Chermalyk (Donetsk region)

In 1783, the number of courtyards in Chermalyk was 47, in 1926 the population was 3,594 people, of whom 3,445 were Greeks, 149 were of other nationalities. In 1994, the total population in the village was 2250 people, including: Greeks - 1264, Ukrainians - 537, Russians - 418.

In 1844, at the expense of parishioners, a two-domed stone church of St. Elijah was built in the center of the village. The church was a decoration of the village, surrounded by a beautiful iron fence along which trees were planted. In architecture, she had no equal. It was a two-domed church , the main dome had a height of over 30 meters. It also housed a belfry with 5 bells of various sizes. The church was decorated with columns and steps from all sides of the building. Currently, the village has a small church in the building of a former church school . In 1874, the Zemstvo two-class school was opened in Chermalyk, and in 1887 a school called the “One-class Ministerial School” was opened. According to data from 1908, a parish school is also listed in the village. After 1922, two schools worked in the village: one - primary (former zemstvo) and the second - seven-year (former ministerial). Since 1926, a single school has been operating in the village, and subsequently a secondary school .

From 1926 to 1938, the Greek language was taught as a subject in the school.

In 1874, instead of the Mariupol district, the Mariupol district was created, which included 28 volosts , including the Chermalyk volost , which lasted until 1923. Since 1923, Starokaran volost was formed, which included Chermalyk. In 1886, two brick factories, two forges , three windmills and five shops worked in the village.

Women knitted and wove the necessary things from the wool of sheep. Trade was greatly developed. In the shops and bazaars arranged every week, they traded everything that the owner of the village needed. The first settlers were mainly pastoralists. At the very end of the 19th century, tillage became the main occupation of the Greeks in the village.

After 1906, the farms began to separate: Kellerovka , Stepanovka , from 1921 - Kirillovka and from 1928 - Fedorovka (“chapo-huma”). Immigrants from Chermalyk founded Kellerovka - 582 people, houses - 107; Kirillovka - 13 houses; Stepanovka - 271 people, houses - 50. All of them belonged to the Chermalyk Council. After 1929 they also founded the village of Fedorovka. In total, the Chermalyk Council had a population of 4657, Greeks - 4362, and other nationalities - 295 people.

During World War II, the village was occupied by the Germans from October 12, 1941 to September 9, 1943, fierce battles were fought for the village. An underground group operated in Chermalyk, most of which were destroyed by the Gestapo . Before the war, about twenty people from the village served as commanders in the Red Army . 230 people participated in the war, 150 of them died. 78 young people were hijacked to Germany . The village was liberated by 221 rifle divisions , called Mariupol. After World War II , the village was rapidly recovering in the national economy. In different years, the village was part of the Primorsky, Telmanovsky , Novoazovsky, Volnovakhsky districts, now - again Telmanovsky .

In 1945-1990, a significant reorganization took place in agriculture. In 1956, all collective farms were merged into one, and in 1968 the Pavlopolsky state farm was created on the basis of the collective farm, which in 1994 became part of OJSC MMK named after Ilyich "as an agricultural workshop number 2.

In 2014, the village was reassigned to the Volnovakha region ^[1] .

The village, being a place of compact residence of the Greeks, contributes to the preservation of the local Greek dialect, Greek traditions and culture. Living in a new place, the Greeks maintained contact with the Crimea . They preserved many national and cultural features: language, music, clothes, customs, rituals, food - all this bore the imprint of a distant and close history. Here is systematically celebrated the day of St. Elijah (August 2) - the patron saint of the villagers.

In Chermalyk, national holidays are held - panayirs - a public dinner on the occasion of the patronal feast, which ends with the national struggle (" Kuresh "). At the Palace of Culture created the national Greek ensemble "Ilyus". Ancient Greek tunes of performers from Chermalyk were included in the collection compiled by A. Ashla and are known not only in Ukraine. The village of Chermalyk from the time of its formation in the Sea of ​​Azov and to this day has been a hotbed of Greek culture and carefully preserves the traditions of the people who once migrated to the Black Sea basin from their historical homeland.

87142, Donetsk region, Volnovakhsky district, with. Chermalyk, st. Lenin, 38; tel. 2-32-31.

Karida was born in the village , Leonty Dmitrievich - colonel, participant in the Great Patriotic War. Hero of the Great Patriotic War Khaskhachikh Fedor Ignatievich (1907-1942) The dean of the Philosophy Department of Moscow State University, major, died in the battles for the city of Rzhev.

• The account card on the website of the Verkhovna Rada (in Ukrainian)
• The site of the Federation of Greek Societies of Ukraine.
• Lists of soldiers-liberators who died during the liberation of the village of Chermalyk.