Consular Correspondence of the Kingdom of Belgium as a Source for the History of the Katerynoslav Tramway (1904–1908)

The aim of this article is to publish the correspondence between the heads of the Consulate of the Kingdom of Belgium in the city of Katerynoslav – Hector O. Hennen and Charles de Waepenert – and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Belgium concerning the operation of the electric tramway and the interaction between Belgian entrepreneurs and local authorities. The documents were discovered in the politico-economic archive of the Federal Public Service (FPS) of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Belgium (Archives politico-économiques, Service Public Fédéral (SPF) Affaires étrangères, Royaume de Belgique) (section: «Diplomatic Archive»). The documents reflect the conditions of operation of the Belgian concession in the context of public conflict with the residents of Katerynoslav (as reflected in the local press) amid the social, economic, and political challenges of the early 20th century. The methodological basis includes the principles of historicism and objectivity, as well as methods of systematization, scholarly identification, and comparative analysis of archival and literary sources. Scientific novelty. The documents from the politico-economic archive of the FPS Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Belgium – specifically, letters from the heads of the Belgian consulate in Katerynoslav to the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs and their translation from French into Ukrainian – are published here for the first time. Conclusions. The discovered documents testify to the high level of involvement of Belgian consulates in Katerynoslav and Kharkiv in the internal affairs of the region. In particular, it was through the intervention of Charles de Waepenert, the Belgian consul in Kharkiv, that the governor of the Katerynoslav province was persuaded not to revoke the Belgian concession for tramway operations, despite the tragic incidents of summer 1904 that led to injuries among passengers and the death of a child. The role of the local press, particularly the newspaper «Pridneprovsky Krai», was notable: under the influence of public outrage and, likely, certain interested parties, it called for legal action against the Belgian concessionaires and urged the city to follow the example of Kursk in expelling the foreign tramway operator.