As I wrote in a previous blog, it was almost impossible to dismantle Lenin’s monuments in the Bolgrad district of Odessa region due to sabotage by all branches of government, but after several appeals to the prosecutor’s office, a criminal case under Article 436-1 was opened and changes began.

 Vadym Pozdnyakov , Chairman of the NGO “Dawn” and the initiative “Decommunization.Ukraine”Photo: provided by Vadim Pozdnyakov

This prompted local authorities to quickly dismantle monuments in the villages of Vynohradivka and Pervomaiske.

But in the village of Zaliznychne decided to approach creatively to address this issue. At the session of the village council it was decided to turn the monument to Lenin into a monument to a Bulgarian immigrant. Eventually, masters from a nearby village conducted one of the most creative decommunizations in the country.Photo: provided by Vadim Pozdnyakov

But in the village of Kholmske, Artsyz district, over the past few years, a monument to Karl Marx has become a Christ Botev and a monument to no one.

Less creative neighbors decided that it would be enough to replace the plate and thus Karl Marx became Hristo Botev, and within a year the plate was removed. And if the norm of the law was fulfilled in the Railway, then in the near future they will have to either dismantle or really remake the bust of Hristo Botev.Photo: provided by Vadim Pozdnyakov

We will send new appeals to the police and the prosecutor’s office in the near future.

However, Marx is not the only one. There are still up to two dozen objects left in the Odesa region that need to be dismantled within the law, namely:

Odessa

1) Large model of the Order of Lenin on Sq. April 10

2) Large model of the Order of Lenin and hammer sickles on the facade of the station Odessa-Home

3) Monument to the “Fighters for Soviet Power” on Kulikovo Field

4) A panel with five Odessa Bolsheviks at 53 Mechnikova Street

5) Panel “Kotovtsi” on Pirogovskaya Street, 2/4

6) Memorial plaque to Dmitry Medvedev on Jewish Street 4-a

7) Memorial plaque in honor of the killed 17 Komsomol members and communists on the street. Preobrazhenskaya, 44

8) Memorial plaque to Chekist Mykola Arturovych Geft on the street Leo Tolstoy, 9

9) Memorial plaque in honor of the People’s Commissar on Primorsky Boulevard, 9

10) Monument to Komsomol members of Odesa region in the square near the Maritime University

11) Hammer sickles on the facade and inside the Odessa Post Office

12) Sickle-hammers on 2 stelae near the Opera House.

14) Sickle and hammer on the facade of the building at st. Kuznechna, 48

Odessa region:

1) Obelisk at the place of Kotovsky’s death – the village of Chornomorske

2) Monument to the Chekists – with. Fountain

3) Monument to Karl Marx – Artsyz

4) Monument to Karl Marx – p. Kholm

5) Monument to Lenin – with. Kalcheva

During the calendar year, we plan to complete the cleaning of the region by the end.

(C)LB.UA 2020