Our city’s history has not only been marked by victories and achievements, great people, and amazing discoveries. There have also been moments in our past that are not only considered taboo to discuss, but are also painful to recall.
In 1914, World War I began. Kharkiv lost its sons not only on the battlefields—there were also significant losses among the civilian population. The most terrible thing is that these losses occurred without a single shot being fired. After all, at that time, many Germans living in Kharkiv suddenly became enemies and traitors. Today this seems unthinkable, but those who were born in our city, loved it, and helped it grow were subjected to repression. We can gauge the scale of this tragedy from materials found in the archives.
And it all started out so beautifully…
The name of Ernest Melgoze, a talented industrialist of German descent who founded his factory in 1874, is familiar to many enthusiasts of our city’s history.
This factory manufactured horse-drawn machinery, seeders, winnowers, threshers, harvesters, and other agricultural equipment, and also sold imported harvesters, primarily those manufactured in Germany and the United States. It received over 50 awards.
The main competitor of the Melgoze plant in the agricultural machinery market was the agricultural machinery plant of the “M. Helfferich-Sade” partnership, founded by the German Maximilian Helfferich. Ironically, both Ernst and Maximilian were at one time active members of the “German Charitable Society” in Kharkiv.
In 1923, the Bolsheviks abolished the Melgoze plant as a separate industrial facility and merged it with the former Helfferich-Sade plant, which had been renamed in 1922 as the 1st State Agricultural Machinery Plant “Hammer and Sickle.”
The history of E. I. Melgoze’s agricultural machinery factory is a topic in its own right. What matters to us is the assessment made by his contemporaries of Ernst Melgoze and his brainchild. The 1913 book *Jubilee Historical and Artistic Publication in Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of the Reign of the Romanov Dynasty* featured biographies of the most distinguished figures. Thanks to his achievements, Ernst Melgoze was also included there (albeit posthumously). Here is what we can read about him:
“E. I. Melgoze”
E. I. Melgoze, now deceased, was the founder of an agricultural machinery factory. He was one of the first to introduce the use of a horse-drawn threshing machine.
E. I. began his career with a small workshop employing just two workers, which served as the foundation for the business’s future growth. E. I.’s first major achievement was the invention of the two-blade plow, which earned the inventor much praise. In 1876, E. I. produced his first threshing machine, and 36 years later, 23,000 threshing machines had been produced—the best and indisputable proof of the product’s high quality, having found 23,000 customers even among the relatively uneducated peasantry. In addition to threshing machines, E. I. improved and brought to market standard seeders, which enjoy enormous popularity in Russia. For the quality of its products, the firm has received fifty medals and an honorary diploma at exhibitions, as well as numerous letters of thanks from customers. The Russian peasantry has suffered a great loss with his passing. Currently, the factory’s affairs are managed by a board of directors, which is successfully continuing the great work of its predecessor. Kharkiv.”
After his father’s death, his son Vladimir took over the family business. As early as 1912, at the All-Russian Exhibition in Petrograd, the seeders produced by the Melgoze factory were awarded a large gold medal for their outstanding quality.
However, as it turned out, all these past achievements were of no significance…
On August 4, 1914, the governor of Kharkiv received a petition from Louise Yakovlevna Melgoze, a Saxon subject and the widow of a merchant:
“My son, Vladimir Ernestovich Melgoze, born in Kharkiv, aged 36, a Saxon subject of the German Empire, has been arrested as a prisoner of war. Since he heads the agricultural machinery and implements factory in Kharkiv and has been solely in charge of the technical department since the death of my husband and his father in 1909—and for the past year and a half, the commercial department as well— and since he is the factory’s sole technical expert and machine designer, removing him from his direct duties will inevitably lead not only to a decline in the factory’s operations but even to its complete shutdown.”
In another letter, the loving mother writes to the governor of Kharkiv in greater detail and with more emotion:
“As a member of the family and the owner of the entire factory, my exiled son Vladimir, as an engineer, managed the factory’s affairs as if they were his own, to which I gave my full consent—all the more so because, given my age, I am 75 years old and, due to poor health, I am unable to manage the factory.
Currently, the factory has received a military order for two-wheeled vehicles, and negotiations are underway to accept another order—for bomb launchers. In fulfilling these orders, my son Vladimir Melgoze, who combines the theoretical and practical skills of an engineer, can render an immense service to the defense effort.
Taking this into account, as well as the impossibility at this time of finding a specialist who could replace my son, Vladimir…”
But neither the fate of the 350 workers, nor the important military contracts, nor his mother’s advanced age could move the authorities to compassion. What is striking about the verdict of August 26, 1915, is not only the rejection (which was entirely expected), but also the fact that, despite the letters, Vladimir’s mother is listed as his wife.
Vladimir Ernestovich’s wife, incidentally, was in very poor health. Therefore, on October 18, 1915, her loving husband wrote from his place of exile, the city of Sterlitamak, to the governor of Kharkiv:
“My wife, Antonina Ottonovna Melgoze, who resides in the city of Kharkiv on Konnaya Street, at No. 27, has been suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis for a long time, and according to the information I have received, her health has deteriorated significantly recently, so that in order to recover, she will have to go to a sanatorium abroad.”
In view of this, I take the liberty of addressing Your Excellency with the most humble request to grant me permission to travel to Kharkiv, if only for a few days, so that I may see my wife before she leaves for abroad.
I hope that Your Excellency will not refuse to grant my most humble request and will inform me of your decision through the Governor of Ufa.”
As early as November 28 of that same year, the governor of Ufa received the long-awaited reply from Kharkiv…
How many stories like this were there in Kharkiv at that time?! I think there were quite a few.
It’s extremely important to remember that the Melgoze family’s tragedy isn’t just the story of one particular family, but also that of our city. But the future fate of Vladimir Melgoze—as well as that of many other Germans in Kharkiv—is a completely different story…
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