“Red terror” and theatrical arts of Kyiv: the life of one actor (the documents of the Branch State Archive of Security service of Ukraine)

The aim of the research is to retrieve and analyse the personal record documents of Yevhen Mykhailovych Zakharchuk, an actor of the Kyiv Polish Theatre, who was arrested and imprisoned by the USSR prosecution authorities, and to recreate the facts of his biography through systemic overview of the information available. The methods of source study such as historical document search and analysis were applied. The use of chronological historical research method made it possible to highlight the work of Soviet repressive apparatus and to show its total disrespect to the rule of law that can be illustrated by the falsified criminal case of Ye. Zakharchuk. The scientific novelty. The study provides new information on the biography of Ye. Zakharchuk on the basis of recently retrieved archive data and contributes to the research of theatrical arts history of Kyiv and Ukraine. Conclusions. The paper introduces case files and documents stored in the Branch State Archive of Security service of Ukraine, that can restore the national historic memory of people whose names for decades were stricken from the records. The author considers the blanks in studies of the past, for instance various kinds of social activities, including theatrical arts. The reasearch is mainly focused on the attempt of biographic analysis of a particular criminal case file stored in the Branch State Archive of Security service of Ukraine, from the Soviet criminal justice perspective; as the prosecutions of actors resulted not only in total destruction of the phenomenon of one of national theatres, but also in liquidation of Ukrainian avant-guard theatre and a whole cohort of its outstanding representatives. Thus, on the basis of archive case fi le № 72250 (dated 1937), the paper restores the biography of Ye. Zakharchuk, and shows him not only as a talented actor but also as a prominent activist of Ukrainian revolution of 1917-1921. Despite of the fact that this figure is not new in the theatre historiography, the paper provides a set of facts of his biography that are presented for the first time.