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language issue really didn't cause any difficulties, and they just simply continued to speak
Odessa Russian, and live the normal life of Odessa.
The university of Odessa, or rather the several universities of Odessa, including a
technical university and one that was more typical of universities with all of the sciences,
soft and hard, attracted good people. Their faculties were good and they despite
difficulties have continued. The city being the major port on the Black Sea, with a
beautiful harbor with magnificent facilities, began to attract trade from the outside, from
the countries across the Black Sea, Turkey, and through the straits of the Mediterranean
and from the United States. Shipping was increasing rapidly, particularly from the West.
Q: Was this basically a port for Russia?
MILLER: Yes, it was the major southern port for the Russians. It was a tanker offloading
place, a major freight handling port, and there was considerable military activity there,
airbases and elements of the Black Sea Fleet. But the real contemporary issue was how
was Odessa going to fit into the new economy of Ukraine? Odessa was largely left to
solve this problem on its own. Odessa port, and Odessa city, are very different than the
surrounding region. There is a long-standing conflict between the oblast and the city
government, right up to the top. The quarrel between the mayor and the governor began
from the outset of independence.
The mayor, Hurewitz was popularly elected. The governor was selected by the
government in Kiev. The issue of political power concentrated in Kyiv as opposed to
local governance chosen by election was evident from the beginning. Both the governor
Bodelan and mayor Hurewitz were corrupt. They both benefited from their positions,
doling out favors and receiving favors in return. But the mayor had more to give in the
city itself, and his popularity increased, because he was rather astute. He could easily
have been a mayor in New York. In fact, many New Yorkers of Odessan descent, you
might say, would visit, and favorable trade ties were made. I knew the mayor very well,
as well as the governor. They visited me in Kiev and I would visit them, in town and they
would relate their difficulties, particularly with each other.
There is a very interesting American phenomenon in Odessa. The Odessa Symphony
Orchestra, which is probably the second-best, if not the best, orchestra in the Ukraine,
was led by an American conductor from Princeton, Hobart Earle. Hobart is a superb
musician who was in Vienna as a protégé of conductors there and was asked to go to
Odessa as a guest conductor. He went and fell in love with the city. He was so charmed
by the city that he married a very talented, beautiful Ukrainian Russian woman from
Odessa named Aida, who was a violinist, a lovely woman. They had a child, Pavel.
Hobart Earle is a great musician, and an excellent conductor. He revived this orchestra
from its near ruinous state. When Earle took over there were not enough instruments for
the members of the orchestra to play. So he found instruments from all over the world,
particularly from Vienna and the United States, and rather quickly put the Odessa
Symphony Orchestra on a sound footing, and they're doing quite well.
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