Beryslav raion
Beryslav raion [Бериславський район; Beryslavskyi raion]. And administrative-territorial unit in Kherson oblast. Before the 2020 enlargement of raions, the Beryslav raion occupied about 1,700 sq km. and comprised 1 city council—the city of Beryslav (administrative center), 1 town (smt) council of Kozatske, and 29 village councils with jurisdiction over 34 villages, and seven hamlets (rural settlements). Its population grew and then declined as follows: 60,258 (1979), 61,384 (1989), 55,915 (2001), 45,931 (2020). Of the raion’s total, the population of the city of Beryslav grew and then declined as well: 16,337 (1979), 17,523 (1989), 15,455 (2001), 12,250 (2020). The raion’s rural population, however, declined throughout this period: 39,759 (1979), 39,486 (1989), 36,577 (2001), 29,981 (2020).
In 2020 Beryslav raion was expanded by incorporating the remaining 3 raions on the right bank of the Dnipro River north to the border with Dnipropetrovsk oblast, thus almost tripling its area to 4,747 sq km. Named after their towns with their respective populations in 2020, they were: 1) Velyka Oleksandrivka, 24,494, 2) Vysokopillia, 14,119, and 3) Novovorontsovka, 20,251, thus adding 58,864 residents to the enlarged raion. Local self-governance name was also changed from councils (rady) to communities (hromady) in 2020. The enlarged Beryslav raion now contains 11 rural settlement communities, with 1 city, 4 town, and 6 village community centers. They are: 1) the city of Beryslav; the 4 towns of: 2) Kalynivske (formerly Kalininske, transferred from the Velyka Oleksandrivka raion); 3) Novovorontsovka (transferred from Novovorontsovka raion); 4) Velyka Oleksandrivka (transferred from Velyka Oleksandrivka raion); and 5) Vysokopillia (transferred from Vysokopillia raion); and the 6 villages: 6) Borozenske (transferred from Velyka Oleksandrivka raion; 7) Kochubeivka (transferred from Vysokopillia raion); 8) Mylove (retained from Beryslav raion); 9) Novooleksandrivka (transferred from Novovorontsovka raion); 10) Novoraisk (retained from Beryslav raion); and 11) Tiahynka (retained from Beryslav raion). Although the town of Kozatske and the adjacent village of Vesele, at the N side of the Kakhovka dam, were transferred in 2020 to the enlarged Kakhovka raion across the Dnipro River, the Russian invasion in 2022, the destruction of the dam and an active front along the Dnipro River, makes this transfer inoperable.
Functionally and historically, Kozatske and Vesele are closely linked to Beryslav. Kozatske, established on the right bank of Dnipro River in 1782, at NW side of Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station dam (built 1950–56), town since 1960, pop 4,162 (1979), 4,375 (1989), 3,883 (2001), 3,700 (2020), 3,653 (2022) has a railway station closest to Beryslav, a school, a town hall, a building materials plant (in ruins by 2022) and a new dockside grain terminal. On its E side, overlooking the Dnipro River, are the remains of the palace of Prince Petr Trubetskoi (built 1884).
The village of Vesele (est 1909, 2001 pop 75), on the E side of Kozatske (across Highway P47), has the historic Vytautas the Great tower overlooking the Dnipro River and is known for the Prince Trubetskoi Winery (named after the prince who established a vineyard with a winery on his Kozatske estate in 1896, its Riesling winning the Grand Prix in 1900 and other distinctions; it was nationalized after 1917, became premium winery of Ukrainian SSR, purveyed its wine to the British royalty [1949], was re-novated according to classical French dry wine technologies [2003–11] and used its own grapes exclusively to guarantee terroir), a significant tourist destination.
Some notable aspects of the 11 rural settlement communities are summarized below.
1) Within the current Beryslav rural settlement community there are 1 city, 1 suburb and 8 villages located to the NE, N, and NW of Beryslav. The largest village, Zmiiivka (2001 pop 2,739, 2022 pop 2,759) is on the right bank (NW side) of Dnipro River 11 km ENE of Beryslav. It is known for its late 18th–19th century colonization and recent connection to Sweden. Zmiiivka began as the village of Gammalsvenskby, established by Swedes resettled from Dagö Island (annexed by Russia in 1721, now part of Estonia) in 1782. Later, three German villages were added nearby: Schlangendorf (1804), Mühlhausendorf (1835) and Klosterdorf (1855). As of 1886, in Gammalsvenskby there were 515 people, Saint John the Apostle Swedish Lutheran Church (a masonry building replacing the original wooden one in 1885) and a school; in Klosterdorf, 773 people, the Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic church, a school and a store; in Mühlhausendorf, 489 people, a Lutheran house of worship and a store; and in Schlangendorf, 474 people, a Lutheran house of worship and a school. In the Soviet period, in 1929 the Swedish church was closed and most ethnic Swedes emigrated to Sweden (then some on to Canada), although in 1931–3 about a hundred pro-communist Swedes returned to form the Swedish Communist Party collective farm. Other lands were collectivized and the settlements, becoming part of the Molotov collective farm, were re-named into Ukrainian: from Gammalsvenskby to Verbivka, Schlangendorf to Zmiivka, Mühlhausendorf to Mykhailivka, and Klosterdorf to Kostyrka. Following the Second World War, with the German settlers departed, the villages were merged into one: Zmiyivka. In 1951 it was re-populated mostly with 2,500 Ukrainians (from the Boiko region), displaced in the Polish–Soviet territorial exchange (1951) from Lodyna (147 families), Dolishni Berehy (now Brzegi Dolne, 170 families), and Nanove (122 families), to comprise 80 percent of the settlement’s population. Its Swedish church was repurposed as a club, and later as a fertilizer warehouse. In 1988, the faithful were allowed to form a congregation, and then began to renovate and re-open (1989) it as the Saint Archangel Michael Orthodox Church. In 1990 they sought but were prevented from joining the renewed Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, but were allowed to join the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, to seek help in restoration from Swedish pastors and as a concession to co-serve the small Swedish-Lutheran congregation. Following the 1991 Ukraine’s Declaration of Independence, the diplomatic connection with Sweden was enhanced. A new access road was built (2007) to Zmiivka and the sign Gammalsvenskby installed to welcome (2008) King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and his wife, Sylvia, visiting the village and attending the liturgy conducted by a Swedish pastor. The German Saints Peter and Paul Church was also restored and re-opened to serve the German Lutheran community. The Nativity of the Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic church, its parish established in 1993, was finally built and consecrated in 2017.
The remaining 10 rural settlement community centers and other places of interest in the Beryslav raion are reviewed below in a counterclockwise loop, first along Dnipro River, from the southwest to northeast, then in the north westward near the Dnipropetrovsk oblast border, and finally south along the Inhulets River.
2) Tiahynka, a village (established in 1778, pop 2,031 in 2022) on Highway P47 aka M14 and 28 km W of Beryslav is Beryslav raion’s south-westernmost rural settlement community center serving 10 villages and one hamlet. In Tiahynka, where Tiahynka River flows into the Dnipro River, are the ruins of the 14th century Lithuanian-era fortress Tiahyn (taken by Crimean Tatars in 1491 and used by them, sieged by Cossacks in 1673, 1693, demolished in the 18th century; a column in memory of Cossack glory was erected on high ground in 1992).
3) Novoraisk, a village (2022 pop 2,376), established as khutir Rohulin (1840s), was re-named khutir Ivanivka (1855) and then Novoraisk (1921). Located 18 km NNE of Beryslav, it is a rural settlement community center serving 5 villages and 4 hamlets. It has a cultural center, an impressive new Saint Andrew the First Called Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and Evangelical house of prayer, a school and a soccer field.
Chervonyi Maiak, a village (2001 pop 1,883) in the Novoraisk rural settlement community on the right bank of Dnipro River, 11 km SE of Novoraisk and 20 km NE of Beryslav. It was the site of a cave monastery (est 1781); in 1803 the Biziukiv Monastery from Smolensk gubernia was transferred here, and it became the Gregorian Biziukiv Monastery (locally called Propasnyi Monastyr, after the name of the gulley Propasna it overlooked). On 5,303 ha of land it owned, it developed prosperous farming, employing local peasantry. By the beginning of the 20th century it was one of the wealthiest monasteries in southern Ukraine. It owned many enterprises (mills, oil presses, wineries, lime-kilns, smithies, brickworks and potteries), used a steam tractor and had an electricity generating station. It had 70 stone buildings, including a cathedral, 2 churches, a 3-story dormitory for monks (76 rooms), the archimandrite residence (43 rooms), manager’s residence (12 rooms), gentry’s hotel, general hotel, medical quarters, seminary, and a parish school. In the Soviet period the monastery was closed, the settlement was re-named Chervonyi Maiak, and on its basis a state farm was organized (1921), changed to a collective farm (1924), and expanded (1932). Valuable religious structures were destroyed: the Zaporozhian Cossack Saint Gregory Church (1782), the Ascension Cathedral with its bell tower (1894), and some of the enclosure. The remains include some walls with towers (end of 18th–first quarter of the 19th century), the Protectress Church, the archimandrite residence with the Three Liturgy Saints chapel, the Trinity Church, dining hall, dormitory, hotel, entry gate, fountains (all end of 19th–beginning of the 20th century), cave cells (18th century). In 1991 the monastery was re-opened and the collective farm collapsed.
3) Mylove (first mentioned in 1791, 2001 pop 1,071) is a village and rural settlement community center 30 km NE of Beryslav and serves 10 villages. Located on Highway T0403, it replaced the nearby Kacharivka, the previous council center. Mylove has a community meeting building, an enterprise with a transmission tower and a school with a football field. Other villages of interest in this rural settlement community follow.
Kachkarivka (2001 pop 2,004), located on the right bank of Dnipro River, 5.5 km off Highway T0403, is 37 km NE of Beryslav and 9 km ENE of Mylove. Kachanivka was first mentioned in 1794; in 1886 the village was a volost center, had 1,485 residents, an orthodox church and a Jewish house of worship, a school, 5 stalls with a weekly market and 4 fairs per year. Presently it has the older Holy Protectress Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, re-opened after 1991, a high school and a council house; being on an active front line since 2022, it has experienced shelling.
Along the Kamianka River, a small right bank tributary of the Dnipro River, also in the Mylove community (6–7 km S of Mylove) are the villages Novokairy (est 1922, SE side of Highway T0403, 22 km NNE of Beryslav, 2001 pop 1,146) and 3.5 km E of Novakairy, the small village of Respublikanets (est 1920, overlooking Dnipro River at the mouth of the Kamianka River, 2001 pop 279), adjacent to remains of the Zaporozhian Kamianka Sich (the Cossack cemetery) with the grave of its commander (kish otaman) Kost Hordiienko (d 15 May 1733) and a monument in his memory.
The location of Respublikanets (Kamianka Sich) forms the right bank anchor of the historic Kamianka or Kairy crossing of the Dnipro River from the right to the left bank and thence to the Crimea; the Kazi-Kermen crossing (near Beryslav) was used mainly in the opposite direction. The strategic value of this crossing gave rise to settlements with the remains of burial mounds (early Bronze Age, 3rd–early 2nd millennia BC), settlements (pottery, end of 2nd millennia BC, ceramics of the Scythian period, 4th century BC) and fortitied settlement built of stone (the Konsulivske horodyshche, discovered in 2014, studied in the 2019 expedition, dated late 1st century BC–2nd century AD, with remains of ceramics in the style of the Olbia Greeks, wine amphorae with inscriptions in Latin, suggesting Thracian culture), and settlements of the Cherniakhiv culture (3rd–5th centuries), of Kyivan Rus’ and of the Golden Horde periods (10th–14th centuries). Coins of the Crimean khans (1467–1767) found here testify to the commercial significance of the settlement here. On the opposite side of Dnipro River was a major settlement, the Rokhat-Eski-Kerman (meaning Peaceful Old Fort). Although the Kamianka Sich had a brief documented (1730–34) and conjectured (1709–11, 1728–34) existence, it continuously served as a Zaporozhian Cossack settlement until 1775.
Following the Imperial Russian annexation, the site was acquired by the landlord Baidak, then from him by the consul to the Holy Roman Empire, Ivan Rozarevych, and became known as Konsulivka (also Rozarevka); in 1795 it had 19 homes with 89 residents. By 1896 Konsulivka, now owned by M. Agarkov, had grown to 98 residents; in 1907 it was inherited by F. Agarkov, who built his mansion there and funded Viktor Hoshkevych, the curator of Kherson archeological useum, to conduct archeological research (1913–14) of the Kamianka Sich and its graveyard. In 1916 there were 3 estates in Konsulivka with 337 residents. With the establishment of Soviet rule in 1920, the estates were replaced by a co-operative farm called Respublikanets, which was also applied to the settlement. The remains of the Kamianka Sich and its cemetery were neglected until declared a historic site in 1983.
Following the 1991 Ukraine’s Declaration of Independence, the site attracted Ukrainian patriots, culminating with the erection of a monument in honor of the kish otaman Kost Hordiienko in 1994. In 2009 (under President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko) the site ‘Kamianka Sich’ was made a branch of the Khortytsia National Preserve in Zaporizhia, and to commemorate its tercentennial, the site was cleaned up, had an entrance and a chapel built, an informative billboard erected, and a grand opening took place on 14 October 2009. But with the change in government and an assumptio(2010), funding for its development stopped. In 2019, the Kamianka Sich National Natural Park was established here (122.6 sq km) to protect pockets of right-bank virgin Pontic fescue – feather grass steppe with 52 rare plant and 93 rare animal species; it has 4 hiking routes and features 5 historic sites.
Dudchany is a village (2001 pop 2,102) in the Mylove rural settlement community, at the mouth of Peretivka, a small tributary on the right bank of Dnipro River and on Highway T0403, 17 km NE of Mylove. It was established in 1780 by the Cossack regimental leader [polkovnyk] Ivan Dudka. In 1782 Catherine II granted the village to the landlord Petrov and was renamed Peretivka. By 1853 it was acquired by the landlord Starytsky and in 1862 by Durylin. By 1890 the village had a livestock-raising and processing profile, a school, first-aid station, and a masonry church. Heavily taxed and exploited, the peasants revolted in 1905. In the Soviet period the original name, Dudchany, was returned; during collectivization, in 1932-33, over 100 residents died from Holodomor. Presently it has a service center with a café along the highway, and a school, a football field, a first-aid station, a council building with a post office, and a cultural center.
4) Novooleksandrivka is a village (2001 pop 1,335) and a rural settlement community center of the current Beryslav raion, formerly in the pre-2020 Novovorontsovka raion of Kherson oblast. It is located at the confluence of Skotovata and Pochtovata streams on the right bank of Dnipro River and on E side of Highway T0403, 58 km NE of Beryslav and 27 km SSW of Novovorontsovka. It was established in 1924; presently it has a council building, a school with a sports field, a cafe and an industrial farming building cluster. Overlooking the Dnipro River in a park stand the walls of the elegant Falz-Feins Manor, built (beginning of the 20th century) by the Falz-Feins noble family who came (1763) from Liechtenstein and established (1898) the Askaniia-Nova Nature Reserve.
The nearby village of Mykhailivka that belongs to the Novooleksandrivka rural settlement community on the right bank of Dnipro River is the location of an important Mykhailivka archeological site connected both to the Lower-Mykhailivka culture of the Eneolithic Period and the Yamna archeological culture complex of the Bronze Age; in particular, current research suggests that Mykhailivka and its vicinity may have been the birthplace of the ‘Core Yamna’ group, from which the significant Indo-European Yamna culture emerged.
5) Novovorontsovka is a town (2001 pop 7,115, 2022 pop 5,951) and rural settlement community center of the current Beryslav raion of Kherson oblast serving 8 villages; until 2020 it was the Novovorontsovka raion center of Kherson oblast. Located on the west bank of (what was, until 2023) the Kakhovka reservoir at the border with Dnipropetrovks oblast and on Highway T0403, it is 86 km NNE of Beryslav and 161 km NE of Kherson. To the north, Highway T0403 connects it (7 km) to Highway H23 at the village of Marians’ke, going W to the city of Kryvyi Rih and E to the cities of Nikopol’ and Zaporizhzhia.
A wintering site of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, by the end of the 18th century it emerged at this Dnipro backwater as the village of Mykolayivka. In 1821 the village was acquired by Count Mikhail S. Vorontsov who brought some of his serfs from his other possessions and in 1829 renamed the village Novovorontsovka. In 1860 it had 833 serfs living in 302 houses; by 1886 it grew to 1,494 residents in 230 houses, had a prosecutor’s office, the St. Nicholas Orthodox Church (the original wooden church, built in 1797, was replaced by a masonry building in 1829), a Jewish house of prayer, a school, 16 bazaar stalls, 7 workshops, and a wine cellar; 5 annual fairs were held there. Agricultural production of Novovorontsovka was sent to Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa. By 1897 it grew to over 5,000 residents, 32.5 percent of them being Jews, mostly merchants or artisans.
Administratively, it became the center of the Novovorontsovka volost of Kherson county in Kherson gubernia. In the Soviet period, it was the administrative center of the Novovorontsovka raion, first within Odesa oblast (1935-37), then in Mykolayiv oblast (1937-44), and in 1944, in the newly formed Kherson oblast. In 2020 the Novovorontsovka raion was merged into the Beryslav raion, and the town became Novovorontsovka raion center in the Beryslav raion of Kherson oblast.
Its population suffered in the Russian Civil War, reduced to 4,200 by 1923, then reduced again during the Holodomor and industrialization, when many Jews migrated to larger cities, reaching 3,663 in 1939. By then, only 42 Jews were still present in the community. During World War II, 20 Jews managed to flee before the German forces arrived (18 August 1941); the Germans established a prison in the settlement and killed the remaining Jews. The Red Army liberated Novovorontsovka on 27 Ferbuary 1944; the damaged settlement was slowly rebuilt. Of the residents who joined the Red Army to fight the Germans, 175 were killed; a monument in their memory was erected in 1965.
With the creation of the Kakhovka Reservoir, Novovorontsovka attained town (smt) status (1956). It already had its newspaper (est in 1935 as ‘Leninskyi shliakh’, now ‘Visti’), but gained a number of enterprises: a creamery, a cannery, a building materials plant, an incubator station, and a tractor and combine repair depot. Food processed included sunflower oil, mayonnaise, vinegar, grain meal, flour, and canned fruit and vegetables. Its population began to grow rapidly: 4,705 (1959), 6,158 (1970), 6,716 (1979), 7,317 (1989); it peaked at 7,500 in 1992 through 1998, then declining slowly thereafter. The Novovorontsovka school of farm mechanization (est 1954) was transferred (1959) to the village Havrylivka (2001 pop 1,509, 32 km S, then headquarters of the ‘Pathway to Communism’ collective farm’) as professional-technical school No. 26; in 1992 its branch was established in Novovorontsovka.
Presently Novovorontsovka has 2 schools, 2 kindergartens, a sports and an arts school; the Novovorontsovka regional studies museum, a house of culture, libraries for adults and children; a hospital and a dental clinic; a hotel. For sightseeing, there is a park of culture and relaxation, the 19th century estate buildings of Count Mikhail Vorontsov, its manager’s building (now museum); a grist mill (built in 1912 by the entrepreneur M. Neudstadt). With the demise of the Soviet Union, the Saint Nicholas Church was restored and re-opened (2014) as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine started its parish; other religious groups with their houses of prayer are the Christian Baptists, the Evangelists, the Seventh-day Adventists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
During Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the front reached the town and caused damage, but the Russian forces were unable to take it; Ukrainian counter-offensive drove them out.
West of Novovorontsovka are the rural settlement community centers of Vysokopillia and Kochubeivka, and south of them are Velyka Oleksandrivka, Borozenske, and Kalynivske.
6) Vysokopillia is a town (2022 pop estimate 3,800) in the north-central part of Beryslav raion 30 km W of Novovorontsovka and 12 km E of Inhulets River, on Highway T2207, on the Apostolove–Snihurivka (single track) railway line. It was founded as the farming colony Kronau of German colonists (1869), became a volost center (1886) and had 497 residents (1889). Productive grain farming attracted Ukrainian farm laborers from Poltava gubernia and Chernihiv gubernia, many of whom settled here; subsequently a German and a Ukrainian community emerged in the settlement. During the First World War the Russian government eliminated German place-names: in 1915 Kronau was re-named Vysokopillia (attributing its high ground location). Yurii Torlin, a Russian entrepreneur who established a grist mill in Kronau, successfully lobbied for the construction (1916) of the Merefa–Katerynoslav–Apostolove–Kherson railway line to pass through Vysokopillia (station opened in 1921). In 1918 Vysokopillia was part of the Ukrainian National Republic, then occupied by the Red Army (March 1919), the ‘White’ anti-Bolshevik ‘armed forces of Southern Russia’ led by General Anton Denikin (June 1919), the Red Army (January 2020) and the establishment of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic. In the early Soviet period Vysokopillia was part of the Kryvyi Rih district in the Katerynoslav gubernia (1920-23), then of the Apostolove raion of the Kryvyi Rih okruha (1923–26). Then a German nationality region was established (31 March 1926) comprising several nearby villages (comprising 5 German and 3 Ukrainian village soviets) with its administrative center at Vysokopillia (existing in various forms until its liquidation 26 March 1939). Following the Second World War, with most Germans having been deported or left, it was re-populated, assumed the role of the Vysokopillia raion center (20 March 1946) and promoted to the town (smt) status in 1957. It lost its raion center status with its amalgamation with the Beryslav raion (17 July 2020). The town had a bakery and food-flavoring, vegetable oil, and feed processing plants. The town suffered damage when Russian armed forces took Vysokopillia (13 March 2022); Ukrainian forces liberated it (4 September 2022). Since 2020 Vysokopillia is as a rural settlement community center serving 19 villages and the town of Arkhanhelske.
Arkhanhelske is a former town (1974–2020, its 2022 pop estimate 1,731) in the Vysokopillia rural community in the northern part of Beryslav raion, on Highway T2207 and on the left bank of the Inhulets River, tributary of the Dnipro River. Established by settlers from Poltava gubrnia and Chernihiv gubernia in 1810, in 1859 the village had 315 houses with 2,017 residents; by 1886 it grew to 458 houses and 2,510 residents, had the Saint Archangel Michael Orthodox Church (built in 1830, its place now occupied by the town’s palace of culture), a school of agriculture (opened in 1884), 5 market stalls, weekly bazaars and 4 fairs per year. In 1918 it was part of the Ukrainian National Republic; from 1921 to 1991, part of the Ukrainian SSR. Its church was closed and repurposed, its farms collectivized and during the Famine-Genocide of 1932–3, at least 76 villagers perished. During the Second World War and Nazi German occupation (19 August 1941 to 10 March 1944), 7 residents of the resistance movement were arrested (6 September 1941) and executed. The village contributed 569 fighters to the war against the German forces, of whom 132 were killed. In the post-war reconstruction, two collective farms were merged; the brickworks converted into a building materials plant, and re-constructed the incubator plant and the farm chemicals depot. In the 1960s the palace of culture, a kindergarten and 50 residential buildings were constructed, and then a new middle school, a hospital (35 beds), 10 stores, 2 dining halls and a café. The village was promoted to the town (smt) status in 1974; it grew to 2,303 residents (1989), then declined to 2,253 (2001) and 1,731 (2022). Following the 1991 Ukraine’s Declaration of Independence, its Victory collective farm was dissolved and farming privatized. The Russian invasion and occupation (13 March to 3 October 2022) destroyed many buildings and terrorized the population. After the liberation of Arkhanhelske and some repairs, the settlement, including its Arkhanhelske Professional Agrarian Lyceum resumed functioning.
7) Kochubeivka is a village and rural settlement community center (2001 pop 737), its name derived from the Cossack landowner, Kochubei. Located in the north westernmost part of Beryslav raion, 25 km W of Vysokopillia and 6 km W of the Inhulets River, it serves 13 small villages. It became a Mennonite colony in 1873, by 1886 (pop 176) acquired the German name Tiege, and had a Lutheran house of prayer, a school, a grist mill and a vinegar plant. Its residents suffered in the Civil War (1919), the Famine-Genocide of 1932–3, and deportations (1929–41). It was part of the Vysokopillia German nationality region in 1926–39.
8) Velyka Oleksandrivka, town (2022 pop 6,334), former center of the Velyka Oleksandrivka raion, since 2020 rural community center in the Beryslav raion serving 26 villages. It is located on the left bank of the Inhulets River, on Highway T2207, 52 km N of Beryslav or 60 km by highway. Established as Nova Oleksandrivka in 1784 by settlers from the Poltava region and Chernihiv region in 1784, its name was changed to Velyka Oleksandrivka in 1803, when settlers from Chernihiv gubernia and Kyiv gubernia established a downriver settlement (4 km to the SW) called Mala Oleksandrivka. In 1860 Velyka Oleksandrivka was made a volost center in the Kherson county (1860); in 1886 it had 629 houses with 3,300 residents, an orthodox church, a Jewish house of prayer, a school, 11 market stalls, daily markets and 6 fairs per year. In 1894 there was a zemstvo school (for 154 pupils) and 2 church parish schools (123 pupils). Various craft shops (making barrels, metal goods, wagons and sleds) were established by 1901. An infirmary (10 beds) was opened in 1910. In 1918 it joined to be part of the Ukrainian National Republic.
After the Red Army occupation, within the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, its residents suffered from the famine of 1921–3 caused by the Soviet government food requisitions, then collectivization (1930–33) and 445 documented deaths during the Famine-Genocide of 1932–3. Electrification was promoted with the building of a small hydroelectric power station on the Inhulets River (historically significant as the first built in the Ukrainian SSR in 1928). Churches were closed, replaced by the house of culture; schools were expanded to accommodate 1,199 pupils by 1939. During the Second World War the town provided about 5,000 volunteers to fight the invaders; of those, 3,500 perished. About 500 youths were taken to Germany as Ostarbeiter forced laborers. Nazi German occupation lasted from 28 August 1941 to 12 March 1944. With postwar repopulation, the settlement was designated a town (smt) in 1956 and food-processing (cannery, oil-pressing, bakery, macaroni-making) and road-building reinstated. Its population reached 8,228 in 1979, receding to 8,150 in 1989 and 7,562 in 2001.
Following the 1991 Ukraine’s Declaration of Independence many enterprises were privatized. Most services were renewed: 2 schools, 3 kindergartens, an art school and a creativity center for children, school supply center, a regional policlinic with a diagnostic branch, and a home for the elderly and a hotel. With the return of religious worship in public, Saint Aleksandr Nevsky Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate was restored (its original bell tower, built in 1784, was designated an architectural monument), the Seventh Day Adventist Church was built and a Jehovah’s Witnesses Hall was opened. Cultural attractions include its regional history museum, library, house of culture, the Inhulets Landscape Reserve (937 ha, est 1978) and the Nedohirsky Lis Forest Preserve (216 ha, est 1983), both of local significance, and the 1928 hydroelectric station (now a historic site, housing a sports school). The town has an inter-city bus depot; its nearest railway station is 9 km to WNW at Bila Krynytsia, on the Apostolove–Kherson line.
9) Borozenske, is a village (2001 pop 2,024) located 19 km SE of Velyka Oleksandrivka and 36 km N of Beryslav and rural settlement community center serving 8 villages. It has 2 schools and a kindergarten, and an airstrip for small aircraft to spray crops.
10) Kalynivske, Beryslav raion’s westernmost community center, is 43 km NW of Beryslav, on the left bank of the Inhulets River and serves 11 villages. The settlement’s name originally was Velyka Seidemenukha, then changed to Kalinindorf (1927), Kalininske (1944) and Kalynivske (2016). Its land was part of the Inhulets Palanka of the Zaporozhian Cossacks until Russia destroyed their Sich in 1775 and made its lands part of the New Russia gubernia. Resettled in 1807 by ethnic Germans and Jews from Chernihiv gubernia, Mohyliv gubernia and Vitebsk gubernia, it had by 1886 2,197 residents and Lutheran and Jewish houses of worship. In 1927 it served as one of the Jewish national raion centers in the Ukrainian SSR. During the Second World War its German population was removed, its Jewish population eliminated by the Nazis (1941). Resettled after the war, by 1990 it had 2,000 residents, food processing and knitwear plants. By 2001 its population declined to 1,600, of whom 92.6 percent indicated Ukrainian as their mother tongue. By 2022 population was estimated at 1,057. Its closest railway station (10 km N) is Kalinindorf on the Apostolove–Kherson line.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
‘Arkhanhel'ske’ in Heohrafichna entsyklopediia Ukraïny vol 1 (Kyiv 1989)
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[This article was written in 2025.]