The famous general of the Paris Commune, an active participant in the Polish liberation movement, Jaroslaw Dombrowski was born, as you know, in Zhytomyr. We, Zhytomyr residents, are especially pleased that the author of the book "Yaroslav Dombrovsky" published in 1969 by the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house, V. Dyakov, was able to vividly show what Zhytomyr looked like 135 years ago, when Ya. Dombrovsky was born there. There are also statistics on the population, economy, educational institutions, and a general description of the city, its surroundings, and the picturesque banks of the Tetereva and Kamenka Rivers. The book is read with great interest, attracting with its documentary authenticity. In a brief introduction, the author emphasizes that there is not a single imaginary situation in the book, not a single fictional detail. Perhaps there was no need for speculation, because Y. Dombrovsky's life was full of romance and legendary heroism.

After reading this interesting book, I decided to remind historians through your magazine that the Zhytomyr Regional State Archive contains an authentic metric book from the fund of the Lutsk-Zhytomyr Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Consistory, which has an official record in Polish about the birth of Ya. Dombrowski on November 1 (old style), 1836 in Zhytomyr. And in the case of the noble origin of the Dombrovsky family, there is the same official document in Russian - " An extract from the metrical cross of the Zhytomyr parish of the book stored in the archive of the Lutsk-Zhytomyr Roman Catholic ecclesiastical consistory." There you can read the following: "In the year of the Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, the month of December on the third day in the Zhytomyr Roman Catholic Cathedral, together with the parish church, Priest Roman Yakubovsky, vicar of the same church, christened the child from the very water with the name of Wilhelm-Yaroslav, titular adviser to Viktor and Sophia, nee Falkken, Dombrovsky, legal spouses of a son, the same year, November of the first day in the city of Zhytomyr born". The metrical statement is affixed with three signatures and the seal of Consistory 1 .

In the same file, there is also a metrical statement about the birth of Yaroslav's brother Theophilus Adam, later also a Parisian communard, on February 13, 1842 in Zhytomyr. Other documents in this case also deserve attention. In addition to the voluminous correspondence about the approval of descendants of the Dombrovsky family in the nobility, including Yaroslav and Teofil, it contains a formal list of Yaroslav's father, titular adviser Viktor Dombrovsky.

In 1961, at a gala evening in the Zhytomyr City Theater on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the birth of the glorious son of the Polish people, these documents were exhibited at a special exhibition and attracted the attention of the general public. At the same time, one of the streets of Zhytomyr (Sennaya) was renamed Dombrovskogo Street. In the regional museum of local lore there is a corner where materials about this wonderful person are presented.

On March 17 of this year, in connection with the 100th anniversary of the Paris Commune, a monument to Y. Dombrovsky was unveiled in Zhytomyr.

E. Z. Shekhtman

1 Zhytomyr Regional State Archive, f. 146, op. 1, 2172, l. 85. From the editorial office: This document was published in 1956: see L. A. Kovalenko. To biographer Yaroslav Dombrovsky. "Iсторичнi зв'язки слов'яньских народiв". КiIв. 1956, стр. 282 - 283.

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