Olshana (Cherkasy region)

In written documents, Olshana was first mentioned in 1598 . Its name apparently comes from the Olshanka River, known from the chronicles since the 12th century ^[2] .

On the maps of the French engineer Boplan of 1650 , Olshana is designated as a large fortified settlement ^[3] .

For many centuries Polish feudal lords dominated here, increasingly strengthening serf oppression. In the first half of the seventeenth century, social, national, and religious oppression led to the beginning of the national liberation war of 1648-1454 against the Polish-gentry domination, in which the Olsan residents fought under the leadership of Cossack Colonel Maxim Krivonos , who according to some information was born in Olshan. Folk legend "Khmelnitsky and Barabash" calls him Maxim Olshansky. In those years, Olshana became the hundredth town of the Korsun regiment. During the war of liberation, it numbered 838 households ^[4] .

According to the Andrusovo Armistice of 1667, Olshana remained under the rule of gentry Poland. The magnates further strengthened the exploitation, in response to which the national liberation movement unfolded with new force.

As part of the Haidamak detachments, the Olshaninites attacked gentry estates, scaring fear on the masters. In 1742, the Haidamaks intercepted the gentry of V. Buyalsky on the way to Olshans, took money and a registered letter from him. In 1750, detachment A. Pismenny took the horses from the gentlemen. For the massacre of the population of June 9, 1766, an entire thousand Polish soldiers arrived at Olshany. In addition to the persecution of the rebels, they drove people to the construction of military fortifications ("tortured for four weeks"), robbed the city. Residents of Olshany fought against the enforced planting of Uniatism . In 1767, they complained to the Bishop of Pereyaslav that they refused to accept uniatism, they fined property from priests and parishioners ^[5] .

Since 1793, Olshana, as well as the entire Right-Bank Ukraine, has been part of the Russian Empire. The owner of the town at that time was the nephew of Prince Potemkin , V.V. Engelhardt .

In the XIX century, capitalist relations began to emerge in the village. Distillery, brick and potash factories, mills operated in Olshany. The sugar factory, built in 1845 by the landowners Branicki , already in 1847 processed 9128 Berkovtsev sugar beets ^[6] . At the enterprises the serfs who were ruined, deprived of land and tools of labor worked. Medical care, like education, was in poor condition. Here there was only an elementary school where 59 young men and 37 girls studied.

After the reform of 1861, the position of the peasants almost did not improve. For 1220 revision souls, Olshan was allocated 2090 acres of land, including 2088 arable land. There were 144 peasant farms, among the owners there were many widows left without inheritance. The landowner received 2,754 tithing ^[7] . The peasants had to pay 3a of the received land annually for 4771 rubles 54 kopecks for 49 years.

Angered by the predatory reform, the peasants strongly protested against it. One Kiev official of special assignments, having been in Olshan in 1861, informed the governor that the women of Olshany refused to serve the landowner, since the land was endowed only with men.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the process of stratification among the peasants considerably deepened. 859 farms of Olshany possessed 2514 acres of land. It is distributed extremely unevenly: 11.3% of peasants had up to 1 acres, 29.4% - up to 2 acres, 10.2% - up to 3 acres. 158 farms had no livestock, workhorses were only 94, oxen in 100 farms ^[8] . To feed the family, the poor peasants hired to landowners. The wealthy peasants in the third or fifth sheaf, worked at the refinery (in 1899 there were 380 men and 16 women) ^[9] .

Some of the poor were hired by wealthy owners of the mills (there were 2 water mills, 5 equestrian mills, 19 windmills in Olshany), they worked in the forges, which numbered 12, others went to work in the Crimea , Yekaterinoslav and other cities.

Every year, major fairs were held in Olshany in the spring and autumn, at which a lot of landowner bread, mainly wheat, was sold.

The revolutionary events of 1905-1907 found a wide response in Olshan. The working peasants refused to work in the pan-economy, demanding from the manager increase the day's pay. The leaders of such speeches - S. Chernichka, A. Tinnik, B. Pronenko - were arrested ^[10] . The report to the head of the provincial police department said that a local peasant L. Ye. Tishchenko was gathering in Olshan rallies at which he called for dividing the landlord's land, not to follow the orders of the royal authority. Since 1906, he was exiled to Vologda province for three years under the supervision of the police ^[11] .

Social conditions also affected the character of life and culture of Olshany. The center housed the house of the landowner, as well as officials who defended his interests. On one side of the main street, there were houses of wealthy residents covered with tin, and on the other, their shops. Huts of peasants huddled behind Olshanka. They were built from wood and clay, covered with straw. In Olshany there was a pharmacy , a poorhouse , a small hospital, where a paramedic was treating for all diseases. In addition to the existing elementary school of 1871, a single-class public school was opened. Most residents were illiterate. Since the funds allocated by the treasury for its maintenance were scarce, the villagers contributed 10 kopecks per tenth of land every year. The teacher and the priest taught the children in the school.

The First World War of 1914 had a detrimental effect on the state of agriculture. All men of military age were mobilized into the army, many of them did not return home. Only in 1915–1916, according to incomplete data, 39 Olshane residents were killed in the war, 21 went missing, 25 were captured ^[12] . There was an acute shortage of workers, excessively frequent requisitions among the peasants — all of which led their economies to decline.

After the Soviet government was established in February 1918, the land committee began to divide landowner land and property. A delegation from Olshany, led by A. Psheninny, took part in the county village congress convened by the Bolsheviks that same month. But the first Soviet authorities ceased their activities, because in April 1918 the occupation of the county by Austro-German troops began. Kaiser soldiers arrived to Olshany. They drove the population into the square and every tenth was whipped with rods for the distribution of landowner property and land. The governors returned to the village, they took away the land, equipment, and reprisals from the peasants.

The brutality and violence of the German invaders caused hatred of enemies, which grew into a peasant uprising. At the beginning of June 1918, together with the Cyril peasants, the Olschanians actively opposed the German garrison, which was located in the landowner’s house. The commander of the rebel detachment was a local resident F. G. Shendrik, the chief of staff - A. Pshenichny. Enemies after three days of fighting surrendered, losing 85 people killed. Soon came the punishers, burned 42 farms, shot 12 patriots.

The underground revolutionary committee, created in the fall of 1918, immediately after the expulsion of the invaders in November 1918, declared itself a revolutionary power in the volost, began a struggle to strengthen Soviet power, and mobilized into the army. During the week, a detachment of 400 fighters was organized, which immediately, in accordance with the order of the Cherkassy Revolutionary Committee, fought against the Petliurists. To protect the revolutionary order in Olshan 40 fighters remained. Subsequently, the local garrison grew to 200 people. The shortage of weapons was filled by disarming the German infantry regiment, which was returning to its homeland.

In December 1918, at a meeting of the Olshansky Volost Revolutionary Committee, five departments were created: military, legal, economic, cultural, educational, agitation. A local resident, a former miner, a member of the CPSU (b) from 1905, F. M. Moroz, was elected a commissar of the Revolutionary Committee, a Bolshevik T. Shevchenko as a revolutionary commandant. At the same time, a rural revkom was created, headed by the olshansky peasant, a former front-line soldier V.P. Shendrin. By its order of January 29, 1919, the Volost Military Revolutionary Committee transferred the land and all landed property to the peasants. On January 12, 1919, the Olshansky Sugar Factory was nationalized, a combo was created.

When the Denikin offensive began in the summer of 1919, the Olshansky Revolution Committee was left in the district for underground work by order of the Zvenigorod party organization. All its members entered the partisan detachment, which pursued the White Guards retreating from Kiev. 2 Denikin military units were completely destroyed, captured train, uniforms, rifles, ammunition. The guerrillas helped the Red Army soldiers of the 45th division under the command of I. E. Yakir to smash Denikinians. On January 2, 1920, the Olshansky Revolutionary Detachment, headed by the Communists, completely cleared Wilshan of the White Guards. Revkom proclaimed the restoration of Soviet power. In his activities he relied on the poor, who supported the Soviet power, in particular on the commander. 1920, a committee of 50 low-income peasants was created (Rooms). With the help of the committee, the land was redistributed. All the poor received arable land.

In 1921, the work of the Revolutionary Committee and the committee was aimed at strengthening agriculture, fighting hunger, eliminating banditry. He gave the rooms a great help by seeds, horses, etc. to the families of Red Army men, widows, poor people: their farms. His actions contributed to the two party cells, which in 1921 consisted of 13 communists who were united in the factory and rural party organizations. Two Komsomol centers, which numbered 19 Komsomol members, were also active. Olsha residents helped the starving Volga region. Only in 1922, they sent them 4,150,000 rubles of money, over 80 pounds of flour.

In the summer of 1921, a village council of workers, peasants and Red Army deputies was elected in Olshan. It was headed by G. S. Kostenko.

As a result of the new administrative division, in March 1923, Olshana became the regional center of the Olshansky district of the Shevchenko district.

1924 gave Products sugar factory. His workers organized the repair of agricultural equipment in the workshops of the plant, helped 4 TSO3s, created in 1922-1923, sow and cultivate sugar beets.

At the same time the agricultural artel "Red Way" was organized, which until 1927 united 15 individual farms and cultivated 90 acres of land.

In the village there was a hospital for 10 beds, an ambulatory and a pharmacy . The patients were served by a doctor and four paramedics. A seven-year school was opened in Olshan, where 367 students were studying, a society was established to eradicate illiteracy. Lenin, 15 circles of educational program .

From 1923, a village club began to work, during which a library and amateur artistic groups operated. Often by the circle members held concerts and performances. Raised funds to fight homelessness.

In 1930, complete collectivization was completed. All peasant farms united in the collective farm "The Socialist Way", which two years later was divided into four. In each of them were created party organizations. Since 1930, the first tractors of the Olshanskaya horse-machine-tractor station, which, in addition to 17 tractors, had 120 horses (in 1932 they were transferred to the collective farms), began to work on the collective farm fields. The same year, the KMTS was transformed into the MTS, in which there were 37 tractors. Every year its economy grew. Here mechanic shots were prepared. The MTS worked as a political department, whose chief, IG Dyachkov, was awarded the Order of Lenin for his success in political education among collective farmers. From 1933, the newspaper “3a Bolshevik collective farms” began to appear. Getting a lot of help from MTS, 4 Olshansky collective farm - "The Red Way", "The Socialist Way", they. Shevchenko, them. Dimitrov, cultivated high yields of wheat and sugar beet, for which in 1940 were participants in the All-Union Exhibition in Moscow, and the collective farm "Socialist Way" became a "millionaire".

In the life of the peasants entered the electricity and radio. In 1940, the hospital was expanded to 25 beds and a new outpatient clinic was built. They employed 13 medical workers, 4 health workers provided assistance to patients in the medical center at the sugar factory. By that time, illiteracy among the adult population was completely eliminated. There were middle, seven-year, and elementary schools, in which there were 48 teachers who trained 1,000 students.

Much attention was paid to cultural and educational work. Movies were shown at the club, choral, drama, music, gymnastics clubs were working. In the village there were 2 libraries with a book fund of more than 15 thousand books.

Peaceful labor violated the attack of fascist Germany. Many olshana residents appealed to the military enlistment office with a request to send them to the front. The village redid its work in a military manner. It was evacuated inland by the tractor MTS, cars, horses and carts were transferred to the Red Army.

July 28, 1941 the Nazis occupied the village. From the first days the enemies began executions. They brought 649 people to penal servitude in Germany.

But the Olschanians did not break even under the leadership of an underground party organization operating in a sugar factory, resisted the Fascists. Supervised by underground workers G. L. Kalinovsky. They organized the sabotage of Hitler's orders, carried out sabotage. During their domination, the Nazis took out 785 cattle, almost 40 thousand pounds of bread from the village, destroyed 3 schools, a medical clinic, a veterinary hospital, a club, the editorial office of the district newspaper, a radio center, two libraries, and burned down many residential buildings.

On February 5, 1944, after a week-long battle, parts of the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian fronts liberated the village from invaders. The first to enter Olshany was a division of self-propelled guns, commanded by Lieutenant V.I. Zakharov. The guardsmen of the 223rd regiment of the 5th Don Cavalry Corps under the command of Colonel F.N. Petrenko finally defeated the enemy and cleared Olshana of the Germans.

In the name of Zakharov, who died in the battles for Olshana, is named one of the streets of the village. In the village there are three mass graves, an obelisk of Glory to fellow villagers, a monument dedicated to the 5th Cavalry Don Corps.

In the post-war years, all four collective farms, to which the Red Army transferred 50 horses, resumed work in Olshany. At the end of 1944, MTS already had 62 tractors, 13 combines, 24 threshers, etc. Schools, hospitals, a house of culture, libraries, and other institutions started to work. Already in 1948, all collective farms reached the prewar level of yields of all agricultural crops.

In 1950, the collective farm. Stalin for high yields of wheat became a member of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition. The chairman of the artel, T. G. Predatory, was awarded the Order of Lenin, the brigadier N. A. Kuras, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

In March 1964, the Olshansk collective farms merged into one agricultural cooperative, Pravda, which united more than 1,200 farms of collective farmers, cultivating almost 5,500 hectares of land, including 4,000 arable land.

On the eve of 1965, a new complex of 75 beds with a polyclinic and a pharmacy was opened in Olshan. The hospital was equipped with a surgical, therapeutic, children's and maternity ward, offices: X-ray, physiotherapy and functional diagnostics, clinical and sanitary-bacteriological laboratories. The hospital was served by 102 medical workers, including 12 doctors.

As of 1972, the middle and eight-year schools, a boarding school, a community center for 550 places, a rural club with 200 places worked in the village. All libraries had a book fund of 47 thousand copies.

In January 1989, the population was 4236 people ^[13] .

As of January 1, 2013, the population was 3194 people ^[14] .

The name of T. G. Shevchenko is closely connected with Olshana. Since 1828, wanting to learn to draw, an inquisitive young man goes to the Olshansky manager of the landlord Engelhardt for permission to study with a painter. But instead of science, he was sent to the pansky kitchen. During a trip to Ukraine in 1843-1845, Shevchenko drove into Olshany, and in 1853 he visited her twice. The village is mentioned in the poem "Gaydamaki" and in other works of the poet.

More than 8 years he lived in Olshana, and being already a famous artist, Ivan Maximovich Soshenko visited her several times, who contributed to the redemption of Shevchenko's serfdom.

Polish landscape painter Jan Stanislavsky was born in Olshan, who dedicated many paintings to Ukraine.

• History mіst і сіл УРСР. Head editors Ukraїnskoj Radyansko ї entsiklopedії. Kiev
• Shepherd S. Vіlshana on Berezі Vіlshanka // Visnyk Gorodishchini. - 1999. - 23 hearts. - C.2.
• Olszana, miasteczko przy ujściu ruczaju Maźniki do rzeczki Olszanki (Polish) in the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic countries , volume VII (Netrebka - Perepiat) from 1886
• Olszana, miasteczko, powiat zwinogródzki (Polish) in the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic countries , Volume XV, Part 2 (Januszpol - Wola Justowska) of 1902