Novoselytsia

Novoselytsia is a town in Bukovyna, the district center of the Novoselytsia district of the Chernivtsi region. The earliest written mention of Novoselytsia dates back to 1456. As of 1886, the owner's town, the center of the Novoselytsia parish, had a population of 1007 people, 145 households, an Orthodox church, a synagogue, 2 houses of worship, a school, an infirmary, a post office, a candle factory, a soap factory, 3 tanneries, a brewery, 50 shops, a border, 4 inns, 4 wine cellars, and markets. According to the data of 1859, the owner's town of Khotyn district of Bessarabia province had a population of 2081 people (1056 men and 1025 women), 299 households, 2 Orthodox churches, 3 Jewish prayer houses, customs, a post office, a forest pier, and Sunday markets. In 1956, an archaeological expedition led by Oleksa Terenozhkin excavated an Eneolithic settlement near the village of Novoselytsia.

Novoselytsia and its origins

On the wide flat terrace of the left bank of the fast-flowing Prut River, where the small Rokytnyanka River flows into it, the town of Novoselytsia, the district center of the Chernivtsi region, is located. It has picturesque forest-steppe nature with a mild climate and is home to kind and hardworking people. It is located 30 kilometers east of the regional center. Novoselytsia is crossed by the highway from Chernivtsi, which branches in the town to Chisinau-Odesa and to Khotyn-Khmelnytskyi-Vinnytsia-Kyiv, and the Chernivtsi-Chisinau-Odesa railway line, which branches to Kyiv from the station Oknytsia.

According to research, human settlement of the area between the Prut and Dniester rivers, where Novoselytsia is located, dates back to ancient times. Stone tools of ancient man (scrapers, axes, hammers, choppers, cutters) dating back to the Stone Age have been found in many places in the area. Settlements of Trypillian (IV-III millennia BC), Komarivska (XV-XIV centuries BC), Cherniakhivska (III-IV centuries AD) and other cultures, as well as cultures of the early (V-first half of the XIV century) and late (second half of the XIV-XVIII centuries) Middle Ages were discovered here.

The first known people to inhabit the lands between the Danube and the Dniester were the Goths (of Trakish origin). In the first century AD, the Dacians, who came from the Rhodope Mountains, appeared next to them. During the period of great travels of various nomadic peoples, the territory of the region was crossed by Goths, Huns, Hepids, Avars, Ugrians, Pechenegs, and Scythians. Later, in the fourth century, a group of Slavic tribes, the Ants, formed a state union over a large area, which later formed a number of tribal associations. The territory of the middle and lower interfluve of the Dniester and Prut rivers in the eighth and first half of the ninth century was occupied by the Slavic tribes of the Tivertsi.

For more than 200 years (855-1100), the territory of the region was part of the early feudal state of Kyivan Rus, and from the twelfth century it was part of the Principality of Galicia and Galicia-Volyn (from 1199). The Mongol invasion led to the decline of the Russian principalities. The lands of the weakened Galicia-Volhynia principality were seized by Hungary. Wallachian feudal lords were appointed as governors of our region.

In 1359, the Wallachian feudal lords, taking advantage of the population's dissatisfaction with the existing power of the Hungarian king, rebelled. Hungary was forced to recognize the existence of the Wallachian Moldavian principality, which included the territory of the region. It was during this period that the Wallachians, the ancestors of Moldovans and Romanians, migrated to Bukovyna. A number of settlements were founded, the first mentions of which, including Novoselytsia, date back to the XV century. This indicates that this or that settlement was founded much earlier.

For the first time Novoselytsia was mentioned in documentary sources in 1456 under the name "Shyshkivtsi, where Yurii's court was, on the Prut". Later, in the documents of 1617, the village is mentioned as "Shyshkeuts near the Prut, now called Novoselytsia". The name Novoselytsia indicates, in particular, that it was not just a name change, but the emergence of a new settlement near the deserted Shyshkivtsi.

The first small settlement appeared here near the Prut River, on its floodplain terrace. A small wooden church stood on the northern outskirts of the settlement. Over time, it collapsed, and a chapel was built in its place. Some items from the old church with inscriptions in Old Slavonic were moved to it. Judging by these items, we can conclude that the old church was built around the end of the 16th century. After the new church was built in 1858, the chapel was dismantled. Now the site of the old church is located at the very bank of the Prut river, close to the southern outskirts of Novoselytsia, where the remains of the church cemetery were preserved until recently.

With the destruction of the left bank of the terrace on which the village was located, the population retreated from the river to the north, closer to the road, a land trade route that in the XII-XIV centuries ran along the Prut River valley from Halych, the capital of the Halych and later the Halych-Volyn principality, to Byrlad. Thus, the city owes its birth and development to this Byrlad road. The houses here were log or clay-built, with thatched or reed roofs.

In the XVII century, the western part of Novoselytsia was settled. A settlement called Dolyshni Stroyintsi emerged across the Rokytnyanka River, and even further west - Horyshni Stroyintsi (later Hohulyany). Dolyshni Stroyintsi gradually merged with Novoselytsia and became known as Selyshche.

The small settlement, which arose at the junction of territories inhabited by different peoples, was gradually settled by representatives of various ethnic groups, including Ukrainians

groups, including Ukrainians, Moldovans, and Jews. This, of course, affected the national composition of the city's current population, where representatives of different nationalities live together as a friendly family. The inhabitants were mainly engaged in farming and cattle breeding, and were involved in trade and crafts.

In 1514, the lands of the Moldavian principality were conquered by Sultanist Turkey. For more than two and a half centuries, it was under Turkish oppression. It was a rather difficult period in the life of the working people. The peasants performed feudal duties, paid heavy taxes and tribute to the Turks. Turkish and Tatar detachments roamed our land, took away all of the people's belongings, burned their homes, and took men and women prisoners. Only as a result of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774 was the territory of the region liberated from the Turks. After the conclusion of the Kuchuk-Kainarjia Peace Treaty between Russia and Turkey in 1774, Novoselytsia became a border post and was divided into two parts: the western part was occupied by Austria, and the eastern part remained under the Turks. The border in the town between the two states ran along the Rokytnianka River.

The lands of the western part of Novoselytsia were seized by the Austrian baron Zota. The peasants were forced to work in the baron's fields from dawn to dusk, to look after his cattle, and to build the estate and outbuildings. Some of the peasants who remained free became serfs of the Radivtsi bishopric in 1782, and two years later they were transferred to the Horecha monastery. In 1788, the monastery exchanged the Novoselytsia lands for the lands of the Moldovan landowner Cantacuzino. Thus, the Novoselytsia lands and the peasants assigned to them became the property of the latter.

In eastern Turkish Novoselytsia, the lands belonged to Moldovan landowners from the Sturds family. In 1804, for example, boyar Ivan Sturdza owned an estate with 204 peasant yards in Novoselytsia.

As a result of the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812, Russian troops won and liberated the eastern part of Novoselytsia from the Turks. In 1812, according to the Bucharest Peace Treaty, this territory was annexed to Russia and became part of the Khotyn district of the Bessarabian province. The western part of the settlement remained under the rule of the Austrian Empire. Later, there were cases when the border river Rokytnianka changed its course on the lands of the villages adjacent to it, which caused misunderstandings and disputes. This problem was solved by a mixed international commission that was created to restore the state border.

Customs offices were opened in the Russian part of Novoselytsia in 1817 and in the Austrian part in 1847. They controlled the movement of goods and people along the Prut River and the dirt road connecting Northern Bukovyna and Bessarabia. They built solid buildings for the border and customs administration, barracks, and warehouses.

In the early nineteenth century, crafts and trade developed in both parts of Novoselytsia, and industry was born. By 1828, the eastern part of Novoselytsia already had 2 shoemakers, 2 tailors, 3 furriers, 2 wheelwrights, a weaver, and a blacksmith.

The favorable geographical location, the development of crafts and trade led to the opening of a fair in the 40s of the XIX century. It was then that Novoselytsia began to be called a town.

A network of craftsmen grew, bakers, butchers, carpenters, coopers, soap makers, plasterers, tinkers, hatters, barbers, etc. appeared. A number of small shops appeared.

In 1850, the construction of a gravel road from Chernivtsi through Novoselytsia to Lipkany was completed and a ferry crossing the Prut River to Moldova was built. This contributed to the further development of crafts and trade, as well as the settlement and development of the town. From 1849 to 1859, 20 houses, a pier, and several water mills were built here. This was noted in the documents of 1860: "The town of Novoselytsia is of great commercial importance. There is a warehouse of timber that is floated down the Prut. From Novoselytsia, the timber is transported overland to the Dniester, and from there it is floated to all places in Middle and Lower Bessarabia. The main trade route is Novoselytsia, Khotyn, Chisinau... Novoselytsia is the main point through which cattle and leather are sent to Austria."

The Austrian press of the time wrote about the Chernivtsi-Novoselytsia road: "...this is the route that carries all trade and passenger traffic with Russia. Thousands of oxen are driven to Vienna every year, and thousands of wagons of grain, hides, etc. are transported along it. This road serves as a transit road for the southern and northern parts of Russia." As a large settlement, Novoselytsia became the administrative center of the Novoselytsia volost of the Khotyn district in 1861.

At that time, the town was rapidly developing. While in 1862 there were only 300 houses, in 1870 - 342, in 1875 there were already 509 houses, and 3031 residents lived there, including 1549 men and 1482 women.

Most of the land in the new settlement belonged to the rich. Count Sturdza, for example, took over the best lands of Novoselytsia, the villages of Marshyntsi, Tarasivtsi, Koteleve, and others. In addition, he owned several shops, a distillery, 10 water mills, a hotel, and 281 peasant households with 1405 inhabitants in Novoselytsia. The landowner brutally exploited his subordinates. In May-June 1870, the peasants of Novoselytsia and the surrounding villages refused to perform natural duties and did not go to work on the landowner's fields. Because of this, two hundred Cossacks were sent to Novoselytsia and brutally suppressed the uprising. Subsequently, after his death, the boyar's lands were transferred to his relatives named Donych.

In 1870, Novoselytsia had a distillery, a steam mill, two tanneries, and an oil mill. These were small artisanal enterprises where production was done by hand. In 1880, the two tanneries, owned by the townspeople Moishe Eidelman and Anchel Goldenberg, employed only five freelance workers who processed 2,500 skins a year by hand. Sura Shapir's candle and soap factory, with an annual production of 50 poods of soap and 100 poods of candles, employed only two freelance workers. With the development of capitalism, the owners of the town's enterprises partially mechanized production. The merchant Mordko Kleitman, the owner of the oil mill, installed a steam engine, two mechanical presses, and laid a water supply system.

Many prominent writers were associated with Novoselytsia at that time. In particular, the Moldovan writer and folklorist Alexandru Hizdeu (1811-1972) visited the town many times. He visited his brother, Boleslav Hizdeu (1812-1886), the author of many prose works, articles on Moldovan folklore, and a translator who lived in Novoselytsia for some time, working as a translator at the customs office. It was here in 1842 that they co-authored Three Moldovan Legends. Oleksandr's son Bohdan Petricheicu-Hazdeu (1838-1907), a philologist, academician of the Romanian Academy of Sciences, and corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, also visited Novoselytsia. At different times, the city was home to or visited by V. Korolenko and V. Brusov, A. Afanasiev-Chuzhbinsky and Lesya Ukrainka, K. Stomati-Churia and Z. Abore.

The construction of the Chernivtsi-Novoselytsia railroad in 1884 and the Novoselytsia-Oknytsia-Zhmerynka railroad in 1892 was of great importance for the development of the economy. As a result, in November 1893, the Bukovyna railways were connected to the Russian southwestern railways. Novoselytsia became an important transit point. In the middle of 1899, a customs outpost was opened north of the customs office, at the junction of the Russian southwestern railways with the Austrian railways.

The main flow of goods and passengers from Northern Bukovyna to Russia, in particular to Bessarabia, Podillia, Naddniprianshchyna, and Kherson, was carried out through the customs office and customs outpost. From Northern Bukovyna and Galicia, timber and timber products (boards, lathing, rafters, shingles, shingle, tannic bark) were mainly sent, as well as salt, yeast, carpets, cloth, cotton and woolen goods, machinery, tools, and watches. In the opposite direction, livestock (cows, oxen, pigs, sheep, goats), rawhide, wool, live poultry, eggs, feathers, grain (corn, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat), vegetables, and fruits were exported from Bessarabia.

The development of transportation contributed to a rapid increase in the number of freelance workers, particularly in the repair depot and at the lumber yard.

In 1910, the 14th volume of a large collective work under the common title Russia was published in St. Petersburg. Chapter eight of this volume reads: "One mile south of the station, on the very border with Bukovyna and Moldavia, at the confluence of the border river Rokytnyanka into the Prut and on the postal route, is the volost town of Novoselytsia, which has about 5900 inhabitants, mainly Jewish (about 3900) souls, an Orthodox church, a Jewish synagogue, several houses of worship, a school, an infirmary, more than fifty shops, several small factories (tanneries, soap factories, etc.), and more. There is a customs office here, a storage facility for timber that is floated down the Prut." The book notes that Cossacks live here, among those who came here in the sixteenth century with Hetman Ivan Svirhovsky to help Wallachians in the fight against the Turks and stayed here.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, more than 90 percent of the population were illiterate and illiterate. In the Austrian part of Novoselytsia, a four-grade school with German as the language of instruction was opened only in the 1980s. There were no Ukrainian schools here. In the Russian part of the town, there was a parochial school with 12 children and a zemstvo school with 65 students. There was only one private library in the entire town, and the owner charged money for its use.

Years of hardship, struggle, and hope

When the First World War broke out, Novoselytsia found itself in the center of hostilities between Russian and Austro-Hungarian troops. Russian troops advanced and retreated, so the town changed hands.

The hostilities caused great devastation to the town: many houses were burned or destroyed, gardens were cut down, fields were trenched, and a large part of the population was evacuated.

In May 1915, the famous American journalist John Reed visited Novoselytsia. He described his impressions of the town in his book The War in Eastern Europe, published in 1919 in New York. Arriving here at night, the journalist saw a wide clearing on the outskirts of the town, illuminated by lights. There were many horses standing on it, with high saddles lying on the grass.

Around the fires, where copper cauldrons and samovars were smoking, soldiers with cross-eyed, flat faces were sitting or crouching down. These were Turkmens who had been thrown into the bloody maelstrom of war by the tsarist authorities. Somewhere I heard the sound of an accordion, the melody of a slow song. The next day, in Novoselytsia, Russia, John Reed noticed with his keen eye the burned customs warehouses, houses without roofs, with broken windows. Instead of a paved road, there were rows of large puddles of dirty water, and deep ditches along the road to drain the water. There were also small wooden bridges for pedestrians. John Reed saw blocks of small shops with noisy Jews with shaggy beards and long caftans standing outside. Moldovan peasants, barefoot or shod in stilts, speaking a soft language with an Italian accent, women playing with their babies, and dirty children caught his attention. And everywhere there were Russian soldiers, wearing work leggings and high boots, as well as horsemen with Cossack sabers. The journalist talked to officers and soldiers. He was surprised to hear frank conversations about the military myopia and ineptitude of senior commanders, lack of weapons, and disorganization. Soldiers spoke out against the war. He described the Russians he saw with sympathy-"perhaps the most interesting of all human beings."

In the spring of 1916, after another unsuccessful offensive, Russian troops barely got behind the defense line in the Khotyn-Novoselytsia area. Having stopped, the Russian army began to build field fortifications. their construction was led by a talented military engineer D.M. Karbyshev. Later he settled for a while in Novoselytsia. From here, he traveled to his positions in Boyany, Sloboda, Rokytne, Rukshyn, and Khotyn.

In the summer of 1916, Russian troops under the command of General A.A. Brusilov began to break through the Austro-Hungarian front. It was from the area of Novoselytsia that the military units of the 8th Army began their offensive against Chernivtsi. Bukovyna was occupied by Russian troops.

War-weary soldiers greeted the news of the February Revolution with enthusiasm. They began to create their own democratic bodies, the Councils of Soldiers' Deputies. In March 1917, such a body was established in Novoselytsia.

After the October Revolution of 1917, in January 1918, the IV Peasant Congress of the District Soviets was held in Khotyn, which was attended by representatives of Novoselytsia. The congress proclaimed the establishment of Soviet rule in the Khotyn region. The peasants were given the land confiscated from the landlords. However, on February 28, 1918, Austro-German troops captured the Khotyn district, including Novoselytsia. The peasants were ordered to return the landowners' land, livestock, and equipment. In early November 1918, the Austro-German troops retreated under the blows of revolutionary forces. But soon that month, Romanian troops invaded Bessarabia and Bukovyna. In January 1919, the famous Khotyn uprising broke out, in which residents of Novoselytsia took an active part. The rebels fought bravely for twenty days. A group of Romanian troops, fleeing from them through the territory of the Novoselytsia district and the city, robbed the population and shot civilians. On the outskirts of Novoselytsia, the rebels defeated the border guard unit, surrounded two Romanian regiments, and took away the loot from the fleeing. But the forces were unequal, and the rebels were forced to retreat.

In the occupied territory of the region, the boyar-Romanian invaders established an occupation regime. From the first days, they launched a fierce campaign against the Ukrainian language and culture. It was forbidden to speak Ukrainian in government offices, courts, schools, and even churches. They began Romanizing the population, renaming settlements and streets. Before the Romanians arrived, Novoselytsia had streets named Tsentralna, Khotynska, Sadhirska, Lypkanska, Generalska, Adjutantska, Poshtova, Tsyhanska, Banna, and others. The streets were now named Stefan cel Mare, King Ferdinand, Prince, Dragos Vode, Alexander Kuza, and others. Novoselytsia itself became known as "Knowa Sulica" (New Sulica).

The peasantry was ruthlessly robbed, and heavy taxes fell on their shoulders. The best lands in Novoselytsia became the property of large landowners. The wealthy Tsybulskyi owned 300 hectares of land, and the landowner Romashkan owned 200 hectares of arable land and 200 hectares of meadows and vines. At the same time, all peasant households in the settlement had only 300 hectares of land.

By the early 20s, the town's population had grown to 10,000 residents, mostly of Jewish nationality. In those years, mass emigration of Jews to Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, and Chile began. Engaged in business, they quickly accumulated capital, staying there or returning. In 1920, a distillery was built in the western part of the city on the estate of the landowner Kraus, which employed about 50 workers. A Jewish entrepreneur Abram Stein built a sawmill on the banks of the Prut River, the so-called trachka, which burned to the ground in 1924. A starch factory was built near Rokytnianka. In 1922, there were 27 taverns, an Orthodox church, and 10 synagogues in Novoselytsia. In 1925, German entrepreneur Ludwig built a steam mill and a small power plant with a capacity of 45 kilowatts.

In his book Memories of Bessarabia, published in 1993 in Jerusalem, a native of Novoselytsia, Max Roitman describes Novoselytsia in the 1920s in detail. He writes that the town was planned in the form of a rough grid: three streets long and six across. It stretches from the Prut River to the railroad. Most of the houses here were made of clay, covered with straw or shingles. Only the rich lived in the central part of the town in brick houses with luxurious furnishings, carpets, sofas, and pianos. There was no electricity or sewage in the town. Only the central road was covered with gravel, and the sidewalks were covered with boards. There were ditches along the road for water drainage.

The town's residents were engaged in crafts, trade, and entrepreneurship. One entrepreneur set up a salt factory, grinding salt with the help of a horse, another produced sugar from sugar beets, and a third made wheel rims. There was also an oil mill, a soap factory, and a sawmill. Thus, Novoselytsia was an ordinary provincial town. And yet, thanks to its location, it had something peculiar that helped the residents overcome boredom: the Prut River, a source of pleasure and a place to spend their free time, railway stations in the Russian and Austrian parts of the town, from where trains ran to nearby Chernivtsi, where they could establish business contacts, consult a doctor, and wander around the shops and cultural institutions.

In 1931, a poultry slaughterhouse, now a poultry processing plant, was built in the western part of Novoselytsia and belonged to the Paserya joint-stock company. Buyers brought poultry here from different parts of Bessarabia and Bukovyna. The processed products were sent mainly abroad - to Austria, Germany, Italy, England, and Palestine.

In the 20s and 30s, there were commercial and craft schools with Romanian as the language of instruction in Novoselytsia. Jewish children studied in a heder, a tarbut school, and a tarbut gymnasium, which functioned until 1940. The convenience of its geographical location, the development of industry and trade, and the growing number of residents turned the town into an important commercial and industrial center. Thus, in 1936 it was classified as a city. The newspaper "Soviet Bukovyna" of October 10, 1940, in its article "How Novoselytsia Became a City" reports that "Romanian law prohibited tavernkeepers in towns from selling wine, and it was the state's monopoly to run a tavern. But in the city it was allowed. It took a lot of bribes to make Novoselytsia a city."

On June 26, 1940, the USSR government sent a note to the Romanian government about the return of Bessarabia and the transfer of the northern part of Bukovyna to the Soviet Union. On June 28 of the same year, the Red Army entered the city. Soviet rule was established here. Given that there were no experienced personnel in the occupied territory, the Ukrainian government sent a large group of workers from the eastern regions of Ukraine. A total of 130 people arrived in Novoselytsia for permanent work. The volost committee of the CP (B) of Ukraine was headed by K.S. Razumovych, the volost executive committee by H.S. Stepchenko, and the city council by I.A. Zybin. In August 1940, the nationalization of industrial enterprises, workshops, banks, railways, communications, trade establishments, etc. began, and land was taken away from landlords. Enterprises that had ceased operations in the last years of Romanian rule, such as a poultry slaughterhouse, a locomotive depot, and a sawmill, resumed their work. An oil mill, a cloth and a tannery were reopened.

Industrial artels of shoemakers, tailors, and hairdressers were organized. The newly created industrial plant united an oil mill, a furrier shop, a liming factory, a soap factory, a candy and halva shop, and a stone shop. Skilled carpenters who had previously worked for entrepreneurs formed the Chervonyi Meblevyk artel. The production facilities of the tannery were expanded, and construction of a brickyard began. A machine and tractor station was launched in Novoselytsia.

In March 1941, 45 poor and middle-class farms in Novoselytsia united into the Chkalov Agricultural Artel. It had 100 hectares of land, 11 horses, 5 heifers, 10 sheep, 350 chickens and 50 ducklings, an apiary of 14 bee colonies, and some agricultural implements. A ten-year school with Ukrainian as the language of instruction, a junior high school, and two elementary schools with 1295 students were opened in the town. In a short period of time, the hospital was expanded to 100 beds, and a district health department, polyclinic, dispensary, children's consultation, and sanitary inspection were opened. A cultural center, a cinema, and a house of pioneers were opened in the district center.

Passportization of the population began. Anyone who received a new Soviet passport was extremely proud of it: from now on, they were an equal citizen of the country. Unfortunately, political repression was not without its share of challenges. In the summer of 1940, a district branch of the NKVD was established, and in the spring of 1941, a non-judicial punitive body, the "opertriika," was created. By their order, in June of the same year, the so-called socially dangerous elements were arrested and sent to labor camps, and their families to special settlements. The socially dangerous elements at that time included former employees of Romanian institutions, members of political parties, business owners, landowners, some traders, etc. Most of them did not bring any harm to the Soviet government.

The fiery years

The Nazi attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, interrupted the peaceful creative work of workers. For ten days, small detachments of border guards held back the enemy's onslaught. But the forces were unequal. On July 5, Romanian troops entered the area. They introduced a bloody regime of terror and robbery. On the same day, mass shootings and looting of Jewish civilians took place throughout the day in Novoselytsia. Romanian soldiers shot everyone indiscriminately: men, women, children, and the elderly. Their only fault was that they were born Jewish. Hundreds of corpses were lying around the houses and in the yards, on the streets and in the squares, and the ground was red with blood. In just one day on that "Black Saturday," 839 people were killed. Fires broke out in the city. The fire destroyed almost half of the houses in Novoselytsia.

The fate of those who survived was difficult. They were later driven on foot to Transnistria, the Romanian-occupied territory between the Dniester and the Southern Bug, to concentration camps, of which there were many. In the concentration camp near the village of Kosharyntsi in the Bershad district of Vinnytsia oblast alone, 420 residents of Novoselytsia died. Only about 600 of the several thousand Jewish residents of Novoselytsia who were forced into concentration camps and ghettos returned alive.

On March 29, 1944, two Soviet tanks from the 64th Separate Guards Tank Brigade, commanded by junior lieutenant V.F. Shkil and lieutenant M.I. Bondarenko, broke into Nazi-occupied Novoselytsia. They broke the crossing of the Prut River, along which the Nazis were retreating, entered the city overrun by enemy troops, and liberated it from the enemy in a few hours. At the same time, a rifle company from the 27th Motorized Rifle Brigade under the command of Captain P.Y. Kostiukov was sent to liberate Novoselytsia.

Fleeing, the enemy left large trophies here. The tankers held the town until the main forces approached. On March 31, the troops of the 74th Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel K.G. Gizatullin, entered the town.

The first to enter Novoselytsia that day was the 360th Rifle Regiment, commanded by Major M.M. Novikov. For heroism and courage displayed during the liberation of Novoselytsia, junior lieutenant V.F. Shkil was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and lieutenant M.I. Bondarenko was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Other crew members received government awards. In the postwar years, the executive committee of the city council awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of Novoselytsia" to Sergeant Major V. Savchenko, a mechanic-driver of one of the tanks. P.Y. Kostiukov was also awarded the same title.

ON THE PATH OF PEACEFUL CONSTRUCTION

The German-Romanian invaders caused great damage to the town. Its center, depot, sawmill, tannery, and power plant were destroyed, and about 560 houses were burned. The town's residents cherish the memory of 218 Novoselsk residents who gave their lives defending their homeland. On the main street there is an obelisk to the fallen soldiers with their names engraved on it. And in the park of culture and recreation there is a mass grave where the soldiers-liberators sleep in eternal sleep.

Immediately after the liberation of the city, its reconstruction began. Already in 1945, the poultry plant, workshops and shops of the industrial plant, the district consumer union, and at the end of 1946, the butter factory, the Peremoha artel, and the printing house began to produce products. In 1948, brick production began. The Chervonyi Meblevyk artel, a fruit factory, etc. started working. The population of the city grew, primarily due to workers: in 1944 there were 4688 inhabitants, and in 1959 their number increased to 5.8 thousand people.

The industrial production of the city continued to develop. In 1961, a plant for processing hybrid and varietal corn seeds (now a grain receiving facility) was put into operation, and at the end of 1966, a reinforced concrete products plant began to produce products. In 1967, a winery and a food flavoring factory were established on the basis of the food processing plant, and a new cheese factory was built - the largest milk processing plant not only in Chernivtsi region but also in all western regions of Ukraine. In 1973, a furniture factory was built.

Most industrial enterprises and construction organizations are concentrated in the western part of the city: a cheese factory, a poultry plant, a food and flavor factory, a reinforced concrete products factory, a cooperative meat processing enterprise, a furniture factory, a printing house, and a number of construction organizations. In the eastern part of the city there is a distillery, a mechanized unit of the regional water construction company, a fruit canning plant, a bread receiving enterprise, a printing house, a cooperative enterprise "Bread of Bukovyna", a timber warehouse of Khotyn State Forestry and others.

The town has all the conditions for satisfying people's everyday needs and interesting and meaningful recreation. Most cultural institutions, shops, catering and consumer services are concentrated in the central part of the city. The District House of Culture opened its doors in 1985. It has a 600-seat auditorium, a gym, and rooms for amateur art groups.

Children of Novoselytsia attend a Ukrainian-teaching gymnasium, a Romanian-teaching lyceum and a comprehensive secondary school. Preschoolers are educated in two kindergartens.

In 1955, a medical school was opened, now the Novoselytsia School of the Bukovyna State Medical Academy, which has graduated more than 4000 paramedics, midwives, and nurses since its inception. The city has music and art schools, a sports school, a children's art center, and a cinema. The central district hospital and polyclinic with 340 beds are staffed by 72 doctors and 160 mid-level specialists. They have well-equipped offices and modern equipment.

The town has a wide network of trade and consumer services. Novoselytsia is decorated with new buildings of the district communication center, a community center, a branch of the Joint-Stock Commercial Agricultural Bank "Ukraine", the district police department, court, prosecutor's office, district electric power network, district tax inspection, the newspaper "Slovo Pravdy" and a printing house.

The town has two Orthodox churches, St. Yurii and the Assumption, built in 1858 and 1907, respectively. Novoselsk residents love their town, which will become even more beautiful in the near future.

THE STREETS ARE LIKE AN OPEN BOOK

There are more than 90 streets in Novoselytsia. Each of them is unique. The names of many streets have a breath of history in them. Many of them are named after people who are directly related to the town.

- Bondarenko Street. It is located on the eastern outskirts of Novoselytsia, near the railway station.

Mykola Ilyich Bondarenko was born in the Kirovohrad region. He was a tank commander. His tank was one of the first to break into the enemy-occupied Novoselytsia. For the operation to liberate it, Lieutenant Bondarenko was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Mykola Ilyich finished the war in Berlin as a company commander. In addition to the Order of the Red Banner, he was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky, two Orders of the Patriotic War, and many medals.

In the postwar period, for his conscientious work at economic facilities, M.I. Bondarenko was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. He died in May 1981. He was buried in Kherson.

- Serhiy Haba Street. This street is located in a new residential area of the city. It is named after our countryman Serhii Haba, who was born in 1962 in the village of Kotelove.

In August 1989, police lieutenant S.V. Gaba was sent to work in the operational-investigative group of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to combat organized crime in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of the Azerbaijan SSR, where blood was being shed on ethnic grounds. He went there of his own free will to stabilize the situation and stop the hostility together with his fellow volunteers.

He was tragically killed in the line of duty while ensuring public order. He was buried in the village of Koteleve. He was awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). One of the streets of his native village and the field where the memorial sign is installed are named after him.

- Karbyshev Street. This is a quiet street, as there are many in the city. It stretches along the Rokytnianka River. On one side of the street are elegant houses, and on the other side is a small river, jumping from stone to stone.

The street was named in memory of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General, Doctor of Military Sciences Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev for a reason.

During the First World War, he was in Novoselytsia and other villages of the district, where he supervised the construction of fortifications for Russian troops in the area between the Prut and Dniester rivers. Even then, he proved himself to be an honest, principled, and talented engineer. These qualities played a decisive role when he was surrounded in Belarus during the Great Patriotic War, from which he was withdrawing with the headquarters of the 10th Army.

In those difficult days, General Karbyshev was one of the organizers of the troops' escape from the encirclement, and with his courage and faith in victory he inspired soldiers and commanders to perform heroic deeds. But not everyone escaped the encirclement. Karbyshev was not among those who made it to their own. He was severely wounded and shell-shocked, and was captured by the Nazis.

Hitler's command knew Karbyshev's name. The Nazis decided to engage him in cooperation. The general was offered tempting conditions for work. But he was steadfast, a true patriot.

The report of the executioners reads: "This career officer of the old Russian army, a man who is over sixty... is imbued with the Bolshevik spirit, fanatically devoted to the idea of loyalty to military duty and patriotism... Karbyshev can be considered hopeless in understanding military engineering." This report was followed by a resolution: "Send him to hard labor. Do not make allowances for rank and age."

The general went through several concentration camps. And everywhere around him were captured Soviet soldiers who had not lost their dignity in these terrible conditions. On February 18, 1945, in the Mauthausen camp, the Nazis tortured D.M. Karbyshev.

- Koberidze Street. It is located in the northeastern part of the city behind the railway crossing. It runs parallel to the railroad from Frunze Street to the cannery.

Grigori Ivanovich Koberidze was born in 1902 in the village of Tskhmori, Oni district of Georgia. He spent his childhood in North Ossetia and later settled in sunny Kakheti. He worked as the chairman of the village council of Ordzhonikidze village, Lagodekhi district.

In early April 1944, the 240th Rifle Division, part of the 40th Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, reached the USSR-Romania border along the Prut River near the villages of Vancikivtsi and Dumeni, forced the water line and began to defeat the Nazis in Romania. Senior Lieutenant Koberidze, a battalion commander of the 842nd Rifle Regiment, was among the liberators.

G.I. Koberidze was killed in a battle on one of the heights in the Carpathians, where he showed heroism, led the soldiers in an attack and personally destroyed the enemy's handgun crew.

Senior Lieutenant Koberidze was buried in Novoselytsia, in a mass grave in the city's park of culture and recreation. His homeland awarded him the Order of the Patriotic War, first class.

- Kremleva Street. This street is one of the busiest in the city. It is a bypass route for freight transport going from Chernivtsi to Chisinau and vice versa. A number of industrial enterprises and organizations are located on this street, including a reinforced concrete plant, the Novoselytskyi agricultural cooperative, the district agricultural cooperative, and others.

Yevhen Konstantinovich Kremlev was born in 1923 in the city of Kurgan. He started his career as a laborer, a turner at a railway depot. But then the Great Patriotic War broke out. When Yevhen turned eighteen, he decided to volunteer for the front. The military enlistment office granted the young man's request.

He was a gun crew commander. He fought on the Bryansk and then Voronezh fronts. On October 6, 1943, Senior Sergeant Kremliov's unit was one of the first in the artillery regiment to cross the Dnipro River and engage the enemy. The heavy bloody battle lasted for two days. Only three of them remained in the unit, but they fought to the death. Twenty-one counterattacks were repulsed by Kremlin soldiers, destroying 120 fascists, 4 mortars, several machine guns, and ensuring the crossing of two more batteries across the Dnipro.

For his heroism during the crossing of the Dnipro, Kremlev was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He did not live to see the bright Victory Day, dying on June 25, 1944, in Romania. He was buried in Novoselytsia in a mass grave in the city's park of culture and recreation.

- John Reed Street. This street connects the central highway with the Prut River in the western part of Novoselytsia, stretching near the repair and transportation enterprise. It is named in honor of John Reed, a talented American journalist and author of the famous book Ten Days That Shook the World. He visited Novoselytsia in May 1915. At that time, this border town was at the center of hostilities between Russian and Austro-Hungarian troops. John Reed shared his impressions of his stay in the town in his correspondence "War in Eastern Europe."

The German journalist Harald Wessel, who had planned to write a series of biographical essays based on John Reed's routes, visited Novoselytsia in July 1977. He visited the place on the Prut where John Reed crossed to Russia, the street named after him, the house where the journalist was hospitably received by the commandant of Novoselytsia, V.K. Madzhiy, and the railway station from where Reed went on to Russia.

Later, in his book John Reed, the Red Journalist, published in Berlin in 1979, Harald Wessel wrote: "The street that bears your name," as if Wessel were addressing Reed, "is not a luxurious avenue, boulevard, avenue, or highway... And yet it seems to me that it is closely connected to you. First of all, because it paves the way for people to the main highway... Your street leads children to swim in the Prut River, lovers to dates, and pensioners to the bosom of nature. Here you are alive in the whirlwind of everyday life."

- Ptukhina Street. It is located next to Kremleva Street, near the oil depot. Alexander Ptukhin was born in Altai. He was a teacher, taught math and physics.

When the Great Patriotic War broke out, he entered an artillery school. He fought on the Bryansk and Voronezh fronts and crossed the Dnipro River. Oleksandr Ptukhin and his control platoon were among the first to cross to the right bank of the Dnipro, win a bridgehead there and adjust the batteries with fire, while repelling enemy counterattacks. For courage and bravery, skillful command of the unit during the crossing of the Dnipro, O.M. Ptukhin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

At the age of twenty, he was promoted to senior lieutenant and became a battery commander. He participated in the liberation of Novoselytsia district from the Nazis. In the area of the village of Vanczykivka, he forced the Prut River. On the Romanian territory, his life was cut short by a fragment of an enemy mine. The hero is buried in the mass grave of the city park of culture and recreation.

- Serikova Street. It is located in a new residential neighborhood of the city. It is named after our countryman, lieutenant colonel of the medical service Oleksandr Mykhailovych Serikov.

O.M. Serikov was born on May 9, 1951 in Novoselytsia. He studied at secondary school No. 1, then at the Chernivtsi Medical Institute. After his fourth year, he was sent to study at the Saratov Medical Institute, the military medical faculty. He received the profession of a military surgeon. In 1982, O.M. Serikov graduated from the Leningrad Military Medical Academy and was assigned to serve in the Carpathian Military District. He worked as the head of the medical service of the Chernivtsi garrison.

From May 1987, O.M. Serikov performed his international duty in Afghanistan, where he was heroically killed on May 30, 1988. He was buried in Chernivtsi. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (posthumously), the Order of the Red Star, and many medals.

- Khvylya-Olintera Street. It is located near the bus station. It is named after our countryman, statesman and publicist Andrii Ananiiovych Khvylya-Olinter.

Khvylya-Olinter was born in 1898 in a poor peasant family in Ringach. In 1915, he graduated from the Khotyn Higher School and then studied at the Poltava Land Surveying School. From 1925 to 1933, he worked in the apparatus of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, and in the following years he was a member of the government of the republic, worked as People's Commissar of Education, and Head of the Department of Arts of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR. From his pen came many articles devoted to the coverage of the trends and trends in Ukrainian Soviet literature of the time. The book "Ukrainian Folk Song" was published under his editorship.

In 1937, A.A. Khvylya-Olinter died in a Stalinist torture chamber. He was posthumously rehabilitated.

- Chapaeva Street. It is curved in a semi-ring. It starts near the shopping center located on Lenin Street, passes through a new residential neighborhood, and then reaches Lenin Street again.

The street is named in memory of the legendary hero of the Civil War. During the First World War, Vasyl Ivanovych was a member of the Russian army in the village of Toporivka in our district. It was here that V.I. Chapaev was awarded St. George's Crosses and promoted to officer for bravery during the breakthrough of the Austro-Hungarian front by Russian troops under the command of General A.A. Brusilov.

- School Street. It is located in the southern part of the city. It offers a beautiful view of the valley of the rapid Prut River.

Vasyl Fedorovych Shkil was born in 1919 in the city of Boryspil, Kyiv region. After graduating from high school, he worked as a foreman of electricians at Kyiv's Miskenergo. He dreamed of going to college after his military service. However, this was not to be - the Great Patriotic War broke out. He fought near Moscow, near Stalingrad, at the Kursk Bulge. He liberated Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Chernivtsi from the Nazi occupiers.

The commander of a tank platoon, Junior Lieutenant Shkil, showed courage and heroism during the liberation of Novoselytsia, for which he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

V.F. Shkil died the death of the brave on the outskirts of Berlin. He was buried in a mass grave in the Polish city of Gozów Wielkopolski.

The residents of Novoselsk honor the memory of their liberators. Relatives of the Heroes of the Soviet Union E.K. Kremlev and O.M. Ptukhin, Senior Lieutenant G.I. Koberidze and other fallen Soviet soldiers buried in Novoselytsia have repeatedly visited the town.

ON THE PATH TO INDEPENDENCE

Despite the economic difficulties that befell our country at the beginning of its formation, the people of Novoselytsia made every effort to stay afloat, as they say. There were both achievements and failures along the way.

The volume of industrial production has decreased, the number of unemployed is growing, some enterprises have gone bankrupt and changed their ownership. Among those who managed to establish production that meets modern requirements with the help of new owners are Novoselytsia Poultry Plant, Novoselytsia Cheese Factory and others.

The products manufactured by Novoselytsia Distillery Limited Liability Company are in great demand among consumers. Much has been done to expand the range of spirits and improve their taste. Vodka "First President", "First Cosmonaut", "Novoselytska" and others are known far beyond the region. The first cosmonaut of independent Ukraine, Leonid Kadenyuk, visited the plant several years ago and highly appreciated the plant's products.

OJSC Novoselytsia Poultry Plant (headed by Borys Hvozd) accounts for a large share of the city's production. Since Boris Volodymyrovych took over the company, it has undergone radical changes. An additional 194 jobs were created, the company produces 70 types of meat and sausage products, opened a cheese-making shop, and created a base for raising its own livestock. With the support of entrepreneur B. Hvozd, the loss-making, semi-bankrupt enterprise makes a profit and pays off its debts, including wages to its employees.

Public services are being improved. The closed joint-stock company "Pobut" (Chairman of the Board Florian Hutsulyak) expands the types of household services. The Novoselytsia district is the only one in Bukovyna where the public utility service has been preserved in its entirety.

The pride of Novoselytsia is the four-time chess composition champion Mykhailo Marandiuk, whose skills are improving year by year. It should be noted that Mikhail Marandyuk brilliantly finished the cycle of official competitions in 2001, winning a full set of medals. He won bronze in the Ukrainian team championship, silver in the world team championship and a golden double in the Ukrainian individual championship.

It is noteworthy that it was during the period of independence that the city received natural gas. Hundreds of apartments are now gasified. Novoselytsia is becoming more beautiful and well-maintained. A monument to Taras Shevchenko was unveiled on the central square. The pedestrian paths of the town's main street are covered with paving slabs. The network of private shops, cafes and bars has expanded significantly. Elegant "buses" replaced the buses that used to run between Novoselytsia and Chernivtsi, as well as between the town and the villages of the district. The town lives, develops, and grows stronger.