I would like to say a few words about the situation with Mikhail Zhvanetsky. He has been my favorite author over the course of decades. Once we knew each other personally but that time is far behind. When I was the Deputy of the City Council I was “fighting” for Zhvanetsky after Eduard Hurvits who was then-mayor of Odesa, deprived him of the Honorary Freedom of Odesa City (Hurvits considered the Honor illegitimate and the City Council session supported him). My relations with the executive powers got really bad then. Zhvanetsky was given back the freedom of the city of Odesa later on. I am not sure whether there is anybody else living in Odesa whose name would be given to the boulevard while alive. And Zhvanetsky deserved it.
Zhvanetsky is Odesa and I agree with that. The question is which Odesa? Odesa of what period?
I believe it is Odesa of the sixties-eighties, the Russian-Jewish Odesa which is no longer there. Zhvanetsky is one of those few who preserved the mentality and brilliant Jewish humor in the Russian language. What is left here in Odesa is either child’s babble or second childhood.
Zhvanetsky keeps youth even in his advanced age.
And his language stays young, too.
I once wrote on the occasion of the death of Roman Kartsev that the old Odesa dies in Moscow. It would be much more pleasant to write that the old Odesa keeps living and working in Moscow. The fact is they are just tears remained of the old Odesa in the present Odesa – (that is how they would put it in THAT Odesa). Today if you call someone mishiginer or putz he won’t even get insulted. He would not know what the words mean. Zhvanetsky will stay the Odesan forever no matter where he lives and the citizenship of what country he might take. With all that said one can not alter the fact that Zhvanetsky is the citizen of Russia and has been such for several decades. He doesn’t live in Odesa. He lives in Moscow. He visits Odesa quite often. Here he is submerged into real love. Is he a patriot of the city? Definitely. Is he a patriot of Ukraine, a favorer of Ukrainian culture, a fan of the Ukrainian language in general and Ukrainian humor in particular? He probably isn’t. Thirty years ago when he left Odesa, was this city Ukrainian in the real sense of the word? No. This contradiction evoked the phantom – to be the patriot of Odesa and not to be the patriot of Ukraine. Many Odesans of my generation are laden with this contradiction. Is a citizen of the Russian Federation who lives in Moscow obliged to be the patriot of Ukraine? It would be appreciated. But there is no obligation.
Meanwhile, I can say: the medal taken from Putin does not adorn Zhvanetsky’s chest. This medal is given for merits to the Russian Federation, the aggressor country. Regardless of the fact that they are third-class merits (the third-class medal) the award is received from Putin’s hand. Could М.М.refuse to take the medal? He would have done it if he could.
This medal does not depreciate Zhvanetsky’s services to Odesa, though. Even if it does, it won’t derail them.
Doesn’t he depreciate our love as well? I believe or to be precise I am sure, Zhvanetsky won’t put this Order on while in Odesa. I also hope that the patriotic community will have enough tact not to disrupt his concert in Odesa.
Borys Khersonsky