Maslov, Leonid

Maslov, Leonid [Маслов, Леонід], b 18 April 1909 in Katerynoslav, d 17 August 1943 in Zdolbuniv, Volhynian-Podolian bezirk, Reichskommissariat Ukraine. Architect; son of Mykola Maslov. A graduate of Cracow Polytechnic, he worked as an architect in Liuboml, Lutsk, and later Rivne where he was the city’s main architect. His architectural designs were exhibited in group exhibitions of the circle Spokii in 1937 and 1938. Maslov researched architectural monuments, particularly old churches and castles, in interwar western Volhynia, and wrote about them in Ukrainian and Polish periodicals. He was the first professional architect in Volhynia to write about the history of Ukrainian architecture in Ukrainian. He published his articles in Ukraïns’ka nyva, Zhyttia i znannia, and later in Nasha bat’kivshchyna (Lviv) and the journal Proboiem in Prague. He also did some architectural research for the National Museum in Lviv. Maslov escaped the Soviet occupation of Volhynia in 1939 by moving to Cracow (both of his parents were arrested by the Soviets and perished in GULAG labor camps). There Maslov wrote a book on the Ukrainian folk architecture (wooden churches) of the Kholm region and Podlachia, which was published in 1941 by Ukrainske Vydavnytstvo (Cracow). After his return to Zdolbuniv, Maslov was arrested by the Nazis and executed (see Nazi war crimes in Ukraine).

Marko Robert Stech

[This article was updated in 2021.]