Our heroes

1. Our heroes The project work of the 10-A form students Lyceum of IT Dnepropetrovsk 2013

2. We & our awards

3. contents

4. Artists:ALEXANDER DOVZHENKO1894 – 1956by DanilKonstantinov Alexander Dovzhenko was born on 29 August 1894 in a small town of Sosnytsia near Chernihiv (Ukraine), in a poor family, which was famous for its longevity: writer's great-grandmother lived to be more than a hundred years old, and his grandfather died soon after his centennial anniversary. His parents were illiterate, but they wanted all their children to become educated people. There were 14 children in the family, but only Aleksander and his sister Polina survived. All Dovzhenko's works have a picture of a long-suffering mother, whose prototype was his own mother, "born for songs, she cried all her life". Little Sasha loved singing sad Ukrainian songs; he loved animals, trees in blossom and the sweet-scented grass found in meadows near the Desna; he loved listening to his grandfather's stories about the Ukrainian past. He would say later that he owed everything best in himself to his family, fellow-villagers and fantastic enchanted nature of his home countryside. Sasha went to the elementary school in Sosnytsia. There he loved drawing: he drew horses, huts, apples, his friends and himself. In 1911 he entered the Teachers' Institute in Hlukhiv. After graduating in 1914 he worked as a teacher in high school in Zhytomyr. His interest in drawing and painting was still very strong, he drew a lot, especially portraits; and in 1922 he became a student at School of Arts in Berlin, where he worked at that time in the Soviet Consulate as a secretary.

5. In 1923 he came back to Ukraine, to Kharkiv, and soon became the most famous Ukrainian caricaturist and illustrator. His first known literary work wasn't created till September, 1926. It was a film-script "Heroes". After that he wrote several more and made his first film "Diplomatic Courier's Bag" (about Theodor Nette), which was a success. His later films "Earth", "Arsenal", "Shchors" strengthened his position as a leading Ukrainian script writer and film director. When the Great Patriotic War started he went to the front and his war experience were reflected in numerous articles, stories and film-scripts ("Mother", "Night before Battle", "Ukraine on Fire", "The Story of Flaming Years"). He joked: "In my old age I decided to train as a writer". He started to write more prose, trying to respond to the most significant events of the war. He wrote in his notebook: "The war became as big as life, as death". War as a national tragedy became the main subject of his works." Enchanted Desna" is an encyclopedia of the Ukrainian country-life at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. The pictures of the writer's childhood, full of misery, tragedy and humor, are intertwined with his philosophical meditations on the meaning of human life.There's also "A Poem about the Sea", where he tells us how the artificial Kakhov Sea on the Dnieper was created. In post-war years Dovzhenko was more and more attracted by the mysteries of the outer space as an object of his reflections upon the questions: "What are our life and death and what is existence?" His death in 1956 interrupted his work in the film-script "In the Depths of Outer Space", whose unearthly details he already saw in his imagination. He wanted so much to know the thoughts and feelings of a man who would be the first to see our planet from above. When Yurie Gagarin came back to Earth, he said that AleksanderDovzhenko had been in space before him. Dovzhenko had the full right to say these prophetic words about himself: "I belong to mankind as an artist". Dovzhenko died of a heart attack on November 25, 1956 in Russia. The Dovzhenko Film Studios in Kiev (the capital of Ukraine) were named after him in his honour following his death.

6. Artists: VasilyTropinin 1776- 1857 by Ann Ovcharenko VasiliyTropinin was born in 1776 in one of the Russian villages near Novgorod in a family of a serf. The family belonged to IrakliyMorkov, one of the richest landowners in the region. Having noticed the youth's early interest and talent for painting, IrakliyMorkov sent Vasiliy to Petersburg to study.His master wished him to make cakes in the form of Babel Tower. That very travel became a decisive occasion in Tropinin's life. Being free from his work in a confectioner's shop, Tropinin began to attend courses in painting at the Petersburg Art Academy. In 1799 his master pitied him and let him enter the Academy officially. It happened that Tropinin never graduated from the Academy. Being called by his master he moved to Ukraine. It was his first visit to the country that was considered almost a paradise among the students of the Academy. He heard that Ukraine was almost like 'Slavonic Italy' because of its warm climate, sunny summers and fertile soil.

7. After moving to Ukraine Tropinin was not allowed to paint. He was his master's personal servant. In 1806 the landowner of the neighboring village decided to build a new church and decided to order Tropinin to develop a plan of the new church. There was no end to Tropinin's triumph. He could live away from his master and paint. Year passed. Tropinin became a famous painter of a romantic genre. His pictures like 'The Ukrainian', 'Spinners' and the like ones tell us that Tropinin learned the everyday life of the Ukrainian people, their character and habits. Tropinin belongs to the Russian painters who highly valued and loved Ukraine and Ukrainian people. He spent seventeen years in Ukraine. Those were hard years of serfdom and austerity. However, Tropinin remembered the humanity and soulful beauty of the simple peasants and believed they helped to display his talent to people.

8. ANGELS: DASHA BEZKOSTAYABy Sonya Popova This girl lives in the city of Sumy, Ukraine. She is 16 years old but she cannot speak or move as she has got a hard form of cerebral palsy from her childhood. But she can paint using her feet and toes. Trying to overcome her physical pain she has been learning for many years and now she is even taking lessons from an art teacher. She participates in different exhibitions and has already got some success. But the most important and great thing about her is that she has participated in some charity actions and has donated money for her sold pictures to the treatment of seriously ill children.Understanding that her illness is incurable, she tries to help those who can be cured. For me she is a real hero.

9. Business : BILL GATES by deniskhanin William Henry Gates, also known as «Bill», has established himself as the richest man in the world. Bill Gates is chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft employs more than 39,000 people in 60 countries. He is the youngest self-made billionaire, and perhaps the best businessman in the world. Bill Gates is important because he did not only change the computer technology in America, but also created the biggest, strongest, richest and the most powerful company in the world. Bill was born on October 28, 1955, his parents, Mary and Bill, had one other daughter Kristi. Gates began his career in PC software, programming computers at age 13. As to his education, he attended a well-known private school in Seattle, Washington called Lakeside. At Lakeside, he met his future business partner Paul Allen. Bill Gates entered Harvard in 1973. He created the programming language BASIC. Gates attended Harvard University and after a few years Gates and his business collaborator, Paul Allen, dropped out of Harvard to begin the Microsoft Corporation in 1975.

10. Throughout his life, Gates had many experiences with business. Allen and Gates started a small company called Traf-O-Data. They sold a small computer outfitted with their program that could count traffic for the city. • Gates also worked at a programming company called 'TRW. After all his minor jobs, Gates and • Allen founded Microsoft in 1975, the largest computer based company in the world. Gates is the Chief Executive officer and Paul Allen is VP. They are both very wealthy due to this business. • In 1999, Gates wrote "Business @ the Speed of Thought" a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in fundamentally new ways. • The book was published in 25 languages and is available in more than 60 countries. "Business @ the Speed of Thought" has received wide critical acclaim, and was listed on the best-seller lists of the "New York Times" "USA Today" the "Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com" • Gates believes that if you are intelligent and know how to apply your intelligence you can accomplish anything. • Bill works very hard to carry out his vision. His belief in high intelligence and hard work is what put him where he is today, as well as being in the right place at the right time. He doesn't believe in luck or any sort of god, just hard work and competitiveness. In addition to his love of computers and software, Gates is interested in biotechnology. He is an investor in a number of biotechnology companies. • «Trey» as he is called at home is a remarkable man who has been able to go into the world spotlight as a genius at what he does. His welfare until today is worth about 92,000,000,000 dollars.

11. Business: IGOR SIKORSKY1889-1972 by andreytvedokhleb "Men's dream of flying is an unfinished saga carrying us now toward even greater adventures in outer space. But wherever we may go, and whatever we achieve through our efforts to push back the horizon of our knowledge, Igor Sikorsky will remain a source of inspiration - a true man of vision." - Richard Nixon Igor Sikorsky, no doubt, a superstar of world aviation, the world-wide famous, talented pioneer, designer of the most perfect and powerful helicopters, hydro-planes (clippers) and heavy multi-engine aircraft. Igor Sikorsky was born into the family of a well-known and well-off psychiatrist in Kyiv, where he graduated from a local gymnasium. While a student of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (1907-1909) he created its first own small, improvised aviation workshop. There he purchased from France one of the most powerful engines of the times, the Anzany engine. Using that he constructed his first helicopter. Though the helicopter could lift its own weight (180 kg), it couldn't rise up with its designer aboard.

12. Because a more powerful engine wasn't available at the moment, he decided to switch to designing other aircraft. Igor Sikorsky glorified czarist Russia with his famous unprecedented gigantic four-engine aircraft "RusskyVityaz" and "IlliahMuromez", which he, as an incredibly young designer (24-25 years old), piloted personally (1913-1914}. • Several times these gigantic birds, piloted by him, appeared in the sky over his native city. During his long career he was an excellent, courageous and prudent pilot. His fame in creating heavy multi-engine aircraft became known throughout the world. • Igor Sikorsky, escaping from the chaos and repression of the Russian revolution, at first immigrated to France (1918). But soon after, he understood, that in France he was only an alien, one of the immense immigrant crowd that had surged from Russia during the revolution. So he decided to immigrate to the United States to try his fortune once more. As it turned out later - for once and forever. Moreover, he's brought glory to the United States by his clippers S-42, S-43, his helicopters S-55, S-58 and the world record breaking light, speedy and high-altitude S-59. "Mister Helicopter" was entered on a list of the most famous inventors of the United States of America. Being a patriot, he always felt nostalgia for his native land. And Ukraine, in its turn, should be proud of its son.

13. Family: NIKOLAI PITIRYAKOVby Olga Pitiryakova My hero is my grandfather - Nikolai Pitiryakov. He went through all the Second World War.During one of the German offensives the telephone link was missing, at that time it was wired. Someone had to hold the wire for a few hundred meters. My great-grandfather ran with a large reel through the forest and battlefield. And then, a river blocked the way. He needed to act quickly! It was November, the temperature was about 3-5 degrees and the water was really cold. He realized that  the lives of many people, his comrades and friends, depended on him. And he swam across not very large, but cold river. As a result he saved many people's lives. Then my great-grandfather had big problems with his lungs. In war, the lives of people can depend on even a usual signaler. To my great regret I have not got any photos of my great-grandfather.

14. family: YAKOV BOyEVby Michael boyev Everyone has a hero. For someone it is a famous writer, for someone it is a famous person. My hero is my great-grandfather. By the end of his life he was seriously ill, so he spoke to us very rarely. Most of his stories were about the after war period, but my grandparents told me about his war life. He was a simple private of the USSR army, a driver of the truck, where anti-aircraft gun was placed. Once, when he was driving his truck to the attacking position a bomb had fallen near the truck. The shooter died, but my great-grandfather miraculously survived. That cost him his hearing. When the truck rolled over he damaged his ear, and for the rest of his life he was deaf on this ear. Despite that he continued to serve in the USSR army and even reached Berlin, where he was wounded. He wasn't able to see the Red Flag waving on the Reichstag because he was taken to a Ukrainian hospital. He was there for one month, and he didn't realise that World War II was over. When he learned that he was more than happy. Thanks to his and other soldiers' courage, we can see the world as it is now. Despite that he was deaf on one ear and seriously ill, he managed to bring up and see his grandchildren and even see his great-grandchildren, what is really not so often even for a healthy man. From him every generation of our family was becoming more successful. When my grandfather was born he and his wife were living in a small village in Russia. When my grandfather was 10 they moved to Dnepropetrovsk, where he worked at a plant. When my grandfather grew up he went to the same plant and became the best worker there. He hardly could feed the family, but he tried harder and harder and he was promoted. Now my father is a businessman. I think, that it all because of education which my great-grandfather managed to give to my grandfather. My great-grand father was a hero, and I am proud of having such a great-grandfather. I hope he could be proud of me too.

15. Family: NIKOLAI KLYOMINby polinaklyomina The society just cannot live without heroes. Otherwise there would not be the ideal that everybody is aspired and admired by. Heroes can be like superheroes and just people from your close circle of friends and relatives. For me such a person is my great-grandfather who took part in the Second World War. My grandmother's mother told her and then she told me about my great-grandfather. He was very handsome and most importantly - very brave like the rest of the soldiers who fought for our motherland. One day, on the battlefield his colleague, later his good friend, was wounded - his leg was badly damaged and bleeding a lot. So that he could bleed to death faster than if he was shot. That guy was nearly twenty meters from my great-grandfather but it didn't stop him! My relative with incredible speed, trying not to get hit by bullets on his way, grabbed this man by the hands and holding a deep wound with his jacket, helped get him to the nearest first-aid post, and ran back to fight. Later for this act my great-grandfather was awarded as the Hero of Soviet Union. But to my great sorrow, he was killed. But he died a hero on the battlefield, though lived up to our victory. Well, I have realized how many people died without glory as ordinary soldiers in battles. Only my great-grandmother knew on what field her husband had been killed and even came there but didn't tell anyone where it is. Nevertheless I am extremely proud of my great-grandfather, and consider him my hero! And I hope that every soldier who was murdered in the Second World War is respected by his grandchildren that are sincerely grateful to him for their peaceful life.

16. Freedom: BOHDAN KHMELNYTSKY 1595 – 1657 by bogdangorban BohdanKhmelnytsky - is a very brave person. All his life he defended our country from enemies. And he achieved his dream. Our country became free and independent when he was a hetman(king). He gave his life for the freedom of our country. Although there is no definite proof of the date of his birth, it has been suggested by Ukrainian historian MykhayloMaksymovych that it is near December 27, 1595. He was born in the village of Subotiv, near Chyhyryn in Ukraine at the estate of his father MykhailoKhmelnytsky. Upon completion, his studies in 1617, Bohdan entered into service with the Cossacks(warriors). In 1620-1621 he participated in the battle of Cecora(famous battle of Polish-Turkish war). On 17 September 1620, his father was killed in this war. He created a strong state with the strongest army of Cossacks. He participated in many battles and bravely defended our country. BohdanKhmelnytsky died at 5 A.M. on 27 July 1657. He was 62 years old. His funeral was held on 23 August, and his body was taken from his capital Chyhyryn to his estate at Subotiv for burial in his ancestral church. But he is not forgotten. He is still alive for us. He is a my hero and I think that many Ukrainian people will agree with me.

17. Lifesavers: PAVEL BONDAREV 1987 -2012 by mariamarkina Who can become a hero? Some people think that they cannot be heroes because they have not superpowers or enough courage. But when somebody`s life is in danger they have to choose between their own life and the life of the person who is in trouble. And if your safety and your interests are less important in this situation you are worthy of respect and applause. PavelBondarev from Sevastopol saved two children who were waiting for the bus at the bus stop. Diana and Artem did not notice the car which was moving directly to them. The driver of the "Honda" who was driving his son to school lost control and his car drove into stop. This moment Pavel was crossing the street.Pavel pushed Artem from the car. He also saved a girl who was in her age of 8. Saving Diana, Pavel had got some wounds. But unfortunately payment for children`s lives was very high. In a few hours Pavel died in a hospital because his wounds were too dangerous. Pavel was only 24 years old and he was going to celebrate his birthday in a month. Children want to thank him: they don`t know that he is not alive. Diana all the time repeats: "I want to see the boy who saved me". And Pavel`s friends say that they are proud of him and they know that Pavel made the right choice. Friends know Pavel as an honest and kind person who is always ready to help or give advice. He had a good sense of humor and a lot of plans for the future. Pavel loved to play and watch soccer, he was a very positive person. And it is very sad that this person is not alive any more. So heroes are among us. Look around and appreciate your relatives and friends because they may save or help someone. And you can be a hero too. You don`t have to be a genius or billionaire to help someone. Just do something useful as often as possible and you will become a hero for someone.

18. Peacemakers: STANISLAV PETROV1939by danilzhebrik The Man Who Saved the World by Doing Nothing It is hard to imagine, but in far 1983 a nuclear war could have begun due to a false report of a nuclear early-warning system. The Russian colonel, StanislavPetrov, saved the planet. He was the duty officer at the system. The day everything happened was as usual as always until the alarm started and the computer showed a report: the USA launched missiles. He judged that the report was a false alarm. Later, he said that foreigners exaggerated his heroism: "I simply did my duty. I was in the right place at the right moment.“ When the alarm started, everybody in the command post of the system was shocked. They looked at him, and he did not know what to do. "You can't possibly analyze things properly within a couple of minutes. All you can rely on is your intuition. I had two arguments to fall back on. First, missile attacks do not start from just one base. Second, the computer is, by definition, brainless. There are lots of things it can mistake for a missile launch". However, he reported it was a false alarm despite what the screens were showing. Fortunately, he made the right decision. The incident was kept in secret until the 90s. However, the Soviet military neither awarded nor punished Petrov for his actions, although later he was awarded the Dresden Prize 2013 and World Citizen Award. Later, he left the army and now he lives in Fryazino. But he is a real hero that our world needs.

19. Poets: NIKOLAY KOSTOMAROV1817 – 1885by sashaplyg NikolayIvanovichKostomarov was born in Urasovka village in 1817. He is one of the most distinguished Russian and Ukrainian historians, a Professor of History at the Kiev University and later at the St. Petersburg University, an author of many books, including his famous biography of the seventeenth century Ukrainian Cossack Hetman, Bohdan Khmelnitsky, and his fundamental Russian History in Biographies of its main figures.As a historian, Kostomarov's writings reflected the romantic trends of his time. Kostomarov was also a romantic author and poet, a member of the Kharkiv Romantic School. He published two poetry collections, Ukrainian Ballads(1839) and The Branch (1840), both collections containing historical poems mostly about KievanRus and Bohdan Khmelnitsky. His poetry is known for including vocabulary and other elements of traditional Ukrainian folk songs. He also wrote historical dramas, however these had little influence on the development of Ukrainian theater. He also wrote prose in Russian, the novelette Kudeyar, 1875, and Russian mixed with Ukrainian Chernigovka, 1881, but these also are considered insignificant. Another short story Animal Riot, (1879-80), published in 1917 takes Russia as its analogue, and imagines a revolution of farm animals. The work has been cited as a possible antecedent to George Orwell's Animal Farm. Also he based Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius which was a short-lived secret political society that existed in Kiev, Ukraine, at the time a part of the Russian Empire. NikolayIvanovichKostomarov died in Saint Petersburg in 1885 as famous Ukrainian poet and politician.

20. Poets:LESia UKRAINKA1871 - 1913 by anastasiyamishchenko LesiaUkrainka was born on 25 February, 1871, in Novohrad-Volyns'kyi, and was the second child in the family. Lesia spent her childhood in the village of Kolodiazhne. She was a weak child. When Lesia was nine, her aunt, a member of the national liberation movement, was exiled to Siberia. Lesia responded to this dramatic family event by writing her first poem "Hope". From that time LesiaUkrainka constantly raised her voice in defence of human dignity. In 1881 when she lived in Lutsk the doctors diagnosed her disease as tuberculosis of bones. It meant that her dream to be a pianist was ruined. In 1883 she was operated on her left hand and couldn't play the piano. All her life the illness drove her from clinic to clinic, from country to country. She was in the Crimea, Georgia, Austria (Vienna), Germany (Berlin), Italy, Egypt. She lived in dark years of tsarist social and national oppression and took after her father who was fond of revolutionary ideas. She believed in freedom for her people. In 1897 in the Crimea Lesia made acquaintance with Merzhyns'kyi, a revolutionary. Soon they married. But he suffered from tuberculosis too. Some years later he died; it was a big shock for Lesia. After some years KlimentKvitka, a writer, became her second husband.

21. LesiaUkrainka is not a real name of the greatest poet. She signed her verses LesiaUkrainka, affirming her love and affection for her country and the spirit of its people. Under this penname Larissa Kosach entered the world of literature and became known as a famous poet. Her character and views were formed under the influence of folk traditions and cultural progressive-minded intelligentsia, frequent visitors at the house. LesiaUkrainka's literary legacy is rich and diverse. It includes poetry collections "On Winds of Song", "Thoughts and Dreams", "Echoes Songs", dramatic poems "Cassandra", "An Autumn Tale", "Song of the Forest" and many others. LesiaUkrainka knew many foreign languages and read classical literature in the original for self-education (she couldn't go to school because of her illness). She knew German, French, English, Italian, Greek, Latin, Polish and other languages. LesiaUkrainka wanted her people to learn the world culture. She thoroughly arranged a list for a World Library Series aimed at Ukrainian reads and their education. She translated about ninety poems by Henrich Heine, GerbartMauptmann's drama "Weavers", works by Schiller and Goethe, Byron and Shakespeare. LesiaUkrainka died in 1913 in Georgia, the town of Surami. She was buried in Kyiv.

22. Poets: TARAS SHEVCHENKO1814 - 1861 by DimaChaly Shevchenko was born in 1814 in peasant's family. His childhood was unhappy and rugged: when he was nine his mother died, after three years his father died. Taras led his youth working hard and without family. He learned how to read, write and draw by the village precentor. At the age of 14, his owner Engelhardt took him, to serve as houseboy. He traveled extensively with his owner, firs to Wilno and then to St. Petersburg.     In Wilno, he learned to speak Polish and met the famous Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz. Engelhardt noticed Shevchenko's artistic talent and apprenticed him to the painter V. V. Shiriaiev for 4 years. During that period he met compatriots I. Soshenko, Ye. Hrebinka, V. Hryhorovych, and O. Venitsianov. Trough them he met the Russian painter K. Brullov.    K. Brullov painted the portrait of the Russian poet V. Zhukovsky to be disposed of in a lottery. Tsarina bought the portrait because V. Zhukovsky was the teacher of her children. The proceeds from the lottery, 2500 Ruble were used to buy Shevchenko's freedom from Engelhardt in 1838.     T. Shevchenko enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg and pursued his art studies and general education. In 1840 he published his first collection of poems, Kobzar. It was followed by the epic poem Haidamaky (Rebels) and the ballad Hamaliia. In 1840s Taras visited Ukraine three times.

23.   Those visits made a profound impact on him. He was struck by the ravanged state of Ukraine. In 1842 Shevchenko pained the picture "Katherina" where he was expressed his own strong. In 1843, he wrote his drama "NazarStodolia".   After graduating from the academy in 1845, he became a member of the Kyiv ArcheographicCommision. That position gave rise to extensive travels during which he sketched a lot. It was in this time that he wrote his most satirical and politically subversive poems "Dream" and "Caucasus" In 1845, he wrote his famous program verse "Testament". In the poem "Charwomen", he depicted the fate of mother, one of the best images in the world literature.    In 1846, T. Shevchenko came to Kyiv and joined secret Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood. A denunciation resulted in the armrest of the members of the Brotherhood.    In 1858 he met and made friends with I. F. Aldridge, the American outstanding tragic actor wo was on tour in Russia and Ukraine.    In 1860 Shevchenko decided to become a family man, but his plans were ruined and he lived the next years alone.    The writer died on Sunday, February 26, 1861, at morning. Taras Shevchenko has a uniquely important place in Ukrainian history. He created the conditions that allowed the transformation of the Ukrainian into a fully functional modern literature. He was the inspirer of a modern democratic ideal of renewed Ukrainian statehood. His poetry greatly to the evolution of national consciousness. His influence on cultural and national life if felt to this day.

24. Testament When I am dead, then bury me In my beloved Ukraine, My tomb upon a grave mound high Amid the spreading plain, So that the fields, the boundless steppes, The Dnieper's plunging shore My eyes could see, my ears could hear The mighty river roar. When from Ukraine the Dnieper bears Into the deep blue sea The blood of foes... then will I leave These hills and fertile fields - I'll leave them all and fly away To the abode of God, And then I'll pray... But till that day I nothing know of God. Oh bury me, then rise ye up And break your heavy chains And water with the tyrants' blood The freedom you have gained. And in the great new family, The family of the free, With softly spoken, kindly word Remember also me.

25. Sports: KLITSCHKO BROTHERSDates of birth:  Vitaly- 1971,Vladimir – 1976 by sashastolny VitalyKlitschko, older brother, is the current WBC world heavyweight champion. He has the highest knockout percentage (95%) of any heavyweight boxing champion in overall fights. He also holds the distinction of being a three time world heavyweight champion, having previously held the WBO and WBC titles, and has never been knocked out or knocked down in any professional boxing bout. Vitali is the first professional boxing world champion to hold a Ph.D. (in sports science). His younger brother, Vladimir Klitschko, is a Ukrainian heavyweight boxer. Klitschko is the unified IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine Champion of the world. Thanks to them the world has learned about Ukraine.

26. Writers: IVAN FRANKO 1856 - 1916by Sasha Penya Ivan Franko was a great poet, prose writer, playwright, literary critic, translator, journalist, and public figure. He left a rich legacy made up of nearly five thousand fiction and nonfiction works, theoretical, essays and articles written in Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, German and other languages.Ivan Franko was born on August 27, 1836, into the family of a blacksmith in a village of Lvov Region.After finishing gymnasium in the town of Drogobych Ivan Franko continued his education in Lvov and later in Chernivtsi. In 1891 he graduated from the department of Philology of Chernivtsi University.Ivan Franko was the most outstanding poet in the post-Shevchenko period of Ukrainian literature. In his best collection of poems, "From the Heights and the Depths", he democratized the  traditional forms of poetry.Ivan Fianko's prose enriched Ukrainian literature with a new gallery of characters. In "His Own Fault", "Forests and Pastures", and many other stories. I. Franko draws the reader's attention to the social dream of the Galician village.Ivan Franko's profound knowledge of human nature in its varied manifestations makes his characters strikingly alive. Characteristically, the writer often called his works studies in psychology. This person is so important for Ukrainian people that there are many monuments to him all over Ukraine and the National University in Lvov was named after him.

27. VASYL STUS1938 – 1985 by sashastolny Writers: VasylStus was born not far from Kyiv but spent his childhood and youth in the Donbas Region. In this area of Ukraine, people speak mainly Russian, and it was a wonder that the young man could preserve his mother tongue. After graduating from the local Teacher Training College he worked as a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature. In 1963 he decided to continue his education and moved to Kyiv, where he started to study literary theory.There he published his first collection of "The Circuit", "The Winter Trees", and the "Merry Cemetery". Both in his poetry and in his public speeches, Vasyl protested in his poems the repressions of the Ukrainian intelligentsia. Though it was a period of the so-called "political thaw" of 1961-1965, he was expelled from his graduate programme. In 1972 Vasyl was arrested charged with anti-Soviet propaganda, and sentenced to 5 years in prison and 3 years of exile. There Vasyl continued working and his prison poetry "A Candle in the Mirror" and "Palimpsests" are considered the heights of his creative heritage. In his poems Vasyl wrote about life and death, fate and destiny, individual choice and responsibility. In 1979 VasylStus returned to Kyiv only to be imprisoned again for another 10 years and 5 years of exile. But his undermined health could not stand the absence of freedom and he died in a camp for political prisoners in the Urals when he was only 49 years old. Like with many other outstanding writers the works of this talented Ukrainian poet will outlive their creator.

28. Women: ROKSOLANA1506 – 1558 by olgapitiryakova Since the times immemorial Ukrainian women were famous for their beauty and intellect. At those times opposition between Slavic territories and the Ottoman Empire reached the climax. People of the conquered lands would be killed and sold. Especially, beautiful Ukrainian women would be sold to the harems of rich people. And after they found themselves in a golden cage it was not life anymore - it was just existence. Thus, once upon a time in a Ukrainian town Rogatin lived AnastasiiaLisovskaya. In the 16th century she was captured by the Tatar horde and sold on the slave bazaar in Istanbul. On entering the harem of sultan Suleyman the Conquer she managed to become his favorite wife and sultana Khaseki. In history she is famous as Roksolana because at those times all Russians and Ukrainians were called "roksolani" in Latin. She was the sole woman in the sultan's harem that had an official title for Suleyman sharing his power with her. She had everything and had nothing. She was far away from her homeland and was doomed never to return in her past where all her memories and native faces were still alive.

29. Being deprived of the right to think freely and forced to live in a world where a woman's life cost less than a life of a homeless cat, Roksolana did win and compelled proud men to admire her. To admire the one who shared the throne together with the sultan - for the first time in the history of the Ottoman Empire existence. This unique Ukrainian woman mastered several languages, she dedicated her own poems to sultan and even wrote books. At that time it was a strange phenomenon that instead of respect it awakened fear. They rumored that this astonishing Ukrainian woman had mesmerized sultan - she was treated like a witch. And really, the sultan was fascinated - shortly afterwards he realized that nobody but Roksolana was able to give the best advice in state affairs. As for Sultan Suleyman, he was a reserved person that honored war and books. He was rude and coarse, yet when he met his Khaseki, he understood - she became his love for the whole life. This incredible Ukrainian placed a spell not only the sultan's body, but also his soul and his mind. She always was trying to find a glimmer of hope, a ray of the Sun in a strange sober world of four walls she was fated to live in forever. Generally speaking, Roksolana appeared to be a perfect example of endurance, will-power and moral strength that symbolizes a strong Ukrainian woman that never gives up and always follows her moral ideals.