Uliana Kravchenko is the creative pseudonym of Yulia Shnaider (in the marriage of Nimentovskoi ), a significant figure in the Ukrainian women's movement and our national history. Having German roots on her father's side, she chose the Ukrainian version of her surname for her literary pseudonym ("Schnaider" means "tailor" in German). The writer was fluent in Polish and German from an early age, but as a genuine Ukrainian, she signed her poetry binders "Uliana Kravchenko." Throughout her life, she strengthened and developed her national consciousness.
An intellectual who had a broad home education, she started writing early. The story is "Kalytka," written in Ukrainian as a school assignment. The story was published in the Lviv magazine Zorya by her teacher and the magazine's publisher, Omelian Partytskyi.
Background and Partnership with Ivan Franko.
After graduating from the seminary in 1881, Yulia Schnaider worked as a trainee teacher in the county town of Bibrtsi (in the Lviv region). Already in the first days of November 1883, the 23-year-old poet received a letter from the "famous" writer Ivan Franko, who spared no words of encouragement and support for the young author. The intellectual collaboration between the writers lasted for over 30 years. Franko published his friend's poetry in popular Galician magazines in 1885, he published Ms. Schnaider's collection of poems “Prima Vera”, and in 1891, he published her following collection, On a New Path, which "put her in the forefront of the struggle for the equality of Ukrainian women" (Irena Knysh)
In the early 1880s, Uliana Kravchenko became an ardent fighter for the spread of women's rights and an ideological ally of Natalia Kobrynska. She participated in the founding of the “Society of Ukrainian Women” (1884) and was one of the authors of “The First Wreath” (1887). In the almanac, her works are represented by eleven poems. The key idea of the poems is manifested in the poetic slogan "On a New Path!". This slogan became the poetic program of the publication.
Uliana Kravchenko collaborated with the “Ukrainian Women's Union” in the interwar period. She is the author of the words of the anthem of this society, “Behind us, sisters, is the darkness of night..." In 1929, she was elected an honorary member of the “Ukrainian Women's Union” for her exceptional creative achievements in educating the younger generation of Ukrainian women.
The basis of this extraordinary woman's creative life and civic position was the idea of sacrificial dedication to her native people. She maintained ties with creative young people, famous Ukrainian writers, and figures of her age. Despite her venerable age, health problems, and other difficulties, she wrote, created, lived by, and in literature, and was constantly involved in the national literary process and public activities. She was a truly Great Citizen - "a woman of exceptional nobility, kindness, dignity, a person of great spiritual culture."
The translation from Ukrainian was created with the help of DeepL.
