Kaminsky, Theodosius Timofeevich

The son of the riveter worker of the Nikolaev Admiralty. Came from a large family of philistines. He studied at the Nikolaev Technical School (1900-1906), then in a real school (1906-1909). He was fond of history, archeology. In 1907 he made a trip to Egypt , took part in the work of the Carter expedition. He continued his education at a military school in St. Petersburg and at the same time (1910-1912) was a free student at the St. Petersburg Archaeological Institute.

Member of the First World War, ended the war as a captain, demobilized after 4 wounds. Since January 1920, he served in the Nikolaev branch of the Ukrainian People’s Cooperative Bank, was engaged in public work: he took part in the organization of the Union of Ukrainian Students “Zvezda”, fulfilled the assignment of the Ukrainian Cooperative Bookstore society, and was a member of the Enlightenment society. In April 1920 he was first arrested (accused of serving in the ranks of the White Guards). At the request of members of the Museum section of the Gubotdel Enlightenment, the charge was dropped from him (1921) .In March 1921 he worked as head of the museum-excursion work section oligoslumination, and from May 1923 to September 29, 1929 - director of the Nikolaev Historical and Archaeological Museum. During this period the Museum of the Museum of Friends was created in the museum, whose members actively helped in excursion and lecture work, took part in archaeological reconnaissance of the Bugsky estuary ( 1926-1927), excavations in Olbia, played a large role in the creation of the archaeological reserve "Olbia", took part in the work of the Olbia expedition of B.V. Farmakovsky , after the death of a scientist, Kaminsky F. T. was a member of the Scientific Council of Olva Iy expedition. He carried out independent archaeological research in the area of ​​Nikolaev trade port, Spassky tract. He was engaged in preserving the historical sights of the region: the remnants of the redoubt of the troops of Charles XII and Mazepa (1709), in which the writer V. Garshin, the Admiralty Cathedral in Nikolaev and many others lived. F. T. Kaminsky managed to relocate the historical and archaeological museum to a larger room (in 1928 - to the house of the former guardhouse), in which there was a chemical and photo laboratory, as well as a library. The fruitful work of the local historian was interrupted in September 1929: he was arrested and charged with involvement in the "Union for the Liberation of Ukraine." On January 29, 1930, the board of the Political Administration of the Ukrainian SSR issued a decision on the five-year detention of F. T. Kaminsky in a concentration camp in the Far East. In 1933 he returned to Ukraine, settled in Zaporozhye, worked in the design department of Zaporizhstal. At this time, he took part in excavations on about. Khortytsya . In 1937 he again found himself behind the bars of the NKVD. He served his sentence in Nikopol (until 1949), then was in Petropavlovsk ( Northern Kazakhstan ). He returned to Nikolaev only after rehabilitation in 1954. He worked as a senior researcher at the Nikolaev Museum of Local Lore (1954-1958).

Recent years

After retiring by age and state of health, he continued to engage in local history work: he conducted excursions to memorable places in Nikolaev, gave lectures, wrote over 100 articles and essays, which were published on the pages of the local newspapers Bugskaya Zarya and Yuzhnaya Pravda. He was friends and corresponded with artists (V. Kandinsky, L. Ukrainka, etc.). He kept at home a large collection of works of art donated by friends. Tragically died at the hands of robbers in 1978 (was strangled in his own house). A large personal archive (with the exception of the stolen one) with the materials of historical and local history research entered the Nikolaev Regional Museum of Local Lore. The research merit of Kaminsky belongs to the discovery of the site of the Wild Garden .