The monument to Catherine the Great in Odesa, Ukraine.
Picture by Leonid Andronov
Campbell MacDiarmad
August 28 2022
In Odesa, a bronze statue gazes over the city’s famed Potemkin S teps toward the Black Sea, its chest ensconced in protective sandbags. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, citizens across the country rushed to shield their prized heritage from bombardment.
The monument to the Duc de Richelieu, a 19th-century governor who helped transform the port into a modern cosmopolitan city, was considered worth protecting. But 200 yards away, another monument — to Catherine the Great, the Russian empress who founded Odesa — provokes more ambivalence. A petition calling for its removal has received over 26,500 signatures.
In February, the threat to Odesa was existential, with the streets blockaded and the beaches mined against an anticipated invasion. For Vladimir Putin, Odesa’s Russian heritage made it a key target. Returning it to Russia would cut Ukraine off from the sea.
Six months on, the threat of invasion has receded and this summer the war in Odesa is cultural, being fought by Ukrainians who have turned against anything Russian.
Other Odesans see this cultural purge as threatening the soul and identity of Ukraine’s third largest city. Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov now finds himself in a delicate position. In a war which has turned much of Ukrainian society against everything Russian, his city must decide what links to the city’s Russian past are worth preserving.
Once the pride of the Russian empire, Odesa today is a vibrant cultural hub whose cobblestone streets are filled with baroque and rococo architecture, stylish bars and restaurants, and a world-renowned opera house.
Many of the fortifications installed in March to defend the city in the event of street fighting have been removed and life goes on with a semblance of normality. Municipal workers in blue overalls and yellow tops repair streets in which bollards and planters are painted in the colours of the Ukrainian flag.
The city’s one million inhabitants are mostly Russian speakers, who are proud of their Odesan accent and their city’s unique heritage.
Statues and street names celebrate Russian writers with links to Odesa, including Alexander Pushkin, who spent two years living in the city, and Ukrainian-born Nikolai Gogol, who wrote his classic Dead Souls while living here.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky referred the petition calling for the removal of the Catherine the Great statue to city authorities, who have formed a commission to consider the future of local landmarks honouring Russian figures.
“Personally, I don’t support a monument war at a time when our country is at war,” said Mr Trukhanov, arguing that, with emotions inflamed, any attempt to rewrite history could be polarising.
But he will put his own views to one side, he said, as the commission considers if monuments and sculptures should be moved from squares and streets to a monument park.
Peter Obukhov, a deputy in Odesa’s city parliament, has drawn up a list of statutes and street names he would want to remove as part of the city’s “derussification”.
A statue to 18th-century general Alexander Suvorov and the district named after him should go, he believes, as representing a symbol of Russian imperialism. But historical figures with a strong connection to Odesa should stay, including Pushkin and Gogol.
“Putin created this situation where Ukrainian society hates everything Russian so now we’re seeing these things in a new light,” Mr Trukhanov said, explaining how the public mood had soured on Odesa’s Russian heritage.
Since the Euromaidan uprising of 2014, Ukrainian language has emerged as the cornerstone of a national identity increasingly at odds with Russia, with the Ukrainian government introducing laws aimed at promoting its use.
Ukrainian is mandated as the language to be used in most aspects of public life, including schools, while new laws this year have restricted the availability of Russian books and music and required print outlets registered in the country to publish in Ukrainian.
Campbell MacDiarmad
August 28 2022
In Odesa, a bronze statue gazes over the city’s famed Potemkin S teps toward the Black Sea, its chest ensconced in protective sandbags. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, citizens across the country rushed to shield their prized heritage from bombardment.
The monument to the Duc de Richelieu, a 19th-century governor who helped transform the port into a modern cosmopolitan city, was considered worth protecting. But 200 yards away, another monument — to Catherine the Great, the Russian empress who founded Odesa — provokes more ambivalence. A petition calling for its removal has received over 26,500 signatures.
In February, the threat to Odesa was existential, with the streets blockaded and the beaches mined against an anticipated invasion. For Vladimir Putin, Odesa’s Russian heritage made it a key target. Returning it to Russia would cut Ukraine off from the sea.
Six months on, the threat of invasion has receded and this summer the war in Odesa is cultural, being fought by Ukrainians who have turned against anything Russian.
Other Odesans see this cultural purge as threatening the soul and identity of Ukraine’s third largest city. Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov now finds himself in a delicate position. In a war which has turned much of Ukrainian society against everything Russian, his city must decide what links to the city’s Russian past are worth preserving.
Once the pride of the Russian empire, Odesa today is a vibrant cultural hub whose cobblestone streets are filled with baroque and rococo architecture, stylish bars and restaurants, and a world-renowned opera house.
Many of the fortifications installed in March to defend the city in the event of street fighting have been removed and life goes on with a semblance of normality. Municipal workers in blue overalls and yellow tops repair streets in which bollards and planters are painted in the colours of the Ukrainian flag.
The city’s one million inhabitants are mostly Russian speakers, who are proud of their Odesan accent and their city’s unique heritage.
Statues and street names celebrate Russian writers with links to Odesa, including Alexander Pushkin, who spent two years living in the city, and Ukrainian-born Nikolai Gogol, who wrote his classic Dead Souls while living here.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky referred the petition calling for the removal of the Catherine the Great statue to city authorities, who have formed a commission to consider the future of local landmarks honouring Russian figures.
“Personally, I don’t support a monument war at a time when our country is at war,” said Mr Trukhanov, arguing that, with emotions inflamed, any attempt to rewrite history could be polarising.
But he will put his own views to one side, he said, as the commission considers if monuments and sculptures should be moved from squares and streets to a monument park.
Peter Obukhov, a deputy in Odesa’s city parliament, has drawn up a list of statutes and street names he would want to remove as part of the city’s “derussification”.
A statue to 18th-century general Alexander Suvorov and the district named after him should go, he believes, as representing a symbol of Russian imperialism. But historical figures with a strong connection to Odesa should stay, including Pushkin and Gogol.
“Putin created this situation where Ukrainian society hates everything Russian so now we’re seeing these things in a new light,” Mr Trukhanov said, explaining how the public mood had soured on Odesa’s Russian heritage.
Since the Euromaidan uprising of 2014, Ukrainian language has emerged as the cornerstone of a national identity increasingly at odds with Russia, with the Ukrainian government introducing laws aimed at promoting its use.
Ukrainian is mandated as the language to be used in most aspects of public life, including schools, while new laws this year have restricted the availability of Russian books and music and required print outlets registered in the country to publish in Ukrainian.
©Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2022
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