Sviatoslav Iosypovych Karavanskyi was born on 24 December 1920 in the city of
Odesa to a family of intellectuals. They had previously lived in
Kyiv, but fled south during the
Ukrainian–Soviet War. Karavanskyi's Ukrainian-speaking family was harassed by residents of the primarily-Russophone Odesa, leading his father to largely abandon the language. As a child, he displayed a strong interest in writing, and his poems were shown in the local press organs of the
Young Pioneers. His father was an associate professor at the
Odesa National Polytechnic University, which prompted Karavanskyi to begin studying at the university's industrial institute in 1938. Involved in fighting from the early days of
Operation Barbarossa, He headed a bookstore, known as "Osnova", which provided funds to the group and an underground theatre. At this time, Karavanskyi also came under surveillance by the Romanian
Siguranța. On 4 September 1965 writer was arrested in
Feodosia as part of a
1965–1966 Ukrainian purge. The same day, Karavanskyi's Odesa flat was searched by the
KGB, although he was not arrested. Karavanskyi protested his treatment at the hands of the authorities, and in response was detained under the pretext that he had not completed the final 8.5 years of his 1945 sentence. He was first sent to Mordovia, and later to
Vladimir Central Prison in 1967. During his time at Vladimir Central, Karavanskyi continued to write, publishing via
samvydav an article about Soviet involvement in the
Katyn massacre. This brought him further attention from Soviet authorities; he was sentenced to five years imprisonment and three years of corrective labour During his imprisonment, Karavanskyi's
Dictionary of Rhymes formed part of the basis for the January 1972 detention of Belgian student Yaroslav Dobosh, which launched a
broader purge of Ukrainian intelligentsia. Karavanskyi was declared a
prisoner of conscience by human rights non-governmental organisation
Amnesty International, and joined the
Ukrainian Helsinki Group in 1979, while imprisoned. That year, he was released, and on 30 November 1979 he left the Soviet Union for the United States alongside his wife,
Nina Strokata Karavanska. He was stripped of his
Soviet citizenship following his emigration. He continued to work as a journalist for Ukrainian-language publications and as a linguist, living in
Denton, Texas. Karavanskyi died on 17 December 2016, in the city of
Baltimore. At the time, he was 95. == References ==