ODESSA

city, seat (1891) of Ector county, western Texas, U.S. It lies on the southern High Plains, just southwest of Midland. The site was presumably named in 1881 by Russian railroad construction workers who noted the similarity of the prairie region to their Odessa steppe homeland. Founded in 1886, it became a rail-shipping point for livestock. After local oil discoveries of the 1920s, Odessa expanded rapidly. Located in the centre of the oil-rich Permian Basin, it developed as a major distribution-processing-servicing point for a petrochemical complex. Ranching augments its economy. One of the largest meteor craters in the United States is 9 miles (14 km) west. The city is the seat of Odessa College (1946), where meteorite specimens are displayed, and of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (1969). The Globe Theatre, a replica of the London original situated on the college campus, is the site of an annual (summer) Shakespeare Festival. Inc. 1927. Pop. (1992 est.) city, 93,234; Odessa-Midland MSA, 234,431. abbreviation of Organisation Der Ehemaligen Ss-angehrigen (German: Organization of Former SS Members), clandestine escape organization of the SS (q.v.) underground, founded probably in early 1947 in Germany. A large organizational network was set up to help former SS and Gestapo members and other high Nazi functionaries to avoid arrest, to acquire legal aid if arrested, to escape from prison, or to be smuggled out of the country. The main escape routes were (1) through Austria and Italy, then to Franco's Spain, (2) to Arab countries of the Middle East, and (3) to South America, especially Argentina and Paraguay, then under the right-wing regimes of Juan Pern and Alfredo Stroessner. The war criminal Adolf Eichmann was apparently aided by Odessa in traveling to the Middle East and then to South America in the immediate postwar years. Odessa ceased to exist about 1952 and was replaced by an organization called Kameradenwerke (Comrade Workshop), which over the following decades sought to aid former Nazis overseas in avoiding capture and maintaining concealment. Whereas Odessa's work was centred in Germany, Kameradenwerke's operations were conducted in foreign lands, especially where governments were sympathetic to ultra-right-wing causes, as in Argentina, Paraguay, and Chile. oblast (province) in southwestern Ukraine. The oblast is bordered by the Black Sea on the east and southeast, by Moldova on the west, and by the Romanian frontier on the Danube River delta on the southwest. The oblast is divided by the Dniester River estuary, which lies across its narrow waist. The southwestern part of the oblast is a coastal plain that slopes gently to the Black Sea. In the northwest the oblast extends inland to the southern hills of the Volyn-Podolsk Upland. The Black Sea coast is low, with rapidly silting lagoons and estuaries enclosed by long sandbars. The entire oblast lies in the steppe on fertile soils, and little land remains unplowed. The climate is dry, and there is little surface water; all but the largest rivers tend to dry out in summer. Agriculture is intensive in Odessa and is dominated by winter wheat, corn (maize), and barley; sunflowers and sugar beets constitute the main industrial crops. Intensive market gardening is carried on throughout the oblast, and there are many orchards and vineyards in the southwest. Livestock husbandry is well developed. Towns serve as small centres of food processing, with the notable exception of the great industrial port of Odessa, the oblast's administrative centre, in which nearly two-thirds of the region's urban population is located. Area 12,850 square miles (33,300 square km). Pop. (1991 est.) 2,635,300. seaport and administrative centre of Odessa oblast (province), southwestern Ukraine. It stands on a shallow indentation of the Black Sea coast at a point approximately 19 miles (31 km) north of the Dniester River estuary and about 275 miles (443 km) south of Kiev. Although a settlement existed on the site in ancient times, the history of the modern city began in the 14th century when the Tatar fortress of Khadzhibey was established there; it later passed to Lithuania-Poland and in 1764 to Turkey. The fortress was stormed by the Russians in 1789 and ceded to Russia in 1791. A new fortress was built in 179293, and in 1794 a naval base and commercial quay were added. In 1795 the new port was named Odessa for the ancient Greek colony of Odessos, the site of which was believed to be in the vicinity. During the 19th century Odessa's growth was rapid, especially after the coming of railways in 1866. Odessa became the third city of Russia and the country's second most important port, after St. Petersburg; grain was its principal export. The city was one of the chief centres of the Russian Revolution of 1905 and was the scene of the mutiny on the warship Potemkin; Sergey Eisenstein's classic film Potemkin was made there in 1925. Odessa suffered heavy damage in World War II during its prolonged and unsuccessful defense against German and Romanian forces. The city remains a major port, the largest in Ukraine, with well-equipped docks and ship-repair yards. After 1857 a new outport was built at Ilichevsk, 12 miles (20 km) to the south. Odessa is the base of a fishing fleet. The city's rail communications are good to all parts of Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania. Odessa is also a large industrial centre, with a wide range of engineering industries, including the production of machine tools, cranes, and plows. The chemical industry makes fertilizers, paints, dyes, and other materials. Odessa also has an oil refinery, a large jute mill, and a number of consumer goods and food-processing factories. Most factories lie north of the port along the waterfront, with newer plants on the western outskirts. Odessa is also an important cultural and educational centre. It has a university, founded in 1865, and numerous other institutions of higher education. Its many research establishments are headed by the Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases. There are a number of museums and theatres, including the opera house and ballet theatre, dating from 1809. The seashore south of the harbour is a popular resort area, with numerous sanatoriums and holiday camps. Pop. (1991 est.) 1,100,700.