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 Pyatigorsk
is situated on the territory of Stavropol region. In the 20th century
it was a Stavropol province and the main town was Stavropol. The names
of the Greeks who have contributed heavily to the development of the
region will be retained forever in the history of it. Among these
people we can find the names of Stavropol Governor-Generals G.K.Vlastov
and N.I.Nikiforaki.
 Georgie Konstantinovich Vlastov descended from an old Greek family
that settled down in Russia in the 18th century. He was born in Moscow
in 1820s. He became a soldier, took part in military operations in
the Caucasus while being in the famous Kabardian 80th regiment formed
even in the time of Peter the First. In 1865 Vlastov became a Governor-General
of Stavropol province and had been holding this post for 10 years.
During all these years he made everything in order to develop his
province. At that time the residents from Voronezskaya, Kharkovskaya,
Kurskaya and other provinces began to migrate to Stavropol province.
The reason for it was the end of the long-term Caucasian war in 1864
and the necessity to open up Stavropol land. Under Vlastov's governing
Stavropol province became the center of agriculture development for
all territory of the North Caucasus. On Governor-General's initiative
a department of the Russian State Bank was opened in Stavropol and
it gave credits to the local owners of factories and farmers.
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In the time of Vlastov in the beginning of 1866, while Vlastov
was in power, he organized telegraph service that connected
Stavropol not only with Tiflis and Moscow but also with Europe
and Asia.
Georgie Konstantinovich took care of the youth education. In
1868 the construction of the biggest in the Caucasus educational
institution was completed and it was the Stavropol Classical
College for men. Mihailovskoyer Technical School was opened
in 4 years time and highly qualified workers and foremen were
trained there. Vlastov organized horse races where Caucasian
horse-breeders might take part.
Vlastov's governing was during
the bourgeois reforms in Russia. In 1870 people belonging to
different classes were elected to new self-government institutions
in the town Dumas. The Duma studied matters concerning the region
improvement, industry, trade, medicine and education. Also a
judicial reform was held in Stavropol region; peace, district,
town and circuit courts were established too.
In 1873 G.K.Vlastov's activity
as the Governor-General came to the end. The grateful citizens
of Stavropol raised a question concerning the title of honourable
citizen of the province center that they wanted Vlastov to be
awarded to. So Georgei Konstantinovich became the only Governor-General
in the history of the region who was awarded with such a precious
title.
In order to celebrate the 900th anniversary of taking Christianity
to Russia in 1888, a new bishop house was erected, the Andriye
Pervozvani Church was rebuilt and a new St. Vladimir Church
was built. Under Nikiforaki Stavropol province looked like ''oasis
in flowers'' according to his contemporaries. For his services
to Russia the descendant of Greek emigrants Governor-General
N.I.Nikiforaki was awarded with a diamond ring and a post of
the Lieutenant-General by the tsar Nikolai 2nd.
Nikolai Egorovich died on 15th of February
in 1904. He was buried in the frontyard of St. Andrei Pervozvani
Cathedral and a very nice stone cross was put on his grave.
In 1930s the tombstone of Nikiforaki's
grave was taken away. But it was reset in September, 2000 on
the initiative of the Greeks from the North of Russia.
It was he who had been employed on such important affairs as
maintenance of omnibuses in the Mineral Water Health Resorts,
the conveyance of postal correspondence and giving horses to
newly arrived people for non-stop journey in case of extreme
need.
As a reward for his true service
the Pyatigorsk citizen Naitaki was let to erect two outhouses
(practically private hotels) for visitors in the center of Kislovodsk.
Also several shops were opened with the permission of the Caucasian
governor- general M.S.Vorontsov in 1851.
Alexei Petrovich Naitaki had been
a Town Head of Pyatigorsk for several years (1858-1860). Only
the most respectful citizens eager to be useful to people were
elected to this post. One of such useful deeds was the increase
of the area for the sorrowful Church and it was also made with
the help of the Town Head (1858). It was a great blessing for
the orthodox citizens of Pyatigorsk and its visitors.
Alexei Petrovich Naitaki died
on 5th of November in 1881 and was buried in the old cemetery
in Pyatigorsk near his father Peter Afanasyevich who was a merchant
of the 3d guild in Taganrog (he died on 8th of November 1857).
One branch of the Naitakis lived
in their own mansion in the beginning of Tsar Street- now it
is called Kirov Prospect, number 8. Right from the start of
the 20th century Naitaki's heirs built a cosy mansion on the
place of the old buildings and it is still a decoration that
adorns the old part of Pyatigorsk. Dramatic
events that happened in the beginning of the 20th century in
the world had an impact on the Naitakis. Its offspring can
be found everywhere in the world. Nowadays some descendants
of the Naitakis first-settlers in Pyatigorsk are living in France.
In spite of getting their new citizenship they preserved the
Russian language, Orthodox religion and they engraved Russia
and Pyatigorsk – the land of their ancestors- in their memory.
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Nikolai
Egorovich Nikiforaki became a Governor-general of Stavropol province
in March, 1887. He had been the head of the province for 17 years.
He was a perfect administrator and could communicate with people easily.
Also he was a very broad-minded person. Like Vlastov, he came from
a Greek noble family and his ancestors lived in Ekaterinoslavskaya
province. He was born in 1838. Like many Greeks he became a military
man, took part in the Caucasian war and often got honourable awards.
After the end of the war he was still concerned with military activity
and soon became a Major-General.
He came to Stavropol in 1887 and stayed
there all his life. He began his activity with some administrative
changes in the province. He paid much attention to the agriculture
growth.
Also Nikiforaki favoured the development of
railway transport, which was very important for the agriculture trading.
Stavropol changed its look in the time of Nikiforaki.
The streets and squares were paved and illuminated
and a new power system was established.
Nikiforaki was the first to set telephone
network in the North Caucasus. In 1904 there were 183 telephone subscribers
in Stavropol.
The governor took care of medicine and
education in Stavropol and the province. It was his initiative to
raise money in order to build a new psychiatric hospital and the construction
was completed in 1901. It opened in 1907 and became the biggest center
of such type in the North Caucasus. New hospitals and clinics were
opened practically in all big towns of the province.
Nikiforaki initiated the construction
of a new Olgian College for women, the Belinski Vocational School,
the School of Education and the first Sunday Schools, The A.S.Pushkin
Public House where New Year parties for children took place. Different
libraries and study groups were established. So by the beginning of
the 20th century there were about 578 educational institutions in
the province.
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The names of many prominent citizens of Pyatigorsk have been immortalized
in the history of this town. One of the first Town Heads who deserves
great consideration is Alexei Petrovich Naitaki, a Greek by origin.
His family played an important role in the history of Pyatigorsk.
Rapid development of the Caucasian Mineral Water Resorts in the
beginning of 1820s entailed the increase in the citizen number of
the suburban settlement Hot Waters (in Pyatigorsk). At first, Pyatigorsk
was a multinational town. Privileges, given by government, attracted
people from different provinces of Russia as well as immigrants
from Turkey including the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians. The main
population consisted of gentry, retired officials, soldiers, merchants
and lower middle classes. After taking their quarters in this untilled
land they made a valuable contribution to the improvement of health
resort welfare and to the amelioration of people's life.
Among the first settlers was the Greek
family of merchants Naitaki from Taganrog. By 1839 about 14 representatives
of its three generations had been living in Pyatigorsk. The name
of Alexei Petrovich Naitaiki (1805-1881) was among them. He brought
in his deposit to the history of Stavropol region and to the region
of the Caucasian Mineral Waters and also his activities were depicted
in fiction and memoirs.
Since the end of 1820s and for about
20 years he has been a leaseholder of the Pyatigorsk Public Hotel
that was often called '' The Naitaki Hotel'' after his name and
also a restoration. Everything there was organized according to
the European style and even imitated St.Petersburg.
The Naitakis were acquainted with
A.S. Pushkin, M.U.Lermontov, Decembrists and many other prominent
people who stopped or visited places leased by Alexei Petrovich.
His name was mentioned by M.U. Lermontov's colleague A.U. Arnoldi
(1840) in his recollections. Also he became one of the characters
in I. Hamar-Dabanov's novel ''Tricks in the Caucasus'' (1844). The
local authorities marked the perfect organization established by
the leaseholder.
Naitaki used his increasing assets not
only for his own sake but for the welfare of health resort towns.
He made a donation to the church of the 3d Caucasian battalion in
Kislovodsk. In 1838, impelled by a feeling of compassion towards
prisoners living in poor conditions in Pyatigorsk basements, he
built a town prison at his expense and spent about several thousand
rubles of his own money.
Because of this noble action Naitaki was rewarded with a
gold medal on Ann's ribbon with the sign ''For useful deeds'' on
it.
While increasing his income Alexei
Naitaki had become a merchant belonging to the top guild by 1852.
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The Greeks who lived in Pyatigorsk and were repressed
in the USSR in 30-40s of the 20th century
During the civil war, many events of the latest history took place
in Piatigorsk, especially after the town became the capital of the
Northern Caucasus’s Republic. After the establishment of the soviet
regime, the Bolsheviks unleashed a real genocide of their own nation.
Whole social estates and classes had been destroyed. Punitive actions
were applied in infinite waves, taking thousands of lives. Dispossession
of kulaks and kazaks, limitless campaigns against the so-called “enemies
of the state”, spies, nationalists and finally the exile of whole
nations among which were the Greeks. Some lost their lives in the
gloomy torture chambers and at the foot of Mashuk, others died in
concentration camps named GULAG or were forced to migrate to Siberia
and to the Eastern Republics of the USSR. The suggested, far from
being full, list of those Piatigorsk Greeks who were illegally subject
to the repression in the period of anarchy should become the symbol
of eternal memory for the descendants and a warning for those who
are ready today to violate the Constitution and the human rights.
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To be shot in case of refusal
in changing the Greek citizenship into the Soviet one. |
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Examination record of Mironidis Miron
Lazarevich. |
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A weak consolation to the relatives
(a certificate of the full rehabilitation). |
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1. Avchidis Georgi Stepanovich: born 1890, arrested 16.12.1937,
condemned to 10 years of penal servitude.
2. Avchidis Vasili Stepanovich: born 1890, arrested 10.07.1938,
condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
3. Ambrosidis Dmitri Mihilovich: born 1896, arrested 16.12.1937,
condemned to 10 years of penal servitude.
4. Asadov Pavel Petrovich: born 1923, arrested 17.01.1943,
discharged 03.03.1944.
5. Bogoturov Georgi Nikolaevich: born 1872, arrested 10.09.1937,
condemned to 10 years of penal servitude.
6. Vangeli Nikolai Mihilovich: born 1895, arrested 16.12.1937,
condemned to 10 years of penal servitude.
7. Galidis Perikl Elefterievich: born 1912, arrested 04.07.1938,
condemned to 5 years of penal servitude, arrested 24.03.1950,
exiled to live in Siberia.
8. Grammatikopulos Ivan Efimovich: born 1895, arrested
27.10.1938, condemned to 3 years of penal servitude.
9. Grigoriadis Mihail Stepanovich: born 1925, arrested
28.03.1953, condemned to 10 years of penal servitude.
10. Evstafiadis Elias Savvich: born 1896, arrested 15.12.1937,
condemned to 10 years of penal servitude.
11. Efremidis Mihail Viktorovich: born 1888, arrested 16.12.1937,
condemned to 10 years of penal servitude.
12. Igropulos Aristotel Harlampovich: born 1908, arrested
21.07.1937, condemned to 3 years.
13. Karais Nikita Emmanuilovich: born 1880, arrested 17.12.1937,
exiled to the North region for 5 years.
14. Kozmidis Dmitri Kyriakovich: born 1892, arrested 02.08.1938,condemned
to 5 years of penal servitude.
15. Mavridis Gavriil Iosifovich: born 1900, arrested 15.12.1937,
condemned to 10 years of penal servitude.
16. Mavrokefalidis Ivan Fedorovich: born 1893, arrested
04.07.1938, condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
17. Makridis Spiridon Ivanovich: born 1889, arrested 05.02.1938,
condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
18. Makridis Ivan Spiridonovich: born 1924, arrested 13.09.1943,
released 21.09.1943.
19. Marko-Donato Pavel Andreevich: born 1890, arrested
16.02.1938, released because of the failure to prove his
guilt 02.01.1941.
20. Melikopulo Stella Ivanovna: born 1908, arrested 15.12.1937,
released 24.01.1939.
21. Mironidis Miron Lazarevich: born 1908, arrested 16.12.1937,
shot.
22. Mitarakis Emmanuil Ivanovich: born 1881, arrested 17.12.1937,
condemned to 10 years of penal servitude.
23. Nikolaidis Elias Konstantinovich: born 1894, arrested
27.07.1938, condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
24. Nikolaidis Konstantin Pavlovich: born 1895, arrested
16.08.1938, condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
25. Panayotidis Harlampi Fedorovich: born 1893, arrested
16.12.1937, condemned to 10 years of penal servitude.
26. Papayordanis Georgi Anastasyevich: born 1896, arrested
29.08.1938, condemned to 3 years of penal servitude.
27. Pasalidis Alexei Iraklievich: born 1898, arrested 28.07.1938,
condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
28. Popandopulos Petr Harlampievich: born 1896, arrested
24.08.1938, condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
29. Samlidis Georgi Kiriakovich: born 1889, arrested 21.07.1938,
condemned to 3 years of penal servitude.
30. Sahtaridis Pavel Stilianovich: born 1880, arrested
27.07.1938, condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
31. Sotiriadis Sotir Yakovlevich: born 1893, arrested 27.07.1938,
condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
32. Feodoridis Ivan Avraamovich: born 1900, arrested 20.06.1938,
condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
33. Hadzianidis Alexander Pavlovich: born 1913, arrested
08.03.1938, condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
34. Halduyanidis Afanasi Fadeevich: born 1912, arrested
19.03.1938, condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
35. Halduyanidis Foti Grigoryevich: born 1870, arrested
19.03.1938, condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
36. Chemberlidis Cyrill Pavlovich: born 1891, arrested
21.07.1938, condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
37. Chizmanidis Iosif Pavlovich: born 1888, arrested 02.08.1938,
condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
38. Chizmanidis Nikolai Pavlovich: born 1897, arrested
19.06.1938, condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
39. Chilingaridi Georgi Iraklievich: born 1912, arrested
08.03.1938, condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
40. Yakustidis Georgi Dmitrievich: born 1908, arrested
31.05.1942, condemned to 5 years of penal servitude.
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