The Greeks of the northern Black sea region under conditions of "Red Terror" (1919 - 1921)

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The Greeks of the northern Black sea region under conditions of "Red Terror" (1919 - 1921)

Oleksandr Trygub

PhD hab. (History), Professor, Professor of the Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy, Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University, Mykolaiv, Ukraine,

Oleksandr OSYPENKO

PhD (History), Head Teacher of Department of Ukrainian Studies, Historical, Law and Linguistic Disciplines, Odesa National Maritime University, Odesa, Ukraine

Abstract. One of the little-studied topics is the mass repressions by the Bolsheviks in 1919 - 1921, which received a well-known name "Red Terror". If some episodes are well known, in terms of repression against national minorities, this issue remains among the unexplored aspects of the historical past. The purpose of the study is to determine the extent of repression against the Greek minority in the Northern Black Sea region on the materials of Odesa province (hubernia). The methodological basis of the study is a positivist approach to the reconstruction of the historical past using special historical methods: chronological, systematic, historical and biographical, historical and comparative, based on the principles of objectivity and historicism. The scientific novelty of the article consists in reconstruction of the scale of the Bolshevik repression against the Greek national community on the basis of declassified materials of the Soviet punitive authorities.

The Conclusion. In the materials it is shown that in 1917 - 1918 the terror of the revolutionary masses in the south of Ukraine was spontaneous and unsystematic, mostly affecting the wealthy, among whom a certain stratum was the Greek entrepreneurs. The latter agreed to "requisitions" and paid some money to "revolutionary dealers". The period of "red terror" - 1919 - 1921 can be divided into two periods: 1919 - mass terror of socially hostile elements, which took place mostly without investigation and trial in response to the "white terror", and 1920 - 1921 - systematic and targeted persecution of the "insurgent element", underground anti-Bolshevik organizations, citizens, who served in non-Soviet armies. The second period, along with the strengthening of the Soviet government, gradually shifted from a form of terror to systemic political repressions.

In the materials of repressive authorities is shown that the magority of the Greek community members managed to avoid persecution for the participation of the Greek army in the intervention of the Entente troops in 1918 - 1919. During the second wave of the "red terror" of 1920 - 1921, the Greeks, like other citizens, were also victims of the Extraordinary Commission and the Revolutionary Tribunals. At the same time, although the Greeks were among the counter-revolutionaries and members of underground organizations, their participation was not massive and did not express the national character of socio-political resistance to the Soviet system.

Key words: revolution of 1917 -1921, the Greeks, Southern Ukraine, Greek emigration, red terror, political repressions.

Олександр ТРИГУБ

доктор історичних наук, професор, професор кафедри міжнародних відносин та зовнішньої політики Чорноморського національного університету імені Петра Могили, м. Миколаїв

Олександр ОСИПЕНКО

кандидат історичних наук, старший викладач кафедри українознавства, історико- правових і мовних дисциплін Одеського національного морського університету, м. Одеса, Україна,

ГРЕКИ ПІВНІЧНОГО ПРИЧОРНОМОР'Я В УМОВАХ “ЧЕРВОНОГО ТЕРОРУ” (1919 - 1921)

Анотація. Однією з малодосліджених тем є масові репресії більшовиків 1919 - 1921 рр., що отримали усталену назву "Червоний терор". І якщо окремі епізоди досить добре відомі, то у розрізі репресій щодо національних меншин це питання залишається у колі недосліджених аспектів історичного минуло. Мета дослідження полягає у визначенні масштабів репресій щодо грецької меншини Північного Причорномор'я на матеріалах Одеської губернії. Методологічне підґрунтя роботи становить позитивістський підхід до реконструкції історичного минулого з використанням спеціально-історичних методів: хронологічного, системного, історико-біографічного та історико- порівняльного, ґрунтуючись на принципах об'єктивності й історизму. Наукова новизна статті полягає у реконструкції масштабів більшовицьких репресій щодо грецької національної спільноти на підставі розсекречених матеріалів радянських каральних органів. greek minority northern black sea region

Висновки. Матеріали свідчать, що у 1917 - 1918 рр. на Півдні України терор революційних мас мав стихійний і несистемний характер, здебільшого стосувався заможних верств, серед якої певний прошарок становили греки-підприємці. Останні погоджувалися на "реквізиції" та відкуповувалися від "революційних ділків". Добу "червоного терору" - 1919 - 1921 рр. можна умовно поділити на два періоди: 1919 р. - масовий терор соціально ворожих елементів, що переважно відбувався без слідства та суду як відповідь на "білий терор", і 1920 - 1921 рр. - системне та цільове переслідування "повстанського елементу", підпільних організацій антибільшовицького спрямування, громадян, що перебували на службі у нерадянських арміях. Другий період, разом зі зміцненням становища радянської влади, поступово переходив із форми терору до системних політичних репресій.

Матеріали репресивних органів свідчать, що більшості представників грецької спільноти вдалося уникнути переслідування за участь грецької армії в інтервенції військ Антанти 19181919 рр. На другій хвилі "червоного терору" 1920 - 1921 рр. греки, як й інші громадяни, теж ставали жертвами Надзвичайної комісії та Революційних трибуналів. Водночас хоча греки і фігурують у колах контрреволюціонерів та учасників підпільних організацій, але їх участь не була масовою та не виражала національний характер соціально-політичного спротиву радянській системі.

Ключові слова: революція 1917 - 1921 рр., греки, Південна Україна, грецька еміграція, червоний терор, політичні репресії.

The Problem Statement

In Ukraine the period of national liberation struggle of 1917 - 1921 continues to arouse interest of both professional historians and the public, which is caused by a large number of controversial topics in the vision of the processes that took place during this difficult period. One of such topics is the mass repressions of the Bolsheviks of 1919 - 1921, which received the well-established name “red terrof' in the historical literature. If some (high-profile) episodes of these events are well known to a wide range of historians, in terms of repression against national minorities, this issue remains among almost unexplored aspects of the history of this period.

The Analysis of Recent Researches and Publications

Repressions during the national liberation struggle and civil confrontation were studied only in fragments. This fragmental analysis was due to both politicization of this issue and limited source base, which in fact was inaccessible to the average researcher due to its specifics (criminal cases, classified funds of state archives, etc.).

For a long time, the only known episode of the repressive apparatus of the All-Ukrainian Emergency Commission (VUChK), in which the Greeks were mentioned, was “The Case of Seraphidis” (1920). Appearing for the first time in the study of V. Holichenko (Holichenko, 1966, pp. 101-105), it still “roams” from one study to another in fact unchanged.

Isolated fragments of the Bolshevik repression against the Greeks can be found in the latest works by I. Holoborodko, L. Levchenko, Y. Kotlyar, O. Shyshko, O. Trygub, and O. Osypenko. Thus, L. Levchenko (Levchenko, 2019), elucidating the events of the “Ukrainian campaign” of the Greek army in 1918 - 1919, using the cases materials of the repressed Greeks of the city of Mykolaiv in 1937 - 1938, the author mentions the persecution of the Greek community members who collaborated with the Entente army. Instead, in other other works (including with Yu. Kotlyar), which are devoted to the period and region under study, the author ignores the Greek issue (Kotlyar & Levchenko, 2019; Levchenko, 2020). О. Shyshko (Shyshko, 2019) mentions some surnames of Odesa Greeks who fell into the grindstone of the “red terror”. I. Goloborodko (Goloborodko, 2005) tried to put in order information about the criminal cases of the repressed Greeks and indicated not only the names but also the essence of the accusation. Briefly О. Trygub and О. Osypenko (Trygub & Osypenko, 2021) made an attempt to describe the Bolshevik repressions in the South of Ukraine against the Greek ethnic group in the context of the history of the Greek diaspora during the revolutionary period of 1917 - 1921.

The Purpose of the Research

To outline the scale of repression against the Greek minority on the Northern Black Sea coast based on the materials of Odesa and Mykolaiv provinces. To revive from oblivion the names of the repressed Greeks during the first years of the Soviet rule, to reveal the essence of accusations and their results.

The Source Base

The primary sources are the criminal cases of the repressed Greeks in 1919 - 1921, such as: a court case (the materials of Odesa Provincial Revolutionary Tribunal, stored in the State Archives of Odesa region), and an extrajudicial case (the materials of Odesa Provincial Emergency Commission - the CheKa stored in the Sectoral State Archives of the Security Service of Ukraine in Odesa region). Fragments of individual extrajudicial cases were published in the collections “Results and Practice of Annual Activities of Odesa Gubcheka” (Itogi i praktika, 1921) and “Odesa Martyrologist” (Kovalchuk & Razumov, 2005). Materials of the periodical press of Odesa and Mykolaiv are subsidiary, in which we find separate reports about victims of the “red terror”.

The Results of the Research

At the beginning of the XXth century the Greeks of the cities of the Northern Black Sea coast were small national colonies with a fairly high standard of living. For example, in socio-economic terms, there was a significant middle class among the Greek community in Odesa (36% of its economically active population), while wealthy property owners who had income from rent (8,8%), exceeded the city average. At the same time, the percentage of the lower social classes (servants, industrial workers, day laborers and the poor) reached 52% of economically active Greek population, which was a significant marker of the proletarianization of the lower middle class. The main areas of their activity were commerce and banking, manufacturing, household, real estate rent, transport and communications, civil service, etc. (Herlihy, 1989, p. 239).

A significant part of the Greek diaspora were peasants from villages and towns, which surrounded big port cities. Among them there should be singled out such large colonies as Malyi Buyalyk (Ivanovo, Sverdlove), Velykyi Buyalyk (Blahoyevo), Spyrydonivka (Kominternovo, Dobroslav), Oleksandrivka (the territory of Illichivsk / Chornomorsk), Novomyrne, Vynohradivka in Odesa region, Ochakiv and Tylihulo-Berezansky district in Mykolaiv region and the others. The total number of the Greek diaspora in the Northern Black Sea region reached about 35 000 people, formed as a result of migration waves from 1858 to 1918 (Petsalis-Diomidis, 1972, p. 222).

Despite the fact that in general the revolutionary events of the beginning of 1917 were recepted by the Greeks positively, the Bolshevik coup was recepted with caution by many Greeks. In this respect indicative are the words of Leonid Popandopulo, Mykolaiv engineer, who noted later: “...October coup (italics is our. - the author) I recepted indifferently, neither hostilely nor sympathetically. On the one hand, I thought that this phenomenon was temporary, no longer than 3-4 months - the revolutionary wave will subside and the legal state will be restored without any excesses, and on the other hand, I was little interested in the situation of foreign nationals and was on the sidelines” (SAMR, f. R-5859, d. 2, c. 3887, p. 13).

During the German-Austrian occupation of 1918 the vast majority of the Greeks continued to engage in their current affairs and they even managed to get a good job. The big owners of restaurants and trading business continued to run their businesses (the families: the Inglezis, the Corbetts, Sikilianos, the Kulohlus, Schinas, the Marhelis, the Petrokokinos, Ikonomidas, etc.). Viktor Savchenko, Odesa historian, noted about this time: “Shops and markets were full of products and manufactories, enterprises and offices operated, actors from all over the former empire entertained new citizens of a new state” (Savchenko, 2013, p. 128).

The events of the end of 1918 and the beginning of 1919 in the international arena and in the Ukrainian state led to the end of the short-lived Austro-German occupation. In December of 1918 - January of 1919, the French-Greek troops appeared in the cities of the Northern Black Sea Coast.

The French-Greek expeditionary contingent did not stay in the southern Ukrainian cities for a long time. During the period of March of 1919, N. Hryhoriev occupied the Black Sea cities and approached Odesa. To avoid losses, the Bolsheviks agreed to a civilian and military evacuation from Odesa, which began on April 4 and lasted for 3 days (Petsalis-Diomidis, 1972, pp. 240-241). Despite the short stay of the Entente contingent in the South of Ukraine, later the Chekists used cooperation with the interventionists and accusations of extraditing communists to the voluntary and French authorities to formulate executions during the “red terror”.

Of course, the Greeks were aware of the dangers of their position under the Soviet rule, that is why, they boarded a ship with the Greek military and sailed abroad. This leaving was facilitated by rumors of mass killings by Ataman Hryhoriev's fighters. After the surrender of Kherson and Mykolaiv, Ivan Bunin wrote in his diary: “Rumors: the French are leaving

Odesa... In Kherson, the Bolsheviks slaughtered up to 200 Greek families. The French do not want to fight. Trenches are being dug around Odesa, sandbags are piled up at the station” (Savchenko, 2013, p. 239). Many Greeks, leaving their real estate, left their homes. 10 - 12 thousand Greeks left Odesa only (Petsalis-Diomidis, 1972, pp. 241).

At the same time, the Greek historian K. Avgitidis clarifies that the number of the Greeks who left Odesa should include those Greeks who gathered in Odesa with the withdrawal of the Greek army from Kherson, Mykolaiv and other cities and parts of Russia. In Odesa the vast majority of the Greeks did not leave the city. He notes another notable feature of emigration - in general the rich Greeks left Odesa and Russia, those who had money, and poor workers remained in Russia. Another reason for the departure of the elite, the historian calls the fear of “retaliation” in general, which was quite justified due to participation in the military campaign. According to the facts, some Greeks fell victim to “anti-Soviet propaganda” and left their homes. Of the total Greek population, only 3% of the Greek population left for Greece. The vast majority refused to leave their homes and remained in “Soviet Russia” (Avgitidis, 1999, pp. 290-291).

The second coming of the Bolsheviks in the Northern Black Sea region (March - August of 1919) was marked by a bloody tragedy, known as the “red terrof', carried out by the “punishing sword of the revolution” - All-Ukrainian Emergency Commission (VUChK) and its local branches. The victims of the “famous” Odesa Provincial Emergency Commission (OGChK) were about 1000 (О. Shyshko), 2000 (V. Savchenko) shot (Shyshko, 2019, p. 116). The number of those tortured in Kherson and Mykolaiv was not estimated so far.

From the current research and available materials, it should be stated that in 1919 - 1921 the Chekists did not carry out repressions on national grounds, but focused on the class issue. However, the Greek community was under a special control of the Bolshevik punitive authorities.

Thus, at the beginning of May of 1919, the Chekists revealed the underground anti-Soviet organization “The Russian People's State Union”, headed by Ivan Dusinsky, a librarian of Novorossiysk University. The organization was founded by I. Dusinsky on June 25, 1917, as an alternative to the existing parties, in order to unite the state and national interests. A council of three people was at the head of the Union, which included a Greek Spyridon Scarlato, about whom I. Dusinsky noted: “S. N. Scarlato - the second member of the council (the first was me) was always a modest and helpful person, who stood very clearly on the populist platform, restrained and moderate; he was the treasurer of the Union” (SSA SSU, f. 6, d. 6082-п, p. 17).

The history of the organization was set out in detail by its founder I. Dusinsky at the first interrogation in a special department of Army III on May 4, 1919. He insisted that his organization had nothing to do with monarchical circles, but these assurances proved futile (SSA SSU, f. 6, d. 6082-п, pp. 1-42).

The result of this case is set out in the Bolshevik newspaper “Izvestia” of May 16, 1919 (there is no decision in the criminal case), in which, in particular, it was stated: “During the stay of soldiers-volunteers and the Entente in Odesa, this monarchical union cracked down on the working population brutally, serving as a search engine for soldiers-volunteers and relying on the strength of the White Guard bayonets. Dozens of workers and revolutionaries from Odesa and its suburbs were shot and brutally tortured on the instructions of the Union members. The decision of the Military Revolutionary Tribunal sentenced the above- mentioned people to death. The sentence was executed on the night of [May 9]” (Rozkiyto monarkhichnu organizatsiyu, 1919). In September of 1919, all those executed, including S. Scarlato, were buried at the second Christian cemetery in Odesa (Pokhorony zhertv, 1919).

As very few criminal cases of 1919 were preserved, the local press, which openly published the results of the “hard work” of Odesa Cheka, helped to find some names. The same way as monarchists and counter-revolutionaries there were shot Volodymyr Frangopulo, a teacher, and Pavlo Pitaki (Mitaki), a staff captain, a white officer Dionysius Papafanasopulo (with the latter “for hiding a husband” was arrested and his wife - Sophia, but was released) (SAOR, f. R-8065, d. 2, c. 3224, pp. 8-12, 18; Revtribunal, 1919; Chervonyi sud, 1919; Borotba, 1919; Odesskie novosti, 1919). According to “the red terror in response to the white terror” there were shot: a homeowner Ivan Ambatielo, landowners Xenophon Shurmuraki and Petro Dulanaki, Ivan Panayotov (Panayoti) and his son, a student of Novorossiysk University Dmitry Panayotov (Panayoti) (Trygub & Osypenko, 2021, p. 163; Odesskiy listok, 1919a).

Instead, not all arrests ended in capital punishment for the Greeks. Interesting in this context is the fate of the Moldavian prince of Greek origin Dymytri Heorhievych Mavrokordato (1849 - 1919). The prince began his career in the Navy, and in 1894 he joined the commercial Volunteer Navy, having gone through all the stages of a merchant navy sailor in the company, for which he received universal love among sailors and workers of the Navy. In 1919, when he was arrested and taken to the Cheka, a crowd of workers came to Catherine Square, where the office of Odesa Emergency Commission was located, and insisted on the release of 70-year-old prince. Thus, owing to the support of workers, the prince managed to get rid of Odesa Cheka. Imprisonment in the Chekist cellars probably did not go unnoticed for the elderly prince, because in October of the same year he fell ill and died of “inflammation of the meninges” (meningitis) in four days of illness (Kn. D. G. Mavrokordato, 1919).

A more everyday situation happened to Ivan Kuppe, a well-known Greek businessman and trader of Mykolaiv. On June 11, 1919, he was arrested by Mykolaiv Emergency Commission and taken to Mykolaiv Prison. However, by order of D. Rybak, a new head of Mykolaiv Cheka, on June 14, 1919 he was released. According to the Ukrainian researcher L. Levchenko, the documents show that I. Kuppe agreed to a “tax” (to pay a certain amount of money for his release) and said at what address he would live after his release (Levchenko, 2019, pp. 82-83). Most likely, such cases were not uncommon and many wealthy Greeks in the southern cities, who refused to emigrate, simply redeemed themselves by agreeing to this form of “cooperation” with the Bolsheviks.

At the same time, the Greeks were on a special account of the Bolsheviks, as the latter still well remembered “the Ukrainian campaign” of the Greek army of 1918 - 1919. For this reason, all Greeks were registered, as evidenced by the newspaper announcement of July 4, 1919: “All Greek nationals registered in the Foreign Affairs Department must come to the Department from July 5 to 10 this year... to obtain a residence permit. It is necessary to have a document from the police department in the area where everyone lives” (Izvestiya, 1919). Thus, the Bolsheviks sought to test all Greeks for their loyalty. But despite this prejudice against the Greek community, the latter managed to avoid the expected mass repression in the first wave of “the red terror” of 1919.

In mid-August of 1919, Volunteer Army under command of General Denikin began a rapid offensive on the northern Black Sea coast. On August 13 Kherson was invaded, on August 18 - Mykolaiv, and on August 24 the Bolsheviks left Odesa again. Wealthy citizens welcomed their liberators enthusiastically. Solemn banquets and thanksgiving prayers were held in restaurants and hotels, and the “old order” was restored. On September 26, “the Greek colony” of Odesa, led by a well-known businessman, publicist and public figure Elefteriy Dmytrovych Pavlidi, organized a solemn meeting of General Anton Denikin, stating, “that they welcome Russia as a second homeland and believe in General Denikin” (Odesskiy listok, 1919c).

Along with the white army, some members of the Greek diaspora began to return to Odesa. The majority of researchers on this issue come to the conclusion that among many reasons for the return, there are the two main ones: 1) unsatisfactory living conditions in the metropolis (the majority of emigrants ended up in unsettled camps for displaced persons) and, 2) the desire of wealthy Greeks to return the property nationalized by the Bolsheviks and receive the promised by the Greek government compensation for requisitions, looting and pogroms (Trygub & Osypenko, 2021, p. 164).

Some Greeks cooperated with the Volunteer Army actively. In 1919, Kateryna Sniezhkova, a Greek from Odesa, housed the Denikin Army Headquarters in her mansion and gave an apartment to Biriukov, a lieutenant colonel of the white army. Heorhiy Surmeli, studying at Mykolaiv gymnasium, accepted the offer of cooperation with the white counterintelligence as a secret employee and received an agent pseudonym “Greek”. Vasyl Kentros, Mykolaiv burgher, became close to the officers with the arrival of Denikin's army, “often attended banquets and parties arranged by them, I accompanied them when they retreated, I even wanted to evacuate with them, but for reasons beyond my control I was late to board the steamer”. His wife - Paraskoviya Hlibivna, was the member of the Committee for Aid to the White Army, participated in the collection of clothing, linen and money for the benefit of volunteers-soldiers (SAMR, f. R-5859, d. 1, c. 2313, p. 8; Trygub & Osypenko, 2021, p. 165). Later all of them came into the field of view of the All-Ukrainian Emergency Commission.

At the beginning of the 1920s, the Bolsheviks came very close to the southern Ukrainian region. On January 29, 1920 the Red Army occupied Kherson and the next day - Mykolaiv. On February 8, the Red Army occupied Odesa. With the first news of the Bolshevik offensive, a significant number of the Greeks decided to emigrate or at least temporarily move to the Crimea, which was controlled by Wrangel's army. Noble families, industrial and financial aristocracy, intellectuals, i.e., the most active and educated sections of the Greek diaspora and other national communities usually emigrated. These people ensured the preservation of ethnocultural identity in a non-national environment, being the national elite of the Greek diaspora. Representatives of such famous families as the Arkasas, the Mavrokordatos, the Pavlidis, the Inglezis, the Kurisas, the Petrokokinos, the Popandopulos, the Rodokonakis and the others left the northern Black Sea coast.

The return of the Bolsheviks led to the deployment of the second stage of the “the red terror” (1920 - 1921). Provincial emergency commissions and revolutionary tribunals started to search for counterrevolutionaries with a special zeal. During the year of 1920, 33 Greeks (30 with the Greek citizenship and 3 with the Soviet citizenship) were arrested and convicted by Odesa GubCheka. According to the types of crimes, they were classified into: counterrevolution - 14 (anti-Soviet agitation - 6, possession of weapons - 1, service in the White Army - 4, the others - 3); official crimes - 2 (extortion and blackmail - 1, the others - 1); speculation - 2; non-fulfillment of orders of the Soviet authorities - 8 (concealment of goods from being registered in the report - 4, concealment of bourgeois property - 4); criminal offenses - 7 (thefts - 2, production and sale of counterfeit money - 2, banditry - 1, the others - 2) (Itogi i praktika, 1921, tables 5, 6, diagrams 5a, 6).

As we can see, more than half of them are criminal offenses, mainly of an economic nature. We are interested in political cases in which 14 people were convicted during the year. In this context, I would like to begin by considering the textbook case, which the Chekists themselves called “one of the brightest cases that passed through the hands of the representative of Group 5” (Itogi i praktika, 1921, p. 120), under the name “Little Entente”, in which the key figures were the Greeks. The content of the “Little Entente” was as follows.

In mid-May 1920, Odesa Chekists arrested the French intelligence agent Arnold Lelian (Lialian), a member of the White Guard officer group which prepared an uprising in Odesa. In Odesa, he planned to meet with Secretary of the Greek Consulate Panat Serafidis, give him instructions and obtain spy materials for the French intelligence. Seraphidis, as the Chekists knew, maintained relations with Denikin's and French intelligence during a foreign intervention in Odesa. A. Lelian testified during interrogations that P. Serafidis collected spy information through the “spy White Guard organization” created by him.

The Chekists introduced their agent to Seraphidis' group (later, describing this operation, Odesa Chekists boasted: “In the case of Seraphidis and Holiasco, one good Cheka worker managed to penetrate the organization and entirely hand it over to the punishing body of the proletariat” (Itogi i praktika, 1921, p. 121)). It turned out that one of Denikin intelligence officers, General Havrilov and Cornet Lopukhovsky, during the retreat of the Volunteer Army from Odesa, gave Panata Serafidis, Captain Huldinsky and Lieutenant Semen Holiasko, acting as a courier between Admiral Kolchak and General Denikin, the money to organize an underground organization and to form an armed detachment consisting of the white officers. With the return of the Bolsheviks to Odesa at the beginning of the 1920s, Seraphidis began extensive work in the Red Army units, in the police, maintaining ties with Wrangel, to whose intelligence he provided detailed information on the plans of the Soviet military command, the deployment and armament of the Red Army units.

The group included Arseniy Kyryliuk, Odesa policeman from Boulevard District of Odesa, Dionis Petrato, a county security officer, Aleksander Kovalevych, a Serbian officer, Leonid Robu, a staff officer, and the others. Seraphidis' closest assistants were Semen Holiasko, a former lieutenant in Denikin army, and Nikolai Raftopoulo. In total, the organization consisted of 300 people.

The responsibilities of the key players in “the white underground” were distributed the following way. Policeman A. Kyryliuk undertook to provide the organization with the necessary number of armed policemen at the time of its activities, who were to seize all important institutions during the coup. To ensure the uprising success in the city, the organization decided to contact Odesa bandits and robbers, so that at the time of the coup their robberies and raids had some influence on the power transfer to the rebels. Bandits agreed to take part in the anti-Bolshevik uprising gladly on condition they were guaranteed the opportunity to plunder the city with impunity for 3 days. The underground agreed to their terms. With the consent of the organization, Odesa criminal group introduced its representative Dionis Petrato to Odesa Cheka.

Staff-Captain Leonid Robu, with a sufficient number of people at his disposal, headed the agitation, anti-Bolshevik work among peasants and workers on the outskirts of the city and in the countryside. During his arrest, a large number of documents confirming his active work in this organization were confiscated.

Serbian officer Aleksander Kovalevych founded an armed detachment of officers who arrived to organize the uprising. He was entrusted with the management of military work and, above all, espionage.

Nikolai Raftopoulo, a member of the organization, served as a courier between the organization and the Crimea. During the search, he was found with a report on the organization activities with detailed plans of the location of the Red Army military units. He was to travel with these plans to the Crimea. The report stated that in the organization there were selected people, officers, cadets and soldiers of the Greek army, who took part in “the Ukrainian campaign”. In the same report it was stated: “one of the best means of disbanding the red rear is to spread various kinds of panic provocative rumors; propaganda among the peasants, who, unfortunately, are not affected by such rumors, because of mistakes the Volunteer Army left bad impressions” (Likvidatsiya, 1920).

In July of 1920, raids and mass arrests were carried out, as a result of which the group headed by Serafadis was liquidated. Chekists confiscated large stocks of weapons, money and uniforms. According to the resolution of the board of Odesa GubCheka of July 12,

1920, Panat Paraskevych Serafadis, Semen Andriyovych Holiasko, Dionisius Marynovych Petrato (Petrako), Leonid Heorhievych Rob (Nob), Aleksander Nikolayevych Kovalevych (Komachevych), Arseniy Danylovych Kyryliuk, and Nikolay Ivanovych Ravtopulo (Raftopulo) were shot on July 18. He was shot on July 18 (Likvidatsiya, 1920; Itogi i praktika,

1921, pp. 117-121; Golinkov, 1975, pp. 417-418). It is possible that more people were involved in the case, among whom there could be some Greek soldiers who under different circumstances (captured, sick, wounded) did not have time to evacuate (in November of 1919 it was written about this situation in the newspaper “Odesa Leaf') (Odesskiy listok, 1919b)).

On April 17, 1920, a XIV special unit of the Soviet Red Army arrested Ivan Pavlovych Kavura, a Greek citizen, a clerk of the Black Sea Coast Technical Defense Headquarters in Odesa. He was accused of “an active participation as an employee” in the work of “the French voluntary counterintelligence... heading the raids and document checks” (Kovalchuk & Razumov, 2005, p. 385). During interrogations, I. Kavura confirmed that he had served in the Combined Volunteer Regiment 2, but as a soldier and had nothing to do with counterintelligence. Despite the fact that the guilt of the arrested person was not proved, on June 9, 1920, the board of Odesa GubCheKa decided to imprison I. Kavura in a concentration camp for 2 years. His further fate is unknown (SSA-SSU, f. 6, d. 27210-п, pp. 1-21; Kovalchuk & Razumov, 2005, pp. 385-387).

In August of 1920, “for participating in the counter-revolutionary uprising of 1919” there were arrested wealthy peasants of the village of Kapakliyevka, Kurtov volost, Odesa district, among whom were the Greek settlers: Nikolai Stepanovych Kapakli, Ivan Lefterovych Kapakli and Stepan Khristoforovych Muyaki (SAOR, f. R-1774, d. 1, c. 89, pp. 1-2; c. 118, pp. 1-9; c. 127, pp. 1-15). The first was sentenced to 5 years in a concentration camp (later replaced by 2 years), and the fate of the other two cannot be traced according to the Revolutionary Tribunal's case.

In October of 1920, a former Volunteer Army officer Nikolai Andriadi was arrested. During interrogation, he noted that he “works in a volunteer organization” called “Counterintelligence Department at the Headquarters of Corps 2 of General Slashchov's Army”. The organization maintained ties with the Crimea, where Baron Wrangel's army was stationed at that time, and with the Polish military intelligence. The main task of the organization was to get information about the activities of the Red Army and the defense of Odesa. A total of 193 people were arrested in the case, of whom 80 people were released, 15 people received various terms of imprisonment, and 98 people were shot (Itogi i praktika, 1921, pp. 92-94). The fate of N. Andriadi is unknown.

In October of 1921, in the town of Berezivka in Odesa province, another underground group led by Lieutenant Poliakov was exposed, which was renamed “Berezivka Officer-Kulak

Organization”. Its participants were also representatives of the Greek diaspora: Mykhailo Mykhailovych Feokharadi (Feokhari), Vasyl Mykhailovych Anhelov and his children - Victor, Anatoliy, Maria and Claudia. A total of 30 people were on trial (V! M. Anhelov is not on the list of those arrested). On November 19, 1921, by the Resolution of the Grand Collegium of Odesa Provincial CheKa 19 were sentenced to execution with full confiscation of property “for participation in the preparation of a counter-revolutionary conspiracy”,and 4 people - up to 5 years in concentration camps. M. M. Feokharadi was executed, and the Angelovs family was released from prison (SSA SSU, f. 6, d. 27250-п, pp. 1-559; Goloborodko, 2005, pp. 102-103).

The Conclusions

Based on the available material, we see that “the red terror” in the Bolshevik-controlled territories was caused by a number of factors. There were key factors among them: the desire to retain power, which was to be based on class hatred of “the bourgeoisie and capitalists”, and the policy of mass terror paralyzed any resistance among all strata who may be dissatisfied with the Bolshevik order: from workers and peasants to landlords and nobles.

To carry out political terror, special punitive bodies were formed - emergency commissions and revolutionary tribunals. The materials show that in 1917 - 1918 the terror of the revolutionary masses in the south of Ukraine was spontaneous and unsystematic, mostly affecting the wealthy, among whom a certain stratum was occupied by the Greek entrepreneurs. The latter agreed to “requisitions” and paid some money to “revolutionary dealers”.

The period of “the red terror” - 1919 - 1921 can be subdivided into two periods: 1919 - mass terror of socially hostile elements, which took place mostly without investigation and trial in response to “the white terror”, and the period of 1920 - 1921 - a systematic and targeted persecution of “the insurgent element”, underground anti-Bolshevik organizations, citizens who served in the non-Soviet armies. The second period, along with the strengthening of the Soviet government, gradually shifted from a form of terror to a systemic political repression.

Materials from the repressive authorities show that the majority of members of the Greek community managed to avoid persecution for the participation of the Greek army in the intervention of the Entente troops in 1918 - 1919. This was facilitated by the mass emigration of wealthy sections of the Greek diaspora to Greece on the eve of the arrival of the Bolsheviks, which saved them from the uncontrollable repression flywheel during the first period of “the red terror”. Small remnants of those who sympathized with the anti-Bolshevik ideas left southern Ukrainian cities during the emigration wave at the beginning of the 1920s.

During the second wave of “the red terror” of 1920 - 1921, the Greeks, like other citizens, also fell victim to the Extraordinary Commission and the Revolutionary Tribunals. At the same time, although the Greeks were among the counter-revolutionaries and members of underground organizations, their participation was not massive and did not express the national character of socio-political resistance to the Soviet system.

Acknowledgement. We are greatful to the staff of archives and libraries for their help in finding materials, as well as for professional advice: Professor Olexander Shyshko (Odesa) - on “the red terror”, Professors Viktor Savchenko (Odesa) and Larysa Levchenko (Mykolaiv) - on the problem of the French-Greek occupation of 1918 - 1919, senior researcher Roman Podkur (Kyiv) - on the activities of the VUChK-GPU during the first years of the Soviet rule, provided during the period of writing the article.

Funding. The authors did not receive any financial support for the research and publication of this article.

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