KHARKIV TOPONYMY: STAGES OF DECOMMUNIZATION

Abstract

In the artiсle, the author has analyzed a practical application of the Law of Ukraine “On Denouncing the Communist and the National-Socialist (Nazi) Totalitarian Regimes in Ukraine and Banning the Propaganda of their Symbols" on the example of Kharkiv-city urbanonims renaming. The author focused on the transformation of Kharkiv toponymy retrospectively. The mass renaming of the city streets that had happened in 1894 and 1936. The author describes the way those renaming proceeded. An urban place-network organizing and getting rid of numerous repetitions had become the primary purpose of renaming in 1894. The purpose of renaming in 1936 was to change an urban cultural space in accordance with the Bolshevik ideology. The primary attention in the article was given to the process of Kharkiv-city toponymy decommunization during 2015‒2016. Participation of civil society in the renaming project making, as well as the cooperation of local government with the state authorities, was highlighted. Lists of toponymic changes proposed by the local government and Kharkiv Regional State Administration were analyzed. The general trends and approaches in the toponymic policy of the local government and Kharkiv Regional State Administration were determined. There were found the primary sources of urbanonims nomination and graphically represented their quantitative composition. The first two stages of the city toponym decommunization were conducted by the session decision of the Kharkiv City Council and the City Mayor Kernes order. The author notes that the mayor's office showed a tendency to conserve the existing toponymic landscape, which was manifested in many pseudo renamings, tended to preserve the existing names, and where it was impossible to avoid renaming, preferred neutral names. Names of contemporary Ukraine heroes, fighters for Ukrainian statehood in the 20th century, and symbolic names had an obvious advantage in this list of renaming.

Keywords

• decommunization
• renaming
• urbanonim
• Kharkiv
• civil society
• state authorities