«...Найчесніший та найшляхетніший українець, що носив лише німецьке прізвище...»: до 150-річчя барона Федора фон Штейнлеля

Abstract

The article deals with the main periods of biography and activity of Baron Fedir von Schteingel whose life and work was closely connected with Volyn region. \nFedir (Theodore Rudolf) von Schteingel was born on November 26, 1870 in Saint Petersburg into the family of Baltic German engineer and railroad builder Rudolf von Schteingel. \nFedir’s father bought an estate in the village of Horodok not far from Rivne in Volyn province in1879. Fedir Schteingel spent most of his life there. He was interested in the history of Volyn from his student years. \nOne of Schteingel’s activities was the research in the field of natural sciences. He was a member of several scientific societies. F. Schteingel and famous Ukrainian archeologist M. Bilyashivsky founded the first countryside historical museum in Ukraine in 1896. There were five sections with unique collections of exhibits, books, manuscripts and folklore materials there. \nFedir Schteingel was engaged in charity work during all his life. He built and supported the two-grade vocational school in Horodok in which education was free of charge. He built a hospital with free treatment, a reading room, a mill, a bathhouse and supported a village fire brigade. Baron helped those who lost their possessions in a fire, paid pensions to invalids and poor people. He also provided financial assistance in building churches, hospitals, and orphanages in Zhytomyr, Kyiv and Warsaw. \nFedir Schteingel was a famous public and political figure. He was a head and a member of governing bodies of different financial, legal, and educational institutions in Rivne and Kyiv for many years. He was a Head of Committee of South West Front of All-Russia Union of Cities in 1915-1917. He was elected Head of Executive Committee of Kyiv City Duma in March 1917. \n \nSchteingel began his political activity in 1906. He joined the Cadets Party and was elected Deputy of the First State Duma from Kyiv. He was a member of Cadets Party fraction and Ukrainian Duma community. He participated in masonic movement. \n \nHe had been taking part in Ukrainian public and political life since 1908. He worked in Ukrainian Central Rada and Presidium of All-Ukrainian National Congress in 1917. He left the Cadets Party in June 1917 and joined the Ukrainian Party of Socialists and Federalists. \nFedir Schteingel became the ambassador of Ukraine in Germany in 1918. He organized the first official visit of Hetman of Ukraine Pavlo Skoropadsky to Germany at the beginning of September 1918. \nFedir Schteingel came back to Volyn in 1924 and continued his charity work. He represented the interests of Volyn and Ukrainian peasants to Polish authorities. He and his family secretly immigrated to Germany in autumn 1939. He spent the rest of his life in Radeberg near Dresden. He died on February 11, 1946.