A Frenchman with a Ukrainian soul

Michel Tereshchenko is the first of the descendants of a glorious Ukrainian Cossack dynasty of magnates, politicians, and philanthropists who fled to France after the October Bolshevik coup to visit Zhytomyr oblast in independent Ukraine. His first name is the French equivalent of Mykhailo, the name of his grandfather, who went down in Ukrainian history as finance and foreign minister with the governments that ruled Russia in 1917 after the fall of the monarchy and until the Bolsheviks’ rise to power. Historians acknowledge that Mykhailo supported the Central Rada’s proposals during the Ukrainian government’s negotiations with Russia.

Michel Tereshchenko was recently welcomed in the Chudniv area, first in the village of Turchynivka, where a beautiful two-story mansion began to be built in 1889 by his relative Fedir Tereshchenko, the brother of Mykola Tereshchenko, who was Michel’s great-great-grandfather. Completed in 1900 by Fedir’s daughter Natalia Uvarova, the building is still standing. Then there was a sugar refinery built by Fedir in the township of Velyki Korovyntsi. At one time it was the region’s main sugar supplier. Today the business is bankrupt.

The mansion, some of whose features are reminiscent of the Ukrainian Baroque style, used to be the Uvarovs’ spring and summer retreat. The environs are stunningly beautiful, with trees planted in Natalia’s time. There was also a pond fitted with oak boards covering the bottom and the banks. On the rear wall of the mansion is a clay image that locals have long considered the Tereshchenko family coat of arms. But Michel took one look at it and said that his family’s coat of arms has two lions, whereas this image has a Y- shaped monogram. Most likely it symbolizes the Uvarov family [Y is the Cyrillic equivalent of the English letter U — Trans.].

The local residents recount a story that some believe to be a legend. According to this story, Natalia escaped the Chekists, who burst into the mansion, only because she came out to meet them dressed in peasant clothing and was not identified. Michel (called Michel Petrovych by some of the locals) was very moved by this story and confessed that he knew nothing about this story from his family history. A number of his remarks indicated that he has been making an in-depth study of his family. Strange as it may seem, the mansion survived the ravages of time mostly because it housed various Soviet educational establishments. Today it is Vocational Training School No. 30, training tractor and truck drivers, mechanics, and other specialists.

When I visited the Korovyntsi Sugar Refinery, it was only natural to discuss the possibility of reviving this business. On a visit to the regional history museum in Velyki Korovyntsi, its director Mykola Vakulenchyk said that in addition to the sugar refinery Michel’s ancestors built two schools, a hospital, church, railroad station (a track was laid to the refinery), other production facilities, and public buildings. Yurii Pavlenko, the head of the Zhytomyr Regional State Administration, spoke about the need for investments to develop the production facility and the region as a whole.

Governor Pavlenko invited Tereshchenko to visit Zhytomyr oblast after he was located by Vakulenchyk, the tireless student of regional history. Michel has been living and working in Ukraine for the past four years, developing agricultural and other businesses in Hlukhiv raion, Kyiv oblast. Hlukhiv, once the Cossack capital of Ukraine, is where Michel’s great-great-grandfather Mykola and his brothers and sisters are buried. Michel says he considers himself a Frenchman with a Ukrainian soul and that he went to Ukraine in response to the call of his ancestors.

Nostalgic feelings aside, I asked him whether he sees any prospects for his involvement in the modernization and stabilization of the Korovyntsi Sugar Refinery. He replied that the situation has to be thoroughly examined. There are between 115 and 119 sugar refineries in Ukraine, many of which were built by his great-grandfather and grandfather, whereas there are only five in France.

The possibility of grouping them and organizing work within a new structure must be studied and their operations must be made profitable, no matter what. Launching the output of bioethanol as a gasoline substitute, mainly produced through the sugar fermentation process (an idea expressed by his father when he visited Ukraine in 1994) is a very promising trend, but it is up against the government’s alcohol production monopoly. Reforms are thus needed.

Michel Tereshchenko is thinking like a real businessman, something the regional authorities and the management of the Korovyntsi Sugar Refinery should bear in mind. They seem to regard him as their only hope for survival. Michel said that his visit to Zhytomyr oblast is not the last one. If the oblast gets some concrete business plans, investments may start flooding into the area.