Kyiv resident Viktor Lytvyn and with love created a special accessory for the bath
In winter, many people enjoy visiting the bathhouse. The hot steam, high temperatures, and birch broom… they have a healing effect on the entire body.
The special accessory here is a birch or oak broom. Making one requires specific skills. But that's not all. At one point, fate brought me together with a Kyiv resident who insisted that this seemingly simple process must be done with passion. This man was well-versed in the craft. He created thousands of high-quality brooms for the bath. He often gifted them to his friends, regardless of whether they frequented the bath or not. Many knew that he had dozens, if not hundreds, of brooms of all kinds hanging in the attic of his summer house, and one could always purchase this "product" there.
Moreover, the host did not charge a high price; his main concern was ensuring the customer left satisfied. And it was true – the high quality of the birch brooms was so appreciated by bath-goers that they remembered the way to the master's summer house for a long time. Even well-known Kyiv residents – athletes, doctors, and business leaders – placed orders here. I know that the former head of "Kyivmiskbud," Hero of Ukraine Volodymyr Polyachenko, praised these birch brooms.
It's time to name this master – Viktor Hryhorovych Lytvyn. Back in the Soviet Union, he worked as a coach in the sports society "Dynamo," engaged in athletics, and enjoyed biathlon and skiing. After retiring, he found a job at the state fish inspection. He was assigned an important area where poaching flourished – near the Kyiv HPP dam, on a local peninsula.
Right there, in the embrace of nature, Viktor Hryhorovych concurrently honed his hobby – making birch brooms.
Over the years, he polished this craft down to the smallest details, down to the finest nuances. Ultimately, he would say that everything in this work is important.
At the beginning of June, he usually started harvesting material for the brooms (the best time for this). He did not want to miss the moment when the leaves unfurl, strengthen, and become filled with sap and aroma. He chose birches with beautiful young leaves that had reached a certain size while maintaining good elasticity. To find the right trees, he sometimes walked many kilometers through forested areas, as far away from noisy roads as possible. He claimed that the ideal time was in the morning after the dew had dried. He selected two-year-old branches growing close to the ground, measuring between 50 and 60 centimeters.
He would go out to gather materials on warm, sunny days. He would bring a bundle of twigs home from the forest and begin the next stage of work. He laid them out, aligning them, so that leaf met leaf…
It was also very important for Viktor Hryhorovych to tie the broom correctly. He carefully selected the branches – which would go down and which would go up. After they wilted a bit, he gathered them into brooms. He added bunches of healing plants. For him, it was essential to choose the right string to tie the broom and to determine how to tie it, where exactly to hide the knot, and what it should look like. This way, the broom would be easy and pleasant to use, providing enjoyment during the bath.
He dried them in the attic of his summer house. Naturally, he followed all the rules to prevent moisture and mold from forming. The leaves had to remain green but matte, and most importantly, as Viktor Hryhorovych described, they had to have a pronounced aroma.
His entire attic was filled with birch and oak brooms. He harvested so many that there were enough for everyone who came to him. He took joy in this work. Some of his acquaintances jokingly said that Viktor Hryhorovych was an eccentric man because his main focus was the fish inspection and… the forested areas. He lived alone, was unmarried, and thus devoted himself fully to the work he also loved.
Many of his colleagues told me that Lytvyn was a very principled, uncompromising fish inspector, especially when it came to notorious poachers. He created a public ecological patrol that operated in his inspection area (students from Kyiv institutes assisted in the work).
The leadership of the Ukrainian fish protection agency in the mid-1990s did not appreciate Lytvyn's excessive principles, as he sometimes compiled reports for violations of fishing regulations against certain prosecutor's office employees and officials from high offices. Consequently, Lytvyn was periodically summoned "to the carpet" by the leadership to explain his responses to "complaints" from violators. However, those most dissatisfied with the fish inspector's activities were those engaged in mass poaching – representatives of the criminal underworld who illegally fished on a large scale, as well as traders with dubious pasts who had criminal records.
They knew that fish inspector Lytvyn patrolled his section of the Dnipro both day and night, in any weather. He "fished out" kilometers of poaching nets from the water, compiled reports, and sent them to court.
One night, wrongdoers set fire to the barge on the Dnipro where Lytvyn's inspection team was based. The building was completely destroyed. A criminal case was initiated, but the culprits were never found.
Viktor Hryhorovych often received phone threats, with people "advising" him to live quietly in retirement. But he ignored those calls.
Then there was another warning – they set fire to the door of his apartment in Obolon. The arsonists were also never found.
Do you think this stopped the principled fish inspector? Someone else might have backed down, thinking about how long one could fight, especially if it threatened their life. But this was not in Viktor Hryhorovych's character. He stubbornly continued on his fish inspection path even under the intense pressure from the leadership. Because who likes subordinates that are so principled, always having their own opinions and constantly pointing to the law?! Over time, Lytvyn was reassigned to another area of work within the reorganization, where the poaching problem was not as severe on the Dnipro.
He did not refuse to work there, although he argued that this structure's activities had long needed significant changes. Meanwhile, he did not abandon his beloved activity – creating birch brooms for the bath.
Eventually, he had to leave his long-standing fish inspection work. He told me he missed it… But he found solace in the forest and birch brooms. Some time ago, he called me, saying that his health was declining with age. Then he changed his phone number, although his acquaintances said that Viktor Hryhorovych sold his summer house.
Leonid FROSEVYCH