Ethnic division of the Chernivtsi Oblast according to the 2001 census results. Areas inhabited by Ukrainians, Romanians, Moldovans, Russians, and other ethnicities are depicted in yellow, blue, green, red, and white respectively. Circle sizes represent total population size in each area. Some consider Romanians and Moldovans to form a single ethnic group.
The Romanian population of Chernivtsi Oblast was persecuted by Soviet authorities on ethnic grounds, especially in the years following the annexation until 1956; because of this, Russification laws were imposed on Romanian population. In neighboring Bessarabia the same persecution did not have a predominantly ethnic orientation, being based mostly on social, educational, and political grounds.
In 2015, several news websites published a report claiming that the Romanians of Northern Bukovina had formed a "Assembly of the Romanians of Bukovina" and demanded the territorial autonomy of the region from Ukraine. However, they were claimed to be fake and a product of pro-Russian anti-Ukrainian websites.[1][2]
Current situation
National Romanian Palace in Chernivtsi (2013)
Since the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the official statements referring to this issue from the representatives of the Romanian community in Chernivtsi Oblast and from the Romanian government, have stated that there is no intent to revise the present internationally recognized border. However, the Romanian community has constantly addressed the following seven demands to the Ukrainian government:[3]
to be officially recognized with the status of "native population" (as in Article 11 of the Constitution of Ukraine).
to be officially recognized as a "population that was subject to deportations on ethnic grounds", as the Crimean Tatars, Germans, Armenians, Poles, and Jews are recognized, and to have official condemnation of the consequences of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, such as the massive deportations of civilian populations, the massacres at Lunka and Fântâna-Albă, the alleged annihilation of entire villages of Frunză and Albovăţ
to return to Romanian language the historic toponyms and geographic names, as allowed by the decision of the Congress of Deputies (Parliament) of the USSR on the 24 December 1989, believed to be still legally binding. [citation needed]
to return from what was confiscated during the Soviet occupation, the property and the real estate of Romanian cultural organizations.
Geographic distribution
Ethnic map
The bulk or 88% of ethnic Romanian population is concentrated in four of the eleven districts (raions) of the Chernivtsi Oblast situated closer to the border with Romania and Moldova. In the Hertsa Raion (Romanian: Herța), Romanians comprised about 95% of population. In Hlyboka Raion (Romanian: Adâncata), Romanians sum up to 45%. Storozhynets Raion (Romanian: Storojineț) had a compact Romanian community in the south, especially around the village of Crasna. Romanians comprise 37% of that district's total population. After the 2020 administrative reform, these areas were merged into Chernivtsi Raion, where Romanians do not make a majority.
There are also other villages with a Romanian majority and important historical heritage, such as for example Boian (ancestral estate of Ion Neculce) and Cernăuca (home of the Hurmuzachi brothers). Other than the 4 raions have smaller Romanian populations, usually never exceeding several hundred people.[4][5]
Demographic evolution
Changes in the population and the ethnic composition of Chernivtsi Oblast, 1930–2001[6]
Note: The data in this table is based on the official census data in Romania (1930), the Soviet Union (1959-1989), and Ukraine (2002), and reflect the composition of the population according to the present boundaries, including were administrative divisions before 1940 were different. In such cases, the figures in the table were obtained by adding them settlement by settlement according to today's configuration of the region.[6] While in the 1930 census no one was officially registered as Moldovan, The 1959, 1989 and 2001 censuses did allow separate registration of the Moldovans.
↑ (in Romanian) Gabriel Gherasim, Românii din Ucraina (1)Archived 2008-03-22 at the Wayback Machine ("Romanians in Ukraine (1)") Noi, NU!, August 2005. (Page 4.) Accessed online October 31, 2006.
1 2 (in Romanian) Gabriel Gherasim, Românii din Ucraina (2) ("Romanians in Ukraine (2)"), Noi, NU!, August 7, 2005. (Page 2.) Accessed online October 31, 2006.
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