Samuel "Sholem" Schwarzbard was a Russian-French Yiddish poet. He served in the French and Soviet military, was a communist and anarchist, and is known for organising Jewish community defense against pogroms in pre-First World War era and Russian Civil War era Ukraine, and for the assassination of Ukrainian nationalist leader Symon Petliura in 1926. He wrote poetry in Yiddish under the pen name of Baal-Khaloymes.

Symon Vasyliovych Petliura was a Ukrainian politician and journalist. He was the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian People's Army (UNA) and led the Ukrainian People's Republic during the Ukrainian War of Independence, a part of the wider Russian Civil War.