E. V. Gornostaev

Collection

Holding institution (official language):: Державний архів Херсонської області

Scope and content:: Documents housed in the fonds include (in the Manuscripts section) a study by E. V. Gornostaev called Zabalka [published in abridged form as E. V. Gornostaev, “Istoriia Zabalki,” Konstanty (1994) 1, no. 2 (149-56)] on Kherson’s historical neighbourhood of that name, where a significant portion of the city’s Jewish community resided in the pre-revolutionary period. The author describes, in particular, the I. V. and B. I. Olenov Children’s Shelter, which was established by the Society to Aid Poor Jews; the Zabalka Talmud-Torah, which opened in 1911; Jewish businesspeople and public figures; the famine of 1921-23, and the song “Shneerson’s Wedding” (by M. E. Iampol’skii), which was popular in that period; what the Kherson Karaite cemetery looked like before it was destroyed in 1941 by the German occupiers (who used the headstones to pave roads); etc. In his article “Where Synagogues Used to Be” (1996), Gornostaev describes the location and history of the buildings (still preserved) of Kherson’s three old synagogues: the Staronikolaevka Street Synagogue (1780-22), Novonikolaevka Street Synagogue (1840-1926), and Bes-hamidrash (1825-27).

Administrative/biographical history:: The collector, local history researcher, and honorary citizen of the city of Kherson Evgenii Vikent’evich Gornostaev (1914-2004) was born in the city of Lugansk (Ekaterinoslav province; now the administrative centre of the Lugans’k region). He lived in Kherson from early childhood on, and graduated the Kherson Mechanical Engineering Technicum in 1937. During the Second World War he was sent to Germany as part of the Nazis’ forced labour force. He later worked at the Kherson driveshaft factory. In the 1960s-70s he became known as an antique collector, and staged exhibits. He was a member of the Kherson city club of Lovers of the Book Kobzar’; and the Kherson regional organisation of the Ukrainian Society for the Preservation of Historical and Cultural Monuments. He authored several dozen publications on local history. He died in Kherson.

Access points: persons/families:: Gornostaev, Evgenii Vikent’evich; Iampol’skii, M. E.

Subject terms:: Aid and relief; Cemeteries; Children; Education; Education--Talmud Torah; Famine; Historical research; Jewish community; Karaite Judaism; Manuscripts; Music; Occupation (military); Synagogues; Trade and commerce

System of arrangement:: The fonds includes a single inventory systematised by document type.