Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams

by King, Charles

  11. Zipperstein, Jews of Odessa, 56–64. My treatment of Jewish enlightenment and the role of the maskilim in the city’s history relies on Zipperstein’s pathbreaking work.

  12. Jesse, Notes of a Half-Pay, 1: 225.

  13. Hagemeister, Report on the Commerce of the Ports of New Russia, 74.

  14. Tarnopol, Notices historiques, 74.

  15. Guthrie, Tour, Performed in the Years 1795–6, 6.

  16. Herlihy, Odessa, 124.

  17. Guthrie, Through Russia, 1: 284.

  18. Hommaire de Hell, Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, 7; Wikoff, Reminiscences of an Idler, 231; Koch, Crimea and Odessa, 256; Oliphant, Russian Shores of the Black Sea, 234; Olenin, Vek, 9; Stephens, Incidents of Travel, 56.

  19. Jesse, Notes of a Half-Pay, 1: 211.

  20. Spencer, Turkey, Russia, the Black Sea, and Circassia, 242.

  21. “Le duc de Richelieu à M-r Sicard,” SIRIO 54 (1886): 537.

  22. Puryear, “Odessa: Its Rise and International Importance, 1815–50,” 195–96.

  23. Harvey, “Development of Russian Commerce,” 101.

  24. John Ralli to State, Apr. 1, 1845, Jan. 1, 1848, and Jan. 1. 1849, NARA, M459, Roll 1.

  25. Puryear, “Odessa: Its Rise and International Importance, 1815–50,” 206–7; John Ralli to State, Jan. 1, 1849, NARA, M459, Roll 1.

  26. Harvey, “Development of Russian Commerce,” 104.

  27. Jesse, Notes of a Half-Pay, 1: 177.

  28. Gadsby, Trip to Sebastopol, 37.

  29. Brooks, Russians of the South, 21.

  30. Jesse, Notes of a Half-Pay, 1: 204.

  31. Vsevolozhskii, Puteshestvie cherez iuzhnuiu Rossiiu, 1: 100.

  32. Smol’ianinov, Istoriia Odessy, 101.

  33. Herlihy, “Odessa: Staple Trade,” 189–91.

  34. Vorontsov, “Mémoires du prince M. Woronzow, 1819–1833,” 101.

  35. Castelnau, Essai sur l’histoire ancienne, 3: 36.

  36. Lyall, Travels in Russia, 1: 169.

  37. Herlihy, Odessa, 237.

  38. Anderson, Naval Wars, 577–80.

  39. John Ralli to State, Mar. 1, 1854, and Apr. 1, 1854, NARA, M459, Roll 1.

  40. John Ralli to State, Oct. 18, 1855, NARA, M459, Roll 1.

  41. Gadsby, Trip to Sebastopol, 61; Cunynghame, Travels in the Eastern Caucasus, 87. One of the Tiger guns can still be seen near the Pushkin statue on Primorsky Boulevard, while the base of the Richelieu statue contains a cannonball allegedly fired during the Allied bombardment.

  42. John Ralli to State, Apr. 4 and 7, 1856, NARA, M459, Roll 1.

  43. Gadsby, Trip to Sebastopol, 61.

  44. Harvey, “Development of Russian Commerce,” 147.

  45. Harvey, “Development of Russian Commerce,” 185.

  46. I am grateful to Patricia Herlihy, whose research published in her Odessa and elsewhere established Odessa’s relative economic decline after Crimean War.

  47. Stephen Ralli to State, Dec. 28, 1859/Jan. 9, 1860, NARA, M459, Roll 2.

  48. Fal’kner, Samoubiistva v Odesse, 8–10, 16, 22.

  49. Shuvalov, “Predany vechnomu zabven’iu,” 7–10.

  50. Kohl, Russia, 419.

  Chapter 6: SCHEMES AND SHADOWS

  1. Trotsky, My Life, 48.

  2. Trotsky, My Life, 58, 95.

  3. Trotsky, My Life, 72.

  4. See Adler, Life on the Stage.

  5. Castelnau, Essai sur l’histoire ancienne, 3: 28.

  6. Langeron, “Soobrazheniia gr. Lanzherona o neobkhodimosti obshirnyia prostranstva generalgubernatorstv: Pis’mo grafa Lanzherona k imperatoru Nikolaiu I,” Russkaia starina (Jan.–March 1904), 228, quoted in Tanny, “City of Rogues and Schnorrers,” 122.

  7. Skinner, “Odessa and the Problem of Urban Modernization,” in Hamm, ed., City in Late Imperial Russia, 209.

  8. Hommaire de Hell, Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, 6.

  9. Mendele Moykher-Sforim, “Fishke the Lame,” in Selected Works of Mendele Moykher-Sforim, 292.

  10. Jesse, Notes of a Half-Pay, 1: 208.

  11. Cunynghame, Travels in the Eastern Caucasus, 86.

  12. Hommaire de Hell, Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, 6; Scott, Baltic, 336; Stephens, Incidents of Travel, 56.

  13. Heenan to State, May 7, Sept. 2, and Nov. 16, 1896, NARA, M459, Roll 6. In his dispatch, the consul may have intended the term “costume” to mean simply “suit,” but the implication is that Whirlwind/Hampa needed a particular set of clothes in order to continue his profession.

  14. Skinner, “Odessa and the Problem of Urban Modernization,” in Hamm, ed., City in Late Imperial Russia, 212.

  15. Skinner, “Odessa and the Problem of Urban Modernization,” in Hamm, ed., City in Late Imperial Russia, 211.

  16. Odesskii listok, Aug. 18 (31), 1899.

  17. Odesskii listok, Aug. 28 (Sept. 9), 1899.

  18. Sylvester, Tales of Old Odessa, 55.

  19. Odesskii listok, June 25 (July 7), 1895.

  20. See Sylvester, Tales of Old Odessa, chaps. 4–5. I am grateful to Sylvester’s work on the relationship between middle-class values and sensational crime.

  21. Odesskii listok, Sept. 26 (Oct. 8), 1894.

  22. Odesskii listok, Oct. 7 (19), 1894.

  23. Jabotinsky, “Memoirs by My Typewriter,” in Dawidowicz, ed., Golden Tradition, 398.

  24. Kokhanskii, Odessa za 100 let, 41–46.

  25. Babel, “The End of the Almshouse,” in Complete Works of Isaac Babel, 179.

  26. Pallas, Travels through the Southern Provinces, 1: 489.

  27. My account of the Odessa quarantine experience is based on Stephens, Incidents of Travel, 53–55; Oliphant, Russian Shores of the Black Sea, 230; Hommaire de Hell, Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, 3–5; and Slade, Records of Travels, 1: 252.

  28. Hommaire de Hell, Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, 5.

  29. Gadsby, Trip to Sebastopol, 26.

  30. Brooks, Russians of the South, 33; Oliphant, Russian Shores of the Black Sea, 230; Herlihy, Odessa, 141.

  31. My account of Mechnikov’s life and work is based on Metchnikoff, Life of Élie Metchnikoff, and Shum’ko and Anserova, eds., Il’ia Il’ich Mechnikov.

  32. Quoted in Metchnikoff, Life of Élie Metchnikoff, 67–68.

  33. See Mechnikov, Etudes sur la nature humaine, and idem, Essais optimistes.

  34. Mechnikov to A. O. Kovalevsky, Jan. 13, 1883, in Mechnikov, Pis’ma (1863–1916 gg), 114.

  Chapter 7: BLOOD AND VENGEANCE

  1. Adler, Life on the Stage, 6.

  2. Weinberg, Revolution of 1905 in Odessa, 16–17.

  3. Polishchuk, Evrei Odessy i Novorossii, 319-21.

  4. Smith to State, Apr. 22, 1871, NARA, M459, Roll 3.

  5. Zipperstein, Jews of Odessa, 122.

  6. Smith to State, Apr. 22, 1871, NARA, M459, Roll 3; Herlihy, Odessa, 301–3.

  7. John D. Klier, “The Pogrom Paradigm in Russian History,” in Klier and Lambroza, eds., Pogroms, 13–38.

  8. Herlihy, Odessa, 252.

  9. References to Jabotinsky’s The Five are to Michael R. Katz’s sparkling translation published by Cornell University Press, 2005.

  10. Jabotinsky, Five, 15.

  11. Jabotinsky, Five, 138.

  12. Weinberg, Revolution of 1905 in Odessa, 20–23. I am grateful to Patricia Herlihy, whose research first established a clear portrait of Odessa’s economic plight in the run-up to 1905. See especially her Odessa, chaps. 8–9.

  13. Heenan to State, Sept. 27, 1904, NARA, M459, Roll 7.

  14. Heenan to State, Jan. 2, 1906, NARA, M459, Roll 7.

  15. Heenan to U.S. embassy in St. Petersburg, July 4, 1905, NARA, M459, Roll 7. See also Smith to Marquess of Landsdowne, Nov. 28, 1905, NAUK, FO 65/1712.

  16. Washburn, The Cable Game, 95.

  17. L. A. Girs Diaries, Oct. 19, 1905, Aleksei and Liubov’ Girs Papers, Bakhmeteff Archive, CUR.

  18. Savchenko, Anarkhisty-terroristy, 218–19.


  19. See the survey in the guidebook by Kokhanskii, Odessa za 100 let.

  20. Jabotinsky, Five, 170–71.

  21. Katz, Lone Wolf, 13–21.

  22. Jabotinsky, “Memoirs by My Typewriter,” in Dawidowicz, ed., Golden Tradition, 399.

  23. Jabotinsky, “Memoirs by My Typewriter,” in Dawidowicz, ed., Golden Tradition, 401.

  24. Quoted in Katz, Lone Wolf, 26.

  25. Dubnow, Kniga zhizni, 1: 407.

  26. Jabotinsky, Povest’ moikh dnei, 44.

  27. Shlaim, Iron Wall, 11–16.

  28. Jabotinsky to Mussolini, July 16, 1922, JIA.

  29. Jabotinsky, Political and Social Philosophy of Ze’ev Jabotinsky, 2–3.

  30. See Stanislawski, Zionism and the Fin de Siècle, chap. 9.

  Chapter 8: NEW WORLD

  1. Wightman, Diary of an American Physician, 156.

  2. Kenez, Civil War in South Russia, 1919–1920, 185.

  3. Derby to Curzon, June 14, 1919, NAUK, FO 608/207, 297–304.

  4. Theodore Gordon Ellyson to Helen Ellyson, Feb. 9, 10, and 11, 1920, Box 3, Folder 3, TGE.

  5. Rowan-Hamilton, Under the Red Star, 194. See also Sheridan, Across Europe with Satanella, 184.

  6. “Statisticheskii otchet Odesskoi raionnoi komissii Evreiskogo obshchestvennogo komiteta o rezul’tatakh bezhenskoi massy, postradavshei ot pogromov,” GAOO, f. R-5275, op. 1, d. 144, ll. 1–12 verso.

  7. See Gatrell, Whole Empire Walking.

  8. Polishchuk, Evrei Odessy i Novorossii, 345–46.

  9. Oktiabr’ 3 (1924): 196–97, quoted in Sicher, “Trials of Isaak,” 15.

  10. Babel, “The Father,” in Complete Works of Isaac Babel, 163.

  11. Babel, “Froim Grach,” in Complete Works of Isaac Babel, 173.

  12. Report of Mr. Simmonds (n.d.), NAUK, FO 371/22301, 198–208.

  13. Eisenstein, Beyond the Stars, 179; Taylor, ed., Eisenstein Reader, 65.

  14. Quoted in Barna, Eisenstein, 94.

  15. Eisenstein, Beyond the Stars, 173.

  16. Barna, Eisenstein, 98.

  17. Seton, Sergei M. Eisenstein, 87.

  18. Barna, Eisenstein, 111.

  19. Eisenstein, Beyond the Stars, 162–66. The naval advisor on set was scandalized when Eisenstein first suggested adding the tarpaulin scene, since it deviated so radically from historical fact. Barna, Eisenstein, 98.

  20. Taylor, ed., Eisenstein Reader, 62.

  21. Quoted in Seton, Sergei M. Eisenstein, 78.

  22. Taylor, ed., Eisenstein Reader, 65.

  23. Pirozhkova, At His Side, 93.

  24. Pirozhkova, At His Side, 113.

  25. Borovoi, Vospominaniia, 71.

  26. Koval’chuk and Razumov, eds., Odesskii martirolog, 1: 678.

  Chapter 9: THE FIELDS OF TRANSNISTRIA

  1. USHMM, RG-25.004M, Reel 150; Litani, “Destruction of the Jews of Odessa,” 138.

  2. See Macici to Iacobici, Oct. 27, 1941, and telegrams on the demining operation, USHMM, RG-25.003M, Reel 12.

  3. Mazower, Hitler’s Empire, 171.

  4. USHMM, RG-25.003M, Reel 12; RG-25.004M, Reel 150. See also Litani, “Destruction of the Jews of Odessa,” 139; Ioanid, Holocaust in Romania, 179.

  5. Ioanid, Holocaust in Romania, 289; Deletant, Hitler’s Forgotten Ally, 171.

  6. Arad, “Holocaust of Soviet Jewry,” 7; Levin, “Fateful Decision,” 142.

  7. Dennis Deletant, “Transnistria and the Romanian Solution to the ‘Jewish Problem,’” in Brandon and Lower, eds., Shoah in Ukraine, 158, 182n.

  8. See Litani, “Destruction of the Jews of Odessa,” 135–54. Another estimate puts the total number of evacuees at 350,000 people, or roughly half the prewar population. Manley, To the Tashkent Station, 57.

  9. Pântea to Antonescu, n.d. [1941], USHMM, RG-25.004M, Reel 30.

  10. Borovoi, Vospominaniia, 240.

  11. On wartime evacuees, see the excellent treatment by Manley, To the Tashkent Station.

  12. Testimony of Boris Kalika, YVA, O-3/5177.

  13. Arad, Holocaust in the Soviet Union, 128; Angrick, Besatzungspolitik und Massenmord, 294–307.

  14. Rubenstein and Altman, eds., Unknown Black Book, 115–18, 132.

  15. Davidescu to “Vrancea I” (Military Command Odessa), Oct. 23, 1941, in Carp, Cartea neagra?, 3: 214–15.

  16. See the correspondence in USHMM, RG-25.003M, Reel 12, and Ioanid, Holocaust in Romania, 179–80.

  17. Stnculescu to Ttrnu, Oct. 23, 1941, USHMM, RG-25.003M, Reel 12.

  18. Dallin, Odessa, 74.

  19. Angrick, Besatzungspolitik und Massenmord, 302.

  20. Quoted in Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania, 5: 54.

  21. See USHMM, RG-25.004M, Reel 150; Litani, “Destruction of the Jews of Odessa,” 139; Ioanid, Holocaust in Romania, 182.

  22. See Desbois, Holocaust by Bullets.

  23. See Alexianu’s report to Antonescu on the state of Odessa, Nov. 7, 1941, USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 1.

  24. “Raport,” Nov. 19, 1941, GAOO, f. R-2262, op. 1, d. 1, l. 2.

  25. “Înelegeri asupra siguranei, administraiei si exploatarei economice a teritoriilor între Nistru i Bug (Transnistria) i Bug-Nipru (regiunea Bug-Nipru),” Aug. 30, 1941, USHMM, RG-25.003M, Reel 12.

  26. “Ordonana No. 35,” Jan. 2, 1942, USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 1. See also “Instruciuni pentru evacuarea populaiei evreeti din municipiului Odesa i împrejurimi,” USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 1; ibid., RG 25.003M, Reel 394; Litani, “Destruction of the Jews of Odessa,” 144–47; Ioanid, Holocaust in Romania, 208–10.

  27. Arad, Holocaust in the Soviet Union, 244.

  28. Velcescu to Transnistrian government, Feb. 13, 1942, USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 3.

  29. See the declarations and signature lists in USHMM, RG-25.003M, Reel 394.

  30. I have reconstructed the story of Tnase and Sepel from “Ordinul C.2.A, Serv. Pretoral Nr. 4057/14.I.1942,” USHMM, RG-25.003M, Reel 394, and “Ordin de zi, nr. 217,” Feb. 9, 1942, USHMM, RG-25.003M, Reel 394.

  31. Velcescu to Transnistrian government, Apr. 11, 1942, USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 3.

  32. “Deciz 2927,” Dec. 7, 1943, USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 3.

  33. Litani, “Destruction of the Jews of Odessa,” 152.

  34. Dallin, Odessa, 162, fn56.

  35. Werth, Russia at War, 1941–1945, 825.

  36. Alexianu to Antonescu, Nov. 7, 1941, USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 1.

  37. See USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 14.

  38. Velcescu to Alexianu, Feb. 13, 1942, USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 3.

  39. See correspondence between Alexianu and Inspectorate of Gendarmerie, May 1942, and case files of Daria Ovselevici, 1943, USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 3.

  40. See Case, Between States, and Solonari, Purifying the Nation.

  41. “Ordonana No. 89,” Sept. 28, 1942, USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 1.

  42. “Odesa de eri i de astzi,” Gazeta Odesei, Jan. 17, 1943, reproduced in DCFRJ, 4: 429–30.

  43. I am grateful to Vladimir Solonari for several conversations about these issues.

  44. See USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 2; and “Memoriu cu privire la problemele practice, pe care le ridica? în toamna 1942 românii de peste Bug,” Sept. 21, 1942, GAOO, f. R-2249, op. 3, d. 111, ll. 11–15.

  45. Brtianu, “Notes sur un voyage en Crimée,” 176–82.

  46. “Raport,” Nov. 19, 1941, GAOO, f. R-2262, op. 1, d. 1, l. 1.

  Chapter 10: “I WOULD LIKE TO BRING TO YOUR ATTENTION THE FOLLOWING”

  1. See Cherkasov, Okkupatsiia Odessy.

  2. GAOO, f. R-2262, op. 1, d. 1, ll. 3–8, 9–12.

  3. “Raport,” Nov. 28, 1941, GAOO, f. R-2262, op. 1, d. 1, l. 13.

  4. “Raport,” Nov. 28, 1941, GAOO, f. R-2262, op. 1, d. 1, l. 13.

  5. “Raport,” n.d. [1941], GAOO, f. R-2262, op. 1, d. 1, l. 32.

  6. “Raport,” Nov. 26, 1941, GAOO, f. R-2262, op. 1, d. 1, l. 36.

  7. “Raport,” Nov. 19, 1941, GAOO, f. R-2262, op. 1, d. 1, 1. 64.
See also ibid., ll. 69, 153; ibid., d. 8, l. 38; ibid., d. 2, ll. 4-6.

  8. “Comunicare,” Feb. 22, 1942, USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 3.

  9. See Sheila Fitzpatrick, “Signals from Below: Soviet Letters of Denunciation of the 1930s,” in Fitzpatrick and Gellately, eds., Accusatory Practices, 85–120; Fitzpatrick, “Supplicants and Citizens” and Fitzpatrick, Tear Off the Masks!.

  10. “Raport,” Nov. 20, 1941, GAOO, f. R-2662, op. 1, d. 2, l. 19. On the earlier history of denunciation, see Grünewald, “Jewish Workers in Odessa.”

  11. David Senyaver Collection, USHMM. See also Semyon Tarantor Collection and Efim Yurkovetski Collection, USHMM.

  12. Liudmila Kalika, “Odessa. 820 dnei v podzeml’e,” in Rashkovetskii, Naidis, Dusman, and Belousova, eds., Istoriia Kholokosta v Odesskom regione, 96–110.

  13. “Raport,” n.d. [Dec. 1941], GAOO, f. R-2262, op. 1, d. 3, l. 17. On “revenge” see also ibid., d. 22, l. 9.

  14. “Raport,” Apr. 15, 1942, GAOO, f. R-2262, op. 1, d. 8, l. 30; Ioanid, Holocaust in Romania, 187–94.

  15. Litani, “Destruction of the Jews of Odessa,” 150, mentions his university background. Other biographical information on Pântea and his role in the deportations is taken from his signed declaration to the Romanian Communist authorities, June 22, 1950, in USHMM, RG-25.004M, Reel 30, and Colesnic, Sfatul rii, 231.

  16. Pântea to Antonescu, n.d. [1941], USHMM, RG-25.004M, Reel 30.

  17. See Pântea’s own 1950 statement, cited above, as well as those of Matei Velcescu, Apr. 1 and June 17, 1950; and of Constantin Vidracu, June 17, 1950, USHMM, RG-25.004M, Reel 30.

  18. Chelovan’ to Odessa municipality, n.d. [1941], GAOO, f. R-2262, op. 1, d. 2, l. 35.

  19. Dallin, Odessa, 91.

  20. See “Dare de seama asupra activiii subdireciei artelor pe lunile apriliemai-iunie [1943],” GAOO, f. R-2249, op. 3, d. 89, ll. 10–12; “Dare de seama despre reconstruirea Teatrului de opera i balet din Odessa [January 1943],” ibid., ll. 41–46; “Tablou de spectacole date de Teatrul de opera i balet Odessa în cursul trimestrului II-1943,” ibid., ll. 115–16.

  21. Declaration of Taisia Arnautu, July 23, 1956, USHMM, RG-25.004M, Reel 30. See also Fred Saraga, “În Transnistria: Primii pai: Odessa,” Sliha, Apr. 5, 1956, reproduced in DCFRJ, 8: 547.

  22. Dallin, Odessa, 85.

  23. See GAOO, f. R-2249, op. 1, d. 266.

  24. Werth, Russia at War, 1941–1945, 817.

  25. Pântea to Alexianu, Jan. 20, 1942, USHMM, RG-25.004M, Reel 30.