Satiric Works of Ivan Bahrianyi in the Newspaper“Golos Okhtyrschyny” (1942): Sharp Criticism to the Bolshevik Regime

Abstract

This study examines the satirical legacy of the prominent Ukrainian writer Ivan Bahrianyi (Ivan Lozovyagin, 1906–1963) published in the newspaper “Holos Okhtyrshchyny” during the German occupation of Ukraine in World War II. The aim of this research was to identify Bahrianyi’s wartime feuilletons, evaluate their role in exposing totalitarianism, and contextualize their significance within World War II Ukrainian journalism. While renowned for novels such as “Tiger Trappers” and “The Garden of Gethsemane”, Bahrianyi’s journalistic work remains a vital subject of socio-political and literary research. Writing under pseudonyms such as Ivan Bahryanyi, Sorok-Sorok, Don Kocherga, and S. Chernovol, he authored incisive pamphlets and feuilletons criticizing Stalinist terror, Bolshevik social and economic dogma, and Russian great-power chauvinism. Archive materials from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine reveal that Soviet security agencies (KGB/MGB) meticulously analyzed, retyped, and cataloged his publications in an unsuccessful effort to compel his return from emigration and force a renunciation of his views. Employing functional-pragmatic analysis, content analysis, observation, textual analysis, and comparative-descriptive methods, this study analyzes Bahrianyi’s use of hyperbole, grotesque, irony, sarcasm, and biblical motifs to expose the anti-human nature of the Soviet regime. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that Bahrianyi’s journalistic works provide invaluable insights into the socio-political realities and trauma experienced by the Ukrainian population under Soviet regime.