OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Astrid Thors addressed the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Autumn Meeting in Geneva on 3 October 2014, and participated in the debate on Ukraine. Thors said the crisis in Ukraine was complex and had several causes, some of which are not issues that typically fall under the High Commissioner’s mandate. Among
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Chernivtsi and its inhabitants: who they were and who they should be A century ago, the hero of cartoonist Ben Kaczor, a foreign tourist with Baedekerian guidebook «Czernowitz» in his hands, saw Chernivtsi as a multicultural city, where Ukrainian, Germans, Jews, Poles, Romanians and people of other ethnic origin peacefully coexisted in the space of Читати далі Chernivtsi and its inhabitants: who they were and who they should be We shall start our excursion through Ukrainian Chernivtsi from a wooden Saint Nikolai Orthodox Church (1607) in Sahaydachnyj St #83, which is associated by Ukrainian historical tradition with hetman Bohdan Khmel’nyts’ky’s times. Modern history has put this Church in the centre of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church revival in Bukovyna. Nearby in the suburb Horecha the Читати далі V. Staryk. Ukrainian Chernivtsi The ruins of the Cecina castle is the most ancient historic monument of Chernivtsi, which is connected with Polish king Kazimierz III the Great by the historical tradition. Jan Dlugosz claimed in his «Annals» that this castle was constructed or re-constructed by king Kazimierz in the middle of the 14th century. Austrian power gave permission Читати далі V.Staryk. Polish Chernivtsi The first Jewish settlers resided in Chernivtsi from the middle of the 18th century. The above mentioned first census of town population (1774) registered 92 Jewish families among Chernivtsi inhabitants. Jewish settlers formed the majority of those city inhabitants, who had an exemption from the capitation tax (161 families); in total there lived 388 families Читати далі V.Staryk. Jewish Chernivtsi The first Armenian settlers have resided in Chernivtsi since pre-Austrian times. Even the first census of the town population, held in June 1774 by order of the Russian military governor count Vorontsov, listed 8 Armenian merchants among the total 227 tax-payers in Chernivtsi (Pavlo, Stefan, Grigori, Norciz, Stefan, Toma, Ovanes and Mane). An interesting commentary Читати далі V.Staryk. Armenian Chernivtsi |
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