Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the fortunes of the anti-Bolshevik White move-
ment declined, it served as one of the embarka-
tion points for Russians seeking to escape the
country during 1920. In Soviet times, the city
developed a colorful reputation as the center of a
criminal underworld, celebrated in the works of
such writers as Isaac BABEL . During World War II
Odessa was occupied by German and Romanian
troops from 1941 to 1944 and suffered great dam-
age. With the renewal of Jewish emigration from
the USSR in the 1970s, many of the area's Jewish
residents resettled in the BRIGHTON BEACH area of
New York City, which became colloquially known
as Little Odessa. In 1991, with the dissolution of
the Soviet Union, Odessa became a part of newly
independent Ukraine, at which time its popula-
tion was estimated at about 1 million.
tinguished by its high artistic standards. His
deceptively simple, often nostalgic ballads that
sang with equal feeling of ants, paper soldiers,
and the lost world of Moscow's Arbat district
were not considered antiestablishment and were
thus mostly tolerated by the government. Nev-
ertheless, the songs circulated clandestinely,
through the system known as magnitizdat, dur-
ing the BREZHNEV era. In the GORBACHEV years,
Okudzhava attained official recognition, and his
songs became part of the collective soundtrack of
the late 1950s and 1960s, often featured in films
and documentaries that celebrate that era.
Old Believers
Also known as Old Ritualists, a more precise
translation of the Russian term staroobriadtsy , Old
Believers was the appellation given to the Rus-
sian Orthodox faithful who broke with the
church in the 17th century and to their descen-
dants. The introduction of a series of liturgical
reforms by Patriarch NIKON in 1653 set in motion
the events that led to the church schism of 1666.
Nikon's opponents objected to his attempts to
introduce changes such as making the sign of the
cross with three fingers, a new spelling of Jesus,
and a return to Greek liturgical texts, all of
which they saw as a betrayal of a true Muscovite
culture. They found an articulate defender in the
archpriest AVVAKUM , who was first exiled and
eventually executed for his opposition to the
reforms. Initial opposition to Nikon also took
violent forms, as in the case of the SOLOVETSKY
MONASTERY , where monks and their allies carried
out a war of resistance that lasted from 1668 to
1676. Persecution of Old Believers began soon
after the schism, increased during the reign of
FEODOR III (1676-82), was made official policy in
1684 during the regency of SOPHIA , and contin-
ued periodically into the 19th century. During
the 18th century the Old Believers split into
“priestist” ( popovtsy ) and “priestless” ( bezpopovtsy )
factions. The former organized their own ecclesi-
astical hierarchy and in some cases, while keep-
ing their own rites, reconciled with the Orthodox
Okudzhava, Bulat Shalvovich
(1924-1997)
poet and balladeer
One of the first Soviet-era performers to develop
a wide following through the spread of clandes-
tine tape recorders, throughout his career Okud-
zhava skillfully negotiated the high wire between
official tolerance and mass popularity. Okud-
zhava was born in Moscow to a Georgian father
and an Armenian mother. Both parents were
Communist Party officials; his father was shot
during the Great Purge and his mother spent 19
years in the GULAG . Okudzhava volunteered for
service at the front in 1941 and served in the Red
Army through the end of World War II in 1945.
After the war he enrolled in Tbilisi University in
Georgia, and graduated in 1950. Back in Mos-
cow, he found employment as a schoolteacher
and in publishing houses. He published his first
volume of poetry in 1953, and in 1955 he joined
the COMMUNIST PARTY after the rehabilitation of
his parents. Okudzhava was part of a very influ-
ential generation of Soviet artists, writers, and
performers that included Vasily AKSENOV ,Yev-
geni YEVTUSHENKO , Andrei Voznesensky, Bella
AKHMADULINA , and others who tried to create a
hybrid of high culture and popular culture, dis-
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