CHAPTER IV

Education, Culture, Church, and Press

There was a rather significant cultural revival, despite abnormal conditions. One reason for it was that a numbers of artists, teachers, musicians, and writers remained in Odessa, A larger percentage of them stayed than of others in public life, such as administrators or industrial leaders. Their remaining is to some extent an index to their political views-or in many cases to their lack of them; it also reflects the lesser urgency the Soviet authorities felt about their removal.

A second reason was that where theaters, school, and printing presses were physically more or less intact, getting them functioning again was relatively simple and cheap, far easier, for example, the restoring production in a factory.

Romanian support of "culture" and education must be considered a third reason. They took place in the revival of Odessa's opera, university, institutes, and theaters. Funds-particularly for the more conspicuous cultural pursuits (ballet received proportionately more than grammar schools)-were allocated with relative liberality and in striking contrast to German parsimony.

The relatively high value traditionally placed on artistic and intellectual endeavors in Odessa also helps explain the wartime cultural activity. Odessa had had a good opera and university, a number of other schools, and theaters . This is not to imply that other Soviet cities had no such interests, but one does have the impression that Odessa ranked "kul'tura" higher than, say, Magnitogorsk or Smolensk did.

The cultural revival was restricted almost exclusively to the city of Odessa. In rural areas, the seems not have been nearly as much demand, and certainly very little was achieved. Though perhaps it exaggerated a bit, a German report of early September,1941,found in the hinterland "no cultural life and no cultural aspirations."1* This was decidedly not true of Odessa itself. There, even before the end of 1941-despite the hardships of times-efforts had already been made to reopen the university, the cathedral, and the opera; and as late as the fall of 1943, the primar of Odessa was pointing to the cultural accomplishments of his administration as a major source of pride.2*

There is perhaps another reason for Odessa's cultural revival. No contemporary accounts and no refugee informants spontaneously mentioned it, but in an atmosphere where alternatives were distasteful, cultural activities were not only escape; they gave perfectly respectable and socially useful; one was not constantly being forced to take sides for or against the occupation authorities (though of course, particularly in teaching, complete escape was not possible).

While cultural activities were diverse, honest informants have suggested that much of it was amateurish pedestrian. Only a few endeavors-notably, the Odessa opera-were outstanding in quality of performance. The artistic shortcomings do not, however, reduce the symptomatic significance of this phenomenon, and large part of the urban population welcomed the revival of cultural life.

Schools

The original Antonescu decree of August 19,1941, had provided for the prompt reopening of elementary and trade schools and the lower grades of secondary schools, regarding higher grades, decisions were made at a later date.3* On September 7, Governor Alexianu accordingly ordered elementary schools to reopen October 1; other schools soon followed. But only schools in the hinterland of Transnistrian were affected;4* ;in the Odessa area, fighting was still in progress when the school year began.

An immediate issue was the language of instruction. The government plan originally allowed a choice
of German, Romanian, or Russian, the three "co-equal official languages of the province; soon Ukrainian and Bulgarian were added-the former for the peasant population, the latter primarily as a political sop to Romania's southern neighbor. Each village was to vote for the language it wished used for school instruction. In Ukrainian schools, Germans and Romanian were compulsory foreign languages; in Moldavian schools, German and Ukrainian.5* The German schools were largely under the direct jurisdiction of the Reich.6* Ukrainian was chosen as the basic language of instruction in 80% of the schools in Transnistria;11 % used Romanian (i.e., Moldavian), 5% Russian (most of the urban areas), and 4% German,7*

Problems quickly arose about curriculum and texts. Religion was added to the curriculum of all schools as a compulsory subject with result discussed below. The textbook problem was difficult; often pre-Soviet (1907-1914) books were used, but there were not enough of these; the only new textbook printed were grammar and primers; many teachers did without texts, wearily dictating summaries to their pupils.8* No attempt was made to re-introduce old pre-revolutionary orthography.9*

By and large the system of instruction remained unchanged. The later Antonescu decree of June 15,1943, formally provided )Article 12) for obligatory and free schooling in the mother tongue. What "free" stood for -whether "unobstructed" or "tuition-less"-was never defined.10* And it remained purely a paper provision. In actuality, a system emerged under which and private schools co-existed.

The public schools included elementary schools (one level for children 7 to 11,and a second for those from 12 to 16), secondary schools, now called (in Romanian style) "lyceums," and technical and trade schools. In Odessa schools for the deaf and for the retarded were also opened. This system, under the general supervision of the Directorate of Culture and Education, was again in operation by the mid-1942. The governor's school directorate also sought to guide local education, but its directives tended to be generally ignored. Indeed, even local directives were ignored, conditions varied from school to school and many provisions (e. g., regarding textbooks, supplies, etc.) virtually could not be complied with.

The Odessa city budget was inadequate to provide for a complete school system, with all the maintenance expenses and salaries for teachers, service personnel, and a network of inspectors (mostly former Soviet teachers). This was one of the principal reasons for the emergence of private schools. Groups of women teachers got together and set up lyceum s, usually offering a pre-revolutionary curriculum.

Most of the teachers were women and older men-either former teachers or unemployed intellectuals who considered school-teaching an "honorable" occupation. Salaries were quite low-perhaps 200 to 300 marks a month for secondary and elementary-school teachers (as compared with 800 to 1,200 marks for university professors). The city directorate had to confirm each teacher's license; while a few did not get their licenses confirmed on grounds of having been Communist Party members, there was no purge of educational personnel. If anything, pro-Soviet tendencies came to be more pronounced among students than among teachers.

Schools attendance was not compulsory. Herein lay the key to the dominant attitude toward elementary and secondary schooling of the school population itself. Just as the lack of schools had encouraged lack of discipline, hooliganism, and delinquency among teenagers, so the fact that one did not have to go to school encouraged absenteeism and breaches of discipline. "Escape from school." refugee teachers insist, was not a characteristic Soviet attitude but rather the product of conditions during the occupation. At times as many as half class would be absent; teachers suspected an organized system of alternation, by which perhaps a third of class would be absent one day, and another third the next.

Discipline deteriorated partly because students paid tuition, and fees were necessary for the survival of all schools, private and public alike; more important, teachers were, for once, afraid of their students and feared conflicts with them. By and large, teachers tried to be "tactful," and to avoid clashes, rigidity. and "politics" in the classroom. However, pupils responded with more barbs, pranks, and bitter jokes. at root (one perceptive informant has suggested) was a strong "spirit of contradiction" (duch protivorechiia ); students unconsciously looked upon the teachers as a symbol of authority and eagerly sought to "cut him down" in size.

The attitude toward studies was correspondingly superficial. Since there were few, if any textbooks, students had to take extensive notes in class; older students could do this well (partly because they had had practice at it in the Soviet school system); but younger pupils could not take notes, so teachers had to write out summaries on the blackboard. Grades were generally mediocre, and worse for boys than girls.

Parents were often reluctant to send their younger children to school. One would hear such comments as : "You know, these are such troubled times..." In worker families, children would at times be put to work rather than sent to school, or would be left at home to care for smaller children. Only those over twelve years old had a major and genuine incentive to attend school: school attendance meant a exemption from forced labor. Those who attended trade schools also knew they might learn skills that would enable them to make a living. As a result, student interest in and identification with technical schools (for instance, for artisans, dental technicians, seamstresses) were far greater, and the proportion of students continuing their studies was correspondingly larger.
There was a general trend toward separate schools for boys and girls. In part this reflected Romanian influence, in part, the moralistic outlook of the new (or rather, very old) lyceum heads. Teachers assert that it was also a product of a general anti-education feeling of sexes in Soviet schools. There were sporadic parent-teachers assemblies and conferences, but these were commonly, devoted to economic and technical problems, not substantive policy. Russian history was virtually eliminated; a "general history" survey took its place. In this survey much attention was given to Romania's past. In general "Romanization" was quite pronounced in the schools.

A few schools in Odessa maintained a high level of instruction. More often, schooling was mediocre or worse, because of poor attendance(hence poor pay) and poor discipline. The number of regular students registered in Odessa was considerable lower than it should have been.11*

Higher Education

Odessa had had, before the war, 18 institutes of higher learning and 29 advanced technical schools. Many of the specialists on faculties had been evacuated or drafted; much of the student body was gone; and much of the equipment had been destroyed, looted, or lost. Officially, the University-which had produced many men of note-was evacuated to Maikop, later to Bairam-Ali (Turkmen SSR); though it hardly functioned there, it did , in 1943, deprive the faculty members who stayed and worked under the Romanians of their titles and ranks.12* The University was restored to operation and was the only university that functioned under the occupation; Romanians and local inhabitants were proud to point this out to compare Odessa with Kiev, Minsk, and other occupied Soviet cities.
In December,1941-less than two months after the city's capture-the plan to reopen the university was discussed in the embryonic Primaria and apparently forwarded to Bucharest for decision. At first Pantea secured permission to sponsor a "corporation" ( including all the former faculty members, Soviet and pre-Soviet), though not to resume instruction.13* In January,1942 the old staff reconvened only a few of those who had remained in Odessa refused to participate. The "academic corporation" prepared a plan for reopening the university; included the restoration of the by-laws adopted after 1905 Revolution; under these university had autonomy and a system of elective deans and rectors. Bucharest soon approved the plan. A representative of the Governor, however, had to be given a place on the new council. The new rector was Professor Pavel Chasovnikov. A Russian surgeon, eminent as a practitioner, less outstanding as a scientist, he was widely respected, and had-and this is what was responsible for his selection-close ties, reputedly even distant blood ties, though his wife, with Romanian court. To "balance" his appointment politically, the two pre-rectors were Volksdeutscher, Schoettle, for liaison with the Germans, and a Russian, Potapenko, who-awkwardly-had tried to flee with the Soviets, had not made it, and had surreptitiously returned to Odessa.14*

Some administrative reorganization took place, generally annulling changes wrought in the Soviet period. A new law faculty was established, with Professor Zhilin-he had been persecuted by the Soviets but had survived as librarian of the history department-as dean of the law school. The law faculty then elected Professor Ivan Faas, a Russian of Swedish extraction who had taught at the university for many a year, as its administrative director. The Medical Institute, hitherto a separate institution, became the Medical School of the university. As before the Revolution, the Historical-Philological Faculty was re-established as a single school. Its first head was the famous Professor Boris Vasil'evich Varneke, author of the standard history of the Russian theater and various other studies. A difficult man, supercilious and self-centered, Varneke soon clashed with his younger colleagues and was obliged to resign, though he continued as professor. Thereupon , Professor Vladimir Feodorovich Lazurski, an old Tolstoyan who had been retired with a Soviet pension after proving unable to avoid political slips, was recalled and made dean. Later in 1942, additional faculties wre restored(natural sciences, and pharmacy). The rector, pro-rectors, and deans of faculties-a total of 12 men-formed the "University Senate," which art least theoretically had full authority. A Bessarabian, Professor Moisev, was attached to it in a semi-political advisory capacity; and Despotuli, a brother of the Odessa-born editor of the Nazi financed Novoe Slovo in Berlin, became University Secretary in 1942, resuming his original name after a Soviet career as a tenor under the name of Kirsanov.

With a few exceptions, the caliber of men who headed up the revived university was high. Most had been prominent professor with genuine academic accomplishments to their credit. The entire university was Romanian-financed, but apparently government financing (whatever the regime) was considered inevitable and therefore accepted without much soul-searching.

The level and tone were, however, substantially lowered by two new departures.15* In late 1942-early 1943, on Alexianu initiative, a separate Moldavian Faculty was added to train specialists, primarily to develop future administrators for Transnistria. As a result, the pace of Romanization was stepped up (the Romanian alphabet and idioms were introduced into the Moldavian language; the dean-a Romanian lady from Bessarabia-was appointed without faculty approval. Some of the students came from Bessarabia, others were Moldavians from Transnistria. Trey received generous fellowships and grants to pursue the mixed humanities program at the faculty; a specially equipped dormitory was build for them; they were visited by dignitaries, including Alexianu himself, and generally made to feel constituted- in special favor, if not in academic accomplishments-an elite at the university.
The other new departure was the Institute foer Anti-Communist Propaganda. Organized in April, 1943, by Professor S. Pantil, the Romanian propaganda chief in Odessa, and headed by an old engineer, N.Lablonovski, it was an instrument of propaganda-conducted in primitive agitprom style. It propaganda lectures on anti-Marxism and sought to train local teachers and editors as public speakers and political researchers; it also staged contests for anti-Bolshevik writings. Its success was smal.16*

The program of instruction varied from department to department, but generally the Soviet curriculum was retained. There were inevitable deletions to the field of Marxist theory, some changes in natural science argumentation, a reduction of history teaching ( no first-rate historians were left, perhaps because in this field greater political loyalty was required and more thorough screening -and purging-had taken place before the war), and the introduction of compulsory religious instruction. All students were expected to ( but actually did not) learn Romanian. The university gave credit for courses taken in the Soviet period, so that students in their last years managed to get their diplomas under the Romanians. There was no commencement of students who had had their entire college
training in "Transnistria": the occupation was too brief for that.17*

In term of material well-being, it is likely that both students and faculty were a bit worse off than under the Soviet-or at least those professors who had been regular instructors, and those students who had enjoyed scholarships, were. Yet, university professors netted 800 to 1200 marks a month-a considerable sum, and well above the average-earnings of other white-collar workers in Transnistria. Their social prestige was also considerable, as the university was a source of general pride. A number of professors were taken on official visits to Bucharest, where they were received by government officials and "colleagues" in Romanian universities (some student groups were similarly chaperoned through Romania). Professors and students came from Bucharest and Iasi to consult with specialists in Odessa or use the library facilities there. Some visiting professors arrived from Italy and Germany, and at least one sat as a visiting member on a board for doctoral defense in Odessa.18* Perhaps unavoidably, the university, as a token of "collaboration,", had to exchange New Year's greeting with the rector of Bucharest University (who did reply); and in March,1943, Odessa University granted Alexianu an honorary doctorate.19*

Except for the Moldavian students, most students had to fend for themselves in the absence of scholarships. It is interesting -and indicative of the privations non-Moldavian students had undergo to attend the university-that a Romanian newspaper admitted that at least 800 Moldavian students could not attend the institute in the academic year 1942-1943 " because they had to clothes or means of subsistence."20* Only in 1943 was an attempt made to have university "adopt" indigent students.

Because of this and other disruptive factor, the attendance in the university is impressive, particularly if one bears in mind that - by official admission - heating in the winter months was execrable and many buildings were (especially in the first year) in poor repair. However-as indicated earlier-attendance did provide a guaranty against forced labor conscription, at least until the summer of 1943, occasionally then groups of students were rounded up for farm work or other relatively short-term tasks. Many of the students had attended the university before the war' some new ones, especially girls, who sought to enter, were not admitted; in 1943, a small number of sons and daughters of Russian emigres in Romania and Yugoslavia were enrolled. Form reasons that cannot be determined-perhaps Communist Party or Komsomol membership, though former faculty members deny this-358 students were barred the first term.

In the first academic year under Transnistrian auspices, the university, with a faculty of about 85, had a student body of 1,605: 1040 girls and 565 boys.21* In 1943 a rather higher number of students enrolled, but total enrollment dropped during the academic year due to series of arrests and disappearances. As early as February of that year the German consul general reported, "I know for certain that Communist propaganda is being spread among the Russian students at the University." By the summer and fall the Romanian s apprehended some students and a few researchers whom they claimed (and apparently with reason ) to be partisans and Soviet agents.22*
On the whole, the performance of the university was creditable. Other institutions of higher learning did not do so well. Perhaps the best was huge Agricultural Institute-before the war, the central one for the entire Ukraine. The Romanians promoted its reopening, though only some 150 students attended. After it opened in May,1942,several affiliated institutes-on fishing and milling research-also reopened. In October,1942, the Tairov Institute, specializing in the analysis of wines, was reactivated.23*

The Romanian Scientific Institute set up in Tiraspol' in 1941, has been mentioned. Itaas main accomplishment in the teaching field was the training of Romanian language instructors. In 1943 the German opened a branch office of the Deutsche Akademik Munchen. Its "lectorate" in Odessa primarily taught the German language. The high number of pupils-some 1,100-appears to have been due to the fact, however, that the Transnistrian Government had a commitment to the Germans to pay the tuition fees of any government employee who wished to study German; as a result, hundreds of clerks and railroad workers took courses, but these courses were soon suspended because of the general chaos of retreat.24*

A musical conservatory reopened and functioned successfully, as will be seen below. Various other institutes existed but can hardly be said to have flourished-private efforts, particularly, dependent as they were on students' fees, often failed restricted themselves to a few classes. And yet, considering wartime limitations even in Unoccupied" countries-say, Bucharest-and the stagnation of higher learning all over German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, university life in Odessa must be considered to have been truly remarkable.

Press and Propaganda

The German had reason to complain, time and again, that Romanian propaganda was crude. The Romanians seemed indeed inept at inventing slogans to catch the popular fancy or finding themes capable of increasing the loyalty of the subjects to the new regime. Yet, though it lacked a systematic framework of theory or method, Romanian "psychological warfare" was far more successful that of the Germans- not because it was subtle but because it recognized, at the early date, the axiom that doing things was far more persuasive than telling or promising things. The Germans did view Romanian efforts to step up cultural activities, concerts, schools, theaters, and the revival of the press as an "extraordinarily clever" Tatpropaganda (or "action propaganda," as distinguished from oral or printed propaganda).25*

The revival of the press in Transnistria 26* was an important propaganda achievement. As early as August ,1941, the Romanians began publication of an official organ entitled Transnistria; a weekly, it was printed in Bucharest and was written in Romanian. Unfortunately, no copies are available, citations and excerpts suggest that it consisted largely of official materials and decrees , with some propaganda material; there is ni evidence that it continued beyond 1942. For the Romanian-or rather, Moldavian-population of Transnistria, newspaper, Glasul Nistrului, was published in Tiraspol'. However, in spite of a paper shortage, Russian-language newspapers were authorized and supported (they were not in Bessarabia); no Ukraine-language papers were allowed-the reason for this will be discussed later.27*

Both in Odessa and the hinterland(in this case, Anan'ev) there was at first a lack of newspaper and other sources of information. This encouraged rumor and gossip. Residents, accustomed to being saturated with Soviet propaganda and news media, felt a general sense of insecurity when newspapers were cut off. In practical terms, the absence of newspapers complicated the business of restoring orderly local government.28* Before long, however, they began to appear in Odessa (and in delayed fashion, in rural areas). There emerged three more or less permanent morning dailies; other publications-evening papers and magazines-were short-lived and financially unsuccessful. All papers, all forms of publication, radio, and censorship itself were under the supervision of the directorate of culture (later, propaganda) of the governor's office. This directorate, under Professor Troian Herseni, a sociologist, was one of the few whose activities were not entirely autonomous to Transnistria: by Antonescu's initial decree of August 19,1941, its directives were to be set by the Romanian Propaganda Ministry.29* This meant that newspapers could not print anything overtly critical of the Romanians or Germans, that they had to fellow a sordidly anti-Western and anti-Semitic line, were under censorship and subject to fines in case they violated the rather vague regulations.30* And yet, in spite of all restrictions, the press in a mild way indicated something of nature of public life and even certain political and moral differences among individuals and groups of residents.

The first paper to make its appearance was Odesskaia Gazeta. In substance it was and remained a mouthpiece of the Odessa Primaria and was looked upon as a semi-official organ. Initially under the supervision of a Romanian general, it appeared when Gherman Pantea was ready to announce his own appointment. The first issue, on October 22,1941,pompously introduced the new order ( We, Gherman Pantea, in the name of King Minai I, appointed Primar of the city of Odessa..."); this rubbed residents the wrong way. The readers were primarily connected with official affairs; it was the most strict and severe of the papers in tone and content, largely because it concentrated on the text of regulations and decrees. Edited by Dumitrascu, formerly a teacher of the Moldavian and Russian languages, it was in effect a municipal organ; it had few editorials of basic significance. Its general tone was "official" enough, however, so that it was occasionally quoted even by the German press.31*

By contrast, Molva was a far more professional newspaper in "Western European " tradition, with-technically if not politically-high standards.32* While Odesskaia Gazeta was sponsored by the Primaria, Molva leaned toward the Governor's office. It circulation was consistently the largest of all Transnistria papers, and available clippings (no complete files nave been found) fully substantiate the view that it was, if not good, at least an "interesting" paper. Its editor, M.N. Belkovski, was a Russian journalist who until the Revolution had worked on Suvorin's famous Novoe Vremia in St. Petersburg ; he had then gone into exile to Bessarabia, whence he now returned with professional know-how and official connections that helped him launch Molva on December 1,1942. It appeared daily; its contents ranged from political news, literary pieces, and editorials, official announcements, and reports of crime. People who read it regularly insisted that on the whole it was interesting and good, except for its editorial line and pronounced anti-Semitism. Occasionally, things would get though that were by implication Axis( such as an article by a young instructor at the Agricultural Institute in praise of Timiriazev, the Russian scientist highly honored by the Soviets).

More often ,however, it veered in the opposite direction.33* For instance, Anatolii Maslennikov, a former Communist Party member a third-rate dramatist who wrote for kolkhoz theaters, escaped from the German-held part of the Ukraine to Transnistria and managed to get himself put in the staff of Molva. Soon he began a long series of feuilletons that primarily virulently anti-Semitic; refugees agree that they provoked fairly unanimous hostility at least among the intelligentsia. When several contributors protested, Belkovski, the editor, readily agreed that the pieces were abominable but asserted the authorities-and presumably, indirectly, the Germans-insisted, despite the objections of his own staff, that the articles appear. At least two former contributors to Molva agree that the incident led to drop in the paper's circulation.34*

It is significant that Maslennikov was a former Communist. Newspaper staffs included both pre-Soviet and Soviet journalists.35* Few professional Soviet newsmen had remained in Odessa, but a new crop of journalists developed, mostly people who had been close to the writing field before the war. Curiously, Maslennikov was not the only "renegade' party member . The third Odessa newspaper, Odessa, had as a key member of its staff a Komsomol activist, Zhdanovich.

Odessa, unlike the two other papers, was the epitome of "yellow journalism" - or what the Soviet call "boulevard journalism." It specialized in local murder and rape stories, tabloid-type sensantionalism of non-political sort, lurid photographs, and sordid "exposes" of Soviet rule. Read primarily by the poorest sections-its circulation was highest in the workers' quarters of Odessa - the paper was significant primarily as a symptom of the times rather than because of any line it pursued. It can, perhaps, be regarded as expressing the general desire for normalcy, for "human interest," and for some "petty bourgeois" gratifications.36*

In addition to these morning dailies, other papers sprang up, though thy usually lasted only a short time; some were evening papers (which failed in part because the early curfew curtailed their sale), other were occasional attempts to start journals and magazines, general-interest magazines like Kolokol Nashi Dni and Mir; a children magazine, Detskii Listok; humorous papers, like Smekh i Iumor; and a theological journal. They were either crudely anti-Bolshevik, with indictments of "commissars" and accounts of personal experiences in labor camps, or else second-rate "creative" and often "sentimental" writing in magazines like "The White Lily." With a class of nouveaux-riches, Odessa even had its graphomaniacs who could (or whose husbands could ) afford to finance the periodic publication of their "works."38*

Only a few pamphlets were printed in Transnistria. Few books, save official ones, appeared; a slim volume of lyric poetry, published late in 1943, was an exception. As a rule, emigre publications, whether Russian or Ukrainian, were not admitted to Transnistria *though all informants knew instances of such materials arriving with travelers or through the mails).39*

The radio sets confiscated by the Soviet authorities were never officially returned, though individuals who had retained them or had hidden receiving sets (or looted them) could use them relatively little risk after the winter of 1941-1942; the piped Soviet -style radio broadcast were ,however, resumed in Odessa itself, as were loudspeaker announcements throughout the city.40*

The Arts

The newly established Primaria sought to restore a modicum of cultural life-perhaps from genuine interest in it, perhaps as token of good will, to divert population attention from political shortcomings; one of its concerns was the Odessa opera. Famed for many years, often visited by noted foreign singers, it had assembled a first-rate orchestra, ballet, and staff of technicians. Most of them had not left Odessa during the evacuation. Reorganizing it took effort, but by December 7,1941, it was announced the Odessa opera was reactivated. Its new director was the aging tenor, V.A. Seliavin; its conductor-Nikolai Cherniatinskii. Performances were generally well attended, with a substantial sprinkling of Romanian and German guests; the foreign press gave particularly warm praise to the opera's ballet. On the whole, Soviet sets and choreography were retained for such standard items as Boris, Onegin, and Carmen. The Romanians seems eager to help the opera (a desire spurred by the personal acquaintance of certain officers with ballerinas); after a visit by Antonescu, who enthusiastically applauded at the end, the opera had still fewer problems-to the point where Seliavin managed to keep his Jewish wife unharmed. Refugees confirm that the opera's performances were indeed excellent; as a professional critic put it, everything else in the city was by comparison second-rate.41* It must be mentioned, however, that the opera authorities lent themselves to the performance during Lent of 1943 of the anti-Semitic musical play, "Tsar iudeiskii".42*

Odessa had likewise been a city of theaters - it had twelve before the war. What helped their revival was that a considerable number of performers and technicians had remained in Odessa. Yet, in quality of performance, it was a new theatrical endeavor that ranked highest and attracted by far the greatest interest. This was the Theater of Russian Drama and Comedy, established by Vasilii Vronskii. Before the Revolution, Vronskii had been a young idol of the more "degenerate" Odessa theater-goers. He had begun his career in the Saburov theater of St. Petersburg, specializing in light erotic farces. His enemies later proclaimed that hr had no concept of "scientific" drama and performance, that he played down "social significance" and had no understanding of, say, Stanislavsky or Meirhold. After 1917, Vronskii had left Russia and spent the inter-war years as a minor railway official in Romania. Though always elegant or even snobbish, he had of course aged considerably. Persons who saw him or knew him in wartime Odessa report that his seeming rejuvenation was incredible; with a rare spurt of energy, he gathered a team of performance, worked them and himself hard, and soon opened with a series of most successful plays, mostly revivals of the pre-revolutionary repertoire.

Vronskii had troubles, however, which came to a head in 1943. Some "ultra-patriots" among the Russian reactionaries accused him of pro-Soviet sympathies because, in 1940, he had considered remaining in Chisinau when the Red Army marched in. It was apparently also alleged that among his stagehands was a Jew, whom he had knowingly concealed. The crisis came when he put on a new play, Bozhii Oduvan'chik, for Petr Resshin.43* It portrayed a simple Russian woman, the innocent victim of abuse at the hands of the NKVD. Vronskii was arrested and accused of having made a barbed attack on the Romanian Siguranta, the secret police. During his six weeks in jail, he was repeatedly beaten; his mother-in-law, a successful store manager in Odessa, found Romanian lawyers with sufficient 'Pull" to take his case and then, through bribes, to have him released.

Naturally, such incidents did not improve either morale or performance at the theater. Vronskii soon turned it over to a collective headed by one Zubov, who had financed much of the theater's activity.44* Vronskii, who had many personal enemies, himself disappeared shortly before the collapse.

His huge staff had joined him not only for genuine artistic reasons, but also to avoid forced labor conscription; this was clearly understood and was mirrored in the low wages paid. Surviving Odessites
still speak of Vronskii's incomparable performances during the war.45*

Far inferior was the work of other theatrical groups. A local actor, Ancharov, opened an operetta. A group of actors, including refugees from Kiev and the Crimea, opened a "Romantic Theater."Another theater, directed by Evgenii Onipko, performed Ostrovsky and Lope de Vega. The Cultural Directorate of government financed a children's theater, directed by R.M.Ranevskiaia, whose production were adjudged amateurish but decidedly enjoyable. Most theaters were not government-financed; generally they were by organized by small groups of actors who yearned to show their talents or to profit from what seemed to be a real thirst for entertainment. As a result, there was a bevy of vaudeville-type "reviews," stage shows, "miniatures", and other performances of poor quality. Most such theaters closed after a few months.46*

A Ukrainian dramatic theater opened in the old Sibiriakov (Stamenov) Theater. Under its manager, Bondarchuk,it produced several creditable plays, but the Romanians soon closed it down, apparently suspecting it of being of Ukrainian separatist sentiment. Another Ukrainian group that opened a theater was likewise forced to shut down in 1943. The Sibiriakov Theater became the new Romanian National Theater, staffed in part by actors brought in from Romania. A number of actors from Bucharest staged guest performances in Odessa. As part of the Romanization program, local theaters were encouraged to produce plays by Romanian writers, but few did. It is symptomatic, however, that when a Russian critic, writing in Molva, published a rather lukewarm review of Romanian play staged, in Russian translation, by Vronskii's group, the paper was obliged a few days later to publish "a different opinion"-this one, by a Bessarabian, highly laudatory of author, translator, and perforers. Both the original critical and the childish "rectification" were part of the Transnistrian scene.47*

Movie houses were quite popular and well attended. Some 23 were in operation in Odessa alone, and showed German and Italian films and newsreels largely. One refugee recalls that occasionally non-political American and prewar Soviet films were permitted. Movies were privately owned and were one of the most attractive areas of private initiative. For reasons that remain not entirely clear, Governor Alexianu, in August, 1943, ordered the nationalization of movies, with full compensation to be made to private owners.48* No informant had heard of the directive's having been implemented.49*

The Conservatory was revived quite successfully. In late 1941, the Primaria gave it permission to reopen, and in March,1942, musical instruction began. In the summer, the Cultural Directorate of the government agreed to support its work, and a series of section-piano, instruments, vocal, theory, drama, choreography-were established; a choir and orchestra were formed; and in fall the Conservatory, under the directorship of Nikolai Cherniatinskii, a Soviet trumpet-player anxious to become a conductor, added its own elementary school and lyceum, with special emphasis on musical training. Its main star was Lydia Lipkovskaia, A Bessarabian-born singer who had been prima donna of the Mariinski Opera in St. Petersburg. It had over 1,000 students. Some of its graduates worked at the opera; others gave concerts of their own. Thee Conservatory as such sponsored over 75 public concerts. At times symphonic works would be preceded a lecture on musical or literary subjects. It was accepted as both decent and clever to have programs weighted heavily with Russian national composers; a simple program might include Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff-with the Russian composers considered a kind of patriotic gesture; the former dean of the Conservatory confirms that patriotic motives actually were behind this kind of programming.

The political-patriotic aspect was perhaps most apparent in the public concerts given by the choir of the Cossack units fighting with the German army, in 1943-1944. The last of three concerts was canceled by the Romanians, and apparently it took high-level pressure to have it restored.

To alleviate the tension the cancellation had produced, Pantea personally attended the concert and made a large monetary gift to the Cossack choir. Finally, the local society og Russian veterans (mostly monarchists, as will be seen below) organized a benefit concert, whose program included the 1812 Overture and Glinka's Ivan Susanin aria. According to an eyewitness, the entire audience rose when Marche Slave was performed; allegedly the local authorities later reprimanded the head of the organization for the concert.

This was the maximum of Romanian political intervention in the arts-of course the German and Romanian national anthems were performed. Nazi newsreels shown, and occasionally inept actors with political connections were given roles.51* many other things the Romanians did were politically neutral; eight city libraries, with a total of over 2 million volumes, were reopened to the public in 1943; and , after some delays and changes of exhibits, the standard museums of the city were likewise reopened.52* The artists and painters of Odessa formed a society of their own-Obshestvo svobodnyckh kzudozhnikov-which arranged exhibits of their works; later the opened a permanent salon, which sold their works and served partly as a social center for the free arts.53*

To those with time and money, Odessa, even under the occupation, had plenty to offer in the way of entertainment and recreation. At least part of the population took pride in this revival; others took advantage of to forget the seamy or disgusting sides of Transnistrian life. This was true only of Odessa itself; as has been suggested, rural areas did not display the same appetite for cultural activities, and certainly cultural opportunities in smaller urban and rural areas were incomparably poorer. The hinterland did not rate the "conspicuous consumption" in the arts that the Romanians indulged in the metropolis.54*

The Romanians in Odessa were markedly attached to the "cultural world." Some became attached to individual actresses or ballerinas; others "attached" to themselves the equipment and property of the theaters when the time came to retreat behind the Dnestr. Cleopatra Consolarino, thePrimaria's factotum, participated in the looting of the Ivanov Drama Theater in 1944. Costumes, shoes, and stage sets were removed to Romania; over 2,000 pianos were evacuated; many books from the city library wound up in Bucharest, Constanta, and Iasi. Hundreds of paintings, much of china, and many other objects were taken from Odessa museums by the Germans before the city was abandoned to the returning Red Army.55*

With all its limitations, the artistic revival seems to have been truly impressive. Both Soviet citizens and emigres helped bring it about; the quality of productions varied from excellent to poor, but the wide range itself suggests how great the demand was in a large city such as Odessa, even under wartime occupation.

The Church

Particularly in the rural areas of Transnistria, there was ample evidence of strong popular attachment to the church, in spite of years of Soviet "militant godlessness." Even the German SD-not exactly a devour assembly-could not but report the existence of such feeling in Anan'ev, for instances, the three churches promptly reopened when the German arrived, there had been no services since 1935; the first services were well attended; requests at once came in for post facto church marriages (somewhat difficult to perform because records, personnel, and equipment were lacking), and for baptisms (large number were baptized during the first weeks of occupation).

There was little equipment, even shortage of candles, and, of course, few clerics. Some of this was remedied by the arrival of the armies of occupation. At first (until Berlin forbade it), the German army gave help-for instance, they restored a cathedral south of Tiraspol' which had been converted into a barn, after they found peasants praying in it; according to the Italian paper, Alexianu decorated the German captain for thia act. The Romanian army willingly lent its chaplains for local services-indeed, so eagerly, at times, that, in mid-August, a German corps commander reported that "Romanian propaganda units criss-crossing the were forcibly baptizing Ukrainian children." The fact that the Romanians, like Russian and Ukrainians, were Eastern Orthodox 56* facilitated the giving of religious assistance. The reopening of churches was at times spontaneous as it also was under the Germans, but often accompanied buy Romanian participation; at least initially this-as was hoped-tended to forge a certain bond of community in rural areas between the people and the authoritied.57*

In Odessa itself religious sentiment was by no means so pronounced. Nonetheless, as soon as the city fell to the Romanians a mass prayer was held on the square of Nikolaevski sobor, the old cathedral. One of the participants speaks of it as less an Orthodox religious manifestation than a communal., mass rally. Here too, it took little time to restore a few churches at least and resume services.58*

the organization of religious life was importantly influenced by Romanian policy. Antonescu first decree of August 19, 1941, provided for the reopening of churches in Transnistria, and priests were enjoined to start at once "leading the population back to Christianity." Because of the shortage of priests and because the Romanian had specific missionary and Romanizing goals, a special body, the Miseunea ortodoxa romana in Transnistria, was appointed by Partiarch Nikodemis in behalf of the Romanian Holy Synod; it had the task of supervising religious activities generally and assigning the clergy to vacant posts.

The Romanian press minced no words about how important "organizing Orthodoxy" in Russia was; in essence, the Romanians wished to substitute Romanian religious (and hence political) influence for Muscovite Orthodoxy.59*

The Orthodox in Transnistria were therefore placed under the Romanian Patriarchate.60* As early as September,1941 Iuliu Scriban was named to direct the mission as administrator of the Odessa eparchy; he was a man reputedly well known in Romanian Oecumenical circles but rather unfamiliar with Russian affairs. An archbishopric of Tiraspol' was established under Antal, formerly an army chaplain; Metropolitan Nicolae Balan of Transylvania was active farther south.61* In November,1942, Scriban was replaced (allegedly for corruption) by Archbishop Vissarion (Puiu) a rather fortunate choice. Though a Romanian, Vissarion had studied at the Kiev Theological Academy before the Revolution and spoke fluent Russian; he had been Bishop of Bel'tsy (Bessarabia), then Metropolitan of Cernauti, and was known to have close contacts with the Anglican Church. In 1939, Vissarion had addressed an open letter to Stalin protesting the persecution of the clergy in the Soviet Union. (Since the end of World War II he has been head of the Romanian exile church in Western Europe)
Vissarion appears to have enjoyed considerable popularity in Odessa, because of both personality and his political stand. He insisted on close contact with the indigenous population and the working together of Romanian and native clergy; above all, he resisted the Romanization policy and use of the church for this. Unlike most of his colleagues and subordinates, he favored a Church Slavonic liturgy and Russian services, and disapproved of the Romanian sermons, liturgy, and rites that others had introduced.62* On Christmas Eve,1943, after more than a year in Odessa, Vissarion was forced to retire to Bucharest.

This was mainly due to Alexianu, for whom Vissarion represented "a pro-Russia extreme," and a group and a group of pro-Romanization clergymen headed by young Archimanrite Antim, or Anthemios Nica)63* It was Antim who formally succeeded as head of the Mission; this was paradoxical-for later Antim stayed in Romania and collaborated with the Communist regime, and Vissarion went abroad.64*
Between 300 and 400 were reopened in Transnistria, and 617 clergymen (both Soviet and Romanian citizen) were assigned there. In early 1942 there were 84 missionaries and 150 native priests. .By mid-1942 there were 411 clerics, and the number continued to increase. Because of language difficulties, only the Moldavian communities were fully taken care of - "imported" priests could most easily serve there. By mid-1942 the Mission began to allow Russians, who had to meet certain formal requirements, to take vows. The greatest shortage was in Ukrainian clergymen. In Odessa itself about 25 out of 48 churches, which had once existed, were restored. Two monasteries in Odessa area were modestly rebuilt, and were functioning when the nervous Romanian Mission fled in early 1944. Balta and Tulchin had their own bishoprics. In November,1942, a theological seminary was opened in Dubosary. A plan, announced in January,1942, to make Scriban, who was then head of the simultaneously dean of a new theological faculty at Odessa University was later abandoned, largely; it seems, because of German protests against systematic expansion of Christian teachings. Odessa had its own deanery; the first dean was a Romanian, but his successor was an indigenous priest. In the fall of 1942, the Primaria took church affairs out of the jurisdiction of the Culture and School Directorate and established instead a separate Directorate for Religious Affairs.65*

Popular reactions to the church defy easy summary. Christmas, 1941, was apparently celebrated in many homes "as it used be"-for the first time in many a year, though privations somewhat the fervor; a group of children toured Odessa knocking on doors and singing koliadki their grandparents had taught them. There were festive Easter services in 1942, with Alexianu leading the procession to the cathedral. In connection with the Christmas celebrations in 1942, Alexianu had 211 prisoners of war released, ostensibly so that they might spent the holidays with their families. His announcement stressed the community of Russian and Romanian Orthodox sentiments. The Odessa municipality arranged a distribution of gifts to needy children at a Christmas tree erected at the stadium.66*

And yet the situation was not as simple as it might seem. There were those who went to church, and those who didn't, put people's reason for being in one or the other group were various. Among church-goers, there were unquestionably those with genuine faith; many of them were older people, many were women, but there were also some young people. Others attended services because it was the thing to do-a form of conspicuous behavior that suited well the attitudes of the nouveau-riche bourgeoisie. For some people the church was a symbol of anti-Bolshevism; one refugee felt that the rapid reconstruction of churches was widely accepted as a token of protest against the Soviet order. Still others, perhaps unaware of it themselves sought solace, comfort, and community, in a body that was both mysterious and familiar, doth social and private-spiritual womb in the era of insecurity and the symbol of a "just" life: the church recalled days which, or not better, had been at least somewhat more equitable.67*

But there was also hostility or resentment toward he church as an institution per se. More often, specific incidents had produced the negative feeling. Religious instruction had been made compulsory by the new regime, and while many parents appeared to acquiesce in this, pupils often resented it.

Refuge relate that the teaching was done either by members of the Romanian Mission or by local residents with pre-revolutionary theological training. On the whole, it tended to be entirely dogmatic, and mainly a matter of memorizing long passages of the Bible or the catechism in Church Slavonic. Some of the teachers were poorly prepared to handle the subject. Soviet -trained high school and college students were at times incensed by the presentation of their Soviet puritanism affronted: two girls, embarrassed by a biblical tale told by the teacher, involving what by modern concepts would be incest, indignantly left the classroom exclaiming "What indecency!" 68*

Somewhat related to this was the rejection of the Romanian clergy by the population because of their perfume, their many-colored robes, lacquered shoes, and soft hats. "Old-times" would remark: Ne te sviashcheniki-"they are not the right kind of priests." To the genuinely faithful this gaudiness in appearance was repulsive. Others, at first, thought it a hopeful sign. In private conversations (refugees relate), it was discussed whether this was not perhaps a potent of secular attitude among a more highly educated clergy. These elements-largely liberal intellectuals-were disappointed to find (as one of them expressed it) that the clergy had remained" as archaic and immune to fresh winds" as ever. This feeling was intensified by the use of the church as a vehicle for spreading monarchism. In Romania itself the church was one of the mainstays of the throne and pro-monarchism was openly preached from the pulpit in Transnistria. The overwhelming majority of the population-and especially the intelligentsia-were alienated by this.

The Mission's Romanizing efforts helped cool others who had genuinely welcomed the religious revival. Many services were conducted in Romanian rather than Russian, and both the Ukrainian peasantry and the Russian city-dweller objected to this strenuously. The Romanian services were resented as (1) unintelligible, and (2) a national insult. Vissarion had sought to change this, but in vain. After his ouster, even broadcast services were in Romanian rather than Church Slavonic.69* People remembered that this initial Romanian proclamations had promised each community the right to choose the language in which its religious services would be conducted.70*

People at first regarded the reopening of churches as an improvement over Soviet conditions, but this feeling decreased in strength as news reached Odessa that the Soviets were introducing similar reforms. Acquaintance with the practices of the new church also led, as has been suggested, to a substantial diminution of zeal and approval. A refugee novelist who spent the war in Odessa as depicted this through the eyes of a "pure" young girl, the daughter of priest killed by the NKVD, and brought up in a religious environment, but who now was much repelled by the reopened churches: there was no genuine faith among churchgoers; the selling of candles has become big business; priest became indecently drunk; other used the church to propagate political reaction and intolrance.71* It did not rally and unite the people; it might have developed into a passive but firm "third force," but it did not.

City Life

On the whole, the church, geographically the center of most communities, failed to become in the same way its social center. Church life under the Romanians, at least in its scope, differed little from church life under the Germans. Tjhe other aspects of public life-operas and theaters, concerts and circuses a spirit strikingly different from that prevailing in German-occupied parts of the USSR. This difference is perhaps nowhere illustrated than in the relatively insignificant things that made the "atmosphere" of the city. As early as November,1941, the German Abwehr office in Romania commented, upon returning from Odessa:

The impression which one gets as soon as one enters Odessa is utterly different from that which one has been accustomed to receiving upon entering any of the occupied cities of the East. 72*

If such a difference could be detected as early as 1941, it became far more pronounced in mid-1942, when the life was somewhat more normal. Article after article in the German, Romanian, or foreign press commented on the night life, the reopened cafes and hotels, and the milling crowds on such main arteries as Deribasovskaia, restricted by nothing but curfew. Time and again they spoke of "large, laughing, loud crowds" promenading after work. In their parks, older people might sit on the benches to chat or listen to loudspeaker or band music; people would stroll up and down streets where jewelry and fur stores and snack bars made their appearance. Newspaper boys, vendors of watermelons, sweets, poppy-seed makovki and bubliki (sweet pretzels), and beggars sought the attention of the crowds. There was a public lottery in the Alexandrovskii Park.. There were soccer games between an Odessa team and visiting team from Bucharest (unthinkable in the German-held areas). Pedestrians would be given handbills offering new bandages or promising to improve handwriting. Outwardly, much of the city had been fixed up; the key tourist attractions were in order(pre-revolutionary names had often been restored, though there were a few streets now named after Adolf Hitler, Antonescu, and King Mihai I); window panes brought in from Bucharest were used to repair the remaining damage; and visiting Romanians flocked to Odessa.73* As even Kataev, the Soviet novelist, acknowledges in his account of the war years, Odessa became a moderne town, something like Nice, where some hoped to have a good time, others to establish commercial contacts, and still others to buy dacha in the area of the Fontany (a suburb) or Lustdorf...74*

As trade and speculation grew, there was a rapid mushrooming of bodegas-little restaurants. The major hotels, like London and the Northern (Severnaia), reopened. And the restaurant of the Severnaia was remodeled as a cabaret by Petr Leshchenko, the famous singer of gypsy and folk songs, who lived in Bessarabia until the war. His appearances in Odessa earned him as much popularity there as his records had in the West, and his restaurant became a popular hangout. 75* Like the Severnaia, some hotels, restaurants, and stores were not locally owned: they belonged to individuals or groups of Romanians or Russian emigres, many of them from Bessarabia. But local residents were also involved in enterprises. This is picture as citizens of Odessa recounted it to visiting newsmen after Soviet recapture:

Little wine shops and sidewalk cafes opened, selling fine French champagnes and Dutch cocoa. Romanian restaurant proprietors introduced "lotto" and other mass gambling games. Romanian officers imported silk stockings and pretty trinkets. Shares were sold in imaginary corporations. Uspenskaya Street was renamed for Antonescu, and Karl Marx Ulitsa became Adolf Hitler Street.76*

It took a lot of gold to make all this glitter. While the strolling and bench-sitting were free, restaurants and night clubs became so expensive as to beyond the reach of many residents. The curfew hour restricted activities; it was first 4 p.m., later, and gradually extended to 11 p.m.; in the winter of 1943-1944 the hour began being pushed forward once more Odessa was fortunate in matter of heath.77* Though pharmacies, sanatoriums, and resorts had been looted and all but destroyed, and the best doctors and pharmacists had either left with the Soviet or, if Jews, had soon been eliminated, sanitary conditions were apparently rather good. The Primaria Directorate for Health and Social Services, under a Romanian docent, Popescu-Buzau, established a separate hospital for contagious diseases, took over the facilities of the University Clinic and other sanitary installations, and restored ambulance service, mobile health inspection units, a special sanitation police, pharmacies, and delousing units. In July,1942, a German hospital was opened. Actually before the end of the year Odessa's medical services (in particular, those of the University Medical Faculty) were so good that the city had no epidemics at all.

Presumably, the greater availability of foodstuffs helped prevent the epidemics that afflicted German-held areas. Odessa's health facilities were no well known that the Germans and indigenous employees
from Nikolaev were sent there for treatment (though it took weeks to obtain entry and exit permits).78*

The health of the countryside was not quite so good. Antonescu's initial order but assured a good level of health through local funds and local doctors, but it took more than to achieve this. A German army officer who investigated children inn a randomly selected village found tuberculosis widespread and some malaria; of the 1,705 pupils under 16 that be examined, as many as 134 had trachoma; in general, children were not getting milk-not because thre was none but because government delivery requirements were too high. Even so, a modicum of medical service was supplied, and he felt that severe mass illness could successfully be avoided.79*

As is perhaps inevitable under such conditions, venereal disease, which had been rare in Odessa, rose
rapidly after the Romanians arrived. It seems to be fairly well agreed that local girls did not associate extensively with the soldiers of the occupation, though a number of "marriages" took place between Romanian officials and local girls-a police prefect married an actress, a colonel married a salesgirl, a Romanian businessman married the daughter of a local professor. Indeed Romanians and Germans at times complained about the unresponsiveness of Odessa girls, The Romanians :solved" the problem by establishing houses of prostitution.80* Some local residents claim not to have known about these; others had heard of them, but had not seen proof of their existence.. The Soviets made much of the issue: during the war Ilia Ehrenburg ranted about the fact( if it was fact) that " on Antonescu Street, Madame Bardonescu (had) opened a swish bordello for Romanian aristocrats;" and after the war, the Soviet Extraordinary Commission accused Vidrascu, among others, of owning a brothel.81* The one piece of documentary evidence in the Soviet collection of materials on the Romanian occupation is a license of the Primaria, signed by Vidrascu granting the lease of second floor apartment in the Spartak Hotel on a major thoroughfare of Odessa "for the purpose of opening a house of encounter" for Romanian and German military personnel.82* The Romanians seem to have been anxious to keep the very existence of brothels secret, apparently aware-and quite correctly-of the keen sensitivity of the local population to them.

High art and debauchery footlights and gutter were all part of wartime Odessa. For the "Transnistrias"
it was fortunate that a large part of "cultural world" had remained in the city. The demand for cultural activities, for news, and for entertainment proved more deep-seated than had perhaps been realized. There seemed to be a deeply engrained desire to live normally and enjoyably, and to substitute relaxation for wars and plans and fronts and rations. Despite all the ugliness that accompanied it-from political censorship to prostitution-the cultural revival, in the broadest sense, was easier to effect and was more genuine than Odessa's economic revival (which though intense, was hardly extensive).
_____________
1* Beauftragte des Chefs der SiPo u.SD beim Bth ruckw. H.Geb. Sud, "Tatigkeit," September 2,1941, CRS, AOK II,35774/6.

2* See e.g., Dr Ihnen, OKVR, "Tatigkeitsbericht fur die Zeit vom15.XI.-15.XII" December 15,1941, CRS,DHMR 76152; interview C; gh, "Transnistrien," Das Reich, Berlin, August 1,1943, Ionescu and Andrei op. cit.

3* Antonescu, "Reichtlimien zur Verwaltung der Provinz "Transnistrien," August 19,1941.

4* Relazioni Intermazionali, November 1.1941, cited in Rumanisches Blut fur das neue Odessa,p.93.

5* Antonescu, op. cit.; "Friedliches Odessa," Deutsche Ukraine-Zeitung, Rovno, January 10,1943; Chef, der SiPo u. SD,IV A1,"Ereignismeldung UdSSR #100," October 1,1941 (also cited as SD Report 100); Riedl, "Aufbau am Dnjestr," op. cit.

6* Maurer, op. cit.; Der Deutsche in Transnistrien, vol.1#1, July 9,1942.

7* Walter Hoffmann, Rumanien von heute, Meiner, Leipzig,1942,p.27.

8* Interview D.

9* Interview E.

10* Antonescu, Decree of June 15,1943, Molva,#159, June 18,1943; German Consulate,Odessa, "Neue Innerpolitik in Transnistrien," June 21,1943, AA reel 1273, frames 342476-81; "Zwei Jahre Transnistrien," Krakauer Zeitung, August 21,1943.

11* It is impossible to estimate the numbers in different age groups, because of the absence of demographic data. However, the enrollment in the fall of 1942 of 6,687 pupils in elementary schools; 2,385 in secondary schools; and 933 in technical and trade schools in Odessa itself(with an estimated population of some 350,000) is considerably lower than it should been, even allowing for the fact that many parents returned their children to school only during the following school year. According to semi-official data, the city of Odessa along had, in 1942 5 municipal elementary schools and 3 special ones; 1 secondary co-educational Moldavian school, one Ukrainian, and one Armenian secondary schools, plus 5 boys' and 9 girls municipal lyceum; there were also 11 trade schools. A year later, there were 8 boys' and 14 girls' lyceums, and some 50 elementary schools (including private ones). All Transnistria was reported to have had some 250,000 pupils in schools in the spring of 1942, distributed among 1,312 four-year village schools, 613 seven-year village schools and124 ten-year schools, plus a few lyceums. (Odessa ,Serviciul de presa si propaganda a Municipiuli Odesa, Ein Jahr rumanische Verwaltung, extract in Romanische Presseauszuge, Vienna, May 15,1943, CRS, EAP 99/87; interview A; and Ostland, Berlin, vol.24 #3, February 1,1943, pp.54-55.

12* Document USSR-47; interview D; SD Report 100.

13* The formal reopening of the University was announced as early as December 7,1941 (E.g., Volkischer Beobachter, December 10,1941).

14* Manuilov,p.108, interviews A and D; Tverskoi.

15* In addition to these two ,the men who took over the direction of the Agricultural Institute ( or "Faculty," as it was known) were both Romanians: Professor Tetradu was in charge, and Professor Victor Gimpu was deputy dean (Novoe slovo, #56, July 14,1943).

16* Interviews A, B, and D; "Ein Gewahrsmann berichter"; "Poseshchenie Gubernatorom Transnistrii Prof. Aleksianu obshchezhitiia studentov i studendok moldovan," Molva,#130, May 12,1943; "Ein Jahr Universitat Odessa, Bukarester Tageblatt, march 2,1943, and April 29,1943; Novoe Slovo, #92,1943.

17* Interviews A and D; Tverskoi.

18* Interviews A, D and E; Peterle, op.cit.; AA, "Ein Gewahrsmann berichter".

19* Bukarester Tageblatt, January 10and March 9,1943.

20* Porunca Vremii, cited in Bukarester Tageblatt, July 9,1943.

21* Bukarester Tageblatt, March 2,1943; interviews D and E; Novoe slovo,#12, February 10,1943
The breakdown by departments was:Medicine-816; Technology-305; Philosophy and History-249; Natural Science-151; Law-72 (Deutsche Nachrichten in Griechenland, Athens, March 5,1943, cited in New Digest, May,1943.
22* Interview D; Peterle, op. cit.; German Consulate, Odessa, "Neue Innenpolitik".

23* Gen. WiStab Ost, "Reisebericht...8.-16.6.42; Verhandlungsberichte," CRS, Wi/ID 2.408; Interview D; Bukarester Tageblatt, March 2,1943; Der Deutsche in Transnistrien, #12, October 4,1942.

24* Deutsche Akademik Munchen, Lectorat Odessa, CRS, DAM 112.

25* RMfdbO...Beauftragter bei Heers gruppe Sud, to RMfdbO., FSt Pol: "Abschrift aus dem Bericht fur Monat Dezember (1943) des Befehlshabers der Deutschen Truppen in Transnistrien," CRS, EAP.

26* The Germans' own propaganda effort in Transnistria consisted merely in the distribution of the regular DNB service to the Romanian authorities for use by the press. In addition, the Volksdeutsche population was serviced by weekly, Der Deutsche in Transnistrien, which, however, was recognized even by German as "utterly inadequate".

27* Great Britain, Ministry of Economic warfare, Basic Handbooks, Rumania, London,1943,p.5; SD Report 100.

28* Manuilov, p.59; interview E.

29* Antonescu, "Richtlnien".

30* One refugee recalls how he wrote an article urging parents to send their children to school. The piece appeared the following day, with a paragraph added at the end in praise of Alexianu and thanking the government. (Mikhail Manuilov, "Odessa during World War II" (MS in Russian), Research Program on the USSR, New York,1952, p.100 Other instances of such changes by editorial staff itself are known they were often made to avoid possible "trouble" or to want off official criticism, as discussed in the text below.

31* Interview A; Manuilov,pp.66,99; interview D' Schumacher, "Im Government Transnistrien," op. cit.

32* A Russian journalist touring the occupied areas on official business wrote, in an article published in Berlin, that Molva as well as Odesskaia Gazeta were the only newspapers he had encountered in all his meandering through occupied territories which had "real" editorial staffs and offices of professional type (Nikolai Fevr, "Odessa o odessity, "Novoe Slovo, #98, December 8,1943.

33* Manuilov,p.102; Peterle, op. cit,;interviews C and D; "Rumynskaia p'esa v russkom teatre," Molva, October 5, 1943.

34* Interviews C.

35* Of the four editors of Molva, the editor-in0chief was an emigre; the literary and political editors were Soviet journalists; and the religious editor was a Russian priest from Romania (Interview K).

36* Interviews A,D and K.

37* Other newspapers appeared in small localities in Trasnistria (e. g.,The Russian-language Pribugskie Izvestiia in Golta, the Transnistrian part of Pervomaisk). Another paper appeared in Balta. An attempt was also made to publish a Ukrainian newspaper in Odessa. Its editor, Ivan Polomarchuk, a Soviet newspaperman, was, however, arrested and apparently abused by the Romanian police after the appearance of the first issue. (Interview H).

38* Interviews A and D; Manuilov, p.50.

39* This did not prevent Molva from serializing Solonevich's Rossia v kontslagere (Russia in Concentration Camp).

40* Interviews A, C, D, and K.; "Tse bulo pri rumanakh, "Chernomors'ka komuna, July22,1944; OVOV, vol.2,pp.78-80.

41* Clements Markus, "Neues Schwarzmeer-Theater," Bukarest Tageblatt, July 25,1943; Tverskoi; Manuilov,pp.93ff; interview D; Gerhart Herrmann, "Dornros'hen Odessa," Donauzeitung, Belgrad, August 8,1943; Novoe slovo,#7, January 24,1943.

42* Novoe Slovo,#43, May 1943.

43* Pershi was a young newspaperman who had suddenly proved more talented than his output under the Soviet would have led anyone to believe (though he soon became an outcast in the eyes of the Odessa intelligentsia because he took over the job of censor for the Romanian authorities).

44* Zubov, at the end of the occupation, appears to have established some contact with the Soviet authorities or underground. He remained in Odessa when the Red Army returned; so did Mertsalova, good actress, formally a Communist Party member, reportedly decent in personal and political behavior, and who refused to participate in political plays; so did Makkaveiskii, another good actor, who (unlike Mertsalova) has recently been mentioned in the Soviet press as again performing in Odessa.

45* Tverskoi; Manuilov,pp.94-98; interviews C, D, and H; Peterle, op. cit,; Novoe Slovo, #66, August 18,1943.

46* Tverskoi; interview D; Novoe Slovo,#62, August4,1943.

47* Document USSR-47; Peterle, op. cit.; Manuilov, p.98; interview D; Molva, #130, May 12,1943.

48* Possible reasons for the nationalization of movie houses by the Romanians were (1) confkicts among their owners, (2) evidence that at least one movie on Deribasovskaia had connection with partisans, and (3) Romanian desire to use their receipts to replenish the government treasury.

49* Manuilov,p.99; interviews A and D; Bukarester Tageblatt, August 9,1943; Mamukoc, p.49; Noboe Slovo,#12, February 10,1943.

50* Tverskoi; Ershov, "Vozrozhdennaia konservatoriia, "Molva, October 16,1943; interview D; Manuilov,pp.109-111; Novoe Slovo, #18, 338, March 3 and May 12,1943.

51* With typical incongruity, the Romanians waited until September,1943, to issue an order forbidding the perfomance of musical works by Jewish and certain Soviet composers, such as Mendelssohn, Khachaturian, and Dunaevsky. Oddy enough, Shostakovich was not included in the ban. The approval of the censorship office had thenceforth to secured for the public performance of compositions (OVOV, vol.2,p.66).

52* Bukarester Tageblatt, November 2,1943; interview D.

53* Mamukov,p.51.

54* See, e.g., Ihnen, op. cit.

55* Document USSR-47; interview D.

56* As for non -Orthodox denominations,, the Lutherans in the Odessa area (largely ethnic Germans) were made charges of the Transbistria church of the Transylvanian church (Siebenburger Evangelische Kirche) which sent a mission to Odessa,and which reopened a chapel (converted to a firniture storeunder Soviet rule) and cemetery. The first services, conducted by the four Lutheran missionaries, were well attended; in a number of villages Lutheran sacristans (Kuster) were elected (Kyrkov under karset, #2,Lund,1943, cied in News Digest, July, 1943).
The Catholic Church had no major outlet or channel for religious work in Transnistria, nor any sizable flock there. In contrast to the hostility between the Vatican and the German authorities, however, the Papal Nuncio in Bucharest, Mgr. Cassulo, visited Odessa and gave Alexianu a decoration on behalf of the Pope in recognition of his providing for the spiritual needs of the population and the prisoners of war in Transnistria (Transocean Radio, May 7,1943). A Roman Catholic mission headed by Markus Glasser was established in Odessa with the sanction of the Romanians (Pravoslavnaia Rus', August 28,1942).

57* SD Report 100; LIV. Ic, "Ubergriffe,"op. cit.; Mario Valaperta in Il Regime Fascista, November 30, 1941,reprinted in Rumanisches Blut fur neue Europa, pp.177-179; Bertold Spuler, "Die orthodoxen Kirchen," "Internationale kirchliche Zeitscribft, Berne, vol.32, 1942, p.48; Simeonov, "Pravoslavnaia misiia v Russiia," Ts'rkoven vestnik, Sofia, February 20, 1942.

58* Manuilov, pp. 132-133; interviews A and C; Friedrich Heyer, Die othodoxe Kirche in der Ukraine von 1917 bis 1945, Rudolf Muller, Cologne, 1953, p.171.

59* Antonescu, "Richtlinien"; Heyer, op. cit., pp.209-210; Porunca Vremii, September, 1941, excerpt trans. into German, CRS, DW 44.

60* No other Orthodox jurisdictions were permitted: neither the emigre churches, such as the Karlovac Synod, nor the Ukrainian autocephalous church. Several priests of the latter church passed through Odessa in the winter of 1943-1944, during the retreat from the German-held part of Ukraine, and sought to contact services in Odessa, but they were promptly debarred by the Romanian authorities, and continued their flight to Bulgaria.

61* Heyer, op. cit., pp.209-211; Rumanisches Blut fur das neue Europa, pp.177-179; SD report 100; interview K.

62* Under Vissarion, the theological journal, Transnistria Cristiana, edited by Varlaam Kiritsa, and therefore published in Romanian, began to appear in Russian as well.

63* Vissarion retirement was no officially enlarged upon. Rumor in church circles in Odessa had it that one reason for Alexianu 's resentment against Vissarion was the latter's Easter sermon of 1943, which contrasted the piety of the rank-and -file (presumably Soviet and Romanian) which the lack of religious conviction or conduct among the Romanian administration and elite (Interview K).

64* Manuilov, pp.118-120; Heyer, op.cit.,pp210-211; interview D; Lauterbach, op. cit.,pp.83-84; Donauzeitung , November 21,1943; Bukarester Tageblatt, February 18,1943,March 3,1943 and August 16,1943 interview K; Spuler,op. cit., vol.33,1943 pp.39-40.

65* Heyer, op. cit.,pp.211-212; interview C; Bukarester Tageblatt, November 2,1943; Mamukov, p.44;
Spuler, op. cit.,vol.32,1942,pp.48,176-178; Spuler, vol.33,1943,pp.166-167; Spuler, vol.34,1944,pp.66-68.

66* Manuilov, pp.134-136; Wirtschaftsoffizier Transnistrien, "Kriegstagebuch," 1942, p.107,CRS Wi/ID 202, Novoe Slovo, #7, January 24,1943.

67* Interview D; Manuilov, pp.132-134.
Many churches also provided "extra-curricular" activities. Thus "Lecture Halls of Christian Culture" were common. Amateur theatrical performances, lectures, soup kitchens, and orphanages were the most widespread forms of activity. (Interview K; Novoe Slovo, Berlin.#24, March 24,1943).

68* Interviews A and D; Peterle, op. cit.; Heyer, op. cit., pp.210-211; gh, "Transnistrien," Das Reich, August 1,1943.

69* Every Saturday and Sunday, the evening service and liturgy was broadcast by piped radio from Znamenski Cathedral.

70* Ibid.

71* Ershov, "Strannyi konets,"pp50-58.

72* Abwehrstelle Rumanien, "Bericht uber Wahrnenhmungen in Odessa," November 4,1941, CRS, DHMR 29222.

73* Gustav Lang, "Transnistrien," Deutsche Post aus dem Osten, Berlin ,vol.14,1942, July, pp.32-33; AA, "Ein Gewahrsmann berichter"; Peterle, op. cit.; Bukarester Tageblatt, October 19, 1943; Interview A; "Zhitti a v Odesi," Krakivski Visti, Cracow, #77(524), April 16,1942; Muller, "Das Land zwischen Dnyestr und Bug," op. cit.; Bauer, "Odessa-die Stadt hinter der Front," op. cit.; Juan Manuel de la Aldea,"Odesa-la ciudad ha sudo incorporada a nuestra civilizacion," Arriba, Madrid, December 5,1943; Zierke, "Jenseits des Dnjestr," op. cit.; Novoe Slovo,#94, November 25, 1942, and #22, #97, March 17, and December 5,1943.

74* Kataev, op. cit., p.306.

75* Manuilov, pp.88-89; Tverskoi; Interview A.

76* Lauterbach, op. cit.,p.82.

77* A minor phenomenon is the striking decline of sports activities in Transnistria. Except for the sport clob "Victoria," which existed from early 1942 on, and which toured Bessarabia (Novoe Slovo ,#16, February 24, 1943 ),there is no evidence of sport activities or interest The scarcity of adult males doubtless contributed to this, as did the general accent on more rewarding business. Also , few, "sporting types" remained and the values associated with the Soviet collective "physical culture" were no longer highly regarded.

78* SD Report 100; interviews A and D; Tara, April 14, 1943; Bfh. H.Geb. B, Abt.VII, "Lagebericht vom 10, October 1942," Document 051-PS: Der Deutsche in Transnistrien, #1, July 9,1942; Mamukov,p.48.

79* Antonescu, "Richtlinien"; 6 Kp/Lehrregt. Branderburg,z.b.V.800, Truppenarzt, "Erfahrung und Tatigkeitsbericht," August 26,1941, CRS,EPA 99/47.

80* A former Red Army man avers that, even before the war, the public park in Odessa "had played a big role in the life of the Odessa garrison: it took care of the army sexual problem. Prostitution, officially forbidden and according to official statistics nonexistent, flourished in Odessa. In this very park the Soviet daughter of Corinthmade "free' love for meager 5 rubles..." (Fred Virski, My Life in the Red Army, Macmillan, New York,1949,p.132).

81* Interviews A,B, and E; I. Ehrenburg, Voina, vol.3,OGIZ, Moscow,1944 pp.66-67.

82* OVOV, vol.2.p.18.