Once-Vibrant Odessa a Ghost of Former Self

Once a meeting point of cultures and a thriving port, this Black Sea city is at a low point in its long history.

Decaying buildings and broken sidewalks, the grim faces of passersby and poverty nestling alongside glittering shops all testify to the city’s troubled spirit.

When Alexander Pushkin, Russia’s national poet, was exiled here in the 1820s he found a hot and dusty, if frivolous, little town.

By the end of the 19th century, however, Odessa had grown into a major port and the cultural and political capital of the Russian Empire’s southwest. It was nicknamed Russia’s “little Paris.”

Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, Greeks, Turks, Italians and French mixed here. Scientists and thieves, opera singers and revolutionaries, fishermen and merchants gave Odessa a unique flavor. The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the ensuing civil war dealt Odessa a heavy blow. The city’s importance diminished in the 1920s and 1930s, and it suffered badly in World War II, enduring harsh battles and Nazi occupation.

Mass Jewish emigration in the 1970s and 1980s created New York’s “Little Odessa” area, a pale reflection of the old city.

Today’s Odessa is a struggling Ukrainian city of more than 1 million, a city trying to regain its identity. The sense of being Ukrainian is alien to Odessa, which always took pride in being cosmopolitan.

It is a city of contrasts. On Deribasovskaya, a pedestrian avenue, poorly dressed residents pass luxury shops and restaurants frequented by the nouveaux riches.

Many historic sites are crumbling. Krasny Lane, with old, picturesque courtyards, is nearly in ruins. The Opera Theater, which some claim is the most beautiful in Europe, is closed. A sign outside calls on “connoisseurs of beauty” to give money to help save it.

Yet some of the old spirit is still alive: in the old street names; on tree-shaded Primorsky Boulevard; in the faces of some elderly residents at the Privoz food market, where saleswomen display fish and street kids exchange Jewish curses dating back a century.

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On the Net:

Odessa Web ring: https://odessa.lk.net/english/ring

Odessica encyclopedia (Russian): https://odessa.club.com.ua