Odessa

/oh des"euh/; for 1 also Russ. /u dye"seuh/, n.

1. a seaport in S Ukraine, on the Black Sea: 1,046,000.

2. a city in W Texas. 90,027.

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City (pop., 2001: 1,029,000), southwestern Ukraine.

A Tatar fortress was established in Odessa in the 14th century. The city was ceded to Russia in 1791 and became its second most important port after Saint Petersburg, with grain as its principal export. It was a centre of revolutionary activity in 1905 (see Russian Revolution of 1905), and it suffered heavy damage in World War II. Odessa is a major seaport and industrial centre, with shipbuilding, engineering, and oil refineries. It is also a cultural centre, with a university, museums, and theatres.

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▪ German organization

abbreviation  of Organisation Der Ehemaligen Ss-angehörigen 

      (German: “Organization of Former SS Members”), clandestine escape organization of the SS (q.v.) underground, founded probably in early 1947 in Germany. A large organizational network was set up to help former SS and Gestapo members and other high Nazi (Nazi Party) functionaries to avoid arrest, to acquire legal aid if arrested, to escape from prison, or to be smuggled out of the country. The main escape routes were (1) through Austria and Italy, then to Franco's Spain, (2) to Arab countries of the Middle East, and (3) to South America, especially Argentina and Paraguay, then under the right-wing regimes of Juan Perón and Alfredo Stroessner. The war criminal Adolf Eichmann (Eichmann, Adolf) was apparently aided by Odessa in traveling to the Middle East and then to South America in the immediate postwar years.

      Odessa ceased to exist about 1952 and was replaced by an organization called Kameradenwerke (“Comrade Workshop”), which over the following decades sought to aid former Nazis overseas in avoiding capture and maintaining concealment. Whereas Odessa's work was centred in Germany, Kameradenwerke's operations were conducted in foreign lands, especially where governments were sympathetic to ultra-right-wing causes, as in Argentina, Paraguay, and Chile.

▪ Texas, United States

      city, seat (1891) of Ector county and also partly in Midland county, western Texas, U.S. It lies on the southern High Plains, just southwest of Midland. The site was presumably named in 1881 by Russian railroad construction workers who noted the similarity of the prairie region to their Odessa steppe homeland. Founded in 1886, it became a rail-shipping point for livestock. After local oil discoveries in the 1920s, Odessa expanded rapidly. Located in the centre of the oil-rich Permian Basin, it developed as a major distribution-processing-servicing point for a petrochemical complex. Ranching augments its economy. The Odessa Meteor Crater, one of the largest such craters in the United States, is 9 miles (14 km) southwest. The city is the seat of Odessa (junior) College (1946), where meteorite fragments are displayed, and of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (1969). The Globe Theatre, an octagonal replica (built in the 1960s) of the London original, is situated on the college campus; it is the site of an annual (summer) Shakespeare Festival. In 1988 a replica of Anne Hathaway's house was built across the courtyard from the theatre. The White-Pool House, constructed in 1887 (it is the oldest existing residential structure in the city), is preserved as a museum and is a National Historical Site. The Presidential Museum is dedicated to the office of president of the United States. Odessa's 10-foot (3-metre) jackrabbit statue attracts tourists from around the world. The city also hosts an annual rodeo. Inc. 1927. Pop. (1990) city, 89,699; Odessa-Midland MSA, 225,545; (2000) city, 90,943; Odessa-Midland MSA, 237,132.

▪ Ukraine

Ukrainian  Odesa 

      seaport, southwestern Ukraine. It stands on a shallow indentation of the Black Sea coast at a point approximately 19 miles (31 km) north of the Dniester River estuary and about 275 miles (443 km) south of Kiev. Although a settlement existed on the site in ancient times, the history of the modern city began in the 14th century when the Tatar fortress of Khadzhibey was established there; it later passed to Lithuania-Poland and in 1480 to Turkey. The fortress was stormed by the Russians in 1789 and the territory ceded to Russia in 1792. A new fortress was built in 1792–93, and in 1794 a naval base and commercial quay were added. In 1795 the new port was named Odessa for the ancient Greek colony of Odessos, the site of which was believed to be in the vicinity.

      During the 19th century Odessa's growth was rapid, especially after the coming of railways in 1866. Odessa became the third city of Russia and the country's second most important port, after St. Petersburg; grain was its principal export. The city was one of the chief centres of the Revolution of 1905 and was the scene of the mutiny on the warship Potemkin; Sergey Eisenstein's classic film Potemkin was made there in 1925. Odessa suffered heavy damage in World War II during its prolonged and unsuccessful defense against German and Romanian forces.

      The city remains a major port in Ukraine, with well-equipped docks and ship-repair yards. After 1857 a new outport was built at Ilichevsk, 12 miles (20 km) to the south. Odessa is the base of a fishing fleet. The city's rail communications are good to all parts of Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania. Odessa is also a large industrial centre, with a wide range of engineering industries; products have included machine tools, cranes, and plows. The chemical industry has produced such materials as fertilizers, paints, and dyes. Odessa also has been the site of oil refining, jute processing, consumer-goods manufacturing, and food processing. Most factories lie north of the port along the waterfront, with newer plants on the western outskirts.

 Odessa is an important cultural and educational centre. It has a university, founded in 1865, and numerous other institutions of higher education. Its most renowned research establishment is the Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases. There are a number of museums and theatres, including the opera house and ballet theatre, dating from 1809. The seashore south of the harbour is a popular resort area, with numerous sanatoriums and holiday camps. Pop. (2001) 1,029,049; (2005 est.) 1,007,131.

Additional Reading

Patricia Herlihy, Odessa: A History, 1794–1914 (1986); Nicholas V. Iljine and Patricia Herlihy, Odessa Memories (2003).

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