The Mohyla family. To the anniversary of Elena Mogilyanskaya's death

27 років тому 8 February 1998 Olena Mykhailivna Mohylyanska died in Dnipropetrovsk at the age of 93.

The Mohylyanskyi family left a noticeable mark in Ukrainian literature of the end of the 19th - the first third of the 20th century. On the pages of newspapers and magazines, the names of Mykhailo Mykhailovych Mohylyansky repeatedly appeared, literary critic, перекладача, the writer; his son, whose literary pseudonym is Dmytro Tas, one of the best novelists of the 20s; Lydia's eldest daughter, better known as Ladya Mohylyanska, - an original poetess. The middle daughter, Olena, also inherited literary abilities from her father, who worked in journalism for a long time.

She was born 11 August (29 July according to Art. style) 1905 року в Чернігові. A record of her birth and baptism was made in the record book of the Ascension Church (Ladya and Dmytro were also baptized in the same church). He spent his childhood in St. Petersburg, where the family moved. Mykhailo Mykhailovych, a lawyer by education, practiced law and at the same time worked as an editor in a publishing house. Have, Oleksandra Oleksiivna, also Chernihiv (maiden name is Sitenska) worked as a teacher, Grandmother Maria Mykolaivna Mohylyanska lived with them.

"...Our childhood is surrounded by a deep and tender friendship with our parents", Olena Mykhailivna mentioned. - Mother, as a teacher with each of the children, to whom it was fulfilled 6 years, started the school game. This game lasted approx 3 years, and in 9 years, the children were sent to the gymnasium... We did not see our father that often. And probably, that is why communication with him was especially valued. We sat around my father on a wide and low sofa, and he read us wonderful books. It is difficult to convey the meaning of these readings in the family circle. It seems to me, what exactly they raised and brought up in the sister and brother creative principles".

Every summer, the Mohylyanskis came from St. Petersburg to Chernihiv, stayed in the house of the Raevskys on Yeletskiy Street at the grandmother of Hanna Mykolaivna. The house has survived to this day (now Yeletska Street, 12).

In 1917–1922, the Mohylyanskis lived in Chernihiv, because they did not have time to return to Petrograd after the summer vacation 1917 year. Olena studied at the girls' gymnasium in Vala (later transformed into labor school No. 2), which she graduated from 1922 year.

Since childhood, she dreamed of becoming a dancer, was in love with ballet. On sorry, the dream did not come true, although she studied for three years at a choreographic studio in Petrograd. The proud posture of the dancer remained with her forever.

On 1926 Elena works in Moscow. After completing journalism courses, she is a literary employee of ROSTA. Her husband Boris Isaev is also a journalist. They met in Chernihiv, where in 1924 Boris edited the newspaper "Red Banner". Even earlier, he worked in Odessa. Everyone met together at Georgy Narbut's in the publishing house "Land and Factory".

In the 1930s, Olena Mykhailivna worked in the editorial office of the newspaper "Sovetskaya torgovlia", "Architectural Newspaper".

Влітку 1938 Elena's husband was arrested by the NKVD authorities and sent to 8 years to the Norilsk camp. 16 Olena was also arrested in October of the same year. She spent almost two years in Moscow prisons - Tagan and Butyr prisons. And then she received the verdict of "Personal meeting" - 5 years of exile to the Krasnoyarsk Krai, as a socially dangerous element. Right here, in Siberia, Elena meets her father for the last time, and a few months later sees him on his last journey. "In the end 41 In 2008, my sister Iryna brought my father to the evacuation center in the district center of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, where I served my exile. We lived hard. A lump of sugar was a dream for us, and my father was seriously ill... Mykhailo Mykhailovych died 22 March 1942 year in the village. Great Murta. To my great sorrow, his grave was not preserved...".

Only in 1954 year Isayev was rehabilitated, and a year later, Elena. They returned to Moscow. But it was almost impossible to get a job. In 1956 year she was offered a job in the editorial office of the newspaper "Pionerskaya Pravda". On 1958 year, Elena – member of the Union of Journalists of the USSR, member of the Moscow Association of Victims of Illegal Repressions. In 1964 "Detgize" published the book "For what people live", which was created by O. Mohylyanska in co-authorship with colleagues based on children's letters, and at the same time in the Krasnoyarsk book publishing house 100 000 Elena Mykhailivna's book "Tales of Anyuta-glazka" saw the light of day, where placed 16 fairy tales for children. These fairy tales still arouse the interest of children today. The only copy of the book, that was preserved in it, the author presented it to our museum.

The same 1964 Olena Mykhailivna visited her native city, inspected the exposition of the historical museum, laid flowers at the grave of Mykhailo Mykhailovych Kotsiubinsky, a friend of the Mohylyansky family.

Olena Mikhailivna spent the last years of her life in Dnipropetrovsk. The urn with her ashes is in Moscow at the Novodivochi cemetery next to her husband. There is an inscription on the board: "Journalists B.I.. Isaev and E.M. Mogilyanskaya".

Until the last, Olena Mykhailivna maintained close ties with specialists, who are engaged in researching the creative heritage of the Mohylyanskyi, responded to everything, who was interested in the fate of the talented family.

Employees of the Chernihiv Regional Historical Museum named after V.V. Tarnovsky during the years 1993–1998 had an active correspondence with Olena Mykhailivna. The author of this article was lucky enough to meet her personally, meet twice. At the very first meeting, I was struck by her optimism and zest for life. Despite the difficult fate, she remained a very positive person. Thanks to the materials, which were transferred to our museum by Olena Mykhailivna, in 1994 In 2015, photos from the family album of the Mohylyanskys appeared in the museum exhibition for the first time, books with autographs of Mykhailo Mykhailovych Mohylyanskyi and family friend Maksym Tadeyovych Rylskyi. Visitors to the museum had the opportunity to learn about the dramatic fate of the Mohylyansky literary family. So gradually the names of Chernihiv residents returned from oblivion.

Senior researcher Tetyana Zhuravlyova