К вопросу национального самосознания А.С. Макаренко

Abstract

Götz Hillig, Regarding the problem of A.S. Makarenko's national identity. This article will examine the question, which has received little attention from researchers, of whether the pedagogue and writer A.S. Makarenko understood himself to be a Ukrainian, or a Russian. In addition to published sources, the author was able to draw on materials from Soviet archives, as well as statements from witnesses. In spite of the fact that Makarenko spent most of this life in the Ukraine, he always understood himself to be a Russian and was spiritually oriented toward Moscow. One can even note a certain anti-Ukrainian attitude which was prevalent in the home of his parents. Makarenko wrote his pedagogical and literary texts, as well as his letters, in Russian. He also gave his speeches and lectures in this language. During the time of forced Ukrainisation in all areas of public life in the Ukrainian SSR, Makarenko identified himself on a personal data form, in 1924, as a Ukrainian. Obviously he did this to avoid losing his position as Director of the Gor'kij-Colony, an educational institution which was placed directly under the Ukrainian Government. He adhered to this decision from them on. This article will also pursue the questions of how extensively Makarenko mastered the Ukrainian language, which he had to learn at the latest in the 1920's; and to what extent, in his literary works, he used Ukrainisms with conscious intention, or to what extent these Ukrainisms merely "flowed in" from the local environment.