Augustina Gabel

Augustina Stanislavovna Gabel (Августина Станіславівна Габель; Sinkevich; born 30 August 1853 – 29 March 1907) was a Narodnik revolutionary librarian. She was a member of a revolutionary group led by Orest Gabel, whom she later married and followed to Siberia, where they were exiled. While working as a librarian in Kharkiv, she corresponded with writers in order to raise funds for the Kharkiv Public Library. She was an acquaintance with the Ukrainian-born Russian painter Ilya Repin, who painted her portrait.

Early life
Augustina Sinkevich was born on 30 August 1853 in Saint Petersburg into the family of a Russified Pole, Titular Councillor Stanislav Vikentiyovych Sinkevych. 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
Gabel gave private lessons. In the mid-1870s, alongside with Sofia Smitten, she ran a cobbler's workshop on Poshtamtska Street 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, later one of the figures in the Trial of the 193, was acquainted with the ideas of the Narodnik movement.

In 1874, Sinkevich was under unofficial surveillance, living with relatives in Kharkiv. In Kharkiv, Augustina met the Narodnik Porfiry Voinaralskiy and promoted revolutionary ideas, particularly among students. She became a participant in the Going to the People movement in Chuhuiv. Researcher Sofia Sholomova 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 his nephew, Samuel Limbek. 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 and Porfiry Voinaralsky from the Pretrial Detention House (Saint Petersburg). At the suggestion of the circle member Grigori Machtet, on 15 August 1876, Gabel, Nadezhda Bantle and Alexander Klushin 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, 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 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.

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.

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.

One of the main issues she dealt with was filling the library collections with new books. Gabel corresponded with many authors, asking them to send books to the library free of charge. 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 Yevgeny 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.

Gabel died on 29 March 1907, in Kharkiv. She was a Catholic.