Lyzohub, Fedir

Lyzohub, Fedir [Лизогуб, Федір], b 6 November 1851 in Sedniv, Chernihiv county, Chernihiv gubernia, d 1928 in Belgrade, Serbia. Civic and political leader; descendant of the Cossack starshyna Lyzohub family; son of Andrii Lyzohub, brother of Dmytro Lyzohub. A member of the Chernihiv gubernia zemstvo assembly (1886–1901), he served as executive chairman of the Poltava gubernia zemstvo in 1901–15. He emerged as a defender of Ukrainian cultural interests: he ensured that the Poltava Zemstvo Building was built in a Ukrainian style, founded the Poltava Museum (see Poltava Regional Studies Museum), erected a monument to Ivan Kotliarevsky in Poltava and published his works, and encouraged Ukrainian handicrafts. In 1915–17 he sat on the council of the vicegerent for Caucasia. In the Hetman government he served as premier (10 May to 14 November 1918) and minister of internal affairs (10 May to 8 July 1918) and conducted a moderate conservative policy which sought a compromise with the Ukrainian National Union. Eventually he emigrated to the Crimea and, later, to the Balkans.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]