Foreign Consulates in Odesa (1920s – 1930s)

Abstract

The purpose of the research paper is to highlight the history of repatriation missions and consular institutions of Poland, Albania, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Japan and Spain in Odesa during 1922-1938, analysis of the main areas of activity within the consular district and the consular staff’s characteristics.

The scientific novelty. The general picture of the foreign diplomatic presence in Odesa, represented by the repatriation missions of Turkey, Albania and Poland, as well as five consulates, has been reconstructed. Their personnel composition and key areas of activity are shown.

Conclusions. With the creation of Soviet Ukraine, Odesa continued to remain a strategically important city for both European and Asian countries, which, having restored diplomatic and consular relations with the USSR, opened their consulates here. During the 1920s and 1930s, the repatriation missions of Poland, Albania, and Turkey operated in the city first (during 1922-1925), and later the consular offices of three European countries – Germany, Italy, Spain, and two Asian countries – Turkey and Japan. The foreign consular institutions’ diplomatic staff consisted exclusively of representatives of the countries they represented and were career diplomats. In turn, among the representatives of the administrative and technical staff were citizens of these countries and Soviet Ukraine, and the service staff consisted with local residents.

Since its establishment, foreign consular representatives have contributed to the development of trade, economic, cultural and scientific relations of their countries with the UkrSSR. Important spheres of consulates’ activity were protection of the citizens’ interests of their countries, organization of material assistance for them and promotion of their departure to their homeland. In the process of gathering information about the socio-political situation in the USSR, the consuls recorded the unfolding of the Holodomor, pointing out its culprits, noted the negative consequences of collectivization and industrialization, etc.

But, despite the constantly emphasized friendship in relations between the USSR and the countries listed above, their consulates and employees found themselves under the Soviet special services close supervision, which considered any consulates representatives’ actions as espionage. In order to be fully effective, the special services recruited representatives from both consulate employees and persons who were in contact with the consul. And after the consulates were closed, they began the process of “cleaning” them. In 1937-1938, the USSR’s relations with Italy, Germany, Turkey, Japan, and Spain became strained, which led to the closure of the consular network in Odesa.