The Ukrainian student communities and corporations in Chernivtsi in the 70s of 19th – early 20th centuries: Features of functioning and influence on national revival

Abstract

The article highlights the peculiarities of functioning of the organized Ukrainian student movement in Chernivtsi in the 70s of the 19th – early 20th centuries, since the foundation of Chernivtsi University, when the first Ukrainian student association «Soiuz» was established, until the explosion of First World War and occupation of Bukovyna, which interrupted the activity of all student societies in the region. This movement was represented by such student communities as «Soiuz», «Moloda Ukraina», «Sich», «Pravoslavna akademiia», as well as corporations «Zaporozhe» and «Chornomore».

The study traces the transformation of ideological convictions and demands of the Ukrainian student movement in Bukovyna. The scientific research also traces the change in the vectors of functioning of these associations from ordinary educational work, which consisted of arrangement of multifarious events and meetings, to comprehensive activity, which began to acquire political character and became directed at shaping of the national and social consciousness of the Ukrainians of the Bukovynian region and their involvement in the struggle for their national rights. The article also points out the differences between the organizational foundations of Ukrainian student corporations and student communities in Chernivtsi.

The author also characterizes the cooperation of the Ukrainian student associations of Chernivtsi with the organized Ukrainian student youth of Galicia and Dnipro Ukraine. Special attention is dedicated to the influence of these societies on the Ukrainian national revival of Bukovyna. These organizations became the environment, in which a qualitatively new brain power was born, who subsequently occupied an important place in Ukrainian social, political, cultural, religious educational and scientific life.

Keywords: student communities, student corporations, Ukrainian student movement, Bukovyna, Chernivtsi University.