The Chernivtsi branch of the UAR is one of the most dynamic in Ukraine among the oblast associations of religious scholars. Particular attention was paid to the formation of the cell itself. It included not only teachers-religious scholars of Chernivtsi universities, but also students of the religious-religious department of the philosophical and theological faculty of the Yu.Fedkovych University. Among the members of the cell are theologians, public servants. We also have 6 candidates of sciences and 6 candidates of (...) theology. (shrink)

In the article "Reformation in Chernivtsi" by G.Mierienkov there are the attempts to rename the October Park to the park of Reformation in Chernivtsi. The author shows the absurd groundlessness of the event.

The article is devoted to the history of UARR, its first steps – from the inception of the idea of creating a professional association of religious researchers to a constitutive conference and its decisions. On the basis of archival documents that we managed to collect, and surveys of participants of those events, the process of emergence and institutionalization of the society of religious scholars of Ukraine was restored. It was found that thanks to the enthusiasm of representatives of academic and (...) university science, the solidarity of those who supported the tradition of studying religion, the awareness of the need to develop impartial scientific observation of the religious revival, in order to overcome post-communist stereotypes in relation to religion, in 1993 an association of researchers of religion appeared in Ukraine. The author dwells on the organizational aspects of the creation of UARR, highlights the role of certain scientific, educational, religious and cultural institutions which were the initiators of this process. UARR wouldn’t have appeared so quickly and efficiently without the broad support from interested people and organizations as well as friendly relations and assistance. The organizational basis of UARR comprised the principles of democracy in management, wide representation, creativity, personal and institutional interest both in the results and in the process of research of religiosity and history of religion in Ukraine. Special role in the creation of UARR belongs to the team of the Religious Studies Department of the Philosophy Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine headed by Professor A. Kolodnyi who was supported by his colleagues P. Yarotskyi, B. Lobovyk, P. Kosukha and M. Babiy. M.Babiy prepared a draft Charter and all the constitutive documents for the state registration of the UARR as a public organization. Without the participation of the Department of Religious Studies of Taras Shevchenko National University, Department of Cultural Studies of Kyiv Pedagogical Institute and its head M. Zakovich, it is difficult to imagine that the initiative to unite scholars on religion would have so successfully spread throughout Ukraine. At the time of registration of UARR at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, regional divisions were created in 13 cities. The idea of creating an association was ardently supported in Lviv, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Odessa, Sumy, Uzgorod, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Lutsk, which showed the all-Ukrainian character of the new organization. The article presents evidences of scientific, educational, publishing activity of Ukrainian scholars in the early 1990s, when the foundations were laid for subsequent successful years of activity of Ukrainian scientists. The first steps witnessed the scale and ambitiousness of plans for the development of religious studies in Ukraine. Its conductors took the matter seriously, systematically and scientifically and defined the main directions of UARR: organizational, scientific publications and educational activities. UARR still moves in these directions annually attracting new members to religious research and dissemination of scientific knowledge about religion and religious organizations. The purpose of the article is to familiarize the wider community of study of religion with the first years of the emergence and institutionalization of religious studies in independent Ukraine. Scientific novelty is that for the first time archival documents on the beginnings of creation and development of activities of UARR are introduced which are supported by testimonies of those people who participated in those events. (shrink)

I Das Grenzland Im Jahre 1772 annektierte das Habsburgerreich im Süden Polens gelegene Gebiete und gliederte sie als „Königreich Galizien und Lodomerien“ in seinen Herrschaftsbereich ein. Nach dem Zusammenbruch der Habsburger Monarchie im I. Weltkrieg wurde Galizien 1918 Teil des erneut unabhängigen Polen. In Ostgalizien gründeten ukrainische Nationalisten eine kurzlebige „West-Ukrainische Republik“. Im Anschluss weiterer Kampfhandlungen zwischen Polen, Ukrainern und Sowjets annektierte Polen dann ganz Ostgalizien, das von den Polen „Kleines Ostpolen“ genannt wurde, einschließlich der nördlichen Gebiete Wolhyniens und Polesiens. (...) Die im Gefolge des Kriegsendes neu entstandenen Grenzen wurden 1923 international anerkannt. Ostgalizien und Wolhynien wurden 1939 von der UdSSR annektiert und der ukrainischen Sowjetrepublik angegliedert. Während der deutschen Besatzung zwischen 1941–1944 war Ostgalizien Teil des von den Deutschen kontrollierten Generalgouvernements Polen. Im Anschluss an die Befreiung dieser Gebiete durch die Rote Armee kam Ostgalizien wiederum an die ukrainische Sowjetrepublik. Seit der ukrainischen Unabhängigkeit 1991 ist es Teil der West-Ukraine. Das ehemalige ostgalizische Grenzlandgebiet erstreckt sich von der im Norden gelegenen Kreishauptstadt L'viv bis zu der im Süden gelegenen, der ehemaligen österreichischen Provinz Bukowina zugehörigen Stadt Chernivtsi, von der Bergkette der Karpaten im Westen bis zum Fluss Sbrutsch und zu den Ebenen von Podolien im Osten. Es handelt sich um ein Gebiet, das berühmt, aber durchaus auch berüchtigt ist. (shrink)

On November 28-29, 1997, a conference meeting of UAR was held in Kyiv, in which representatives of 13 regional and 2 city centers took part. A report by the President of the Association was discussed and approved by the prof. A. Kolodny There was a fruitful professional work of Ternopil, Poltava, Sevastopol, Lviv, Sumy, Volyn and Odessa centers. At the same time, it is indicated on passivity in the organization of religious studies of Zhytomyr, Chernigov, Chernivtsi, Mykolayiv, and Kharkiv (...) branches and the loss of ties with the Board of the UAR of Transcarpathian, Donetsk and Vinnytsia cells. (shrink)

The German-Jewish writer and poetess, Rose Ausländer, who came from Chernivtsi, capital of Bukovina, one of the former provinces of the Hapsburg Empire, is one of the most highly acclaimed lyric poets to have written in German in the 20th century. Throughout her whole life she was an adherent of the philosophy of Spinoza, first becoming acquainted with it in the so-called “ethics seminar” of the secondary-school teacher Friedrich Kettner. In the wake of the First World War the youth (...) of Chernivtsi were in need of new sources of intellectual stimulation, so he set out to introduce them to the philosophy of Spinoza, as well as to that of Constantin Brunner, a contemporary German philosopher influenced by him. Rose Ausländer remained a follower of Spinoza right up to the end of her life. This is confirmed by her two very different poems of the same name, “Spinoza”—the first composed before 1939, the second in 1979—as well as by her many explorations of topics drawn from his ethics, ranging from her very first printed poem, “Amor Dei,” up to her lyrics written in old age, in the 1970s and 1980s. In this short paper I will attempt to chart the course of, and analyze, her interest in Spinoza's philosophical system and life. (shrink)

After the arrival of Soviet troops on the territory of Ukraine, the Orthodox Church undergoes qualitative and quantitative changes here. She was "returned" by the clergy and the faithful of the newly-reunified Church, joined by the parishes of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the territories of Izmail, Odesa, Chernivtsi and other regions. A complicated process of liquidation in Ukraine of the structures of the UAOC revived during the war and "reunion" with the Orthodox Greek-Catholicism began. All these measures do (...) not always have a clear explanation. In addition to imperial ambitions and attempts to avoid competition by eliminating the competitors themselves, the Orthodox Church often did not have the choice of performing a social order of power structures. (shrink)

When historians, archivists, and museologists turn to Eastern European photos from family albums or collections—for example, photos from the decades preceding the Holocaust and the early years of the Second World War—they seek visual evidence or illustrations of the past. But photographs may refuse to fit expected narratives and interpretations, revealing both more and less than we expect. Focusing on photos of Jews taken on the main avenues of Cerna˘u?i, Romania, before the Second World War and during the city’s occupation (...) by Fascist Romanians and their Nazi-German allies, this essay shows how a close reading of these vernacular images, both for what they show and what they are unable to show, can challenge the “before, during, and after” timeline that, in Holocaust historiography, we have come to accept as a given. (shrink)