Melitopol
Encyclopedia
Melitopol is a city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

 in the Zaporizhia Oblast
Zaporizhia Oblast
Zaporizhia Oblast is an oblast of southern Ukraine. Its capital is Zaporizhia.This oblast is an important part of Ukraine's industry and agriculture.-Geography:...

 of the southeastern Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. It is situated on the Molochna River that flows through the eastern edge of the city and into the Molochnyi Liman
Molochnyi Liman
Molochnyi Estuary, or Molochnyi Liman , is an estuary of the Molochna River, located on the north-western coast of the Sea of Azov.Parameters of the water body:* Length 32 km* Width 8 km* Depth 3 m* Area 168 km2...

, which eventually joins the Sea of Azov
Sea of Azov
The Sea of Azov , known in Classical Antiquity as Lake Maeotis, is a sea on the south of Eastern Europe. It is linked by the narrow Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea to the south and is bounded on the north by Ukraine mainland, on the east by Russia, and on the west by the Ukraine's Crimean...

.
Melitopol is a town of regional significance (the second largest city in the Zaporizhzhya region after the regional center). Geographically, the city is in the south-eastern Ukraine, at the crossing of two major European highways E58 Vienna - Uzhgorod - Kiev - Rostov-na-Donu and E105 Kirkenes - St. Petersburg - Moscow - Kiev - Yalta. The electrified railway line of international importance goes through Melitopol. 80% of passenger train lines go through toward their destination of Crimean cities. Melitopol is also called "the gateway to the Crimea" (in the summer time road traffic in the city reaches the level of 40,000 - 45,000 vehicles per day, heading for the coast of Azov and Black Seas).
Generally, the Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 is spoken in the city.

History

In ancient times, there was a small Noghai aul
Aul
An aul is a type of fortified village found throughout the Caucasus mountains, especially in Dagestan.The word itself is of Turkic origine and means simply village in many Turkic languages....

 of Kyzyl-Yar where the modern Melitopol is settled. In July 1769, Russian military commanders built a redoubt
Redoubt
A redoubt is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, though others are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a...

 there, and Zaporizhia Cossacks carried out their duty service there. On February 2, 1784, Ekaterina II issued the decree to create the Taurian Province on the lands that had been won back. The deputy of Novorossiya
Novorossiya
Novorossiya is a historic area of lands which established itself solidly after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire, but was introduced with the establishment of Novorossiysk Governorate with the capital in Kremenchuk in the mid 18th century. Until that time in both Polish...

 His Highness Prince Potemkin signed the relation to establish a town that very year - and Cossacks' families and those of retired soldiers of Suvorov settled on the right bank of the Molochna River. In 1816, the settlement got the name sloboda
Sloboda
Sloboda was a kind of settlement in the history of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for "freedom" and may be vaguely translated as "free settlement"....

of Novoalexandrovka. Its population was increasing due to the importation of peasants from the northern provinces of Ukraine and Russia. On January 7, 1842, the sloboda was recognized as a town and received the new name of Melitopol after a port city of Melita (from Greek Μέλι (meli) - "honey") which had been situated on the mouth of the Molochna River. At the end of the 19th century, the Honey-city had been developed as a trade center - there were some banks, credit organizations and wholesale stores. The largest enterprises in the city at the time were the iron foundry and the Brothers Klassen's machinery construction factory (1886), the railroad depot and the workshops.
Further development of the city was closely connected with trade, iron and engineering industries, and Crimean direction railway service. In the early twentieth century there were 15 thousand people living in Melitopol. 30 industrial and 350 retail outlets operated in the city at that time. In the second half of the twentieth century there was a strong economic growth of the city: new factories, plants, and housing estates were constructed. 16 Melitopol business enterprises have received the All-Soviet Union significance status. Industrial enterprise production was exported to more than 50 countries worldwide.

Melitopol in World War II

In 1941, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 was attacked by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

. The city became strategically important due to its location. The Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 was not ready for the war and had to retreat. The Nazis occupied Melitopol on October 6, 1941.

Occupation and nutrition issues

The Germans
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 kept centralized supplies. The Soviet Mezhraybaza sel'khozsnaba i himsnaba of Melitopol still ran. In fact, a variety of agriculture items were stored at the base, including fertilizer
Fertilizer
Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...

s, pesticide
Pesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...

s, tools, spare parts for reaping machines and binders, etc. It supported the running enterprises of Melitopol and surrounding settlements with goods. Since the Soviet monetary system remained, the enterprises paid the Soviet ruble
Ruble
The ruble or rouble is a unit of currency. Currently, the currency units of Belarus, Russia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria, and, in the past, the currency units of several other countries, notably countries influenced by Russia and the Soviet Union, are named rubles, though they all are...

s and kopecks, not the German mark
German mark
The Deutsche Mark |mark]], abbreviated "DM") was the official currency of West Germany and Germany until the adoption of the euro in 2002. It is commonly called the "Deutschmark" in English but not in German. Germans often say "Mark" or "D-Mark"...

s. Also, none of the enterprises was renamed, including the Kaganovich
Lazar Kaganovich
Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich was a Soviet politician and administrator and one of the main associates of Joseph Stalin.-Early life:Kaganovich was born in 1893 to Jewish parents in the village of Kabany, Radomyshl uyezd, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire...

artel, the collective farm of the Red Cossacks, the artel of Lenin's Way. However, the Germans were not tolerant of the Soviet order. The amount of German language documents began to increase and interpreters were needed more. Most of the people who were ready to collaborate with the Germans were not competent enough in their language. Taking account of this fact, the German commanders submitted bilingualism:
Selling, buying and killing cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

 and poultry
Poultry
Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...

 were strictly forbidden; they were severely controlled so as to be sent to Germany. The meat, milk and eggs were used to feed the soldiers. Notwithstanding the general prohibition, the population might kill animals by special permission.
Another way was to introduce a new holiday
Holiday
A Holiday is a day designated as having special significance for which individuals, a government, or a religious group have deemed that observance is warranted. It is generally an official or unofficial observance of religious, national, or cultural significance, often accompanied by celebrations...

, to make people celebrate and eat together.
Celebrations, which were not introduced by the Nazis, were not welcome. Feasts, plays and especially dances were prohibited until the war was over. The punishment for infringement of the prohibition was a fine and an arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...

.

Culture

  • Intercultural cities
    Intercultural cities
    The Intercultural City programme is a joint project of the Council of Europe and the European Commission. It aims at stimulating new ideas and practice in relation to the integration of migrants and minorities....


Melitopol has 38 monuments, memorials and statues registered.
One of them is the statue of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, the famous hetman
Hetman
Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....

 of Ukraine. His images are printed on Ukrainian 5 hryvnia's
Ukrainian hryvnia
The hryvnia, sometimes hryvnya or grivna ; sign: ₴, code: , has been the national currency of Ukraine since September 2, 1996. The hryvnia is subdivided into 100 kopiyok. In medieval times, it was a currency of Kievan Rus'....

 banknotes.

The Stone Grave

There is the unique relic of the Stone Grave
Kamyana Mohyla
Kamyana Mohyla is an archaeological site in the Molochna River valley, about a mile from the village of Terpinnya, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine....

 ' onMouseout='HidePop("19415")' href="/topics/Romanization_of_Ukrainian">translit.
Romanization of Ukrainian
The romanization or Latinization of Ukrainian is the representation of the Ukrainian language using Latin letters. Ukrainian is natively written in its own Ukrainian alphabet, a variation of Cyrillic....

 Kamyana mohyla) 12 kilometers north of Melitopol. It is a relic of sandstone from the Sarmatian epoch of the Tertiary period. Its exact coordinates are 46°56′59.33"N 35°28′11.59"E

Melitopol cherries

Melitopol has justly gained the fame of the city of cherries. In the city territory there is a unique in CIS Sidorenko Scientific Research Institute of Irrigated Horticulture (Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences), that is professionally engaged in selection of stone fruit corps (cherries, apples, peaches, etc.). The main base of this research institute is located in Melitopol. There are experimental black cherry orchards located in the heart of the city. Melitopol citizens rightly call it the "city-garden".A symbol of Melitopol is Chereshnya Melitopolskaya, a type of Wild Cherry for which the city is known.

Melitopol honey

Recently, the city actively created its own brand as a " City of Honey" (a version of the historical origins of the name of the town has "Greek roots": in translation "melitos" is a "city of honey"). The city formed a cluster of honey producers, prepared investment projects for the establishment of an Apitherapy center (treatment with the help of bee products) and encourages the creation of souvenir products made from honey.

International relations

  • Melitopol is a pilot city of the Council of Europe
    Council of Europe
    The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...

     and the European Commission
    European Commission
    The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

     Intercultural cities
    Intercultural cities
    The Intercultural City programme is a joint project of the Council of Europe and the European Commission. It aims at stimulating new ideas and practice in relation to the integration of migrants and minorities....

    programme.

In 2008, Melitopol became a member of the Council of Europe project "Intercultural Cities" and is the only Ukrainian city representing the country in this project. European countries were interested in the Melitopol experience, where representatives of more than 100 nationalities and ethnic groups have been living together in peace for more than a century.
Melitopol proudly calls itself the "intercultural capital of Ukraine." An association of national-cultural societies is actively working in the city. The project on which the city works under the Council of Europe project, is called "Creation of Intercultural Park “Melita Park”. The aim of the project is to create an intercultural park where people of different nationalities could meet and communicate. There is a design project of Intercultural Park, prepared by a group of European architects and designers led by Mark Glaudemans - Director of the European Laboratory for urban planning, the Dean of the Academy of Architecture and Urbanism (city of Tilburg, Netherlands). Within this project we are also looking for partners who are not indifferent to the idea of creating a cross-cultural space and uniting different ethnic groups.

Twin towns – Sister cities

Melitopol is currently twinned with: Brive-la-Gaillarde
Brive-la-Gaillarde
Brive-la-Gaillarde is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture of the Corrèze department. The population of the urban area was 89,260 as of 1999. Although it is by far the biggest commune in Corrèze, the capital is Tulle.-History:...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...


Education

In 1874, a technical school was founded in the city, which, after a series of reforms and transformations, became Taurian State Agrotechnological Academy.
The city now has two universities − the Taurian State Agrotechnological Academy and the Melitopol State Pedagogical University.

Transportation

  • Melitopol has a railroad station that serves as the transit point for passengers going from Moscow
    Moscow
    Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

     to the Crimea
    Crimea
    Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...

     and back. The city is also called the "gateway to the Crimea".

  • The city's cantonment has an aerodrome, which is not used for passenger service. There is present a park of Il-76 transport planes.

  • The city has two bus stations: the more new intercity station and the old station of local buses. Two highways lead through Melitopol: The M14 Odesa-Novoazovsk Highway and the M26 Kharkiv-Simferopol National Highway.

  • The marshrutka
    Marshrutka
    Marshrutka , from marshrutnoye taksi is a share taxi in the CIS countries, the Baltic states, and Bulgaria. Marshrutnoye taksi literally means routed taxicab...

    s are the sole kind of the city's public transport. They run 34 routes. They work from 5:00 a.m. till 12:30 a.m. (from 05:30 till 00:30). Formerly, in the days of existing the USSR, there were buses of Ikarus
    Ikarus Bus
    Ikarus is a bus manufacturer based in Budapest, Hungary. It was established in 1895 as Uhri Imre Kovács- és Kocsigyártó Üzeme .-History:...

    , LiAZ
    LIAZ
    LIAZ may refer to:* LIAZ , a defunct Czech and Czechoslovak manufacturer of trucks* LiAZ , a bus manufacturing company in Russia...

    , LAZ
    Laz
    Laz may refer to the Laz people, who live by the Black Sea, or to their language. As a given name, Laz may be a diminutive for Lazar, Lazarus, Lazaro, or Lazaros...

    , PAZ running around 15 routes.

  • The common length of the roads of Melitopol is 333 km, 70% of them do not meet the basic requirements.

Industry

There is a well-developed, internationally important engine
Engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...

-constructing industry. Thanks to the rich historical heritage, economic and geographical situation and enterprising citizens the city has developed mechanical engineering, light and food industry. The city’s dynamic development is driven by engineering industries, that have received new impulse with the establishment of more than 100 new small and medium engineering business enterprises, united in the cluster "AgroBOOM”. The dynamics of the machinery transformation from a "Soviet" model to a "European" one surprises many visitors of our city. The principles of cooperation and production outsourcing are working actively.
Machine engineering complex of the city is represented by 8 large plants and more than 100 small and medium-sized enterprises formed after 1991. Mechanical engineers of the city mainly produce goods for the agricultural sector: wide range of spare parts, components and assemblies for mobile equipment of local and foreign producers. Production capacity and availability of experienced, qualified staff allows entrepreneurs to design and produce parts of any complexity, including large ones. All the processes necessary to create parts can be made in the city: starting with metallurgical operations (casting) and ending with assembly and testing.
There are many unique enterprises that stand out for their products and customers:
• The plant "BIOL" - makes the dishes comparable to international brands,
• The plant “TALCO” - collaborates with General Motors, Camozzi and Festo;
• The plant “AUTOPRIVOD" is the third company in the world that has mastered the knot for YaMZ engine;
• The only plant in the Ukraine that produces engines for cars “AvtoZAZ-MOTOR”;
• The plant “AVTOTSVETLIT” is the only plant in Ukraine, that produces 5 types of complex castings (steel, including stainless steel, cast iron (grey and ductile iron), magnesium, aluminum); produces shock absorbers for VAZ,
• The company "ROSTA" – performs the commercialization of research and innovation in the field of agricultural machinery and irrigation systems (connection of science and business),
• The plant "MzTK" is a unique enterprise that produces turbines for mobile equipment,
• The plant “TERMOLIT” - induction furnaces for foundry operations and other products of metal processing. The mechanic engineering of the city is valuable because it does not offer materials, but products with added value obtained after the processing of raw materials (metal).
The following companies can be called the basis of light industry in the city:
• Melitopol Sewing Production Enterprise that exports its goods. The factory has "dressed" the AIR France and French railway «Polaris» employees, Dutch police and firefighters, Italian tax Police, it delivers its production to a world-famous network of boutiques «Grosso-Moda» in Netherlands,
• Melitopol Knitting Factory "Nadezhda" is the manufacturer of knitwear products that meet the highest requirements. The company uses cloth of both local and foreign manufacturers in its production process. Cloths are made from the cotton yarn and the combination of cotton yarn and synthetic fibers,
• Furniture production is well developed: more than 20 small and medium enterprises are working in this field, distributing its products throughout Ukraine.
Thanks to the proximity of agricultural areas and raw materials of Zaporozhye, Nikolayev, Kherson, and Dnepropetrovsk regions the food industry is well presented in the city. The main enterprises of food industry are:
• Melitopol Meat Processing Plant is well known in the whole country because of the high quality of its products (sausages),
• Melitopol Milk Plant and Oil Extraction Plant are enterprises that belong to a major food-holding "Olkom",
• Melitopol Grain Elevator.
Small and medium businesses of the city are proud of their high quality production: bakery and confectionery, convenience foods (dumplings, pancakes).

Native born

  • Dmytro Dontsov
    Dmytro Dontsov
    Dmytro Ivanovych Dontsov was a Ukrainian nationalist writer, publisher, journalist and political thinker whose radical ideas were a major influence on the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.-Biography:...

     - influenced the establishment of OUN
  • Pavlo Sudoplatov
    Pavel Sudoplatov
    Lieutenant General Pavel Anatolyevich Sudoplatov was a member of the intelligence services of the Soviet Union who rose to the rank of lieutenant general...

     - lieutenant-general of KGB
    KGB
    The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...

    , killed Yevhen Konovalets
    Yevhen Konovalets
    Yevhen Konovalets was a military commander of the UNR army and political leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement...


External links

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