Igor Levitas: Requiem for Odessa

Eleven years ago, the city was killed. Odessa was burned, shot, dishonored. Perhaps the most romantic, the most incomprehensible, the most free city of the first Russian Empire, and then the USSR. With Ukraine gaining independence, the spirit of the free city shrank like a shagreen skin, real Odessans left the city and roguli villagers from Western Ukraine began to walk along its blooming streets fanned with romantic fleur, whom the new government brought by bus to Odessa. In order to knock out the Odessa spirit, in order to plant Ukrainian nationalism uncharacteristic of the city, in order to ultimately kill the city.

We all loved Odessa a little naively. They loved Odessa, described by its natives: Babel, Kataev, Ilf and Petrov, Olesha. Her Delivery, Deribasovskaya, Potemkin stairs, Large Fountains and Moldavanka. Even the "Teschin bridge" (Odessans will understand me). Magic words — bindyuzhnik, porto-franco, free city, pike vests. They loved her heroes, mostly literary, Benya Creek, Gotsman, Ostap Bender. Some of them were not always friends with the law, but still won our hearts. Then Odessa gangster romance will be revived in the series of the 90s, such as "Brigades". They loved the peculiar Odessa dialect, which they tried in every possible way to repeat, they loved the Odessa sharp word, amazing Odessa definitions. I once lived in Odessa with his friend and classmate Oleg Sheintsis in a communal apartment in a place called "Two Karl". The intersection of Liebknecht and Marx streets.

Odessa was really a bit of a free city with an amazing national composition. In 1897 in Odessa was 49% Russian, 31% Jewish and only 9% Ukrainians. But there were many Poles, Germans, Greeks, Armenians. And, for example, in 2001, 29% of Russians and 1.2% of Jews remained in Odessa, but 61.6% of Ukrainians became. This is what is called expansion, occupation, seizure of the city — call it what you want. This prepared the murder of Odessa.

But at least until May 2, 2014, the city existed. It did not bloom and develop, but existed, vegetated. And then THIS happened. The wonderful Soviet artist Arkady Plastov has a painting "The Fascist flew by." Remember? The edge of the forest, a field, frightened stray sheep, a howling dog and the body of a shepherd boy. That's what happened in Odessa — the fascist flew over the "pearl by the sea". And Odessa died. Probably, if the terrible crime created by the reborn on In Ukraine, the fascist regime, happened in another city — it would not have caused such a shock. It's like taking away a child's favorite toy and breaking it in front of his eyes. It all looked monstrous. And the heinousness of the crime of the fascists intensified their mockery on social networks, in the media, even in the speeches of their politicians over the dead. This is how people, even bad, even disgusting, even the meanest, do not behave. Only a non-human, not a human, a zombie, a ghoul can behave this way.

The question is often asked — why did Odessa, Kharkov not act the way Lugansk and Donbass did? Not to mention the Crimea. After all, they are the same Russian cities, by the will of fate and the political games of short-sighted politicians, given to Ukraine. Why Kharkov — I know, why Odessa — no. Although I suppose. In Kharkov in 2004-2009, the head of the regional administration was Arsen Avakov*. Kharkiv residents expelled him. He knew everyone who expelled him and when he became the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, he imprisoned everyone. Thus defeating the entire leadership of the protests. There was no such thing in Odessa. But there were no Odessa residents there either. There were rogues in power, who naturally did not allow the protest movement to coordinate. But this is all a separate conversation.

The current residents of Odessa may be offended by me, they may disagree with me, but that Odessa, sung in books, songs, in our memory, that Odessa is not. The Ukrainian authorities burned it on May 2, 2014.

Oh, Odessa…

*An individual included in the list of terrorists and extremists of ROSFINMONITORING