National Minorities

Poles of Ukraine. Who are they?

The Polish community, which has been living in what is now Ukraine since Kyivan Rus’, was one of the first to suffer from Soviet repression. In the 1930’s Poles were one of the first to be deported from Volynto Central...

Karaites of Ukraine. Who are they?

Karaites are one of the indigenous peoples of Ukraine. They have lived on the Crimean Peninsula since the 13th century. The core of their community is their faith: they recognise the Torah but not religious organisations’ dogmatic interpretations of it...

Slovaks of Ukraine. Who are they?

Historically, Slovaks settled in Ukraine in two stages. At the end of the 18th century, the first of them – the Liptaks – came to Velykyi Bereznyi, a village that was then part of Austria-Hungary and now located in Zakarpattia....

Romanians of Ukraine. Who are they?

Romanians have been living on Ukrainian land since the 14th century. Back then, Vlachs from Maramureș and Southern Transylvania, who are now considered the ancestors of modern Romanians and Moldovans, began to settle in the territories of modern Zakarpattia and...

Germans of Ukraine. Who are they?

Out of the 30,000 ethnic Germans who spread out in almost all regions of Ukraine between the 9th and 20th centuries, around 3,000 live in cities and villages of Zakarpattia. The German settlers in this region best preserved local German...

Hungarians of Ukraine. Who are they?

Hungarians are one of the biggest minority groups in Ukraine. Their presence in the area dates back to the 10th century. Currently there are over 150 thousand Hungarians residing near the border in Zakarpattia. Despite that over the past 11...

The Synagogue in Ostroh: Reconstruction of the ruins

One of the largest synagogues in Eastern Europe is located in Ostroh. It has been reconstructed for 20 years by a local, an ethnic Jew — Hryhorii Arshynov. Hryhorii is a professional builder who decided to save the historic monument....

Albanians of Ukraine. Who are they?

The Albanian community has been living on the territory of Ukraine since the late 18th – early 19th centuries. The Orthodox Albanians had first migrated to Bulgaria, then together with the Gagauzes and Bulgarians, trying to escape the oppression of...