History

Kharkiv's vicinity has been settled since the 2nd millennium BC. Relics of Scythian, Sarmatian, Cherniakhiv, and Siverianian cultures have been excavated in the area.

Kharkiv in 1890s

The generally accepted date of Kharkiv's founding is 1654, when Ukrainian Cossacks built a fortified settlement on the plateau surrounded by the Kharkiv River and the Lopan River. The Cossacks were allowed to be self-governing, although they were formally under the jurisdiction of Moscovite military. By the 18th century, the town has grown significantly, but was destroyed by a fire in 1733. Nonetheless the town revived and grew because of its economically advantageous location, which facilitated its advancement as a cultural center. Kharkiv's annual fairs attracted increasingly more merchants. Kharkiv College was founded in 1734; until the founding of Kharkiv University in 1805, it was the best educational institution in Slobidska Ukraine. In 1789 two public schools were opened.

With the founding of Kharkiv University  and the university press in 1805 (through the efforts of Vasyl Karazin and Kharkiv's Ukrainian nobility), the city also became an important educational and publishing center in Ukraine and the Russian Empire as a whole. In the 19th century, multiple secondary, post-secondary, technical and professional schools were opened. The city had an art and music school, stock exchange, opera house, museum and public library. Many new commercial and private buildings were constructed.

From the 1810s, Kharkiv was an important center of the Ukrainian cultural renaissance. Many of the first Ukrainian linguistic, ethnographic, historical, and modern literary works were published here. By the turn of the 20th century, 3 newspapers and 16 other periodicals were being published in Kharkiv. The first professional theater troupe in Ukraine was established in Kharkiv in 1789. Ukrainian cinema originated in Kharkiv in the late 1890s.

Annunciation Cathedral

After the February Revolution of 1917, Kharkiv was briefly governed by the gubernial commissioner of the Russian Provisional Government. Socialist Revolutionaries attempted to seize power. Many of the Ukrainian residents supported the Central Rada in Kyiv. Several congresses took place in Kharkiv to influence developments in the city and to provide leadership for the Ukrainian population of the region. A Ridna Shkola society was created to promote the Ukrainianization of elementary schools.

Kharkiv's proximity to Russia, which was under Bolshevik control, sealed the city's fate. In late November 1917, units of Russian Red Guards reached the city. Kharkiv was names the capital of Soviet Ukraine in 1919 after the Red Army recaptured the city from the troops of the Ukrainian National Republic.    

 

  As the capital of interwar Soviet Ukraine, Kharkiv was developed more intensively than most other Soviet cities. In 1920s, many

Derzhprom

architectural developments took place in Kharkiv, including a 150 meters tall wooden r adio tower and the Derzhprom building. At the time of its completion, it was the largest "skyscraper" in the USSR and the second in Europe. Derzhprom is located right next to the Karazin University at Kharkiv’s main square and still remains one of the city’s famous landmarks.

As new buildings went up, many of Kharkiv’s historic architectural monuments were senselessly destroyed in the 1930s, including most of the baroque churches. During the Stalinist regime, Ukrainian language and culture were banned and many nationally conscious intellectuals and cultural figures were killed or deported. In the early 1930’s, many Ukrainians have died due to an artificially created famine.

During World War II, Kharkiv was devastated with destruction as the possession of the city was heavily fought over. To prepare for the war, industrial production was organized to mass produce tanks, airplanes, guns, mortars, turbines, ammunition, and military equipment.   As a result, Kharkiv became a target in the war because of its industrial reputation to produce mass amounts of war supplies.

WWII Memorial

As the German armies advanced toward the city, the Soviet authorities dismantled and evacuated many of the factories and institutions. Thousands of Kharkiv's NKVD prisoners (“political prisoners”) were executed during the retreat. The Nazi occupation of Kharkiv began on October 25, 1941. Under direct German military control, the Ukrainians who remained in Kharkiv were allowed to establish a city council. Other institutions, such as a city bank, a consumer association, a Prosvita society, a Ukrainian Civic Committee, the newspaper Nova Ukraïna and a revived Ukrainian Orthodox church were allowed to function. A Ukrainian nationalist underground was active in the city until its key figures were suppressed.

During the 22-month occupation, the Nazis destroyed nearly 70% of the city including 50 industrial plants, the railway junction, telegraph and telephone connection, power stations, housing services, and medical institutions. Thousands of Kharkiv's inhabitants (14,000 in the first three months of 1942 alone) died of hunger, disease, and cold. Nationalist activists, Soviet partisans and their supporters were shot or hanged by the Gestapo; thousands of Jews were murdered during the Nazi Holocaust. By the time the Germans abandoned Kharkiv, they had killed 100,000 of its inhabitants and forcibly transported 60,000 to Germany.

The Red Army recaptured Kharkiv on February 16, 1943 and established permanent control there on August 23. Soviet special police squads proceeded to shoot or imprison real and suspected German collaborators and Ukrainian nationalist supporters. Reconstruction of the city began almost immediately and continued for some years after the war. Today, august 23rd is an official holiday as a Kharkiv Liberation Day.

Celebration on Aug 23

After the war, Kharkiv was the third largest scientific-industrial center in the former USSR after Moscow and Leningrad. Scientific research, industrial production and culture flourished in the city. From 1968 to 1975 the first line of the Kharkiv Metro was built.

The collapse of the Soviet Union brought changes to Kharkiv as its political and economic orientation shifted from Moscow to Kyiv. Due to years of Russian dominance and suppression of Ukrainian language and culture, the Russian language today remains the primary spoken language in Kharkiv; although, almost everybody in the city knows Russian and Ukrainian equally.  Kharkiv today is the second largest city in Ukraine and has remained a major scientific, educational, industrial, and transportation center.