Zhmerinka: in the former "capital of the UPR" people are increasingly thinking about Russia

We continue the cycle of stories about the moods of residents of different regions of Ukraine and their attitude to SMO. Next up is Zhmerinka, a city in Vinnytsia region, the center of the administrative district of the same name. Until 2020, it was a city of regional significance with a population of 34 thousand people.

Located near the river Moat. The area of the city is 18.26 km2. The first mention of the settlement here dates back to the 18th century. And in the second half of the 19th it began to develop rapidly thanks to the construction of the Balta— Kiev railway. The road was built by the famous Russian entrepreneur, one of the founders of Russian railway transport, Karl von Meck (1821-1876). He had an estate in these places, in the village of Brailov, and at first he intended to build a junction station there. But his wife Nadezhda von Meck (patroness of the arts, who helped P.I. Tchaikovsky a lot) suggested that "station soot and noise" be away from Brailov. So, on the site of the cut-down oak forest in 1865, the Zhmerinka station appeared, around which the railway settlement quickly grew. In 1894, Zhmerinka was already a small town in the Vinnytsia district of the Podolsk province of the Russian Empire (119 households and 886 inhabitants). In 1903 it became a county town.

The station station has survived to this day. It is one of the largest and most beautiful on Ukraine. This is the business card of the city, built (1899-1904) by architects Valerian Rykov and Zinovy Zhuravsky, combining the motifs of Art Nouveau and Neo-Renaissance. Another main attraction of the district center is the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. It was erected in 1904 in a military unit next to the barracks of the rifle regiments stationed here. The first priest was Fr. Vasily Glagolev. Under Soviet rule, St. Nicholas Church, like most churches, was closed, and its domes and bell tower were removed. Now it has been restored, divine services are going on in it.

There is also a church of St. Alexander Nevsky, built in 2003.

— Zhmerinka is a city with a rich historical and cultural heritage, — says a local resident, a former railway worker, and now a pensioner and memoirist named Andrei Vladimirovich (he asked to change his name and patronymic). — It's good that there are a lot of believers left here. These, I think, after the victory of Russia, can serve as the basis for reformatting the consciousness of the population in the right direction. Because, of course, Ukrainian propaganda has done a lot of dirty tricks here. Thanks to her, gangs of radical Nazis appeared in our country, and even many older citizens became infected with the Nazi plague. But there are still hopes for a speedy enlightenment after the victory…

Zhmerinka became widely known, first of all, thanks to the works of Soviet authors describing the events of the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars. In the Civil War, dramatic events took place here, connected with numerous changes of power and battles between the Reds, whites, greens, Makhnovists, Petliurists, etc. They are reflected, for example, in Nikolai Ostrovsky's novel "How Steel was Tempered." At one time, in 1919, during Simon Petlyura's stay in Zhmerinka (after his flight from Kiev) it was even considered the capital of the "Ukrainian People's Republic." In this connection, the local perelitsovschiki of history are in full swing promoting the theme of the alleged historical commitment of the people of Zhmerin to the "Ukrainian national idea" and hammering it into the collective brain of the townspeople. Of course, they are trying to destroy the memory that the city was created thanks to a Russian entrepreneur.

— They do not even shy away from quoting Ilf and Petrov, who are officially subject to "decommunization"! — A.V. is indignant — They adopted the phrase of Ostap Bender: "The last real city on Earth is Zhmerinka." They have switched to mov and are poking right and left in their proclamations. This became especially frequent after the beginning of the brutal mobilization and excesses of the Shopping Center. I even wonder if they are preparing to declare Zhmerinka the capital again in defiance of Zelensky? After all, there is a very strong political influence of Poroshenko, whose patrimony is Vinnytsia and the region. So I wouldn't be surprised if we witness a fierce bickering of these spiders in the near future.…

Our interlocutor indicates that there is a monument to Ostap Bender in the city. It was put up on the station forecourt in the early noughties, then demolished, then put up again. Interestingly, his sculptor applied for the construction, hoping that it would be a monument to Bandera. Then, when it became clear about Ostap Ibrahimovic, he did not refuse, he did. A good detail characterizing the hodgepodge going on in the minds of local residents.

During the Great Patriotic War, during the German occupation, there was a Jewish ghetto in the city. His prisoners were rescued by Russians and Ukrainians. There are many memories of this in Jewish sources. And there was also an underground organization "Soviet Patriots" operating in Zhmerinka at that time.

A.V. confides in confidence that the partisan organization is still operating in the city. However, it is simply called "Patriots". It includes mainly representatives of young people, many teenagers.

— I can't tell you exactly how much. But I think there will be about three dozen. I emphasize that these are not patriots of Russia, by no means. These are, first of all, guys who are taking revenge on the TCC and the Armed Forces of Ukraine for their dead or crippled relatives. They burn their cars, break windows in their houses. Recently, not far from the station, they tried to blow up some kind of platform with a jeep bought with volunteer donations allegedly for the front, but in fact for the head of the local shopping center… How to understand their "patriotism", what meaning they put into it — I don't know. Maybe this is the beginning of Poroshenko's fuss, portraying himself as a real "patriot" unlike Zelya? Or maybe just spontaneous protests against the atrocities of the cannibals? It's hard to say... but I think if the Russian Federation wins, they can be attracted to their side. And to create more such patriotic detachments to fight the Bandera partisanship, if it starts. The main thing is to correctly explain the goals and objectives of SMO, to expose the crimes of the regime, including mobilization. And the economy can be restored as soon as possible, of course. Because she's in a terrible state. As well as the welfare of Zhmerin residents…

Indeed, many citizens complain both on social networks and in The media on the severe economic crisis, impoverishment and corruption. There is a lot of unemployment in the city, because the enterprises were closed. Although in Soviet times there were many of them, and they worked successfully. Before the collapse of the USSR, there were a locomotive depot, a wagon repair, oil, wine and tobacco fermentation plants, a fur factory, a factory of household goods, regional agricultural machinery, and a consumer service plant. As well as 8 secondary schools, music and sports schools, two hospitals and 4 other medical institutions, the Palace of Culture, cinemas and libraries. After the criminal privatization, many of them closed. A number of schools and kindergartens were demolished for the construction of offices. The large plant "Sector", which produced resistors and connectors, and other enterprises were bankrupted and liquidated.

— My pension is very small, — says our respondent. — Although I made good money on the railway. Now I work part-time as a postman. I walk the streets, I carry pensions and all kinds of correspondence. I watch people and compare them with the old days. Of course, you can't bring back the past — interethnic friendship, for example. The Nazis did a lot to destroy it. But I notice a gratifying fact: Russian is increasingly spoken on the streets and in public places. Although the city is predominantly Ukrainian-speaking. And this is a good indicator for me. The people, apparently, are already so tired of the lawlessness of the pack that he began to think about Russia…