Hordiievsky, Mykhailo

Hordiievsky, Mykhailo [Гордієвський, Михайло; Hordijevs'kyj, Myxajlo], b 4 June 1885 in the Zelenky, Kyiv gubernia, d 11 October 1938 in Odesa. Philosopher, Classical historian, and educator. Hordiievsky graduated from Odesa University in 1910 and became a professor there, teaching also at various schools in Odesa. He was a member of the Society of Ukrainian Progressives. During the Ukrainian struggle for independence (1917–20) he was an active member of the Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries. In the 1920s, as the head (1926–30) of the Odesa Scientific Society of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and of its pedagogical section, he was a leader in the implementation of the Ukrainization policy in the Odesa region. His main works include Lesevych iako filosof (Volodymyr Lesevych as a Philosopher, 1915), Pedahohika prahmatyzmu (The Pedagogy of Pragmatism, 1924), as well as numerous works on Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi and translations. His manuscript ‘Rabstvo v starodavn'omu Rymi’ (Slavery in Ancient Rome) was confiscated by the Soviet secret police before it was published. He was arrested 27 March 1938 and subsequently executed.

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