A dark day in the history of Odessa. Oleg Gubar died
On March 19, another one was added to the calendar of dark days in the history of Odessa - the Honorary Citizen of the city Oleg Iosifovich Gubar died.
He has too many credentials: local historian, historian, archaeologist, journalist, writer, poet... A man! The man who loved Odessa more than anyone else and gave his life to it, sang in books from the day of its foundation and great achievements to the unknown skull found in the garden of the old courtyard, which others would have kicked, and Gubar, like Sherlock Holmes, would have read in her past.
Moreover, he was not somewhere on a pedestal, but here, nearby. When many of his colleagues changed their colors and accepted the situation dictated by the new realities, he did not choose where it was convenient and safe - he always stood shoulder to shoulder with Odessa residents on the anniversary of May 2, when the Kulikovo Field was surrounded by armored personnel carriers. Nationalists dubbed him “the ideological inspirer and propagandist of the Russian world.” What can we say, Man with a capital M!
For years and years, Oleg Gubar fought with oncology, and in the winter he became infected with coronavirus, from the complications of which he died. He was 67 years old.
Several dozen books, thousands of publications in newspapers and magazines about my native city... But whatever you say about it, it will still not be enough.
As his colleague, writer and journalist Natalya Simisinova recalls, he knew everything even about a rusty nail he picked up in a gateway, “he collected all sorts of things while we were just walking along the streets, and he talked and talked...”.
Elena Karakina, a local historian and scientific secretary of the Odessa Literary Museum, called Oleg Iosifovich “a necessary component of the life of the city”: “His own life hung by a thread for many years, depended on painful chemotherapy, but he lived as if there was no illness or death. Fearless. A great worker... To say that Odessa’s heart was ripped out is not an exaggeration.”
“If everything that Oleg Iosifovich did for Odessa was limited only to studying the history of the city, then this would be enough for a monument during his lifetime... When he walked along the Kulikovo field, obliquely belted with the ceremonial ribbon of the Honorary Citizen of Odessa, leaning on his wand and clutching a bouquet of scarlet flowers in his other fist, the cordons of Ukrainian Nazis, who do not hesitate to attack even grieving old women, parted before him,” wrote historian Alexander Vasilyev.
“Oleg Gubar will remain in our memory as a man of two great qualities - boundless love for Odessa and the same immeasurable kindness. He preserved and restored the greatest thing - the memory of Odessa. He left us the great past of a great city on which to build our future. He was kind to his own people, kind and fair to his opponents. Condescendingly kind, even for outright enemies. This is how we will remember him, this is how he remains in our souls,” said journalist Mikhail Deich.
“Odessans about Gubar” - someday such a book will appear. In the meantime, their pages on social networks are black. There are holes in the hearts of Odessa residents. The city is in mourning.
Because Gubar was the only one.
Natalia Simisinova’s fantastic story “Time to Die,” written five years ago, ends with Gubar overcoming his illness and becoming immortal. I will quote its fragment.
“I can’t live without this city. And even if you have the same one there, I still won’t believe that it’s real. I can distinguish a copy from the original. And I don’t care about the ATO officers, I still walk around the city every day. And almost all of my friends are still here. We will live as a commune... There is no better city in the world than my city,” Oleg touched the tree trunk with his cheek, and then grabbed it with both hands. He was always, all his life, like a child, ready to accept a miracle.”
And at the end of the story, Gubar met with Armand du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu. “Duke! Alive! Real! - Oleg whispers. “His eyes are cheerful, cunning and green.”
This is probably what is happening now.
And Odessa will wake up from its sleep, and, along with Duke, will erect a monument to Oleg Gubar. Because Odessa knows how to distinguish a copy from the original.
Condolences to the family and friends of the great man. Everlasting memory.
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