Catherine Theater (Kremenchug)

Catherine Theater in the Russian Empire

In the XIX century, Kremenchug was a large commercial and industrial city of the Russian Empire , with numerous educational institutions. The cultural life of the city also actively developed. In 1876 (according to other sources, in 1871 ^[1] ), a theater opened in the house on Ekaterininskaya Street (now Sobornaya Street) in a stone building of the former hotel. The building belonged to Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Kozelsky, the owner of several houses, an art lover and theater-goer. The opened theater initially did not have its own troupe and was transmitted to the entreprise by troupe from other cities: in 1878–1879, the Russian Kropivnitsky troupe Mark Lukich played in the theater for one season, then Kropivnitsky became the director of the Lavrovskaya troupe ^[2] . In the Vykhodtsev Grigori Alekseevich troupe, he also met Zagorskii Ivan Vasilievich , with whom he later worked for many years.

Grigory Andreyevich Ashkarenko, actor and stage director

In 1880, the actor and playwright of noble origin Grigory Andreyevich Ashkarenko became the tenant of the theater ^[3] . Kropivnitsky became the director of the Russian troupe founded by Ashkarenko. The troupe did not have much success and was in distress ^[4] : the public rarely attended the theater that the entrepreneur did not have enough money to pay the actors. Kropivnitsky and Ashkarenko came up with the idea to put besides Russian also plays in the Ukrainian language. In 1881, at the invitation of Kropyvnytsky, Nikolay Karpovich Sadovsky from the Tobilevichy dynasty came to the city. Kropyvnytskyi had the goal of persuading Sadovsky, the current army officer , to try himself in the theater field. Ashkarenko, from whose troupe shortly before that, one of the artists escaped with an advance , actively supported this idea. Saksagansky joined the troupe, after which the entrepreneur requested permission from the authorities for performances in the Ukrainian language (the activities of Ukrainian theaters since 1876 were limited to the decree signed by Alexander II by the Ems Decree ). Having received permission, the actors invited actress Natalya Zharkova from Poltava to the troupe and began rehearsals. The first performance staged in Ukrainian was Natalka Poltavka by Kotlyarevsky . It was followed by “Swagger on Goncharovka”, “Sincere love” and “Shelmenko-batman” Kvitka-Osnovyanenko , “Give heart to the will - will lead into bondage” Kropivnitsky, “Garkusha” Storozhenko and “Kum Miroshnik” Dmitrenko. After the success in Kremenchug, the troupe went on tour , where they were joined by the Kharkov actress A. Markova (Odentsova) ^[5] .

Kropivnitsky and Sadovsky left the troupe and returned to Elizavetgrad (now Kropyvnytsky). The Russian troupe Ashkarenko continued to stage performances in Ukrainian, in particular, the play of Taras Shevchenko “ Nazar Stodolya ”, in which Ashkarenko and Theophilia Lyutomskaya (Bachinskaya) himself performed the main roles ^[6] . When in the autumn of 1881, an amendment to the Emsky decree lifted a restriction on the activities of Ukrainian-speaking troupes, Sadovsky and Kropyvnytskyi formed a Ukrainian troupe in Elisavetgrad , later called the Theater of Luminaries , and began to tour the country extensively. In St. Petersburg, Emperor Alexander III visited performances several times. However, only a couple of years later, in 1883, the Kiev governor-general Drenteln banned Ukrainian troupes on the territory subject to him, which included Poltava region ^[5] .

After Ashkarenko, for about 10 years, the Kremenchug Theater was rented by entrepreneur Nikolai Trofimovich Filippovsky ^[7] . During this period, in 1888, Kozelsky sold the theater to Itsk Gershovich German, the son of a prominent Kremenchug manufacturer (the German mansion was preserved in the city). Soon after, the theater was “greatly renewed” and, in a decorative sense, “took on a much better view.” It was also planned electrification ^[8] .

When Filippovsky one of the actresses of the theater was Elizaveta Andreyevna Pototskaya. In 1890, the actor from Poltava, Lev Rodinovich Sabinin made his debut in the troupe. At the invitation of Filippovsky, a Russian poet, actor and aviator Vasily Vasilyevich Kamensky arrived for one season ^[9] . Lirsky Pavel Alexandrovich played the season, Lyubin Yakov Markovich worked for several seasons ^[10] . In 1892, the Artist edition wrote ^[11] :

During 1889-1894, the troupe staged the plays “The Bear ”, “The Tragedian Involuntarily ”, “ The Proposal ” ^[12] , “The Storm ”, “ Woe From Wit ”, “ The Marriage of Figaro ”, “Heinrich Heine” ^[13] , then less classic "Broken People", "Wandering Lights", "School Couple" ^[14] , "In the Old Years", "Kashirskaya Antiquity", "School of Women", "Oath at the Tomb", "Shines, but not warm" and others ^[15] . The theater was attended by the troupe of the Imperial Alexandrinsky Theater with performances of "The Inspector General ", " Woe from Wit ", " Dead Souls " and others ^[16] . After the restrictions were lifted, Kremenchug again became the center of development of the theater in the Ukrainian language: in 1897, the premiere of Burlak by Ivan Karpovich Tobilevich took place in the city. Ivan Karpovich himself, like Panas Karpovich Saksagansky from the same dynasty, were frequent guests of the city ^[17] .

The city was actively developing in the meantime: in 1899, an electric tram was launched past the theater on Ekaterininskaya Street. After 1901, the marsh on the Fairground was partially buried. Pokrovskaya Street (now Gagarin) was extended through the former swamp to the intersection with Ekaterininskaya. The theater, thus, was at the intersection of two streets. From that moment on, Pokrovskaya Street became known as Theatrical. New cultural institutions also opened, in particular, the summer theater in the City Garden and the Pushkin folk audience , where performances also began to be staged. Vitaly Semenovich Makarenko , brother of the future teacher Anton Semenovich Makarenko , wrote in this period ^[18] :

In the period from 1903 to 1910, the noblewoman Varvara Anichkova periodically replaced Filippovsky in the winter theater ^[19] . At this time came the Revolution of 1905-1907 , which also affected the theater: meetings were held in the room ^[20] . The strike in the autumn of 1905 found a troupe of luminaries on the way to Kremenchug: Saksagansky with a part of the actors managed to get to the city, the part led by Karpenko-Karym stayed in Poltava . As a result, Saksagansky was left without money in Kremenchug and at the same time could not organize performances: props were stuck on the road because of a strike, and meetings were held all day in the theater. Actively expressing their dissatisfaction with the current situation, the actors got a reputation of the Black Hundreds because of this ^[4] .

After the revolution, the cultural life of the city resumed. The Ukrainian and Russian theaters continued to develop in parallel. From 1905 to 1908, the Ukrainian troupe of Fyodor Levitsky and Lydia Kvitka operated in the city. In 1906, the anniversary of Shevchenko was celebrated in the city ^[21] . In 1907, the Saksaganskogo troupe came again ^[22] . In 1908, the Russian troupe of Vsevolod Meyerhold performed with the performances of “Electra” and “At the Tsar's Gate”, which separated from the company of Vera Komissarzhevskaya ^[23] . At the same time, the Jewish theater received a new development. In 1905, the ban on Yiddish performances that had existed since 1883 was removed (before that, Jewish troupes performed in German). In Kremenchug, the share of the Jewish population was up to 50 percent, which led to the active development of the Jewish branch of theatrical life of the city. In 1906, the Avraham Alter Fishzon troupe performed, the next year Fishzone came again, taking Jacob Libert as companions. In 1908-1909, the troupe of Jacob (Yankel) Spivakovsky and Krause, the Perets Hirschbein Theater and the troupe of Dovid-Moishe Sabai toured in the city ^[24] . In 1910, the amateurish Jewish troupe appeared, and by 1912 it received its own stage - the Russian-Jewish Theater of Miniatures , where it worked the following years.

In 1910, Yakov Vladimirovich Likhter became an entrepreneur in the winter theater. During this period, the St. Petersburg troupe “ Curved Mirror ” performed in the theater with “ Vampuku ”. According to the memoirs of Nikolay Nikolayevich Yevreinov, the actor, the Kremenchug public didn’t like the modern production of the Moscow theater so much that the actors had to get to the station from the back side, fearing a collision with outraged spectators ^[25] . In 1912, miniatures of the St. Petersburg Barbe troupe were given in the theater for two summer months, to which the public also initially reacted "with suspicion", but soon the theater was full every day. Excerpts from the operetta Red Sun and Beautiful Elena were staged ^[26] .

From 1912 to 1914, Reuben Volkovich (Rodion Vladimirovich) Olkenitsky served as an entreprenier of the theater, and Alexander Konstantinovich Loshivsky (Shilovsky )'s troupe played in the theater in his presence ^[27] . The entrepreneur also supervised the newly opened Fars Theater and rented the City Garden ^[28] . The summer theater in the garden during this period was used by Ukrainian troupes ^[29] . The artistic director of the Catherine Winter Theater was Olkenitsky’s brother, actor and director Stanislav Ivanovich Sorochan. In 1913, the theater hosted Sorochan’s benefit performance in Faber 's play “Eternal Love”, the actor also played a role in the cartoon comedy Garin “The Women's Parliament”. In addition, there were staged, in particular, the plays “The Inspector-General ” by Gogol , “ Uncle Vanya ” by Chekhov , “The Keys of Happiness” by Verbitskaya and “ Nora ” by Ibsen . In March, the theater hosted a tour of the Petersburg theater of miniatures “Luna” and the only troupe of the Lilliputians of Kobylsky in Europe ^[1] .

In the summer of 1913, the newspaper Pridneprovsky Voice noted the plight of the Kremenchug theaters because of their oversupply: “for a dozen years, instead of one theater, there were six of them in the city”. The journalists concluded: “It is a mistake to think that by improving the technical conditions of theatrical buildings one can increase the attendance of the theater” ^[29] . In the same year, the Catherine Theater was closed for expansion and renovation. Once again, the doors opened to viewers in the fall. The newspaper wrote: “The rebuilt and expanded theater building makes an excellent impression. The first moment it seems that the theater has even become smaller. But when you look at it, you will notice that it stretches wide into the depths ... Inside the theater is painted in olive tone. The same color barriers lodges, curtains, etc. The ceiling lighting is very beautiful. The old "hole" for the orchestra is patched up. The parterre is separated from the stage by a platform covered with green cloth (the proscenium stage ), due to which everything that happens on the stage seems clearer. It seems that the action is played out not behind the ramp, but here, in the auditorium. Innovation is extremely interesting. It also makes it possible to hide the prompting booth from the viewer's eyes. The corridors were enlarged and the general view of the theater was improved ” ^[30] . From the same newspaper you can see that the performances began at 20:30 and often ended after midnight ^[31] . Ticket prices ranged from 15 kopecks to a half rubles ^[1] .

In the renewed theater in the period until the end of 1914, “King Oedipus”, “Execution”, “Old school”, “Poisoned conscience”, “Sister of Mercy”, “In an unequal struggle”, “The Secret of Chaintworth Castle”, “Celebrity Husband” were staged , Miserere and Clara Steinberg. On the centenary of the birth of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , the performance “ Masquerade ” was held. In October 1914, a department of the All-Russian Theatrical Society was opened in the city ^[1] .

With the beginning of the revolutionary events , the theater’s activities were again disrupted. Ukrainian actress Maria Konstantinovna Zankovetskaya , arriving in Kremenchug in 1917, wrote: “If lectures and organizing meetings in theaters continue, then not only without pants, but even without heads, we will all stay ...” ^[32] . During the civil war the theater was closed.

Revenko Theater in the Soviet Period

After the establishment of Soviet power, the theater passed to the state department. Soon after the end of the war, the building was restored by the project of local architect Lev Mironovich Shlapakovsky ^[33] and opened its doors to visitors in 1922 ^[34] . The new theater began to bear the name of Yakov Revenko, a Kremenchug red guard worker who fought for the establishment of Bolshevik power. Valentina Timofeevna Fedko in her memoirs described the theater as follows: “white-stone, with an orchestra , gallery and lodges upholstered in blue velvet . That was the curtain ” ^[35] . However, the post-war years had their own specifics: the Ukrainian troupe of the Zankovetskoi theater, who came to tour in 1924, recalled the “shabby, cold building of the theater” and the actors in the roles of “ firemen ” and coal loaders. Lenin ’s death occurred during the troupe’s stay in the city: because of the mourning, the theater lost its audience and, as the Literature. The science. Art ", the troupe was forced to leave the city because of the" bourgeois habit "is at least once a day ^[36] .

In the same year, the Goatheat Management was established to reorganize theatrical activities. The theater has been renovated. It is known that Anatoly Ivanovich Kononenko, the future chief architect of the Moscow region, worked in the management and the theater itself ^[37] . The newspaper “ Life of Art ” wrote: “For a year of work in the new conditions of strict organization of the whole business, the Office managed to get out of the old debt, to eliminate the deficiency of the enterprise and even to acquire theatrical property, such as: new scenery , props , etc.”. Particular attention in the theater was given to the ideological component: the management aimed to “bring the working masses closer to the theater” and give the people of the city “the opportunity to get acquainted with all kinds of art”. The theater presented Russian drama, with predominantly revolutionary performances (82% per season), opera, Russian and Jewish operetta, and the Ukrainian Theater named after Shevchenko . The viewer was also given “the opportunity to define their relationship to new trends”: new State Jewish Theater (Goset) and the Ukrainian Franco Theater were invited to Kremenchug. The newspaper concluded: “Despite the novelty of the forms of constructive productions of these theaters, both troupes had some success and generated sympathy of the working masses for the new theater, which is important to note as a moment of educational nature” ^[38] .

The original course of the Soviet government to support the peoples of the country and their languages ​​(see. Indigenization ), thus, again led to a parallel coexistence in the theater of Russian, Ukrainian and Jewish troupes. Fedko recalled that in the theater there were performances of the Russian Drama Theater with Vera Petrovna Maretskaya , the Odessa Opera , and the Mossovet Theater . Darya Vasilievna Zerkalova , Adelheim brothers toured, a Jewish troupe enjoyed success with Clara Jung, Mikhail Epelbaum, Anna Yakovlevna Guzik . New Soviet works were actively staged: in 1924–25, the repertoire included plays “Mitya on the Kingdom” ^[35] , “Airy Pie”, “Kronprinz”, “In Deep Reign”, “Hegumenia Mitrofania”, “George Gapon”, “ Overseas "and others ^[39] . The newspaper “New Spectator” in 1925 wrote: “The Office of the State Theater and the staff took the orientation of the working spectator, as can be seen from the announced repertoire” ^[40] . In 1929, the Donbass Miner Theater came with plays “Fiery Bridge”, “Black Flame”, “Vague Land”, “Rychi, China”, “Svejk”, “Union of honest people” and others ^[41] . There was also the production of "Plato Krechet" based on the play by Korneychuk .

At the same time, classical works continued to be staged. Natalia Mihailovna Uzhviy played in the play “Oh, don't go, Gritsu, the one to the party” ^[42] . Peter Miloradovich played Garpagon in the play “Miserly” by Moliere ^[43] . Ivan Iosifovich Tverdokhleb came with the Shevchenko Theater ^[44] . For some time, the director and actor of the theater was Komissarov Nikolai Valerianovich ^[45] , played by actors Kaziko Olga Georgievna and Pavel Znachkovsky. In 1926 and 1927, the Zankovetskoi Theater again came on tour: Kozachkovsky Domian Ivanovich wrote that the halls were overcrowded and the production of “ Viy ” gathered a full house. The review of the newspaper Kremenchug Worker , however, provoked the indignation of the Kharkov magazine New Art, which called the theater Kremenchug Theater. ^[46] . It wasn’t enough in the city without curiosities: during one of the performances, the actors in the course of the play ate pies, which were doused with kerosene "in order to preserve the" props "" ^[47] .

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, in the 1930s a “comfortable, with good acoustics” theater “was never empty”, attracting famous artists: Maria Ivanovna Litvinenko-Volgemut , Ivan Sergeevich Partorzhinsky , Oksana Andreyevna Petrusenko ^[48] . The teams from Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities, the performance “Oh, don't go, Gritsu, the first to the party” performed with Uziviy and Gnat Petrovich Yura performed with great success. The building itself is described as not standing out from the outside, but inside the viewer was waiting for “a wonderful auditorium with its orchestra, in four tiers with boxes, mezzanines and balconies” ^[49] .

In 1939, a local newspaper on the occasion of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the birth of the classic Jewish literature wrote: “In the Theater. Revenko held a meeting of the Sholom-Aleykhem anniversary committee, along with representatives of party, Komsomol and trade union organizations and Stakhanovists of the city. The anniversary of Sholem Aleichem turned into a big international holiday ” ^[50] . At the time of the German attack on the USSR in June 1941, the Odessa State Jewish Theater ^[51] was on tour in Kremenchug, stuck in the city in the “panic of the first military days” ^[52] .

Tobilevich Theater under German occupation

In the autumn of 1941 the city was occupied by German troops. The theater was allowed to continue working, it was renamed in honor of Ivan Tobilevich ^[53] . The director was Fedor Mitin. Some performances were also staged by Grigory Pelashenko and Nikolai Bal. The troupe consisted of Mezentsev, Belov, Trokhimov, Gaiduchenko, Rubinchuk, Tsybenko. Actor Boris Lukyanov took part in the defense of Poltava , was captured by the Germans and sent to a prisoner of war camp in Kremenchug, from where he fled. He managed to get a new license and permission to stay in the city and get into the theater. A similar fate was with Bal: the actor volunteered for the front, was wounded and captured, from where he fled to his native Kremenchug ^[54] .

Ukrainian classical performances were staged at the theater, folk songs were performed. The entire repertoire was strictly censored ^[54] : in particular, the production according to Shevchenko's “ Gaydamaki ” poem was banned. By virtue of the policy being pursued by the occupation authorities, the Jewish and Russian components disappeared from the theater. Occasionally, German front-line artists performed, the theater was frequently visited by soldiers of the Hitler coalition ^[55] . For the citizens, there were active events of Ukrainian nationalistic and anti-Soviet orientation (see. Propaganda in the occupied territories ). In the autumn of 1941, a compulsory conference of teachers of the Kremenchug district was held, where the theme of “fighting with Moscow ” was raised ^[56] . In the hall were portraits of Petlura , Konovalets and other figures of the Ukrainian nationalist movement ^[57] . Campaign lectures with an appeal to the Kremenchug youth to voluntarily go to work in Germany ^[54] also took place within the walls of the building (see Ostarbeiters ).

The march group of OUN from Galicia , whose duty was to create nationalist-controlled authorities, the press and cultural institutions in the occupied central, eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, had a great influence on the theater. The Dnieper Wave newspaper created by Galicians ^[56] (see Press in the occupied territory ) often announced events held in the theater and sometimes published reviews. So, when Boris Dmitrievich Grinchenko’s “Steppe Guest” was staged in the theater, the newspaper wrote that the Kremenchug “unprepared spectator” because of the many years of influence of the “ Moscow-Yid liars” could not fully perceive the play about the “liberation struggle of the Ukrainian people against the oppression of the Polish pansy "(see Khmelnytsky Uprising ). However, according to the editors, the goal to convey the historical truth and cause "the legal hatred of the centuries-old enemies of Ukraine" was achieved ^[58] .

Culture was closely connected with politics and was under its influence. Pupils of the newly opened pre-war music school named after Nikolai Lysenko under the direction of a German-born Kremenchuk woman of German origin, Leontiny Mikhailovna Dietling-Kokina, gave their first concert in the theater for German Wehrmacht soldiers 5 days after the occupation began. On June 22, 1942, the school gave a festive concert in honor of the anniversary of the invasion of Germany into the USSR ^[59] . A ballet troupe under the guidance of Artyomenko also participated in the concert at the theater ^[60] . The orchestra played in April 1942 at the celebration of Hitler's birthday, a portrait of the “liberator” was set on the stage decorated with fresh flowers ^[61] . Under the theater, there was also a pre-war choir that was headed by Alexandra Minovna Sapsay, sister of the founder of the choir and wife of the former head of the UPR army, who was arrested in 1937 by the Soviet authorities. All performances of the chapel began with the hymn "Ukraine has not yet died" . On the recommendation of the head of the occupation department of education, compositions of a nationalistic orientation were performed ^[57] . In January 1942, the chorus, along with the Ukrainian folk songs, sang "Chush, Surmi Grai" and "March of the Nationalists" ^[62] . Ivan Galichanin (Yuri) Kostyuk, the “ zonderführer ” of the propaganda department arrived in the city ^[63] , handed over the lyrics of the songs to the Sushko Chapel’s Administrator, as well as the nationalist brochures that he had distributed among the choir members and acquaintances.

From the memoirs of Kostyuk you can learn more about the classical theatrical activities. According to him, the Zaporozhets beyond the Danube , Natalka Poltavka , Viy , Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala , Marusya Boguslavka , as well as foreign works were put into the initial occupation period. The performances were held in Ukrainian. Concerts of orchestras and choir were held: in the summer of 1942, a concert was held in honor of the centenary of the composer Lysenko , at the end of which a German general ^[55] delivered a speech of thanks. The music school gave a concert for the anniversary of Shevchenko ^[59] . “Dnieper Wave” notified the theater about the purchase of Ukrainian costumes, towels, tablecloths, carpets, belts. There were announcements of recruitment to the choir, male quartet and ballet ^[54] . Kostyuk described the troupe in the following way: “Real, professional actors, that in hunger and cold ... literally we spent the day and spent the night in the theater” ^[55] .

Actors, meanwhile, were engaged not only in theatrical activities. In the summer of 1942, Boris Lukyanov met Alexander Krivitsky, the leader of an underground anti-fascist organization that had been operating in Kremenchug since the autumn of 1941. A group of people headed by Boris Lukyanov gathered in the theater, united by the underground struggle: Nikolay Bal, Natalia Dembitskaya, Mikhail Grinchenko, Ivan Kovalenko and Shura Mansurov. According to Lukyanov, the actors tried to “derail” the anti-Soviet staging of Vasil Vasilyevich Dubrovsky's new play “Return to Europe”, and also secretly distributed postcards with poems calling to fight Hitler ^[54] .

The policy of the occupying authorities soon changed. On September 1, 1942, Kremenchug was assigned to the “ Reich Commissariat of Ukraine ” (see Kremenchug Gebit ). According to Kostyuk's memoirs, from that moment on, Ukrainian performances were no longer staged in the theater or thankful speeches were made, and active civilian hijacking of the civilian population to Germany began instead ^[55] . The music school was closed, the data of the children were transferred to the labor exchange ^[64] . In total, during the occupation the Germans hijacked from 10 to 21 thousand people from Kremenchuk ^[65] . At the beginning of the month, the “Dnieper Wave” announced a theatrical evening for German soldiers, and called on citizens to heed the “ Fuhrer ’s call” and go to the labor exchange to leave for “beautiful Germany” ^[66] .

From March 1943, in agreement with the Gebie Commissar, all theater workers were forbidden to work outside the theater without permission from the zanderführer, the authorized German propaganda department ^[67] . In April, the department issued a gratitude to the theater for organizing the leisure of front-line soldiers, at the same time reiterating the inadmissibility of parallel activities ^[68] . On June 22, the theater hosted festive events in honor of the second anniversary of the outbreak of the war of Germany against the USSR ^[69] . In the lobby, the Germans organized a campaign exhibition "Magic Germany" ^[70] . Theatrical underground workers replaced several fake letters allegedly from those stolen in Germany and destroyed several exhibits ^[54] .

During 1942–1943, many members of the OUN marching group were repressed by the Germans ^[55] , and two editors of the Dnieper Wave and the administrator of the Sushko Chapel were also shot. From the newspaper “Our Days” you can find out that in September 1943, the acting troupe was 20 people, ballet - 15, chapel - 30, two orchestras operated ^[71] . With the onset of the Soviet troops in the same month, the Germans removed the theater requisites and destroyed the building itself, like most of the other urban buildings. Kostyuk saw the city "completely destroyed" ^[34] .

After the liberation of the city, some of the actors went to the front. After the war, Bal directed the Rivne and Chernihiv music and drama theaters , as well as in the drama theaters of the Mari , Bashkir and Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics , then lived in Kremenchug. Lukyanov became an actor of the Kiev National Academic Drama Theater named after Ivan Franko . Kovalenko became an actor who opened in Kremenchug immediately after the release of the Panas Karsovich Saksagansky Drama Theater, and later worked in one of the schools. Mitin also served in the theater Saksaganskogo, director. Pelashenko played in the Odessa Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater . Sapsay, the former conductor of the theater choir, was condemned by the Soviet authorities, later rehabilitated and returned to Kremenchug ^[72] . The head of the music school, Dietling, and the head of the education department avoided being arrested ^[73] .

In the place of the theater, which was not subject to restoration, a multi-storey residential building was built in the post-war period (Sobornaya 34/32). The street, on which there was no longer a theater, was renamed Sholom Aleikhem Street and renamed again in honor of Yuri Gagarin after his flight into space .