Huliaipole

Huliaipole Гуляйполе
Coat of arms
Etymology: "Walk-about field"
Nickname:  Makhnograd
Huliaipole Huliaipole Huliaipole Huliaipole (Ukraine)
Coordinates: 47°39′N 36°16′E
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Zaporizhzhia Oblast
Raion	Polohy Raion
Hromada	Huliaipole urban hromada
Established	1785 (1785)
City status	1938 (1938)
Government
• Body	Huliaipole City Council
• Mayor	Serhiy Oleksandrovych Yarmak
Area
• Total	23.1 km2 (8.9 sq mi)
Elevation	109 m (358 ft)
Population  (2024)
• Total	2,000
• Density	87/km2 (220/sq mi)
Postal code	70200
Area code	+380 6145
Climate	Dfa
Website	gpmrada.gov.ua

Huliaipole (Ukrainian: Гуляйполе, IPA: [ɦʊlʲɐjˈpɔle]; lit. 'walk-about field') is a city in Polohy Raion, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine. It is known as the birthplace of Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary Nestor Makhno. In January 2022, it had an estimated population of 12,786.

Huliaipole was attacked by Russian forces during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and sustained heavy damage, placing it on one of the lines of contact separating Ukrainian and Russian forces.

History

Prior to the annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire, the area was mostly settled by the Zaporozhian Cossacks and the nomadic Lesser Nogai Horde. The settlement arose during the 1770s, after the construction of the Dnieper defensive line on the former lands of the Zaporozhian Sich, as part of the Russian Empire's policy to populate and develop the conquered Zaporozhian lands. When Catherine the Great dissolved the Sich, the local Cossacks either fled into exile or were brought into serfdom, with the residents of what is now Huliaipole falling under the yoke of the Shabelskiys.

In 1785, the board of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate ordered the Novomoskovsk Zemstvo Court to establish the Huliaipole state military settlement for protection from the Crimean Khanate. Archival data confirmed that the first settlers came to the newly formed settlement from the territory of Starodubsky District, and later Kyiv region, Chernihiv region, Poltava region and Sloboda Ukraine. The name "Huliaipole" (lit. 'walk-about field') reflected the nature of the area where it was founded, which had frequently played host to fairs for a long time before the settlement's foundation. The settlement was traditionally divided into centuries, administrative-territorial units formed along military lines. Hundreds of people from Podolia, Pishchanka, Guryan, Verbiv, Bokhansky, Kherson and later Poland settled in this way. In 1794 the settlement had 150 yards. The inhabitants of the region were actively engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry.

In 1797 the wooden Orthodox Church "Exaltation of the Honest and Life-Giving Christ" was built, and Huliaipole became the township center of Alexandrovsky Uyezd.

Industrialization

From the middle of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century, the village of Huliaipole was transformed into a commercial and industrial town. In 1859, the first trades fair took place in Huliaipole. There were more than fifty trading companies with a total turnover of 1 million rubles. Next to them there were a large number of shops. The increased trade contributed to a large influx of population.

In the post-reform period, industrial enterprises emerged one after another in Huliaipole. In 1882, Krieger's factory of agricultural machinery began operating. Ten years later, another such plant and steam mill was opened by the industrialist Kerner. Both factories produced harvesters, horse threshers, choppers, and so on. The landowner Schroeder also had a large steam mill. In the following years, distilleries, several oil mills, and warehouses were put into operation. There were 18 shops in the village, and about three dozen merchants traded. In 1898, the Chaplyne–Berdyansk railway was laid nearby, which had a positive effect on the economic development of the village.

There were two agricultural machinery factories, four distilleries and one brewery in Huliaipole. There were three steam mills in Huliaipole and dozens more in the surrounding villages and economies that were part of Huliaipole parish. Besides them, there were a large number of peasant "windmills" around. In addition, there were two brick and tile factories in Huliaipole and twelve in villages and hamlets.

Along with industrial enterprises, in the village there were a dozen small, semi-artisanal productions - a crew workshop, several potters, as well as oil mills, smithies, carpentry and other workshops.

From 1884 until the First World War, Zemstvo exhibitions and auctions of agricultural and industrial products took place in Huliaipole every three years.

Conflict

Location of the Makhnovshchina in present-day Ukraine.

After World War I, new socio-economic transformations took place in Huliaipole, caused by the change of state power and political regime. Between 1917 and 1921, reflective of the turbulence in the region brought about by the Russian Civil War (and concurrent Ukrainian War of Independence), the town changed hands no fewer than sixteen times. During this period, Huliaipole was variously held by Austro-Hungarian forces, the Red Army, the Ukrainian People's Republic, the Hetmanate, Anton Denikin's White Army and the Nestor Makhno's Insurgent Army, among others. During the conflict, Huliaipole became widely known as the headquarters of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine and the capital of the Makhnovshchina.

During the industrialization of the 1930s, a rapid industrial development began to take place in Huliaipole, resulting in it gaining city status in 1938. Meanwhile, at least 108 residents of Huliaipole died during the Holodomor of 1932–1933.

On 5 October 1941, as a result of the German offensive, Soviet troops fled the city and it was occupied by the Wehrmacht. On 16 September 1943, it was liberated by the Soviet troops of the Southern Front during the Donbas strategic offensive.

Modern era

In 1952, a brick factory, a butter factory, a garment and footwear factory, a pedagogical school, a secondary school, four seven-year schools, six elementary schools, a cinema and a club functioned here. In 1970, there was an agricultural machinery plant, a paint and varnish plant, an auto repair plant, a household goods plant, a cheese-making plant and a shoe factory.

By the time of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, the basis of the city's economy was an agricultural machinery plant, a paints and varnishes plant, a shoe factory and food industry enterprises. In May 1995, the Government of Ukraine approved the decision on the privatization of the agricultural machinery plant, the paints and varnishes plant, regional agricultural and chemistry plants. In July 1995, a decision was approved on the privatization of the state farm. On 17 December 2004, the economic court of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast filed a bankruptcy case against a privatized agricultural machinery plant. On 17 July 2020, as a result of administrative-territorial reform and liquidation of Huliaipole Raion, the city became a part of Polohy Raion.

Building of Huliaipole Local Museum after Russian shelling on 24 August 2024

During the southern Ukraine offensive of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, a battle for control of Huliaipole broke out between the Russian Armed Forces and Ukrainian Armed Forces. Under constant bombardment by Russian forces, many of Huliaipole's residents have been evacuated by the local administration, while a number of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.

Geography

The town of Huliaipole is located in the Gaichur river valley (the name of the reservoir is etymologized from the Turkic languages: gai "free" + chur "steppe"), upstream at a distance of 3.5 km is the village of Marfopil, downstream at a distance of 1.5 km is the village of Zelene. It is located 8 km from the railway station of the same name and 98 km from the regional center of Zaporizhzhia (via highways H08 and T 0814). In the north, Polohy Raion borders with Synelnykove Raion of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, in the east - with Donetsk.

Demographics

Ethnic and linguistic composition according to the 2001 Ukrainian census:

Ethnic groups in Huliaipole percent Ukrainians   93.71% Russians   5.45% Belarusians   0.23% Armenians   0.15% Tatars   0.05%

Languages in Huliaipole Languages percent Ukrainian   94.5% Russian   5.2% others   0.2%

Population of Huliaipole

Year	1810	1859	1900	1913	1917	1926	1970	1989	2013	2021	2024
Population	1,852	2,521	10,000	16,150	25,000	12,027	16,000	19,198	14,358	13,070	~2,000

Notable people

• Voldemar Antoni (1886–1974), Ukrainian anarchist intellectual, founder of the Union of Poor Peasants
• Vilen Kalyuta (1930–1999), Ukrainian cinematographer
• Semen Karetnyk (1893–1920), Ukrainian anarchist, commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine
• Nestor Makhno (1888–1934), Ukrainian anarchist, commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine
• Oleksiy Marchenko (1880s–1921), Ukrainian anarchist, commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine
• Oleksandr Semenyuta (1883–1910), Ukrainian insurrectionary anarchist, leader of the Union of Poor Peasants

Gallery

• 
  Former boys' gymnasium
• 
  Old mill, originally owned by the German Krieger company
• 
  Local history museum

Bibliography

• Skirda, Alexandre (2004) [1982]. Nestor Makhno–Anarchy's Cossack: The Struggle for Free Soviets in the Ukraine 1917–1921. Translated by Sharkey, Paul. Oakland: AK Press. ISBN 978-1-902593-68-5. OCLC 60602979.

External links

• The murder of the Jews of Huliaipole during World War II, at Yad Vashem website.