Greeks in Kyiv Commercial Institute: Study of Student Period Biographies and Self-Organization Attempts ; ГРЕКИ В КИЇВСЬКОМУ КОМЕРЦІЙНОМУ ІНСТИТУТІ: ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ БІОГРАФІЙ СТУДЕНТСЬКОГО ПЕРІОДУ ТА СПРОБИ САМООРГАНІЗАЦІЇ
Formulation of the problem: Kyiv Commercial Institute, founded at the beginning of the 20th century, is a valuable object of historical research. After all, it was the first higher education institution of economic profile in Ukraine in which there were no entry restrictions along ethnic, gender and even confessional indication, and which carried out a particular democratic policy regarding the student body. Accordingly, broader reconstructions and generalizations can be made, in particular, about the society of Ukraine of that time by exploring this institution. This is facilitated by the good preservation and significant volume of Kyiv Commercial Institute's archive. However, in practice, this archive remains unknown to modern scholars. Characteristic of the main theme: the attempt of creation of the Hellenic (Greek) community at Kyiv Commercial Institute, as well as the circumstances of the student period in the life of his pupils-Greeks is being investigated. The relevance of the study is due to reliance on archival documents, which are introduced for the first time to the scientific circulation and also allow us to show different aspects of the public everyday life at that time. Such generalizations are explained by the «no-significance» of the studied persons, since such personalities reflect a general background of society, even with a small number of such objects of study. Scientific novelty of the study — the introduction of previously unexplored archival materials to the scientific circulation pertaining to students-Greeks of Kyiv Commercial Institute and the attempts to establish their own national organization in this institution. Purpose: To analyze discovered archival materials in order to reconstruct the components of student period of the Greeks life, who studied at Kyiv Commercial Institute. The obtained results are to be checked to their conformity with available experience in historical science on the life of student body and the Greek community of Ukraine at the beginning of the 20th century. The main methods: scientificity, objectivity, comparison, synthesis, induction and other general scientific and special historical methods. Conclusions: the Hellenic (Greek) community was unable to function due to the small number of students-Greeks at the commercial institute. However, the draft of its statute and the very fact of attempts to create it showed a high level of consolidation and national consciousness of Greek youth. Instead, they demonstrated at least an indifference to the Russian Empire, which was especially evident in their unwillingness to perform military service of armed forces, and during the First World War to fight for this empire. This trait characterized the majority of the student body of that time and was constantly increasing, which could be explained by the poor financial situation of the student body and by the unwillingness of the authorities to address their actual needs. So, students-Greeks quite fit into the life of most studentship of that time. Also in accordance to available research on the history of the Greek diaspora there is a conclusion that the vast majority of them are from the Sea of Azov and partly about the prominent role of the Church in their lives. Therefore, the revealed facts do not violate the existing developments of domestic historical science in the field of studentship studies and the Greek community in Ukraine at the beginning of the 20th century. However, they complement it with new interesting facts that allow us to deepen these studies and to speak about the necessity to continue. In doing so, the need of creating a general research on the topic of studentship place and role in political life of Ukraine at the beginning of the 20th century is being violated. Keywords: the history of Ukraine at the beginning of the XX century, Greek diaspora, national minorities, personalities, student organizations. ; Дослідження побудоване в рамках вивчення студентства Київського комерційного інституту, оскілки його архів становить цінне джерело вивчення українського суспільства початку XX ст. Це обумовлено особливим демократизмом цього вишу в політиці щодо викладацьких кадрів і студентства, зокрема першістю в доступі до вищої освіти представників одразу обох статей, фактичній нівеляції станових та етно-конфесійних обмежень для абітурієнтів тощо. Як результат — його студентство являло концентрований зріз цілого суспільства українських земель, що перебували в складі Російської імперії. У цій розвідці досліджуються документи з архіву Київського комерційного інституту, що пов'язані з навчанням у ньому греків та справою заснування ними Еллінського (грецького) земляцтва. Ключові слова: історія України початку XX ст., грецька діаспора, національні меншини, персоналістика, студентські організації.