Ivan Drach, a noted Ukrainian writer who was at the forefront of the Ukrainian literary revival initiated by the Shestydesiatnyky and the first leader of Rukh, the National Movement of Ukraine, died on June 19 at the age of 81. Sources in Kyiv said he passed away in Feofaniya Hospital, after a serious illness.
Ivan Drach was born on October 17, 1936, in Telizhentsi, Kyiv region. He began his creative work during the period of the Khrushchev Thaw. He made his debut in 1961, when his poem-tragedy “Knife in the Sun” was published in a Kyiv literary newspaper. He was a member of the Writers’ Union of Ukraine and worked on the editorial staffs of Literaturna Ukraina and Vitchyzna, as well as at Dovzhenko Film Studio.
He was known also as a scriptwriter, playwright and literary critic. His literary works, popular both in Ukraine and abroad, were translated into many languages of the world.
Mr. Drach was known for his activity in the Ukrainian dissident movement of the 1960s-1990s. As head of the Kyiv organization of the Writers’ Union of Ukraine, he was instrumental in forging the coalition that created the National Movement of Ukraine and was elected its first chairman in September 1989. From February 28 to December 4, 1992, he was co-chairman of Rukh with Vyacheslav Chornovil and Mykhailo Horyn.
He was elected as a national deputy of Ukraine in 1990 and again in 1998 and 2002, and became the head of the Ukrainian World Coordinating Council at its founding convention in 1992.
Mr. Drach was recognized as a Hero of Ukraine in 2006 for his “selfless service to the Ukrainian people, which he performed through poetry, standing for the ideas of freedom and democracy.” He was also a laureate of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize.
In keeping with his last wishes, Mr. Drach was buried in his native village, next to the grave of his son, Maksym. Surviving are his wife, Mariya, and daughter, Maryana, a journalist for the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Many Ukrainian politicians, including President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, came to bid him farewell at St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Kyiv.
“Today is a very hard day. Ukraine bids farewell to its great son Ivan Drach, …a thinker, philosopher, poet, soul of our people, …the first chairman of the Narodnyi Rukh political force that created our independence,” Mr. Poroshenko said after the ceremony.