# The murder of Leontovych: who shot the author of Shchedryk

> Mykola Leontovych, author of the worldwide 'Shchedryk' (Carol of the Bells), was shot in 1921 by a Cheka agent. The Soviet authorities concealed the murder, blaming it on 'bandits' and 'Petliurites.'

Canonical: https://holospravdy.com/en/leontovych-murder
Period: mizhvoyenniy | Type: spoke | Updated: 2026-06-18

**TL;DR.** Every Christmas, the world sings "Carol of the Bells." Few know that it is an arrangement of the Ukrainian **"Shchedryk"** by Mykola Leontovych — and that the composer himself was shot in 1921 by a **Cheka agent** in his father's house. For decades the Soviet authorities concealed the murder, blaming it on "bandits" and "Petliurites."

## The composer the world sings

Mykola Leontovych was an outstanding Ukrainian composer, author of **"Shchedryk."** His arrangement of an old Ukrainian carol traveled the world as the Christmas "**Carol of the Bells**" and resounds every year "from every television, radio, and corner of the internet"[1]. Ironically, the world knows the author's name far less well than the melody.

## The Markivka tragedy

On the night of **23 January 1921**, Leontovych was staying at his father's house in the village of **Markivka** in Podillia. The historian Larysa Semenko reconstructed the circumstances of the "Markivka tragedy" from two rare documents — the notes of **Hnat Yastrubetskyi**, the composer's friend, whom the committee to honor his memory sent to gather testimony while the trail was still fresh, and the **diary of Stepan Vasylchenko**[2]. The killer asked to spend the night, passing himself off as a Chekist fighting banditry — and in the morning he robbed the house and shot the composer.

## Whose agent was it

The first person to **openly name the killer as a Bolshevik agent-Chekist** was Telezhynskyi — an acquaintance of Leontovych who published a memorial pamphlet abroad[3]. Later research confirmed this: the killer was the Cheka agent **Afanasii Hryshchenko**, and the text of the report bearing his name was made public only in the 1990s.

## How the truth was concealed

The Soviet authorities did everything to hide their trail. They called the killer anything at all — a "**Petliurite**," a "Denikinite," a "nationalist," or simply a "bandit" — but **never once a Chekist**. The first report in the newspaper Izvestia claimed that Leontovych "died at the hands of a bandit"[4].

The very "muteness" of the archives is telling: in the reports of the Haisyn Cheka for January–February, which note down absolutely everything — even how much liquor was drunk and who fired a revolver — there is **not a single word** about the murder of the famous composer. Meanwhile, the police officers who searched for the killer Hryshchenko anyway were later subjected to repression[5].

## What this means

The murder of Leontovych is a beginning. Already at the dawn of Soviet rule (1921), the system was destroying Ukrainian culture through its creators, and then **concealing** its handwriting by shifting the blame onto the victims — "Petliurites" and "nationalists." This is the very model that would later produce the [Executed Renaissance](/en/executed-renaissance) and the [Holodomor](/en/holodomor-man-made-famine): first the bullet or the famine, then the lie about who was to blame. The "quiet genius" whose carol is sung by the whole world died from the bullet of an empire that to this day pretends it had nothing to do with it.

## Citation sources

[1] summary: «Микола Леонтович — видатний український композитор, автор «Щедрика», який в обробці звучить у всьому світі як різдвяна «Carol of the Bells».» — Historian Every Saturday: Larysa Semenko. Our Quiet Genius Leontovych (21.12.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs1Y70DEOYM (timecodes: 1:18, 1:25)

[2] summary: «Обставини «марківської трагедії» — вбивства Леонтовича — історикиня Лариса Семенко відновила за записами Гната Яструбецького, друга композитора, якого комітет ушанування його пам'яті послав збирати свідчення по гарячих слідах, і за щоденником Степана Васильченка.» — Historian Every Saturday: Larysa Semenko. Our Quiet Genius Leontovych (21.12.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs1Y70DEOYM (timecodes: 7:57)

[3] summary: «Першим, хто відкрито назвав убивцю більшовицьким агентом-чекістом, був Тележинський — знайомий композитора, який видав за кордоном брошуру пам'яті Леонтовича.» — Historian Every Saturday: Larysa Semenko. Our Quiet Genius Leontovych (21.12.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs1Y70DEOYM (timecodes: 26:33, 26:37)

[4] summary: «Радянська влада натомість називала вбивцю ким завгодно — «петлюрівцем», «денікінцем», «націоналістом» чи просто «бандитом», — але жодного разу чекістом. Перше повідомлення в газеті «Известия» твердило, що Леонтович «загинув від рук бандита».» — Historian Every Saturday: Larysa Semenko. Our Quiet Genius Leontovych (21.12.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs1Y70DEOYM (timecodes: 26:48, 26:51, 27:26)

[5] summary: «У звітах Гайсинської ЧК за січень–лютий, де детально занотовано все — навіть скільки випито спиртних напоїв і хто стріляв із револьвера, — про вбивство Леонтовича немає жодного слова. Натомість міліціонерів, які розшукували вбивцю Грищенка, згодом репресували.» — Historian Every Saturday: Larysa Semenko. Our Quiet Genius Leontovych (21.12.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs1Y70DEOYM (timecodes: 34:51, 36:21, 36:27)