Foreign consulates in Odesa (1920s – 1930s)

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

Foreign consulates in Odesa (1920s - 1930s)

Liudmyla Vovchuk

Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University (Mykolaiv, Ukraine)

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.

Keywords: consul, consulate, mission, Odesa, Poland, Albania, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Japan, Spain, UkrSSR

ІНОЗЕМНІ КОНСУЛЬСТВА В ОДЕСІ (1920-1930-Х РР.)

Людмила Вовчук

Чорноморський національний університет імені Петра Могили (Миколаїв, Україна)

АНОТАЦІЯ

Мета статті полягає у висвітленні історії репатріаційних місій і консульських установ Польщі, Албанії, Німеччини, Італії, Туреччини, Японії та Іспанії в Одесі упродовж 1922-1938 рр., аналіз основних напрямків діяльності в межах консульського округу та характеристика консульського персоналу. consulate mission odesa poland

Наукова новизна. Реконструйовано загальну картину іноземної дипломатичної присутності в Одесі, що була представлена репатріаційними місіями Туреччини, Албанії та Польщі, а також п'ятьма консульствами. Показано їх кадровий склад і ключові напрями діяльності.

Висновки. Зі створенням радянської України Одеса й надалі продовжила залишатися стратегічно важливим містом як для європейських, так і азійських країн, які відновивши дипломатичні та консульські відносини з СРСР, відкривають тут свої консульства. Упродовж 1920-30-х рр. в місті діяли спочатку (протягом 1922-1925 рр.) репатріаційні місії Польщі, Албанії та Туреччини, а згодом консульські установи трьох європейських країн - Німеччини, Італії, Іспанії та двох азійських - Туреччини та Японії. Дипломатичний персонал іноземних консульських установ складався винятково з представників країн, які вони представляли, і були кар'єрними дипломатами. У свою чергу, серед представників адміністративно-технічного персоналу були як громадяни цих країн, так і радянської України, а обслуговуючий персонал складався з місцевих мешканців.

З моменту свого становлення іноземні консульські представники сприяли розвитку торговельно-економічних, культурних і наукових відносин своїх країн з УСРР/УРСР. Важливими сферами діяльності консульств був захист інтересів громадян своїх країн, організація для них матеріальної допомоги та сприяння їх виїзду на батьківщину. У процесі збирання інформації про суспільно-політичне становище в УСРР, консули фіксували розгортання Голодомору, вказуючи на його винуватців, відзначали негативні наслідки колективізації та індустріалізації тощо.

Але, незважаючи на постійно підкреслену дружність у відносинах між СРСР і вище переліченими країнами, їх консульства та працівники опинилися під пильним наглядом радянських спецслужб, які будь-які дії представників консульств розцінювали як шпигунські. Для повної результативності спецслужбами було завербовано представників як серед працівників консульства, так і осіб, які контактували з консулом. А після закриття консульств розпочали процес їхньої

«зачистки». У 1937-1938 р. відносини СРСР з Італією, Німеччиною, Туреччиною, Японією та Іспанією набули напруженого характеру, що призвело до згортання консульської мережі в Одесі.

Ключові слова: консул, консульство, місія, Одеса, Польща, Албанія, Німеччина, Італія, Туреччина, Японія, Іспанія, УСРР

INTRODUCTION

Since its foundation, Odesa has become an economic, political and cultural center for many foreigners. Having a unique geographical position, the city has always been considered a bridge of international trade and cultural exchange. From the middle of the 19th century, Odesa occupies a central position in the transit and intermediary trade of the countries of Europe, the Near and Middle East, and becomes the main center for the export of bread in the region. With the creation of Soviet Ukraine, Odesa continued to be a strategically important city for both European and Asian countries, which, having restored diplomatic and consular relations with the USSR, opened their consulates in the city in order to intensify trade and economic relations and protect their citizens who lived in the city and its surroundings. During the 1920s and 1930s, the city housed the consular offices of five European countries - Poland, Albania, Germany, Italy, Spain and two Asian countries - Turkey and Japan, which from the first days of their opening were actively included in the southern Ukrainian region's socio-economic and cultural life.

The question of the foreign consular institutions' activity on the territory of Soviet Ukraine during the 1920s and 30s is currently gaining more and more interest among representatives of historical science. Currently, we have works that reveal certain aspects of the activities of foreign consular institutions in the UkrSSR, as well as, directly, separate works that highlight the activities of the Polish, German, Italian, and Japanese consulates in Odesa (L. Vovchuk1, I. Matiash2, L. Vovchuk and S. Kornovenko3, S. Pavlenko4, V. Savchenko and O. Trygub5, Mattias Dornfeld, Enrico Seewald6, J. Bruski7, M. Keipert and P. Grupp8, George Lensen9). At the same time, the existence of the Albanian, Spanish and Turkish consulates in Odesa remains an almost unexplored page of history. Some aspects of the formation, consular composition and activities of the Turkish consulate in Odesa during the 1920s and 1930s are covered in the materials of L. Vovchuk10, S. Piskuriov, and V. Chernytskyi11.

The purpose of this paper is to create a general picture of the opening of foreign countries' missions and consular offices in Odesa, the consular staff's characteristics of these countries, their functions and main forms of activity in the region during the 1920s and 1930s.

THE FIRST FOREIGN MISSIONS IN ODESA (1921-1924)

The beginning of the foreign missions' establishment in Odesa was laid by the Delegation (Commission) on opting and repatriation, agreements on the formation of which were actively signed during 1921-1922. On February 24, 1921, the Ukrainian- Polish Agreement on Repatriation was concluded12. Since in the difficult conditions of that time it was quite difficult to quickly form relevant commissions and missions on the ground, the Polish embassy in Kharkiv authorized issuing the necessary documents to persons of Polish origin regarding the opt-in and repatriation of a member of the Odesa Polish community M.V. Szczepkowskyi13 (a similar situation occurred in Kyiv, where the repatriation delegation was headed by a local resident, Adam Roshkovskyi).

Since the person M.V. Szczepkowskyi was clearly not satisfied with the bodies of the OGPU (Joint State Political Directorate) and NKZS (People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs), and besides, on April 30, 1922, the first term of the option commissions expired, then he was removed from the duties of the Polish representative, and the Delegation for repatriation acquired a completely official character according to letter

№ 318 of the Polish Government's Commissioner in matters of opting on the USSR's territory dated May 6, 192214. According to the Polish historian Jan Jacek Bruski, the updated Delegation in Odesa began its work in June 1922, headed by Tadeusz Kunicki15. Instead, the materials of the Odesa GPU indicate that with the removal of Szczepkowskyi, the role of «Embassy Plenipotentiary» was assigned, with the permission of the NKZS, to Michal Soroko, who arrived with Secretary T. Kunicki. Soroko's task was to make it easier for Polish optants in Odesa and the district to submit applications for the choice of citizenship, to inform them about the necessary documents, etc., that is, everything related to the opt-in procedure.

It is interesting that none of the representatives was entrusted with the performance of consular functions. These issues were handled by the Polish Embassy in Kharkiv. Thus, during 1922, the consular department's head, an expert on foreign trade issues of the Polish diplomatic mission in Kharkiv, Dzenkovskyi, came to Odesa, who, after staying in the city for about two days, returned to Kharkiv, taking with him the documents of persons who had acquired Polish citizenship16.

Approximately in August-September 1922, all matters related to opting were transferred to the management of T. Kunicki17, and in September 1923, a military intelligence officer, lieutenant Henryk Kintopf18, became the secretary. The main goal of H. Kintopf was intelligence activity, which was quickly exposed by agents of the GPU.

At the end of October 1923, the Odesa GPU detained members of the network created by H. Kintopf in Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Sevastopol, and a week later arrested employees and supporters of the delegation. In March 1924, the National Security Service recognized Henryk Kintopf as persona non grata and expelled him from the USSR19. Since the exact date of the liquidation of the Odesa representative office is unknown to us (at the beginning of 1924, it still appears in the reference publication «All Odesa. 1924» as the Polish Consulate and the Polish Option Commission20), but taking into account the fact that the option delegation in Kyiv was closed on February 15, 1924, then we believe that the termination of the activities of the delegations in Kyiv and Odesa took place simultaneously, which is confirmed by the letter of the Polish Consul General in Kharkiv, Michaі Њwirskiego, dated March 17, 192421.

By signing the convention «On the repatriation of the war's prisoners and civilian internees»22 on September 17, 1921, the USSR and Turkey contributed to the intensification of bilateral relations. After a series of meetings, the Turkish side nevertheless agreed to open a repatriation point in Odesa. Although Odesa was rejected primarily for political reasons by the Turkish government, which insisted on Novorossiysk and Tuapse (they were rejected because they were outside the UkrSSR)23. In 1922, the Turkish Repatriation Mission was established in Odesa. The mission consisted of two persons: authorized representative Lutfi-Ikri and secretary Ismail Sharaf-Eddin. Both were native Turks, the first was from Constantinople, and the second - from Batum. The Odesa chekists did not have any complaints against the mission, since both «were not noticed in the counter-revolution» and «no abnormalities were observed» in the mission's activities24. From approximately 1923 until the very closure of the mission in May-June 1925 (it was closed in connection with the opening of the consulate), the duties of the head were performed by I. Sharaf-Eddin.

In addition to opt-out and repatriation tasks, the mission took an active part in the establishment of Ukrainian-Turkish relations in the economic and cultural spheres. Thus, in 1924, the Kharkiv branch of the Commerce Russian-Eastern Chamber began to function in Ukraine. In turn, on December 18, 1924, the solemn opening of the Odesa branch of the Commerce Russian-Eastern Chamber took place in Odesa. The main task of the Odesa branch was to establish trade relations with the coastal cities of Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Greece and Egypt. At the opening, Sharaf-Eddin expressed his confidence in the strengthening of Turkish-Soviet trade relations and noted that «Turkish merchants were pleased to learn about the organization of the Chamber's branch in Odesa», wishing him success in his work on behalf of the Turkish government25.

In September 1922, the Albanian Repatriation Mission began its work in Odesa (sometimes it appears in documents as a consulate, but it was not). Its leader was Columbi, who knew the Russian reality quite well, having visited the former empire as a sailor and merchant. The opening of the consular office was dictated by the presence of an Albanian colony in the city26.

Columbi arrived in Odesa on September 13 and immediately caused the concern of the NKZS's local Commissioner Serhii Koziura. In his letter to the USSR Foreign Affairs' Deputy People's Commissar Volodymyr Yakovlev, he noted: «Some Columbi has arrived in Odesa, who has documents from the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that he is authorized by the Albanian government to carry out the repatriation of Albanian citizens. This Columbi is a protйgй of a certain Boshnian, a leader of revolutionary Albanian groups, who at one time was in Odesa and Moscow and whose services we secretly used to determine not only the national and political character of the repatriates. Now Boshnian is in Constantinople as an official representative (consul) of the Albanian government. A citizen Columbi is going to Moscow. I think I will first send it to you and you will decide what to do with it…»27. Thus, the revolutionary interests of the Bolsheviks led to the approval of the Albanian Repatriation Mission in Odesa. The latter, led by Columbi, existed until about the middle of 1924.

CONSULATE OF GERMANY (1923-1937)

The treaty between the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic and the German state, which was signed in April 1922 in Rapallo (Italy) during the Genoa Conference, not only renewed diplomatic relations, but also laid a solid foundation for further economic and military cooperation between the countries, which were in international isolation after the end of World War I. The course of rapprochement, maturation of the allied elements relations prompted both states to study each other more «thoroughly», monitor and analyze important events and processes that took place in the partner country. Berlin's increased interest in the Soviet Union led to an increase in its diplomatic presence in the UkrSSR28.

In 1923, the German consulate was opened in Odesa. The primary task of theinstitution was the normalization of bilateral German-Soviet relations, where the emphasis was placed on the trade and economic sphere and the protection of German citizens and German colonists who lived in large numbers in the South of Ukraine (during the 1920s and 1930s there were 8 German national districts here). The German government periodically sent circulars to the German consuls operating in Soviet Ukraine, clearly specifying their tasks and actions regarding the implementation of bilateral Soviet-German trade relations.

The consulate's interest in the German colonists was especially intensified during socio-economic cataclysms (famines, collectivization, typhus and dysentery epidemics, persecutions, repressions, etc.). Almost every German family living in a village or city of the UkrSSR at that time needed material or food aid, and the Germans turned to the German consulate in Odesa for protection.

The consulate also looked after the religious sphere of Ukrainian Germans life, because the church existed at the expense of the small voluntary donations of its parishioners. At the same time, not only representatives of Catholic or Lutheran parishes asked for help, but also the Soviet Ukraine Orthodox clergy, who wrote letters both to the German consulates operating there and to various German nationalist organizations with a request for help. Among them was the Russian priest Dmytro Gulyi (the village of Novo- Bohdanivka, Melitopol district), who in his sermons repeatedly mentioned Hitler and Germany, which helps not only the Germans, but also the Soviet population. In addition, he urged the parishioners not to be silent and to write as many letters as possible about the famine to Germany29. In November-December 1934, 11,123 such letters were discovered. As a result, 417,794 rubles were transferred to Ukraine from Germany during 11 months of 1934 only through the Torgsin system30.

For the German consuls in Soviet Ukraine, the question of the forced involvement of Germans in collective farms was especially acute for them, who, like the majority of Ukrainians and Poles at the time, did not want to give up the status of «individual farmer». The forced eviction of German colonists and their arrest, which began to become widespread at the beginning of 1934, was also a painful issue.

One of the most difficult areas of the German consulates was ensuring the desire of Germans to leave for Germany. Despite the fact that Germans had the right to leave the USSR at any time, in practice it was quite difficult to do so, especially for those who had Soviet citizenship31.

However, considerable attention of the German consuls was paid to information activities, reports from which were sent to the German embassy in Moscow. The collected information related to the general political situation in the country, military aspects, the situation of heavy and light industry and agriculture, etc. The reports on the consequences of collectivization carried out by the USSR and the German consul in Odesa, Paul Roth, who, like his colleagues, highlighted the results of this terrible policy, were quite thorough32. He carefully monitored the activities of the Odesa region state farms and collective farms (the territory of the entire Northern Black Sea region), focused on the German colonies' life in the region33.

But in addition to official affairs, German representatives continued to carry out intelligence activities, which began on the territory of Ukraine even before the beginning of the World War I. So, today it is known that the German Consul General Werner Stefani, who, according to the data of the case against him for 1925, was engaged in intelligence activities in Kyiv and Odesa, where he actively collected information on the economic development of the region, its agriculture and industry, and was also engaged in speculative operations on the purchase and sale of foreign currency, gold and various jewels34.

The personnel agent of the German General Staff was also a former officer of the intelligence service, the German consul in Odesa, Paul Roth35, who organized a wide network of informants, received all possible information about the plans, intentions, development, and problems of the USSR.

When choosing a consular post, the German MFA gave preference to «career diplomats» who had extensive experience in the diplomatic field, were fluent in foreign languages, and had deep knowledge in the fields of history, geography, statistics, political economy, and international law. All German diplomats who worked in the consulate in Odesa (see Table 1), before their appointment in this republic, had a significant track record of activities abroad.

Table 1.

Diplomatic Corps of the German Consulate in Odesa (1923-1935)36

Despite the fact that in 1933 the Soviet-Italian treaty on friendship, non-aggression and neutrality was signed, the ideological confrontation still affected the general nature of relations. The final point on the existence of the Italian Consulate General in Odesa was put after the accession of Italy to the Anti-Comintern Pact on November 6, 1937. On November 8, 1937, the Soviet government protested against unfriendly actions. Further preservation of Italy as part of the «axis» led to the collapse of diplomatic relations. On August 24, 1939, a royal decree was issued to close the Consulate of Italy in Odesa and terminate its funding, although the actual termination of its activities took place even earlier.

CONSULATE OF TURKEY (1925-1938)

At the beginning of June 1925, the Turkish government, taking into account the strategic importance of Odesa, opened its consulate general here63. On this occasion, the Soviet press reported: «A Turkish consulate was organized in Odesa. The main purpose of this consulate is the expansion of trade relations between Turkey and the USSR»64.

Munif Bey, who arrived in Ukraine on June 4, 1925, was appointed the first head of the Turkish Consulate in Odesa in 192565, and Dervish Bey, who arrived in mid-May, was appointed as the vice-consul. Upon his arrival, the latter immediately made several statements about the importance of the trade relations' development between Turkey and the USSR and assured that «Turkish merchants are very interested in the possibility of economic relations with the USSR», the consulate, in turn, «will try to establish close relations with local economic organizations»66. His words were confirmed by Consul General Munif-bey, who in his interview with the Soviet press on June 4, 1925 noted that «the main task of the Turkish consulate's organization in Odesa is to strengthen and develop trade relations between Turkey and the USSR»67. Thus, the main task of the Consulate General was, first of all, to promote the development of trade and economic relations between Turkey and the UkrSSR, which were characterized by their intensity during the 1920s.

Ukrainian officials granted Turkish merchants the right to freely enter Ukraine at any time and conduct commercial operations at large fairs. Turkish ships could enter Ukrainian Black Sea and Azov ports without special visas of Soviet representatives in Turkey. It was through Ukrainian ports that a significant part of Turkish exports to the USSR passed. An important direction of the consulate's activity was the protection of the rights and interests of Turkish citizens who lived within the consular district.

At the initiative of the government, in 1925, the Kharkiv branch of the Commerce Russian-Eastern Chamber, which was opened in 1924, was reorganized into an independent Commerce Ukrainian-Eastern Chamber with branches in Kyiv and Odesa.

This contributed to the activation of foreign trade activities of various Ukrainian organizations. On November 25, 1925, the Odesa branch was visited by a Turkish delegation headed by Minister of Agriculture Sabri Bey and accompanied by Consul General Menif Bey and Vice Consul Dervish Bey. The minister noted the high indicators of trade cooperation and the support of the Chamber of Turkish Merchants. In response, the Odesa branch's head, Goldenberg, expressed his wish that «friendly relations with Turkish trade circles would develop to the widest possible extent, and Turkish merchants would turn to the chamber with all their needs without any hesitation»68.

Like the majority of foreign diplomatic representatives operating in Soviet Ukraine at the time, Turkish consuls carried out information activities, highlighting the internal situation both in the consular district itself and beyond. In their reports to the Turkish government, the consuls provided information on the activities of the Odesa port, where special attention was paid to the number of foreign ships arriving; development of heavy, food industry, agricultural activity. They were also interested in the situation in the village, especially during 1932-3369.

Turkish consuls were also present at various ceremonial events70. The diplomatic corps of Turkey took an active part in establishing cultural cooperation. Thus, an important role in the Ukrainian-Turkish relations' development was played by the All- Ukrainian Scientific Association of Orientalists, founded in January 1926, whose activities focused on political-economic and historical-ethnological areas. The society had a Turkish section that dealt with Turkish issues and popularized the study of the Turkish language at courses in Kharkiv, Odesa and Kyiv71.

Soviet theater and art aroused the special interest of Turkish society. In August 1925, the Turkish theater reformer and film director Ertugrul Muhsin-bey visited the USSR72. During this trip, the artist probably also visited the Odesa film studio, whose work was known to the whole world. As a result, in 1926, with the assistance of Vice- Consul Zekki Jamil-bey, Muhsin-bey shot the feature film «Spartacus»73 and in 1927, the film «Tamilla» at the Odesa Film Studio with funding from Turkey.

We also have information about valuable gifts of works of art to the Odesa Art Museum. To this day, the museum keeps a portrait of Leo Tolstoy (1900) by the portraitist Ivan Kazakov, which was presented by the Turkish consul Fuat Izzet-bey in 193274.

Table 3.

Diplomatic Corps of the Turkish Consulate in Odesa (1924-1938)

Despite the constantly emphasized friendship in relations between the USSR and Turkey, the Turkish consulate and its employees were under the close supervision of the Soviet special services, which regarded any actions of the consulate representatives 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» them75. At the beginning of March 1938, the Turkish consulate in Odesa ceased its activities.

JAPANESE CONSULATE (1926-1937)

On January 20, 1925, after lengthy negotiations, the Convention on the Basic Principles of Relations between the USSR and Japan (Beijing Agreement) was signed in Beijing. On February 26, 1925, representatives of Japan and the USSR exchanged ratification's letters of the Beijing Agreement. Since the entry into force of the agreement, diplomatic and consular relations have been established between the two countries76. Throughout 1925, the process of agreeing on the opening points of Japanese consular offices in the territory of the USSR and Soviet ones in Japan took place. After long discussions, Tokyo officials received permission to create representative offices in seven cities, including Odesa77.

On January 4, 1926, the Japanese consulate in Odesa was officially opened78. The consulate was temporarily located in the «Londonskiy» hotel, although the NKVD proposed to place the Japanese consulate in building № 21 on the Gogol Street for the convenience of surveillance, where the Turkish consulate was also located. Later, the consulate moved to a three-story building on Feldman Boulevard (currently 1 Prymorskyi Boulevard), where it occupied the entire second floor. The consular district covered the territory of the Ukrainian SSR and the Crimean ASSR79.

Sasaki Seigo was appointed the head of the Japanese consulate, who performed the functions assigned to him until 1927, after which he was transferred as a consul to Fr. Sakhalin. Sasaki Seigo was familiar with Odesa and the features of this city, as he held the position of the Japanese consulate's secretary during 1907-1909. In the fall of 1925, he came to the city to inspect the state of the port and familiarized himself with the economic development of Odesa and the region. In an interview for the «Izvestia» newspaper, the Japanese noted that he considers the current state of Soviet-Japanese relations extremely good. Seigo Sasaki emphasized the significant prospects of economic relations between the countries, because the USSR expressed interest in the export trade's development, and Japan actively imported oil, wood, iron ore, etc. As for the USSR, the diplomat noted the possibility of exporting caustic soda, flax, hemp, salt, tobacco and other things to Japan80.

The primary task of the Japanese consulate head was the trade relations' development with the USSR and the establishment of a steamship connection between the ports of Osaka and Odesa. For this purpose, a thorough analytical study of the region was carried out. The Japanese were interested in information about political life, industry (they were quite seriously interested in the issue of oil), financial status, the role of Soviet officials, specialists and other workers in the industry of the UkrSSR and the USSR, the number of employees in the Department of Ukrainian Industry of National Policy, the economic state of Ukraine, anti-Soviet sentiment in Odesa, the attention of the Central Government to the armament of the UkrSSR, the role of private capital in the USSR, the state of grain procurement in Ukraine, noting the terribleness of this whole process, etc81. The counter-intelligence department of the GPU noted in its reports that not a single notable event from the life of Odesa remained unnoticed by the consulate employees. They actively collected information about the region and often went beyond the consular district and sent their reports to the Japanese Embassy in Moscow and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan82.

Consul Shimada Shigeru, who arrived in Odesa on February 19, 1927, in an interview with the Odesa newspaper «Izvestia», noted that Japan was interested in purchasing salt, oil, medicinal herbs, etc. in the USSR's southern regions (USSR and the eastern Black Sea region). And his first task as consul was to study these issues, possible directions of development of Soviet-Japanese economic relations. The second priority for the official was to establish a regular sea connection between Japan and the USSR's Black Sea ports83.

The consulate also carried out Japanese cultural promotion in the UkrSSR. Thus, in the period 1927-1929, three cultural projects directly related to Japan were implemented on the territory of the USSR. These were exhibitions of children's books

(1) and movies (2) and tours of the Kabuki theater (3). The consulate was not involved in the organization of these projects and mostly played the role of an observer or a passive participant.

An exhibition of Japanese children's books arrived in Odesa in April 1929, and was opened on July 17. The venue of the exhibition in Odesa was the State Art Museum. In the fall of 1929, a slightly different Japanese cultural product was presented in Odesa - cinema. The exhibition, in addition to cinema, included the display of Japanese advertising posters for films, photographs and magazines. In Odesa, the exhibition was opened on November 16 in the premises of the Frunze State Cinema. Positive relations have developed between the consulate and the Odesa branch of the All-Ukrainian Scientific Association of Oriental Studies (VUNAS)84.

Throughout the 1930s, the consuls' attention was focused on the terrible food situation in the UkrSSR and the endless repression of the GPU against the wealthy sections of the rural population. The reports characterized the state of heavy industry, agriculture and transport. Here, the results of the first five-year period in the UkrSSR were summarized and official statistical data on this were given. In addition, great attention was paid to the collection of information on the development of school education in the USSR, teaching methods at school, especially in railway construction schools, the process of Ukrainization in the UkrSSR.

In order to better understand the situation in the region and beyond, Japanese representatives made several trips to the country. However, all this was perceived by the Soviet special services as the collection of intelligence data and the development of a spy network for the Japanese government's benefit85.

As S. Pavlenko rightly points out, the Japanese consulate's peculiarity was that «its main function was not to ensure the interests of the diaspora or the development of economic ties, but to collect information about the region and study the possibilities of intensifying bilateral trade relations»86.

As in the case of the German consulate, the formal reason for closing the Japanese consular office in Odesa was the reduction in the number of Japanese representations in the USSR, which at that time numbered 8, and only 6 Soviet representations in Japan. Therefore, on August 19, 1937, the NKZS directed the embassy Japan a note on the closure of two consulates in accordance with the principle of an equal number of representations. On September 15, Moscow decided to close the consulates in Novosibirsk and Odesa87.

Table 4.

Diplomatic Corps of the Japanese Consulate in Odesa (1926-1937)

CONSULATE GENERAL OF SPAIN (1936-1939)

The last consulate of Spain started functioning in Odesa. Only at the end of July 1933 was an agreement reached to establish Spanish-Soviet diplomatic relations, but the exchange of ambassadors did not take place at that time. Only when the government of the Popular Front came to power in Spain, the Spaniards offered the Soviet side to exchange ambassadors. However, attempts to normalize relations between the countries were made as early as 1925. However, the Spaniards primarily emphasized the conclusion of an economic agreement, which the USSR did not agree. On July 18, 1836, the mutiny of General Franco took place, and the civil war began in Spain. Despite this, diplomatic cooperation between the countries continued.

In October 1936, the Consulate General of the USSR was founded in Barcelona, respectively, the Consulate General of Spain in Odesa. Professional diplomat Valeriano Picazzo Casanueva became the head of the newly created consular institution. He was born on May 9, 1889 in Madrid. He received a legal education. For some time he worked in the Ministry of Finance. He was Director-General of Public Litigation, Secretary of the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and State Solicitor in Madrid.

In the future, he actively connected his life with the legislative power. Thus, in 1933, Valeriano Casanueva as a candidate from the Spanish Social Democratic Political Party (PSOE) took part in the general elections of Salamanca, he was elected deputy only in 1936, gaining 46,492 votes (out of a total of 153,797 votes). He was also a member of the commissions of the treasury, the accounting chamber, from April 8, 1936 to October 1, 1938; he belonged to the Cortes Permanent Deputation as a deputy. In September 1936, V. Casanueva was appointed deputy state secretary, and soon after that - consul general of Spain in Odesa, whose functions he performed until 193988. In 1937, he was also a representative of the Spanish consulate in China89. At the end of the Spanish Civil War, V. Canasueva was exiled to France, where he died in Toulouse on September 20, 194190.

On March 5, 1939, the People's Front government was overthrown, and the

«National Defense Junta» came to power. Pedroso, the Spanish ambassador to the USSR, said that he could not consider himself a representative of the government that was formed in Madrid after the coup. Therefore, only the Spanish consul in Odesa,

V. Casanueva, was to remain in the USSR. However, Spanish-Soviet diplomatic relations were terminated. As a result, in 1939, the Spanish Consulate General in Odesa also ceased to exist.

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 diplomatic staff of foreign consular institutions 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 of Soviet Ukraine, and the service staff consisted of local residents.