Senior boyar. Plan to the courtyard

Todos Osmachka (1895–1962) was an outstanding Ukrainian writer who experienced Stalinist repressions, psychiatric hospitals, and the difficult life in emigration. Could he have escaped the ordeal? Yes, by submitting to the authorities. But then we would not have Osmachka, because: “He was alone. No one followed his path. It is difficult to say who could have endured all this.”

Osmachka wanted to live in Ukraine, but everywhere he was “planned for the court.” The terrible Bolshevik formula of terror, strikingly described by the writer, worked without fail. The essence of the “method” was that for the slightest offense, a family would be kicked out of their home in their shirtsleeves. Those who dared to shelter these people were treated the same as those who were punished.

At the same time, neither "Plan to the Court" nor the equally dramatic but love-filled novel "The Senior Boyar" immerse the reader in a sense of hopelessness. Osmachka believed that his people would never fold their wings.