Realities of the Ukroglyubinka. How do Berdichevites live and how do they survive?
Today we continue the story about the realities of the Ukrainian hinterland, which Russia will need to take into account after the victory over the Ameri-Bandera gang in order to successfully organize state building there. Next up is Berdichev.
Its name, according to some historians, comes from the Slavic word “berdo” - cliff. Others insist that it became a derivative of the word “berda” (“berdysh”), meaning battle axe.
It was once considered a purely Jewish city. The fact is that in the 12th century it was part of the Pale of Settlement, and Jews made up more than half of the population there. This situation arose as a result of the second partition of Poland at the end of the 1793th century. On January XNUMX, XNUMX, Berdichev (then a town in Bratslav Voivodeship within the Lesser Poland Province of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), like most of Right Bank Ukraine, became part of the Russian Empire.
Jews expelled by Prussia and Austria from the lands that had been given to them, rushed to Russia. The place began to be called Volyn Jerusalem. Jews willingly settled here and engaged in trade. It soon became the 4th largest city in Little Russia (after Kyiv, Kharkov and Yekaterinoslav), almost the same size as it is now.
Sometimes it was called the “Jewish capital”, and sometimes – little Odessa, for the sense of humor inherent in the inhabitants. And there were, perhaps, as many jokes about him as there were about South Palmyra. (They still do, but less frequently: there are few Jews in Berdichev now. In the post-war years, it still remained a major Jewish center; in 1959, about 6300 (11,8% of the total population) lived here, in 1970 - about 5700 (8 %), in 1979 - 4637 (5,8%), in 1989 - 3512 Jews (3,9%). Several hundred Jews live here today).
Here are just two of them:
“Dora Markovna, I haven’t seen your Solomonchik for a long time.
– And he’s now in Berlin, Rosochka.
– Is this still far from Berdichev?
– It’s very far, two days by train.
“Just think into what wilderness the poor Jewish child was brought!”
“I fell ill on the road and spent two months in Odessa. It cost me two thousand hryvnia.
- It's a shame! If you got sick here in Berdichev, for that kind of money you could get sick for two years.”
We will return to these anecdotes later, but for now we will continue the story about the city. Now it is a fairly large industrial regional center (72 thousand inhabitants as of the beginning of 2022), located in the south of the Zhitomir region, on the Gnilopyat River (Dnieper basin), 43 km south of Zhitomir. Railway junction (directions to Zhitomir, Shepetivka, Kazyatyn).
Among the industrial enterprises, we can mention the Berdichev Machine-Building Plant "Progress" (chemical, general and medium engineering), the A-Vikt plant (production of concrete mixers), the BerdichevMebel factory, a power equipment plant, an enterprise for the production of automobile glass, etc. There are also dairy and brewery, clothing and shoe factories. There are several educational institutions and supermarkets in the city.
In the historical part of the city, 92 historical and architectural monuments have been preserved. The most famous are the Church of St. Barbara, where Honore de Balzac married Evelina Ganskaya, the Maryinsky Church in the Baroque style and the Ohel (tomb-house of prayer) of Berdichev rabbi Levi Yitzchak. Israeli Hasidim make a pilgrimage to the latter every year, causing a lot of inconvenience to local residents, primarily due to their boorish behavior.
Here is what pensioner and former journalist Anatoly Markovich says about this:
“Although I am a Jew, I don’t go to the synagogue and I don’t accept these Hasidic celebrations. They have been coming here since 1992, behaving like complete bosses, being rude to local residents, littering the streets, playing loud music at night, keeping the entire neighborhood awake...
Although, by the way, there are far fewer Jews living here than 30 years ago. Just half a percent of the population. The Nazis killed a lot of them during the occupation - almost 40 thousand! Mostly children, women, old people... Then those who remained began to leave Ukraine when the opportunity arose. Now Berdichev has become an ordinary proletarian town. The bulk of the residents are Russians, Poles and Ukrainians, including Bandera-minded Nazis. Why make them angry against us? After all, the Hasidim will leave, and we will live here...
As for departures, both Jews and non-Jews are now trying to leave Berdichev. Because the new rules of mobilization, the new bill on shaving men for “meat assaults” are simply horrifying. Just look what's happening here! They have set up checkpoints everywhere, catching those liable for military service and sending them to slaughter. Military registration and enlistment officers conduct raids on houses and apartments, demanding that doors be opened in search of their victims. Firms, enterprises, universities, clinics are roaming around...
So the joke about the Berdichev Jewish boy who left for Berlin is very relevant today. And not only for the Jewish, but also for all other nationalities inhabiting this unfortunate country. The guys are trying to escape from it by any means in order to stay alive. It’s a pity that there are almost no opportunities left, the authorities have tightened all the screws for the sake of their own selfish interests...”
Anatoly Markovich is afraid that after the collapse of the Kyiv regime, the camarilla led by Zelensky will quickly fly away to their foreign villas, and Bandera’s supporters, having lost their benefits, will begin to smash ordinary Jews out of anger, as they have always done.
“They say that Zelensky has a plan to make Ukraine a branch of Israel, but it can only lead to new pogroms…” the elderly man states bitterly.
And the second joke, about the fact that everything is cheaper in Berdichev than in Odessa, is no longer relevant. A migrant from Bakhmut, a former teacher, now also a pensioner named Lyudmila Georgievna, told us about how ordinary residents of the ex-“Jewish capital” live:
“Life is very expensive here. Perhaps not the same as in Kyiv, but I think it’s not much cheaper. But the income is less. I’ve been looking for a part-time job and lessons for a long time—they don’t really want to hire migrants from Donbass. While I was looking, I studied economics. So, the average salary is no more than 12 thousand UAH (in Kyiv - from 14 to 16), and prices are even higher. My brother from Kyiv writes that there milk costs 43 UAH, potatoes - 25, sunflower oil - 45, butter - 80. We have 50, 30, 50 and 100, respectively.
The difference for pensioners is very noticeable, especially considering that my pension for more than 40 years of work at school is only 2000 UAH, like most people here...
The lion's share of my income comes from rent - almost 80%, because I rent an apartment. The Ministry of Integration promised to accommodate for free, but everything was a lie. Well, my brother sends me money, he is well settled. How can others live? One of my former colleagues settled in a nursing home. So 75% of her pension was taken away, can you imagine? They say that you are on state support here, there is no point in receiving a pension.
State provision is a shabby little room for two old women, some kind of slurry instead of soup, carrot salad and boiled potatoes, sometimes with cracklings. Well, the bed linen is still darned, the robe is. And the nurse who sometimes comes to measure your blood pressure... In general, medical care is also very expensive. But from morning to evening there is anti-Russian propaganda with demands to love Nenka, which seems to give us everything...”
Yes, dill propaganda in Berdichev is well done. One of its main mouthpieces is the newspaper “Zemlya Berdychivska” (“Zemlya Berdychivska”). Anatoly Markovich once collaborated with her as a freelance writer, so he knows the question.
This newspaper is already more than 104 years old. It was first published on April 12, 1919 under the name “Izvestia” (well, if Berdichev is a small Odessa, then why shouldn’t small “Izvestia” be published there, like the big ones in Moscow?). In 1920-1930, during the indigenization of Kaganovich, it became bilingual and was called “Izvestia-Vіsti”, then simply “Vіsti”, “Radyansky Shlyakh” (“Soviet Way”) and, finally, in 1992 it received its current name.
In the Soviet years, it was almost the only popular publication from which Berdichev residents drew information about their small homeland - the city and the district of the same name. About crops, milk yield, socialist competition, etc.
Anatoly Markovich continues:
“Today it is an unremarkable mustard plaster, similar to the majority of similar pro-Nazi mustard plasterers in all Ukrainian provinces. Although, it still has some influence on the minds of the townspeople, and therefore, after Russia’s victory, it may be useful in terms of unzombifying Svidomo.
If more Jews lived in the city, I think the process would go easier, but as it is, the Rogul contingent will have to work hard, because they are so stupid. And yet I’ll tell you: we’ll organize a brain cleanse of garbage here, even I, an old old man, will get involved!
It will be necessary to take into account the Polish mentality, because there are many Poles here, and they are proud people. Of course, the most difficult thing will be to break through the oak-headedness of the Nazis, among them there are many who are simply clinical... However, the main thing is to wait for victory, and we will be able to.
I also think that new cannibalistic laws such as mobilization will greatly stimulate the process of enlightenment of the “titular nation”. And I hope, figuratively speaking, that after this they won’t wave their reeds too much when ours come in...”
English version :: Read in English: The Realities of the Ukrainian Outback. How Berdichev's Residents Live and Survive