Mythmakers and Shakers of Jewish Odessa

By far the largest and most believed myth of Odessa covers up the truth of the Sdcond World War.  Before that, however, writers and philosophers of jewish descent created a myth of Moldavanka and Jewish Odessa that was surprisingly truthful, from the streets of Moldavanka to the upper class.

Possibly the most famous perpetrator of this myth is the writer Isaac Babel.  Born in Odessa in 1894, he was deeply influenced by the pogrom of 1905 (next entry) and he carried that for the rest of his life, and translated it into his stories.  His writing was one of the catalysts for turning the meek, Shtetl Jew into a person unafraid to stand up for himself and others, mostly based on the reality he saw in Odessa.  His most famous work, a collection of stories about characters in the back alleys of Moldavanka, called Odessa Tales is a testament to the changing Jewish identity in Eastern Europe, in response to many tsar-sanctioned pogroms.  Jewish self-defense groups were forming, especially in Odessa.

So it's no surprise that Babel's most used character, Benya Krik, is a tough Jewish gangster from Moldavanka who is both smart and strong, and at the same time a very Robin Hood-like character.  Babel used him frequently to criticize the Stalin Regime, as Krik in one story was drafted into a Bolshevik division, and the Bolshevik's plan falls apart.

Krik was was based nearly entirely on the real king of the Odessa criminal world, Mishka Yaponchik ("Mike the Jap") Vinnitsky.
Babel was eventually sent to Siberia, where his family believes he was killed, in 1939.

(Photo of Benya Krik, from the 1925 movie adaption of Babel's play "The King", immediately banned in the Ukrainian SSR because of its blatant anti-bolshevism)

Vladimir Jabotinsky shed light on the lives of the wealthy Jewish Community in Odessa with his novel (which is just now being considered a true russian novel, rather than a jewish novel) The Five, about five wealthy Jewish siblings who meet terrible fates in a city they thought they were welcome in.  I was going to read the entire book for this entry, however the shipping of the book came about two weeks late.  There were some quotes that stood out, to show how much the wealthy Maskilim Jews had to distance themselves from their own culture, and where the rest of the Empire drew the fine line between "Jew" and "Human".  "'It's a pity people are still going on about religion: One's a Russian, another's a Jew.  What difference does it make?  There should be a common soul, just like you and I have.  Then again, there's X-- now that's different: he has a Jewish soul, a filthy soul...'" (Jabotinsky 16).

Eventually Jabotinsky became more infamous than famous.  Originally a cultural Zionist, he changed his first name to the Hevrew Ze'ev, and became Militant, starting a jewish youth military group in Palestine.  

In contrast, Asher Ginsberg was born near Kiev in 1856, while in Odessa he changed his name to Ahad Ha'am and became the father of Cultural Zionism, which advocated a language and culture revitalization rather than occupying Palestine.  

Lastly, one more person whom Odessa left its mark on was a young Lev Bronstein, a Jewish student attending a lycee there while living with his uncle.  While in school, he was deeply troubled by the deep social class divisions between his classmates, who should not have been worrying about status at all, as children.  He took that startling experience with him where it influenced his political philosophy years later and went on to become Leon Trotsky.  

Sources:

Jabotinsky, Vladimir. The Five. Trans. Michael R. Katz. 1936. Ithaca: Cornell
     University Press, 2005. Print.

King, Charles. Odessa: Genius And Death In A City Of Dreams. New York: W.W.
     Norton & Company, Inc., 2011. N. pag. Amazon Kindle. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSbabel.htm