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What became famous Ukrainian Robin Hood, or who was the rebel Karmalyuk
What became famous Ukrainian Robin Hood, or who was the rebel Karmalyuk

Video: What became famous Ukrainian Robin Hood, or who was the rebel Karmalyuk

Video: What became famous Ukrainian Robin Hood, or who was the rebel Karmalyuk
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The Ukrainian serf Ustym Karmelyuk is associated with the rebellious liberation movement in the Ukrainian lands of the Russian Empire. But his personality is still seen by historians in different ways. In Ukrainian textbooks, he is designated as a fighter against the gentry, leader and protector of the peasants. Here are just some of the historians questioning the glorified heroism of Ustim. After all, both Poles and Jews were members of his group. And the chips flew not only at the robbed rich people, ordinary people also suffered from Karmelyuk's tricks.

Homeland and power

A people's avenger or a robber?
A people's avenger or a robber?

Ustim Karmelyuk hails from the Podolsk province - today the Vinnytsia region. The future rebel was born in 1788, at that time still within the borders of the possessions of the Commonwealth. A few years later, the native village of Karmelyuk was inherited by the Russian Empire in the third partition of Poland.

The change of citizenship did not really affect the everyday life of the residents of Golovchintsy. The ruling class of Podolia was still noblemen, shtetl Jews ran the trade, and Ukrainians, who called themselves "Rusyns", went to the serfs. The new owners of the territories were beneficial to Ustim Yakovlevich in one thing: in the future, for more than 25 years, he got away with all his "pranks". And if he were under Polish rule, the robberies and arson would have killed the death penalty habitual for Ukrainians. European Poles emotionlessly cut Haidamak's backs into belts, quartered and hung parts of the bodies of those killed along the roads for intimidation. In Russia, by that time, the capital punishment was suppressed by the will of the sovereigns. So Karmelyuk acted with virtually impunity: flogging and even hard labor looked like a mere trifle against the background of Polish justice.

The elusive enemy of the rich

Commemorative plaque in honor of the Ukrainian hero
Commemorative plaque in honor of the Ukrainian hero

At the beginning of the 19th century, Karmelyuk joined the serf ranks of the imperious landowner Piglovsky. There is evidence that in 1812 he fell into the extreme master's disfavor because of matters of the heart. Allegedly, Mrs. Rosalia, the wife of Piglovsky, showed an unequivocal interest in the brisk Ustim. On the eve, Karmelyuk saved her life, and the emotionally emotional woman could not restrain herself in grateful impulses. And those who knew Karmelyuk unanimously described him as a short, but broad-shouldered, strong, confident and savvy guy. Sensing what was happening, the angry Piglovsky first commanded to walk through Karmelyuk with a whip, and then retrain into recruits for the next 25 years. This decision turned out to be akin to a long link.

Karmelyuk-romantic was tonsured into a soldier and sent to the Uhlan royal regiment. But after a couple of months, he deftly deserted in the company of a close friend from the barracks in Kamenets-Podolsk, returning to his native land to take revenge. Ustim set fire to the manor of the hated Piglovsky and the nearby master's distilleries. This episode is spelled out in the textbooks "the first resistance to the tyranny of the landlords." Following the fires spread to the neighbors of the Piglovskys. Ustym Karmelyuk quickly put together a large company of rebel associates who undertook to be active in the name of salvation from enslaving tyranny. The authorities, who did not have to sort out potential criminals for a long time, immediately announced Ustim Karmelyuk along with his associates on the wanted list. The search lasted more than one month, until the suspects were caught in 1813. The punishment for the former serf Piglovsky was appointed fifty blows with rods, followed by exile to the Crimean battalion of penalties. The enterprising Karmelyuk did not reach his destination, escaping along the way home. There, he continued to take measures to resist the Russian nobility and local authorities, without particularly going over the methods of struggle.

In 1814, the centers of uprisings, the involvement in which is attributed to Karmelyuk, broke out in Letychiv, Olgopol, Litin and other Vinnytsia and Khmelnitsky regions. But now it was not easy to find the skilled Karmelyuk. The Ukrainian Robin Hood was caught by the gendarmes only 3 years later, in 1817. This time, he was sentenced to capital punishment for the whole range of crimes he had committed, but by some happy coincidence, the death penalty was replaced by 25 blows with a whip and a ten-year exile in Siberia. It was not possible to deliver Ustim to Siberia: he fled at the first opportunity in the area of the village of Vyatka within the borders of the present Sumy region. Technically leaving the transit prison, Karmelyuk again came to his native Podillia.

Forensic romance

Museum exhibit in Kamyanets-Podolsk
Museum exhibit in Kamyanets-Podolsk

Given the succession of successes that accompanied the freedom fighter for many years, his comrades-in-arms considered him to be a conspiracy. Law enforcement officers and representatives of the upper stratum of the population whispered that he was a sorcerer. The avenger of the people was a thorn in the domineering eye. In total, he was officially detained and put on trial eight times, branded with a red-hot iron, Karmelyuk suffered about a hundred blows with batogs. But every time Ustim managed to avoid a prolonged imprisonment and invariably returned to his home, again and again inciting the people to confrontation. There is evidence that several times Karmelyuk escaped from the security forces, posing as either a Kostroma soldier, or a nobleman from Lublin. This was facilitated by natural ingenuity and excellent command of the Polish language and Russian with its regional dialects.

silver bullet

Monument to Karmelyuk in Ukraine
Monument to Karmelyuk in Ukraine

In the fall of 1833, to fight a powerful wave of rebels, the so-called Galuzinets commission was created, designed to put an end to Karmelyuk and the rebellious phenomena. By 1835, the trail of the people's avenger was taken. Against Karmelyuk, love affairs played. The rebel was taken to the house of his mistress Protskova, having dealt with him from an ambush. According to legend, the hero was shot by the nobleman Rutkovsky, who specially made a silver bullet for this case. Indeed, according to the prevailing opinion, the usual charge of the unsinkable Ustim did not take. For more than a day, the lifeless body was taken to the surrounding villages, convincing the frightened peasants that the tsarist power would get anyone. And the invulnerability of the Carmeluks is just a matter of time.

And if today Ustym Karmelyuk is still presented as a national Ukrainian hero, that is, there is an alternative view of this version. According to other historical opinions, "Podolsk Robin Hood" and got into the soldiers quite deservedly (for large-scale theft), and his personal "army", in addition to the landowners, robbed and even killed ordinary mortals.

A century later, another Ukrainian hetman also followed this policy, but much more daringly. So there were 7 betrayals of Ivan Mazepa, for which he eventually paid with his life.

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