Earlier this year, I posted about an article about how the town of Novhorodske in eastern Ukraine was trying to restore its name back to its original name: New York, the name of the settlement given to it when German Mennonites purchased the land and formed the Ignatyevo Colony in 1892.
The votes were in favor of the change, and on 1 July 2021, the name was officially changed from the 1950s Soviet-era Novhorodske to Niu-York. A few days ago, the change started showing up on maps, Google Maps and OpenStreetMaps being the first. It hasn't cascaded through all the online maps and names databases yet, but in time it will.
Today, as a keeper of then and now, I updated the Germans from Russia Settlement Location maps to reflect the change and restored the record of a little bit of German history in town far away.
Below are several articles and YouTube videos about the New York, its history, and current challenges.
Learn More:
- Chapple, Amos. 2021. “Start Spreading The News: The Ukrainian Town Set To Be Renamed ‘New York.’” News. RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. February 6, 2021. https://www.rferl.org/a/town-in-east-ukraine-set-to-reclaim-historic-new-york-name/31087971.html.
- DW News. 2021. New York, Ukraine: A Village on the Donbass Front | Focus on Europa. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al9uJJpGljs&ab_channel=DWNews.
- Frishberg, Hannah. 2021. “War-Torn Ukrainian Town Considering Changing Name to New York.” New York Post (blog). March 18, 2021. https://nypost.com/2021/03/18/war-torn-ukrainian-town-considering-changing-name-to-new-york/.
- Gobert, Sébastien, and Niels Ackermann. 2021. “The Other New York: The Small Ukrainian Town Fighting to Recover Its Historic Name.” The Calvert Journal. March 24, 2021. https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/12645/new-york-ukraine-small-town-fighting-recover-historic-name.
- Karazy, Sergiy, and Margaryta Chornokondratenko. 2021. “New York on Ukraine’s Frontline: Parliament Backs Town’s Name Change.” News. Reuters. July 2, 2021. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/new-york-ukraines-frontline-parliament-backs-towns-name-change-2021-07-02/.
- “New York: So Good They Named It Three Times.” 2021. The Brussels Times. July 4, 2021. https://www.brusselstimes.com/news/world-all-news/176200/new-york-so-good-they-named-it-three-times/.
- “Niu-York.” 2021. In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Niu-York&oldid=1031644840.
- Бухтіяров, Іван. 2021. “Наш Милий Нью-Йорк. Як Селище На Донеччині Бʼється За Увагу Та Інвестиції | Громадське Телебачення.” (“Our Dear New York. How a Village in Donetsk Fights for Attention and Investment | Public television.”) February 13, 2021. https://hromadske.ua/posts/nash-milij-nyu-jork-yak-selishe-na-donechchini-byetsya-za-uvagu-ta-investiciyi. [Website is in Ukrainian. Use a browser with translation capabilities.]
- “«Залишився Останній Крок». Комітет Ради Підтримав Перейменування Одного з Селищ На Донбасі у Нью-Йорк.” (“‘The Last Step Remains.’ The Committee of the Council supported the renaming of one of the settlements in Donbass to New York.”) 2021. February 3, 2021. https://nv.ua/ukr/ukraine/events/nyu-york-na-donbasi-profilniy-komitet-radi-virishiv-pereymenuvati-selishche-novini-ukrajini-50139518.html. [Website is in Ukrainian. Use a browser with translation capabilities.]
- Український Нью-Йорк. Як Живе Колишнє Німецьке Селище Поруч з Війною. n.d. Video. Accessed July 6, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcLtpue52f0&t=14s&ab_channel=hromadske. [Video is in Ukrainian.]
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