Wednesday 24 March 2021

start spreading the news

Approved last month by the country’s parliamentary committee on the Organisation of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning approved the motion to restore the name of the settlement in the far eastern Donetsk Oblast back to Нью-Йорк (New York, officially romanised as Niu-York), which it was called until 1951 and the heating up of the Cold War prompted the change to the more sedate Novhorodske—New Town. Though unclear what the origins of the name were with competing theories ranging from German Mennonites invited to develop the area in the nineteenth century and calling it after their hometown Jork by Hamburg to a practical joke, residents are hopeful that the change will have a revitalising effect. More from the Calvert Journal at the link above.