Serhii Tymoshenko: Ukrainian Architect and Diplomat

Abstract

This research is focused on the life and legacy of Serhii Tymoshenko (1881–1950), Ukrainian political emigrant, political activist, statesman, and a member of the Ukrainian national liberation movement in the early 20th century and the Ukrainian Revolution in 1917–21. In addition to his political involvement, Mr Tymoshenko was also famous for his achievements in architecture, engineering and arts. The research is based on the documents found in the National Archive of the Czech Republic, several Ukrainian national archives and the Manuscript Institute of the Vernadskyi National Library of Ukraine. Serhii Tymoshenko is considered one of the founders of Ukrainian Art Nouveau architecture in the early 20th century. He took active part in the Ukrainian state-building process as a member of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Labour Party, the Central Council of Ukraine, and by holding leadership positions in Ukrainian state institutions in Kharkiv region, as well as being appointed as a Minister of Roads of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and a member of the Council of the Republic in Tarnów. Moreover, he played an important role in the foreign policy of the Ukrainian People’s Republic. The research covers Tymoshenko’s artistic, scientific and political legacies in Poland (1921–3) and Czechoslovakia (1924–9), and his life trials and tribulations during World War II and emigration to the United States. Serhii Tymoshenko is presented as a public and political figure, the leader of the Ukrainian political emigration in Volyn, the head of the Volyn Ukrainian Association and the Lutsk Centre of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, a member of the Polish Sejm (since 1935) and Senate (since 1938), and the head of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Representation of Volyn. Keywords: Poland, Serhii Tymoshenko, Ukrainian emigration, Ukrainian architecture, Ukrainian People’s Republic.