Kachkovsky, Mykhailo

Kachkovsky, Mykhailo [Качковський, Михайло; Kačkovs'kyj, Myxajlo], b 29 July 1802 in Dubno (Dębno), Łańcut county, Galicia, d 20 August 1872 in Kronstadt, Russia. Galician cultural figure of a populist outlook. A judge by profession, he endorsed the Austrian regime and worked within its confines to promote the cultural and educational advancement of Ukrainians living in the Habsburg Empire. He provided financial support to writers and publications of both cultural camps in Galicia—the Old Ruthenians (Russophiles) and the Populists (see Populism, Western Ukrainian). The Russophile newspaper Slovo (Lviv) (1861–87) received large subsidies from him. He encouraged the development of literature in the local Ukrainian vernacular by rewarding writers, particularly students, with monetary prizes. In his will he left about 80,000 guilders to set up a foundation at the People's Home in Lviv for awarding prizes for literary works written in the local Ukrainian language and for supporting periodical publications. Upon retiring Kachkovsky set out on an extended tour of the Russian Empire, in the course of which he succumbed to cholera. Although he had never been a Russophile, a society created by Russophiles in 1874 as a counterweight to the Prosvita society was named after Kachkovsky because he had supported some Old-Ruthenian causes (see Kachkovsky Society).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]