Pervomaisk, Mykolaiv Oblast

Pervomaisk (Ukrainian: Первома́йск Pervomajs'k) is a city in Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine and the center of the Pervomaisk Raion. It is located on the Southern Bug river which bisects the city. Its population in 2001 was 70,170.

Etymology

The name derives from the Russian pervomajsk (первомайск) meaning "the first of May," (May Day), referring also to the city's formation on 1 May 1919 from the merger of three neighbouring places.

The name for one of the merged towns, Bohopil (or Bogopol), was derived from the name of a local river Southern Bug which in Polish is named Boh.

History

The city was formed when three neighbouring settlements: the village of Holta (Голта) and the town of Bohopil (Богопіль) around a county city of Olviopol' (Ольвіополь) were merged. The merger was adopted by the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee on June 6, 1919. These cities existed from 1773 and the first settlement in the area was mentioned as early as 1676.

In the 17th century Holta was part of Zaporizhian Sich, Bohopil was the customs point of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Olviopol was part of the Russian Empire.

World War II

In World War II, Pervomaisk was occupied by the Axis Powers in 1941 and was divided between German occupation authorities on the east bank (Bohopol and Olviopol) and the Romanian-occupied region of Transnistria to the west (Holta). Holta served as the center of the Golta judeţ (district) of Transnistria. Pervomaisk had been more than 1/3 Jewish before the war but most were murdered during the occupation.

Remarkable buildings and structures

In Pervomaisk, there is at 48°4'0"N 30°51'29"E a 196 metres tall guyed TV mast, equipped with 6 crossbars running from the mast body to the guys.

Pervomaisk was the former location of the 46th Division of the 43rd Rocket Army of the Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces, formed during the Cold War. (http://www.ww2.dk/test/46rd.htm) One of the commanders of the division, appointed in 1991, was General Major Mikhail Filatov. (Woff, Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, B39-16) The SS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile silos based at Pervomaisk were destroyed, partially with Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction programme funding, during the 1990s.

Gallery

• PervMR.jpg

  Pervomaisk city council

• Bogopol.jpg

  Orthodox church of the Intercession of Our Lady in Pervomaisk

• 

  Workers destroying a SS-24 silo at Pervomaisk

See also

• Lysa Hora

External links

• Official website of Pervomaisk (Ukrainian)