Plaque to commemorate Khrystofor Baranovsky

The plaque commemorating prominent cooperative movement figure, financier, civic activist and statesman, the first minister of finance in the government of the UPR Khrystofor Baranovsky was unveiled in the village of Dzenzelivka, Mankivka raion, Cherkasy oblast, on July 27.

He lived in the village from 1897 to 1911, leading the local savings and loan association which was, quite probably, the most successful of its kind in the entire Russian Empire. Baranovsky was also behind Soiuzbank’s establishment, which served as the principal cooperative bank of Kyiv governorate until 1911, while the bank’s premises are housing a cultural center now. Furthermore, the association built a school complex in 1912, with four buildings for higher primary school, local government-funded lower primary school, principal’s mansion and teachers’ apartments. Symon Petliura proposed Baranovsky the just-created portfolio of Ukraine’s finance minister in 1917.

“Some researchers maintain that Baranovsky had just primary education. He had worked for a savings and loan association in Nemyrivtsi, then came here aged 22, but already qualified to be a chairman, and went on immediately to lead the local association,” The Day learned from Yurii Dudnyk, Dzenzelivka local history museum’s director and main driving force behind the plaque’s installation. According to Dudnyk, it was Oleksandr Chernenko who founded the local savings and loan association and invited Baranovsky to the village to lead the cooperative movement there. “We want to erect a monument to Chernenko next year, as he did a lot for our village,” Dudnyk remarked.

The plaque is now adorning the cultural center of the village. By the way, a public hearing held at the local history museum that followed the plaque’s unveiling brought to the village leading researchers. They discussed the formation and development of the cooperative movement in Ukraine.