Odesyci w zwierciadle własnym i cudzym

Abstract

The author of the paper analyzes the ideas of Odessa's inhabitants about their city and about themselves. These images are very positive and related to the genesis of the city, which was founded by Prince Richelieu at the behest of Empress Catherine the Great in 1794. The imagination of the Odessites raised them to the level of myth: they are descendants of the French, Italian, and European founders of the city, strongly associated with Russian culture, but also peacefully living in a multiethnic community. Other images of Odessa, on the other hand, are held by residents of Western Europe, Jews, or Americans. They are not always favorable, because the memories of pogroms, the Bolshevik Revolution and the murder of Jews during the Second World War are still alive. It is hard to deny, however, that there is a world myth of Odessa – but its meanings, the author of the paper argues, are not one-dimensional.