{{short description|Ukrainian politician, writer, and academic (1873–1918)}} {{Family name hatnote|Matviiovych|Steshenko|lang=Eastern Slavic}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Ivan Steshenko | native_name = {{nobold|Іван Стешенко}} | native_name_lang = uk | image = Стешенко Іван.jpg | caption = Steshenko in the 1890s | office = Minister of Education | prime_minister = Volodymyr Vynnychenko | term_start = 28 June 1917<ref name="28583521ЦентральнаРада">{{in lang|uk}} [https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/28583521.html 100 років тому Центральна Рада створила перший уряд України (інфографіка)], Radio Free Europe (28 June 2017)</ref> | term_end = 30 January 1918 | predecessor = ''Position established'' | successor = Nykyfor Hryhoriiv | birth_date = {{OldStyleDate|24 June|1873|12 June}} | birth_place = Poltava, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) | death_date = {{death date and age|1918|08|01|1873|06|24|df=y}} | death_cause = Assassination | death_place = Poltava, Poltava Governorate, Ukrainian People's Republic | resting_place = Baikove Cemetery | party = Social-democratic club, Hromada, Society of Ukrainian Progressionists, USDRP | occupation = {{hlist|Politician|literary scholar|poet|writer|translator}} | spouse = {{marriage|Oksana Steshenko|1897}} | relations = Mykhailo Starytsky (father-in-law)<br/>Mariia Starytska (sister-in-law)<br/>{{no wrap|Liudmyla Starytska-Cherniakhivska}} (sister-in-law)<br/>Veronika Chernyakhivska (niece) | children = 2 including,<br/> Yaroslav Steshenko | alma_mater = Saint Vladimir Imperial University of Kiev, 1896 | module = {{Infobox writer | embed = yes | pseudonym = I. Serdeshny<br/>I. Sichovyk<br/>I. Svitlenko<br/>I. Stepura | signature = Ivan Steshenko Signature 1917.png }} }} '''Ivan Matviiovych Steshenko''' ({{langx|uk|Іван Матвійович Стешенко}}; {{OldStyleDate|24 June|1873|12 June}} – 1 August 1918) was a Ukrainian politician, literary scholar, poet, writer, translator and member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society.<ref name="Senkus"/> Steshenko's assassination was one of the first political murders in Ukraine.<ref name="UNIP"/>
== Biography == [[File:Founders of the Ukrainian academy of arts.jpg|thumb|Founders of the Ukrainian academy of arts, 1917: Sitting: Abram Manevich, Oleksandr Murashko, Fedir Krychevsky, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Ivan Steshenko, Mykola Burachek. Standing: Heorhiy Narbut, Vasyl Krychevsky, Mykhailo Boychuk.]] Steshenko studied in Saint Vladimir Imperial University of Kiev from 1892 to 1896. At that time he was an active member of the Literary Hromada of Kiev. Steshenko was publishing his works in various Lviv periodicals: ''Pravda'', ''Zoria'', and ''Dzvinok''. After graduating from the Department of History and Philosophy in 1896, he worked as a teacher in women's school, gymnasium. In politics he became influenced by Mykhailo Drahomanov and Mykola Kovalevsky. Later together with other activists such as Lesia Ukrainka he formed the Ukrainian social-democratic club (circle). At about that time he wrote his drama ''Mazepa''. After all this he was put in prison in 1897 for four months, following exile from Kiev and prohibition of teaching. That forced him to go into intense writing. At that time he was preparing the Ukrainian dictionary, wrote a book about Kotliarevsky's work (1898), and its own poetry collections such as ''Khutorni Sonety'' (Farmstead sonnets, 1899) and ''Steppovi Motyvy'' (Steppe Motifs, 1900). He also was publishing various articles in the newspaper ''Kievskaya Starina''.
Upon returning to Kiev, he became the leader of the Hromada society and worked closely with the Society of Ukrainian Progressionists. He also became a secretary of the Kiev Literary-Artistic Society before it was closed in 1905. At about that time he published the biography of Kotliarevsky (1902) and was co-publisher of a magazine ''Shershen'' (1905). After he was reinstated as a teacher in 1906, from 1907 to 1917 he was teaching literature in the First Commercial School in Kiev and Lysenko Music and Drama School. During that time he was also a secretary and a deputy-chairman of the Ukrainian Scientific Society. In 1913–14 he was an editor for the Kiev monthly periodical ''Siayvo'', and in 1908 he published a history of Ukrainian drama.
After the October Revolution he was elected as the member of the Kiev Civic Executive Committee and the Tsentralna Rada. Steshenko also was one of the founders of the Society of School Education. Later he was appointed first as the Secretary and then as the Minister of Education. Steshenko also founded the State Academy of Arts.
Steshenko wrote under the pen names I. Serdeshny, I. Sichovyk, I. Svitlenko and I. Stepura.<ref name="Senkus"/>
Out of his translations were works of Ovid, Friedrich Schiller, Alexander Pushkin, Lord Byron, and others.
==Assassination== On the night of either 29 July or 30 July 1918, Steshenko and his son Yaroslav Steshenko travelled from Kyiv to Poltava.<ref name="UNIP">{{cite web |title=1873 – народився Іван Стешенко, перший міністр освіти УНР |trans-title=1873 – Ivan Steshenko, the first Minister of Education of the UNR, was born |url=https://uinp.gov.ua/istorychnyy-kalendar/cherven/24/1873-narodyvsya-ivan-steshenko-pershyy-ministr-osvity-unr |website=Historical calendar |publisher=Ukrainian Institute of National Memory |access-date=16 February 2026 |location=Kyiv |language=uk}}</ref> Arriving at Poltava-Kyivska railway station, and unable to find a coachman, the pair decided to walk to their destination.<ref name="UNIP"/> Whilst walking Steshenko and his son were accosted by two unknown assailants who fatally shot Steshenko twice in the head before fleeing the scene.<ref name="UNIP"/><ref name="Senkus"/> Steshenko died from his injuries on the 1 August 1918.<ref name="UNIP"/><ref name="Senkus"/><ref name="Мельник">{{cite news |last1=Мельник |first1=Ярослава |title=Українотворець Ярослав Стешенко |url=https://zbruc.eu/node/109459 |access-date=23 February 2026 |work=Збруч |date=21 December 2021 |location=Lviv |language=uk}}</ref>
Steshenko's assassination was one of the first political murders in Ukraine.<ref name="UNIP"/> Steshenko was buried in the Baikove Cemetery in Kiev.<ref name="UNIP"/><ref name="Senkus"/>
On December 20, 1923, Serhiy Yefremov while on the way to Poltava wrote in his diary: "I just found out from Kost Ivanovych [Tovkach] scary details about the murder of Steshenko. He was charged to be killed by the regional Bolshevik organization of the Zinkiv Povit, and was executed by one of the members of the organization. His name's Bashlovka. The reason why Steshenko was sentenced to be executed is unknown."
===Bolshevik involvement=== Suspensions of Bolshevik involvement was later confirmed in 1941 when Steshenko's widow Oksana Steshenko and her sister Liudmyla Starytska-Cherniakhivska were arrested by the NKVD.<ref name="Міхно"/><ref name="IEU"/><ref name="UNIPOksana">{{cite web |title=1875 – народилася Оксана Стешенко (Старицька) |trans-title=1875 – Oksana Steshenko (Starytska) was born |url=https://uinp.gov.ua/istorychnyy-kalendar/sichen/24/1875-narodylasya-oksana-steshenko-starycka |website=Historical calendar |publisher=Ukrainian Institute of National Memory |access-date=15 February 2026 |location=Kyiv |language=uk}}</ref> The arrest warrant for Oksana Steshenko noted that Steshenko had been assassinated by members of the Red Army.<ref name="UNIP"/>
==Personal life== In 1897, Steshenko married Oksana Steshenko, a children's writer, poet and playwright.<ref name="Senkus">{{cite web |last1=Senkus |first1=Roman |title=Steshenko, Ivan M. |url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CS%5CT%5CSteshenkoIvanM.htm |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine |publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta |access-date=16 February 2026 |location=Edmonton, Alberta |language=en |date=2014}}</ref><ref name="Міхно">{{cite journal |last1=Міхно |first1=Олександр Петрович |title=Січень – лютий 2025. Постаті |journal=Освіта і суспільство |date=2025 |volume=1 |issue=82 |pages=36–38 |url=https://lib.iitta.gov.ua/id/eprint/744526/1/Міхно%20О.%20%282025%29.%20Педагогічний%20календар.%20Січень-лютий%202025.%20Постаті..pdf |access-date=15 February 2026 |trans-title=January–February 2025. Figures |language=uk}}</ref><ref name="TUW">{{cite news |title=Turning the pages back... August 29 1868 |url=https://archive.ukrweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/The_Ukrainian_Weekly_1994-35.pdf |access-date=15 February 2026 |work=The Ukrainian Weekly |location= Jersey City, New Jersey |volume=35 |date=28 August 1994 |page=6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250323020901/https://archive.ukrweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/The_Ukrainian_Weekly_1994-35.pdf |archive-date=23 March 2025}}</ref> Together they had two children the bibliographer Yaroslav Steshenko and the actress {{ill|Iryna Steshenko|uk|Стешенко Ірина Іванівна}}.<ref name="Senkus"/><ref name="IEU">{{cite web |title=Steshenko, Oksana |url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CS%5CT%5CSteshenkoOksana.htm |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine |publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta |access-date=15 February 2026 |location=Edmonton, Alberta |language=en |date=2001}}</ref>
Through marriage Steshenko was the son-in-law of Mykhailo Starytsky and {{ill|Sofiia Starytska|uk|Старицька Софія Віталіївна}}, and was the brother-in-law of Mariia Starytska and Liudmyla Starytska-Cherniakhivska.<ref name="Senkus"/><ref name="Міхно"/><ref name="IEU"/> Steshenko was the uncle of Veronika Chernyakhivska.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages\S\T\SteshenkoIvanM.htm Biography of Steshenko] {{in lang|en}} *[http://www.umoloda.kiev.ua/number/1247/174/44199/ Biography at Ukraine Young] {{in lang|uk}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20081006060338/http://bilokin.myslenedrevo.com.ua/terror/indterror.html#Ref23 Individual Terror (anti-Ukrainism)] {{in lang|uk}} {{Ministers of Education and Sciences of Ukraine}}
{{s-start}} {{succession box | title = Secretary of Education<br>Minister of Education | before = introduced | after = N. Hryhoriiv | years = June 1917{{snd}}January 1918 }} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steshenko, Ivan}} Category:1873 births Category:1918 deaths Category:20th-century Ukrainian male writers Category:20th-century Ukrainian politicians Category:Education ministers of Ukraine Category:Members of the Central Council of Ukraine Category:Members of the Shevchenko Scientific Society Category:People from Poltava Governorate Category:Politicians from Poltava Category:Assassinated Ukrainian politicians Category:Ukrainian Democratic Party (1904) politicians Category:Ukrainian Social Democratic Labour Party politicians Category:Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni Category:Writers from Poltava Category:Writers from the Russian Empire