Meeting with the candidate of historical sciences Iryna Kanevska who briefly visited her hometown of Kirovohrad was held in June, when beneficial rain was about to come down to thirsty soil. Being a researcher at the Hrushevsky Institute of Ukrainian Archaeography and Source Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, this young woman engages in important work aimed at studying and promoting the life and works of Czech-Ukrainian scholar, one of Europe’s leading specialists in the theory of nation and ethnic relations, journalist, essayist, social and political activist Olgerd Hyppolit Boczkowski.
Although his life was covered in the Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Studies edited by Volodymyr Kubiiovych as well as books by Panas Fedenko, Volodymyr Panchenko, Mykola Chaban, Serhii Shevchenko, Hryhorii Huseinov, and lectures by Leonid Kutsenko, Boczkowski’s personality, and especially his intellectual heritage, still remain undeservedly little-known to the public.
Was it the reason behind your decision to set aside your research and start shooting the documentary?
“No, I have not stopped my research work. Moreover, I am preparing a fundamental monograph on Boczkowski, as the 130th anniversary of his birth is upon us. However, I have also started working to promote the name of this famous man, in particular in Kirovohrad region, for, in addition to all the other virtues of this ‘original scholar of the European level,’ he was also our countryman who underwent an interesting metamorphosis-transformation: from Polish education to Ukrainian identity. He was born on March 1, 1885 at the railway station Dolynska in a Polish-Lithuanian family. Huseinov suggests that ‘the future scholar probably was the very first baby born at this station, which saw the first train arriving on May 18, 1884.’ From age 14, he lived with his parents in Yelisavetgrad. Their address, ‘K.M.R.W. Station,’ standing for Kharkiv-Mykolaiv Railway Station, seems strange at first glance, but it is easily explained by the fact that his father was a railway employee, and was provided with a temporary accommodation there. A Roman Catholic church (the building has not survived) and a legendary municipal Realschule, where he and his brother Tadeusz studied for four years, were nearby. Over its period of existence, the school counted Mykola Sadovsky, Panas Saksahansky, Karol Szymanowski, Yevhen Chykalenko, Yevhen Malaniuk, and Yurii Yanovsky among its pupils... Boczkowski went on to study at Petersburg Forestry Institute and participated in the revolutionary events. Political persecutions forced him to emigrate to Bohemia, which became his second home.”
Do you plan to shoot some scenes abroad?
“Of course, since Boczkowski not only studied at Charles University in Prague and taught nation studies at the Commercial Academy in Podebrady, but for many years maintained a close relationship with Professor Tomas Masaryk (Czechoslovak President in 1918-34), worked in the diplomatic mission of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in Prague (and had ‘a lively conversation about Ukraine and events in Ukraine’ with that ‘Plato in the presidential seat’), headed the so-called Famine Committee in 1933, was acquainted with many prominent Ukrainians, including our countrymen Dmytro Chyzhevsky, Yevhen Malaniuk, Oleksandr Shulhin, and Panas Fedenko. By the way, contemporaries wrote about him as a wonderful speaker (‘had a refined language that the audience perceived as music’), a man of encyclopedic knowledge, with great wit, a brilliant memory and unmatched talent for learning languages which he spoke about 20 in all. Boczkowski’s memoirs imply that he witnessed the last days of Chykalenko’s life in exile. Therefore, I think we will have a lot to shoot in Prague and Podebrady.”
What is the current relevance of Boczkowski’s works?
“At present, Ukraine has chosen the path leading to the European community. However, how many people know in the early 21st century that Boczkowski developed the idea of a new ‘superpower’ called the European Union in his book The Matter of Nation back in 1918? (One can learn more about it from Slovak researcher Ivan Hvat’s publications on this topic.) Of course, such ideas gave the impression of ‘fantasy’ and dreams then. However, we presently can safely see the scholar’s thoughts as a vision of a united Europe which Boczkowski started to theoretically work out at the end of the First World War.
“In addition, Boczkowski boldly criticized the tenets of Hitlerite Nazism, investigated their impact on the international community, and in particular, opposed the youth’s idealization of this phenomenon, new for his time. By the way, he died on November 9, 1939, shortly after the occupation of Bohemia.
“Ukraine is still waiting for the intellectual legacy of this distinguished thinker of the European level to come back.”
What scenes do you plan to shoot in Kirovohrad region?
“Actually, the filming has already begun. For example, we will film the memorial plaque and relief portrait of Boczkowski on the building of Dolynska raion museum, carved by Kirovohrad sculptor Viktor Frenchko and installed at the initiative of local historian Viktor Marutsenko. We will also film there the ‘exquisite architectural forms’ of the railway station, poetically described by Huseinov: ‘Graceful white and blue walls evoke associations of the stone masterpieces of the 18th century. The station is really unusual for state-owned railway architecture, which entered the last quarter of the 19th century monotonous and Germanized. Meanwhile, the station in Dolynska wonderfully preserved its original, even cheerful appearance.’
“We have also historic environment of the old Yelisavetgrad preserved. Here, unlike many other regional centers, there are numerous architectural monuments that saw Boczkowski. We will visit the former Realschule and the regional archives, where we plan to film documents and photos of that time. We will record the story of Karpenko-Kary Literary Memorial Museum’s researcher Larysa Khosiainova, who discovered some obscure pages of our film’s main character’s biography.”
What is your funding situation as you are starting filming?
“Some of the expenses we will cover ourselves, in particular, in Ukraine. However, it is clear that the full production of the film (especially the trip to the Czech Republic) will require 2,500 euros in outside funds. If we are able to raise more than the required amount or spend less than planned, all the money will pay for reprinting the works of Boczkowski in Ukraine. We will start with a small booklet The Nation for Itself which has become our guiding light in the project and, in fact, the name of our film. The book will include the names of all those who supported the project (regardless of the contribution’s size). It will be distributed free to libraries, both Ukrainian and foreign (Czech, Polish, etc.). Sponsors with donations over 500 hryvnias will receive a copy of the book as a gift. In general, we have planned a series of films about the Dnieper Ukrainian artistic and scholarly emigration of the 20th century, which will feature other famous figures of the ‘steppe Hellas.’ The film about Boczkowski is, so to speak, a pilot project.”
