Some Peculiarities of Cultural Landscape of Armenians in Bukovina

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to identify the characteristic features of the socio-cultural landscape of Armenian migrants in Bukovina and the main factors that shaped it. The research is based on cultural, historical, and sociological approaches, in particular, methods of document content analysis, historical reconstruction, analysis and synthesis, biographical, and comparative. The scientific novelty of the study lies in highlighting the cultural aspect of the life of Armenians in Bukovina, which was done mainly on the basis of archival documents found by the author and introduced into academic circulation for the first time. Conclusion. The formation of the historical and cultural landscape of the Bukovinian Armenians demonstrates its transcultural and, at the same time, quite holistic character. The functioning of its public and private institutions shows that, being quite effectively incorporated into the new socio-cultural landscape, they simultaneously formed their own autonomous religious and cultural community, which had specific features related to the new socio-cultural environment and at the same time showed a will to preserve the historical cultural memory and traditions that uniquely connected them to their historical homeland. The multicultural nature of the Armenian community in Bukovyna is evidenced by the linguistic situation: the Armenians of Bukovyna were trilingual — they spoke German, Ukrainian, and Yiddish/Polish/Romanian. While working in German higher education institutions, studying in German / Polish / Romanian (depending on the period) schools, they also created their own educational institutions, usually with a distinct charitable component (for orphans, children from poor Armenian families), and cultural and educational societies, whose names and activities showed a will to preserve their historically primary basic ethno-cultural identity, cultural memory and maintain ties with their historical homeland.