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| Chernovtsy is a very old and interesting
city. Its population at this time is about 250,000. The city is situated
in the Bukovina region which is currently considered a part of Ukraine,
but located very close to the borders of Romania, Moldavia, Czechoslovakia,
and Hungary.
Before WW-I, the city was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Here is some of the old history. Between the two WWs it was a part of the Romanian Kingdom; and after WW-II, it became a part of Ukraine which was a republic of the USSR. Since the early 90's, it belongs to the independent Ukraine, who's capital is the city of Kiev. More pictures of Kiev, Lvov, and Carpathian Mountains are here. Unlike most cities in Ukraine and Russia, the population of Chernovtsy is diverse and multi-lingual. It consists of Ukrainians, Gutzuls, Moldoavians/Romanians, Jews, Russians, Polish, and others. In the 50's and early 60's, before the city merger with the town of Sadgora, its population was about 150,000 which included about 70,000 Jews. It was typical to hear 6 languages spoken by people that lived in the same building and even within one family. Often two persons could have a full-duplex conversation in two languages, one language per direction. German was the official language in Chernovtsy before WW-I. It was replaced by Romanian in 1918, and then by Ukrainian in 1944. Unofficial, but spoken by many (not only Jews), was Yiddish. Gradually, after WW-II, the dominant spoken language became Russian. Depending on the time period the name of the city was spelled as Czernowitz (German/Austrian), Chernautz (Romanian), Chernovtsy and Chernovitsy (Russian), and Chernivtsy (Ukrainian). Some of the interesting people that have roots in this town (in addition to myself) are Eric Nussbaum (Bell Labs/Bellcore), whose vision gave birth to ATM, and Shlomo Halfin, one of the best Bell Labs/Bellcore mathematicians. Myself and Shlomo Halfin were born in Chernovtsy, while Eric was born in Vienna, but Eric's mother as well as his mother in law were born in Chernovtsy. It is interesting that all of us were born in the same town but in three different countries. Here are some photographs of Chernovtsy. Some more photographs. Some interesting architectural details. Autumn
in Chernovtsy is the most beautiful time of the year. And some scenes
of Bukovina, and more
scenes from
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