(Valentyn Rechmedin)
b. 1916,
February 12 in Andrushivka, Vinnytsia oblast. (father
/ mother)
d. 1986, June 6 in Kyiv.
After finishing school in his homevillage Andrushivka, where his father worked as a teacher, Valentyn studied at Uman cooperative college and Kharkiv Institute of Journalism. He started to work as a journalist in 1934 at “Molodyj Bil'shovyk” (Young bolshevik) at vul. Lenina in Vinnytsia. He and his older brother Leonid was still working there in 1937 when many of the leading Komsomol people in Vinnytsia was arrested by NKVD. Later Valentyn worked as a journalist at “Komsomolets Ukrainy” (Komsomol man of Ukraine) in Kyiv and “Lenins'ka molod” (Lenin's youth) in L'viv.
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The picture above shows Valentyn as a young boy in the dramatical circle of the school in Andrushivka. Valentyn is sitting as number two from the left. His teacher Anatol Olijnyk is sitting in the center. He also was a poet and according to Valentyn he was a big influence for him and his future writings. The picture was taken in 1930. |
When World War II began Valentyn took part in it as a volunteer in the Red Army and during the German occupation as a member of a partisan group where he was an editor of the partisan's newspaper “Partyzanska Pravda”.
After the war he worked at the newspapers “Radyans'ka Ukraina”, “Literaturna Ukraina” (as deputy chief editor) and “Kul'tura i zhyttya” (as editor) and the magazine “Vitchyzna” (as deputy chief editor).
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Valentyn started to write poems and short stories in 1934. After the war he published about 15 books:
1951: the narrative “Na verkhovyni”
1958:
the novel “Koly zakypala krov”
1960: collections of short stories
“Viter z berehiv junosty”
1960:
collections of short stories “Vidchynyv u svit ja dveri...”
1961:
the novel “Vesnyani hrozy” (in Russian 1976 “Vesennie grozy”)
1962: the novel
“Tvii pobratym. Romantychna
istoriya”
1965: the novel “Khodimo zi mnoju, synu!”
1967: the chronicle “Divchyna v ternovomu vinku”
1971: the novel
“Tvij
pobratim”
1971: the novel
“Vohon' bat'kovykh ran”
1974: the novel “Narodzhennya
Afrodity”
1975: the novel “Pora piznikh dorih”
1979: the novel “Za vesnoju
vesna”
1983: the novel “Navperejmy doli” (in Russian “Naperekor sud'be”)
1986: the collection:
“Vybrani tvory” (“Koly zakypala krov” & “Khodimo zi mnoju, synu!”)
Several of his novels depicts the German occupation during World War II as well as the revolutionary period of Ukraine. Some of the books have also been published in Russian.
After World War II Valentyn was awarded the Red Star Order (Chervona Zirka) and some other medals. He joined the Communist Party of the USSR in 1947.
He was married twice. His first wife was named Halina Velhan.
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Valentyn
and his first wife Halina Velhan. |
The second wife was Maria Semenivna Matsevich. Maria was a daughter of Semen Olexandrovich Matsevich and Nastja Fedorivna in Bartoshivka. Valentyn met Maria in December 1941 when she was a teacher in the school in Ochitkiv where Valentyn's brother Petro also worked as a teacher at that time. Maria later helped Valentyn in the partisan army during the war. They printed anti-nazi leaflets at Maria's parent's home in Bartoshivka and the leaflets were distributed to the villages in the area by her former pupils. During this period Valentyn was hiding in the Shabeljans'kij forest. Some of those leaflets are today to be found at Vinnytsia Historical Museum and in the Museum of World War II in Kyiv.
After World War II Valentyn and his family was living in Kyiv.
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Valentyn Rechmedin in the early 1970s. |
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| Valentyn's wife Maria Semenivna Matsevich. |
 Literaturna Ukraina's obituary after Valentyn Rechmedin's death in 1986. |
Children in the second marriage:
Musa, b. 1944, May 2.
She is married to the Swiss citizen Martin Schubarth (b. 1942, June 9). They live in Lausanne, Switzerland. Martin was a Bundesrichter (member of the Swiss Supreme Court) between 1983–2004 and a chairman of the Bundesrechts (the Supreme Court) 1999/2000. Musa is working as a teacher at the University of Lausanne.
Musa had a daughter
in a previous marriage: Marina Schubarth, b. 1966 in Kyiv. She was adopted by Martin Schubarth. After studies in Geneva, Bonn, Budapest and Köln she graduated in Music and Ballet. She has worked as a professional dancer since then and currently she lives in Berlin, Germany. In 1998 she became interested in the history of the so called OST-arbeitern from Ukraine (the forced labour that was sent to Germany during World War II) and since then she has been very much involved with the documentation and help for the OST-arbeiter survivors. For this work she got the
Carl-von-Ossietzky-Medaille
for Human Rights in 2002. Recently she has also written a dance theatre performance about the so called OST-arbeitern from Ukraine:
»Tänzerin hinter Stacheldraht«, which was played in Kyiv in 2005.
Lesja. She has two sons: Alexij and Jaroslav. They live in Kyiv.