one of the initiators of the "New Era" policy among Ukrainian political leaders, calling for rapprochement between Poles and Ukrainians. Even after most Ukrainian leaders abandoned this approach by 1894, Barvinsky along with

Anatole Vakhnianyn Anatole Vakhnianyn (; 19 September 184111 February 1908), was a List of Ukrainian composers, Ukrainian composer, political and cultural figure, teacher, and journalist. Biography Family Vakhnianyn was born in Sieniawa, Przeworsk County, today a ...

refused to reconsider their positions and together with him formed the political party "Catholic Ruthenian-Social Union". A prominent community organizer and Ukrainophile activist, in 1891 he was elected to the

Austrian parliament The Austrian Parliament () is the bicameral federal legislature of Austria. It consists of two chambers – the National Council and the Federal Council. In specific cases, both houses convene as the Federal Assembly. The legislature meets i ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, where he served until 1907. From 1894 until 1904 he was a member of the local Galician Diet. In 1917 Barvinsky became a member of the Austrian upper chamber (

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

). When Austria-Hungary fell apart following the First World War, Barvinsky became the minister of education and religious affairs of the West Ukrainian National Republic,State Secretariat of the Western Ukrainian National Republic
/ref> retiring from political life after the Poles captured the capital of Lviv.

Personal life

Before 1880, he married the pianist, choral director and soprano Yevheniya Barvinska (1854–1913) and they raised six children, Olga Bachynska (1874–1955), Bogdan Barvinsky (1880–1958), Roman (1881–1947), Olena Savchuk (1883–1962), Vasyl Barvinsky (1888–1963) and Alexander Barvinsky (1889–1957).

References

Bibliography

* ''Small Dictionary of History of Ukraine''/Chief Editor Valeriy Smoliy. "Lybid". Kyiv, 1997. * Melnychuk,B. Khanas,V. ''Oleksandr Hryhorovych Barvinsky''/Ternopil Encyclopedic Dictionary. Vol.1. "Zbruch" Ternopil, 2004. * Seredyak,А. ''Outline of

Prosvita Prosvita (), since 1991 officially known as All-Ukrainian Prosvita Society named after Taras Shevchenko () is an enlightenment society aimed to preserve and develop Ukrainian culture, education and science, that was created in the nineteenth cen ...

history''. Lviv, 1993. pp. 120–121 * Kachkan,V. ''Ukrainian Social Studies in names''. Vol.2. Kyiv, 1997. pp. 45–54 * Liberny,О. ''Oleksandr of the Barvinsky constellation...'' "Svoboda". 1997 * Chornovil,І. ''Political realism of O.Barvinsky'' "Suchasnist". #1. 1998. pp. 99–105

External links

Oleksandr Barvinsky - the Ukrainian politician and civil activist

Governments of West Ukrainian People's Republic - History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barvinsky, Oleksander 1847 births 1926 deaths Politicians from Ternopil Oblast Ukrainian Austro-Hungarians Members of the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1891–1897) Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1897–1900) Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1901–1907) Members of the House of Lords (Austria) 19th-century Ukrainian historians Ukrainian Eastern Catholics West Ukrainian People's Republic people Burials at Lychakiv Cemetery 20th-century Ukrainian politicians