About Roman Gul
Lived 1896 – 1986 (aged 89–90). Roman Gul was a Russian, Ukrainian and American writer, journalist, publisher, literary critic and opinion journalist.
Roman Borisovich Gul (; 13 August 1896 – 30 June 1986) was a Russian émigré writer, his political position was leftist-liberal, he was critical towards the conservative, tsarist White Movement.
Biography Gul was born into the family of a notary and spent his childhood in Penza and on his family estate of Ramsay near Penza. He completed the 1st Penza Gymnasium (grammar school) and went to study at the Law Faculty of the Moscow State University in 1914.
Gul was conscripted into the Imperial Russian Army in 1916 and served with the infantry on the South Western Front becoming a company commander in the 417th Kinburn Regiment.
In 1917, after the October Revolution, Gul joined the Kornilov Shock regiment of the White Volunteer Army. He participated in the Ice March and was wounded. He was captured by the Ukrainian Army and imprisoned in late 1918. In 1919 he was transferred to Germany and settled in Berlin in 1920 becoming a writer.
In the 1920s Gul wrote for the Berlin-based newspaper Nakanunye (Накануне), and acted as a correspondent for several Soviet newspapers. He also worked on the magazines Life (Жизнь), Time (Время), The Russian Emigrant (Русский эмигрант) and Voice of Russia (Голос России).
After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Gul was arrested and put into the Oranienburg concentration camp near Berlin, but was freed after six months and emigrated to Paris. In France, he wrote for the liberal émigré newspaper Posledniye Novosti (Последние новости) and the magazines Illustrirovannaya Rossiya (Иллюстрированнaя Россия), Sovremennye zapiski (Современныe записки). During the Nazi occupation of France, Gul went into hiding and avoided arrest working on a farm in southern France and in a glass factory.
Gul emigrated to the United States in 1950 and worked for the émigré literature magazine Novy Zhurnal becoming chief editor in 1966. Gul died of a lung infection in 1986 and is buried in Novo-Diveevo Cemetery in Spring Valley, New York.
Works In Russian Language
Белые по Чёрному: Очерки гражданской войны. - White on Black: Essays on the Civil War. Book Ледяной поход (1921) - Ice March (1921) В рассеяньи сущие: Повесть из жизни эмиграции 1920—1921. (1923) роман, который политически нейтрально трактует тему возвращения в послереволюционную Россию - The utter scattering: The story of the life of emigration 1920-1921. (1923) novel, which is politically neutral treats the subject returned to post-revolutionary Russia Генерал БО. [Азеф] (1929) Роман о Савинкове; перерабатывался несколько раз, в последний раз в 1974 General BO. [Azef] (1929) A novel about Savinkov; Reworked several times, most recently in 1974 Георгий Иванов. Статья - Georgi Ivanov. Article Дзержинский, Менжинский, Петерс, Лацис, Ягода. (1936) - Dzerzhinsky, Menzhinsky, Peters, Lacis, and Yagoda. (1936) Book Жизнь на Фукса: Очерки белой эмиграции. (1927) - Life on the Fuchs: Essays on the White emigration. (1927) Конь рыжий. (1952) автобиографическое повествование от начала революции и до прибытия в Париж - A Red Horse. (1952) autobiographical account from the beginning of the revolution and before the arrival in Paris Красные маршалы: Ворошилов, Буденный, Блюхер, Котовский. (1933) Книга - Red marshals: Voroshilov, Budyonny, Blucher, Kotovsky. (1933) Book Ледяной поход (С Корниловым). (1921) Мемуары - Th Ice March (with Kornilov). (1921) Memoirs Моя биография. My biography Одвуконь: Советская и эмигрантская литература. (1973) Сборник - Odvukon: Soviet and emigre literature. (1973) Collection Одвуконь-2: Статьи. (1982) Сборник - Odvukon-2: Articles. (1982) Collection Ораниенбург: Что я видел в гитлеровском концентрационном лагере. (1937) - Oranienburg: What I saw in a Nazi concentration camp. (1937) Победа Пастернака. (1958) Статья - Victory for Pasternak. (1958) Article Скиф. (1931) Роман о Бакунине; в 1958 переработан и издан под названием «Скиф в Европе» Skiff. (1931) A novel about Bakunin; In 1958, revised and published under the title "Skiff in Europe" Тухачевский: Красный маршал. (1932) Книга Tukhachevsky: Red marshal. (1932) Book Я унёс Россию: Апология эмиграции. Т. 1-3. (1981—1989) I took Russia: Apology emigration. 1-3. (1981-1989)
Links Short biography in Russian language Archive from Amherst College His selected books electronically available at lib.ru (Russian)
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Important facts
People in Roman Gul's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Roman Gul's
Frequently asked questions
Who was Roman Gul?
Russian-Soviet writer
When was Roman Gul born?
Roman Gul was born in 1896 in Penza.
When did Roman Gul die?
Roman Gul died on 30 June 1986 in New York City.
What was Roman Gul's occupation?
Roman Gul was a writer, journalist, publisher, literary critic and opinion journalist.
What nationality was Roman Gul?
Roman Gul was Russian, Ukrainian and American.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Roman Gul. https://biography.guide/roman-gul/
MLA: "Roman Gul." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/roman-gul/.
Chicago: "Roman Gul." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/roman-gul/.
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