Once known as “little Paris” due to the French governor of the city, Duc de Richelieu in 1803 who influenced the architecture so that the city has a European look and feel.

In 1939 a third of the population of Odessa was Jewish (180,000 out of 600,000). The Jews were decimated during the Holocaust and before the war with Russia that began nearly 2 years ago Jews numbered only 30,000. Along with millions of other Ukrainians many of the citizens of Odessa have fled to neighbouring countries.

I had always hoped to visit Odessa but as time goes on and the war continues the chance of making that journey has become increasingly unlikely. I will probably never see “little Paris” and I will probably never have to feel the ghosts of those of my people who again and again were persecuted in the pogroms of 1821, 1859, 1871, 1881 and 1905 nor think of those thousands of men, women and children killed by the Nazis.

The irony is that today the Jews of Odessa are more integrated in Ukrainian society than ever before and are fighting for their country as Ukrainians.