# Augustina Gabel

Augustina Stanislavovna Gabel (Ukrainian: Августина Станіславівна Габель, romanized: Augustyna Stanislavivna Habel; née Sinkevich; born 30 August 1853 – 29 March 1907) was a librarian and revolutionary from the Russian Empire. Orphaned at an early age, she was raised by her older sister and her husband. After receiving her education, she became involved in revolutionary activities, joining the Narodnik movement, which aimed to promote socialist ideas among the Russian peasantry.
She later became a member a revolutionary group led by Orest Gabel, whom she later married. She participated in efforts to support the movement, including planning the escape of imprisoned comrades. She was arrested in 1876 and spent several months in prison, where she gave birth to her first child. After her release, she voluntarily went into exile in Siberia with her husband. The couple had five children during their time in exile and later moved to Kharkiv, where she became active in the cultural life of the city.
She worked at the Kharkiv Public Library from 1893 to 1903. As organiser of one of its branches, corresponded with writers in order to raise funds and acquire books for the library.
Augustina Gabel died on March 29, 1907, in Kharkiv, modern-day Ukraine.

## Biography
### Early life

Augustina Sinkevich was born on 30 August 1853 in Saint Petersburg into the family of a Russified Pole, Titular Councillor [ru] Stanislav Vikentiyovych Sinkevych. Her family was a Catholic. At an early age, she was orphaned and raised in the family of her older sister Elena and her husband, a dentist, Samuel Linbek. She received her primary education at the Vasileostrovsky Girls' Gymnasium, from which she graduated in 1869.

### Revolutionary activities and exile

Augustina Gabel gave private lessons. In the mid-1870s, she ran a cobbler's workshop on Poshtamtska Street [ru] with Sofia Smitten, based on co-operative principles. Meetings were held in the workshop, at which Mikhail Ovchinnikov spread revolutionary propaganda. It was here that the Finnish-born Johannes Pelkonen [fi], later one of the figures in the Trial of the 193, was acquainted with the ideas of the Narodnik movement, which aimed to promote socialist ideas among the Russian peasantry.
In 1874, Sinkevich was under unofficial surveillance, living with relatives in Kharkiv. In Kharkiv, Augustina met the Narodnik Porfiry Voinaralskiy [uk] and promoted revolutionary ideas, particularly among students. She became a participant in the Going to the People movement in Chuhuiv. Researcher Sofia Sholomova [uk] suggested that Augustina provided financial assistance to people in Chuhuiv, including the artist Ilya Repin, whom she had known since childhood.
Upon returning to the capital, she met the student Orest Gabel. He often visited her home as a tutor for Samuel Limbek's nephew. Having bonded over their Narodnik worldview, Augustina Sinkevich and Orest Gabel got married in 1875. In the same year, they set off to Bosnia and Herzegovina to participate in the anti-Ottoman uprising, but they did not stay there for long.
In Saint Petersburg, Augustina Gabel joined the Narodnik circle organised by her husband, whose members were preparing the escape of Narodniks Sergei Kovalik [ru] and Porfiry Voinaralsky from the pre-trial detention centre in the city [ru]. At the suggestion of the circle member Grigori Machtet, on 15 August 1876, Gabel, Nadezhda Bantle and Alexander Klushin [ru] took compromising materials from the apartment of the recently arrested Yevhenia Bartoshevich. That day, Augustina was searched and arrested. From 25 September to 2 October 1876, she was in the Petropavlovsk Fortress prison, and then in the hospital of the Lithuanian Castle [ru], a prison castle in Saint Petersburg. There, in December, she gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Ludmila. Augustina was interrogated on charges of "having relations with those held in the pre-trial detention centre with a view to their release". She spent a total of four and a half months in custody. Augustina Gabel's case was closed administratively by the Supreme Command [ru] on 2 October 1877. The period of her imprisonment took into account her previous detention. Gabel was placed under police supervision.
In mid-June 1878, she voluntarily went into exile with her husband to Eastern Siberia, having previously obtained permission from Alexander Timashev, the Minister of the Interior. She lived with her husband in Balagansk in the Irkutsk Governorate, managing the household. During their exile, three daughters were born to the couple: Elena, Valeria, and Maria. On 3 May 1882, Augustina Gabel was released from police supervision by the decision of the Special Council.
Ukrainian historian Olga Nikolayenko pointed out the similarity of the figures of Augustyna Gabel and another Polish woman, Valeria Bilokonska, head of the Kharkiv branch of the Society for Mutual Aid of Working Women [uk]. Imprisonment and long-term exile became an important stage in the lives of both women and influenced the formation of their personalities. The challenges they experienced tempered their character and will, and encouraged them to find their calling. An important factor that helped women overcome all the trials of the difficult conditions of exile, according to the researcher, was the presence of faithful husbands who loved them and thanks to which the wives could focus on family life.

### Librarian work

At the end of Orest Gabel's exile, he and Augustina left Siberia and arrived in Kharkiv in August 1887, where the couple were placed under secret surveillance. During their time in Kharkiv, the couple had two additional children, Yuri and Margarita. Augustina actively engaged in the cultural life of the city, and alongside her husband, contributed to the initiatives of the Kharkiv Society for the Promotion of Literacy among the People [uk].
In 1890, she became a member of the Kharkiv Public Library and from 1893 to 1903, she worked in the library. She attended library members' meetings, worked at the circulation desk, and assisted readers in selecting books. When the question arose about the creation of library branches in industrial areas, Gabel was a member of the organising committee and actively participated in the opening of the first and second branches, including collecting donations. After the creation of the Branch Committee, which was responsible for the operation of the library branches, Gabel was elected its member, in which capacity she corresponded to various writers with the intention of including their books in the library collections. Among her correspondents were the writers Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy. Her letter to Chekhov, sent in 1902, has been preserved and was included the catalogue of Evgeny Leitnecker. Researcher Sofia Sholomova indicated that there were many books by Chekhov in the catalog of the first branch office, and perhaps some of them were sent by the author in response to Augustina's letter. Also in 1906, the library filed a petition to name the branch "Chekhovsky".
Gabel died on 29 March 1907, in Kharkiv.

## Portrait

In her youth, she communicated with the artist Ilya Repin, whom she likely met at one of the student gatherings. The aspiring artist, then still a student at the Imperial Academy of Arts, sketched Augustina at the age of fifteen during a literary evening on April 21, 1869. The pencil sketch was preserved in the Gabel family for a long time until Margarita, Augustina's daughter, donated it to the Kharkiv Art Museum. The drawing was first published by art historian Maryana Chernova in the magazine "Ukraine" in 1981. It was first exhibited in the museum in 2019 as part of an exhibition marking the 175th anniversary of Ilya Repin's birth.
The drawing depicts a young girl dressed in a gown with a cape, emphasizing her slender figure, sloping shoulders, and graceful neck. Her voluminous hair is tied with a light ribbon, which contrasts with her face's delicate features. Art historian Maryana Chernova noted that Augustina appears anxious in the portrait, as if she had only briefly and tensely seated herself on the chair. Her crossed arms attempt to restrain inner emotions, while her gaze remains focused and contemplative. According to the researcher, Repin “managed to subordinate the character of the drawing to its meaning, capturing the psychological state of the subject.” The publication “Ilya Repin and Kharkiv Region” noted that the portrait of Augustina exhibits characteristics typical of Repin's early graphics, including a certain stiffness and dryness in the drawing. This style bears a resemblance to another work by the artist — the portrait of Olga Chaplygina.

## Family

Augustina Gabel married Orest Martynovych Gabel (1849–1915), a revolutionary, political and public figure, a member of the board of the Kharkiv Public Library and the Kharkiv Literacy Society. The couple had six children:
* Lyudmila Orestivna Gabel (1876–1967) was a librarian, an active participant in the revolutionary movement.
* Olena Orestivna Gabel (1879–?) was a librarian and chemist, the first female laboratory assistant in the Society of Physical and Chemical Sciences at Kharkiv University.
* Valeria Orestivna Hasselbrink (1881–1970) was a librarian, worked in the Kharkiv Public Library and its branch offices. In 1944–1949, she worked as the head of the district library of the Golyshmanovsky District of the Tyumen Oblast.
* Maria Orestivna Gabel-Yushchenko (1886–1923) was an active participant in the revolutionary movement. During Soviet times, she founded The Central Pedagogical Library in Kharkiv, which was later named after her.
* Yuriy Orestovych Gabel (1891–1949) was a Ukrainian chemist, Doctor of Chemical Sciences (1940), director of the Institute of Chemistry at Kharkiv University.
* Margarita Orestivna Gabel (1893–1981) was a Ukrainian literary and bibliographic scholar, candidate of philological sciences.
The fact that all the daughters of the Gabel couple "dedicated themselves to librarianship and bibliography", according to Olga Nikolayenko, testified to the significant status of books and reading in the family.