Bukovina Bukovina ( / " Bukovyna " ; ; German and Polish : " Bukowina " ; see also other languages ) is a historical region in Central Europe , currently divided between Ukraine and Romania , located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains . From 1775 to 1918 , Bukovina was an administrative division of the Habsburg Monarchy , the Austrian Empire , and Austria – Hungary . After World War I , Bukovina became part of Romania . In 1940 , as a result of the Molotov – Ribbentrop Pact , the northern half of Bukovina was annexed by the Soviet Union . Name . The name " Bukovina " came into official use in 1775 with the region ' s annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy , which became Austrian Empire in 1804 , and Austria - Hungary in 1867 . The official German name , " die Bukowina " , of the province under Austrian rule ( 1775 – 1918 ) , was derived from the Polish form " Bukowina " , which in turn was derived from the Ukrainian word , Буковина ( Bukovyna ) , and the common Slavic form of " buk " , meaning beech tree ( " бук " [ buk ] as , for example , in Ukrainian or , even , " Buche " in German ) . Another German name for the region , " das Buchenland " , is mostly used in poetry , and means " " beech land " " , or " " the land of beech trees " " . In Romanian , in literary or poetic contexts , the name " Țara Fagilor " ( " the land of beech trees " ) is sometimes used . Nowadays , in Ukraine the name is unofficial , but is common when referring to the " Chernivtsi Oblast " as over 2 / 3 of the oblast is the northern part of Bukovina . In Romania the term " Northern Bucovina " is sometimes synonymous with the entire Chernivtsi Oblast of Ukraine , and " ( Southern ) Bucovina " to Suceava County of Romania ( although 30 % of the present day Suceava County covers territory outside of the historical Bukovina . ) In English , an alternative form is " The Bukovina " , increasingly an archaism , which , however , is found in older literature . History . Prehistory . During the Neolithic age , Bukovina was populated by the Cucuteni - Trypillian culture of early settler s ( 4500 BC – 3000 BC ) , which was overrun around 2000 BC by the migration of Indo - Europeans . Ancient times . Starting with the 2nd millennium BC , it was inhabited by the Dacian tribes , such as Costoboci and Carpians , and for a period , cohabitated by the Celto - Germanic tribe of Bastarnae . From approx . 70 BC to 44 BC , the region was incorporated in the Dacian polity of Burebista . When the Dacian Kingdom of Decebal , which included the territories just on the other side of the Carpathian Mountains from what is today Bukovina , fell to the Romans in 106 , the area came under linguistic and cultural influence of the Roman Empire . In the 3rd century ( 240s – 270s ) the region was plundered by the Goths , in the 4th century by the Huns ( 370s – 380s ) , and in the 6th century ( 560s – 570s ) by the Avars . Early Middle Ages . Beginning with the 6th century , Slavic populations entered the region and influenced the language and agricultural methods ( e . g . burning the forests to increase the cultivated land ) of the locals . In 797 the Avars , who settled in today ' s Hungary and collected regular tribute from the peasants all over southeastern Europe , were defeated by Charlemagne . According to medieval Kievan sources , until the 10th century the territory had been part of White Croatia and later under the Kievan Rus ' , and in 12th to early 14th century , Kingdom of Galicia – Volhynia included parts of the region . The villages of the Campulung Valley formed a " republic " that preserved its autonomy even under the Principality of Moldavia , which acquired independence in 1359 . Principality of Moldavia . In the mid - 14th century , the Moldavia n state appeared , eventually expanding its territory all the way to the Black Sea . Bukovina and neighboring regions were the nucleus of the Moldavian Principality , with the city of Suceava as its capital from 1388 ( after Baia and Siret ) . The name of Moldavia ( " Moldova " ) is derived from a river ( Moldova River ) flowing in Bukovina . In the 15th century , Pokuttya , the region immediately to the north , became the subject of disputes between the Principality of Moldavia and the Polish Kingdom . Pokuttya was inhabited by Ruthenians ( predecessors of modern Ukrainians ) and Hutsul s ; the latter also reside in western Bukovina . In 1497 a battle took place at the Cosmin Forest ( the hilly forests separating Chernivtsi and Siret valleys ) , at which Stephen III of Moldavia ( Stephen the Great ) , managed to defeat the much - stronger but demoralized army of King John I Albert of Poland . The battle is known in Polish popular culture as " " the battle when the knights have perished " " . In this period , the patronage of Stephen the Great and his successors on the throne of Moldavia saw the construction of the famous painted monasteries of Moldoviţa , Suceviţa , Putna , Humor , Voroneţ , Dragomirna , Arbore , and others . With their renowned exterior frescoes , these monasteries remain some of the greatest cultural treasures of Romania ; some of them are World Heritage Sites , part of the painted churches of northern Moldavia . Stephen also settled the first Ruthenia ns in Bukovina with the hope of having a loyal and more numerous population that would contribute with taxes . In Suceava , in the 16th century , two percent of the population ( i . e . about 500 – 1000 people ) was Ruthenian . In 1513 , Moldavia started to pay annual tribute to the Ottoman Empire , but remained autonomous and was governed as before by a native Voivod / Prince , also known as Domnitor or Hospodar ( " Lord " in English ) . In May , 1600 Mihai Viteazul ( Michael the Brave ) , united the two Romanian principalities and Transylvania under his leadership . For short periods of time ( during wars ) , the Polish Kingdom occupied parts of northern Moldavia . However , the old border was re - established each time , as for example on 14 October 1703 the Polish delegate Martin Chometowski acknowledges " Between us and Wallachia ( i . e . Moldavia ) God himself set Dniester as the border " ( " Inter nos et Valachiam ipse Deus flumine Tyras dislimitavit " ) . In the course of the Russo - Turkish War of 1768 – 1774 , the Ottoman armies were defeated by the Russian Empire , that occupied the region during 15 December 1769 – September 1774 , and previously during 14 September – October 1739 . Bukovina was the reward the Habsburgs received for aiding the Russians in that war . Prince Grigore III Ghica of Moldavia protested and was prepared to take action to recover the territory , but was assassinated , and a Greek - Phanar iot foreigner was put on the throne of Moldavia by the Ottomans . Austrian Empire . The Austrian Empire occupied Bukovina in October 1774 . Following the first partition of Poland in 1772 , the Austrians claimed that they needed it for " a road between Galicia and Transylvania " . Bukovina was formally annexed in January 1775 . On 2 July 1776 , at Palamutka , Austrians and Ottomans signed a border convention , Austria giving back 59 of the previously occupied villages , and remaining with 278 villages . Bukovina was a closed military district ( 1775 – 1786 ) , then the largest district , " Kreis Czernowitz " ( after its capital Czernowitz ) of the Austrian constituent Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria ( 1787 – 1849 ) . On 4 March 1849 , Bukovina became a separate Austrian Kronland ' crown land ' under a " Landespräsident " ( not a " Statthalter " , as in other crown lands ) and was declared the " Herzogtum Bukowina " ( a nominal duchy , as part of the official full style of the Austrian Emperors ) . In 1860 it was again amalgamated with Galicia , but reinstated as a separate province once again 26 February 1861 , a status that would last until 1918 . In 1849 Bukovina got a representative assembly , the " Landtag " ( diet ) . The Moldavian nobility had traditionally formed the ruling class in that territory . In 1867 with the re - organisation of the Austrian Empire as the Austro - Hungarian Empire it became part of the Cisleithania n or Austrian territories of Austria - Hungary , and remained so until 1918 . According to the 1775 Austrian census , the province had a total population of 86 , 000 , made up mostly of Romanians ( Moldovans ) , and up to 10 , 000 Slavs ( Polish , Ruthenians and Hutzuls ) . During the 19th century the Austrian Empire policies encouraged the influx of many immigrants such as Germans , Poles , Jews , Hungarians , and Ukrainians ( at that time referred to as Ruthenians ) from Galicia . By 1900 the Romanian population had decreased proportionally to roughly 40 % of Bukovina , with significant Ukrainian ( including Hutzul s ) ( especially in villages in the northern half ) , German , Jewish , Polish ( especially in towns ) , and Hungarian ( several villages ) minorities . To reflect this ethnicity shift , in 1843 the Ruthenian language was recognized , along with the Romanian language , as ' the language of the people and of the Church in Bukovina ' . Late - 19th to early - 20th centuries . The 1871 and 1904 jubilees held at Putna Monastery , near the tomb of Ştefan cel Mare , have constituted tremendous moments for Romanian national identity in Bukovina . Since gaining its independence , Romania envisioned to incorporate this historic province which , as a core of Moldavian Principality , was of a great historic significance to its history and contained many prominent monuments of its art and architecture . Despite the influx of migrants encouraged under the Austrian rule , Romanians continued to be the largest ethnic group in the province until 1880 , when Ruthenians ( Ukrainians ) outnumbered the Romanians 5 : 4 . According to the 1880 census there were 239 , 690 Ruthenians and Hutzul s , or roughly 41 . 5 % of the population of the region , while Romanians were second with 190 , 005 people or 33 % , a ratio that remained unchanged until World War I . Ruthenian is an archaic name for Ukrainian , while the Hutsul s are a regional Ukrainian subgroup . Under Austrian rule Bukovina remained ethnically mixed : predominantly Romanian in the south , Ukrainian ( commonly referred to as Ruthenians in the Empire ) in the north , with small numbers of Hungarian Székely , Slovak and Polish peasants , and Germans , Poles and Jews in the towns . The 1910 census counted 800 , 198 people , of which : Ruthenian 38 . 88 % , Romanian 34 . 38 % , German 21 . 24 % ( Jews 12 . 86 % included ) , Polish 4 . 55 % , Hungarian 1 . 31 % , Slovak 0 . 08 % , Slovene 0 . 02 % , Italian 0 . 02 % , and a few Croat , Romani , Serbian , and Turkish . Romanians were still present in all settlements of the region , but their number decreased in the villages in the north . Many of Bukovina ' s Germans , and a few Romanians , emigrated in 19th and 20th century to North America . In 1783 , by an imperial decree Greek Orthodox eparchies in Bukovina and Dalmatia form an Archbishopric with its seat in Czernowitz , later raised to the rank of " Metropolitanate " . Some friction appeared in time between the Serb archbishops , and the Romanians complaining that Old Slavonic is favored to Romanian , and that family names are being slavicized . In spite of Romanian - Slav frictions over the influence in the local Orthodox clerical hierarchy , there was no Romanian - Ukrainian inter - ethnic tension , and both cultures developed in educational and public life . Moreover , at the end of the 19th century , the development of Ukrainian culture in Bukovina surpassed Galicia and the rest of Ukraine with a network of Ukrainian educational facilities . In the early 20th century , a group of scholars surrounding the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand created a plan ( that never came to pass ) of United States of Greater Austria . The specific proposal was published in Aurel C . Popovici ' s book “ Die Vereinigten Staaten von Groß - Österreich “ [ The United States of Greater Austria ] , Leipzig , 1906 . According to it , most of Bukovina ( including Czernowitz ) would form , with Transylvania , a Romanian state , while the north - western portion ( Zastavna , Kozman , Waschkoutz , Wiznitz , Gura Putilei , and Seletin districts ) would form with the bigger part of Galicia a Ukrainian state , both in a federation with 13 other states under the Austrian crown . Kingdom of Romania . In World War I , several battles were fought in Bukovina between the Austro - Hungarian , German , and Russian armies , which resulted in the Russian army being driven out in 1917 . With the collapse of Austria - Hungary in 1918 , both the local Romanian National Council and the Ukrainian National Council based in Galicia claimed the region . A Constituent Assembly on 14 / 27 October 1918 formed an Executive Committee , to whom the Austrian governor of the province handed power . The Executive Committee called a General Congress of Bukovina for 15 / 28 November 1918 , where 74 Romanians , 13 Ruthenians , 7 Germans , and 6 Poles were elected ( this is the linguistic composition , and Jews were not recorded as a separate group ) . A popular enthusiasm sprang throughout the region , and a large number of people gathered in the city to wait for the resolution of the Congress . The Congress elected the Romanian Bukovinian politician Iancu Flondor as chairman , and voted for the union with the Kingdom of Romania , with the support of the Romanian , German , Jewish , and Polish representatives , and the opposition of the Ukrainian ones . The reasons stated were that , until its takeover by the Habsburg in 1775 , Bukovina was the heart of the Principality of Moldavia , where the " " gropniţele domneşti " " ( voivods ' burial sites ) are located , and " " dreptul de liberă hotărâre de sine " " ( right of self - determination ) . After an official request by Iancu Flondor , Romanian troops swiftly moved in to take over the territory , against Ukrainian protest . Although local Ukrainians attempted to incorporate parts of northern Bukovina into the short - lived West Ukrainian People ' s Republic , this attempt was defeated by the Polish and Romanian troops . Romanian control of the province was recognized internationally in the Treaty of St . Germain in 1919 . During the interwar period Romanian authorities directed Rumanization policies at the Ukrainian population of the region . Romanian language was introduced into ethnic minority schools in 1923 , and by 1926 all Ukrainian schools in Bukovina were closed . At the same time , the Ukrainian enrollment in the Cernăuţi University fell from 239 out of 1671 , in 1914 , to 155 out of 3 , 247 , in 1933 , while Romanian enrollment in the same period increased several times to 2 , 117 out of 3 , 247 . This was partly due to some extent to attempts to switch to mostly Romanian language , but chiefly to the fact that the university was one of only five in Romania , and was considered prestigious . In the decade following 1928 , as Romania tried to improve its relations with the Soviet Union , Ukrainian culture was given some limited means to redevelop , though the gains were sharply reversed in 1938 . According to the 1930 Romanian census , Romanians made up 44 . 5 % of the total population of Bukovina and Ukrainians ( including Hutsuls ) 29 . 1 % . However , in the northern part of the region , Romanians made up only 32 . 6 % of the population , with Ukrainians slightly outnumbering Romanians . Second World War . Following the Ribbentrop - Molotov Pact , the June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum demanded from Romania the northern part of Bukovina , a region bordering Galicia ( the latter annexed by the Soviet Union at 1939 Poland ' s partition in 1939 ) . The Soviet demand for Bukovina surprised Nazi Germany , though it did not formally oppose it . In the first Soviet ultimatum addressed to the Romanian government , the partly Ukrainian populated northern Bukovina was " demanded " as a minor " " reparation for the great loss produced to the Soviet Union and Bassarabia ' s population by twenty - two years of Romanian domination of Bassarabia " " . On 28 June 1940 , the Romanian government evacuated Northern Bukovina , and the Red Army moved in , with the new Soviet - Romanian border being traced less than north of Putna Monastery . In 1940 , Chernivtsi Oblast ( ⅔ of which is Northern Bukovina ) had a population of circa 805 , 000 , out of which 47 . 5 % were Ukrainians and 28 . 3 % were Romanians , with Germans , Jews , Poles , Hungarians and Russians comprising the rest . The strong Ukrainian presence was the official motivation for inclusion of the region into the Ukrainian SSR and not into the newly formed Moldavian SSR . Whether the region would have been included in the Ukrainian SSR , if the commission presiding over the division had been led by someone else than the Ukrainian communist leader Nikita Khrushchev , remains a matter of debate among scholars . In fact , some territories with a mostly Romanian population ( e . g . Hertza Region ) were allotted to the Ukrainian SSR . In the course of the 1941 attack on the Soviet Union by the Axis forces , the Romanian Third Army led by General Petre Dumitrescu ( operating in the north ) and the Fourth Romanian Army ( operating in the south ) re - occupied Northern Bukovina , as well as Hertsa district , and Bassarabia , during June – July 1941 . However , then it continued the war , and occupied during 1941 – 1944 proper Soviet territories in the south of Ukrainian SSR — the Odessa Oblast , and parts of Mykolaiv and Vinnytsia oblast s . During 1940 – 1950 , major demographic changes occurred in northern Bukovina . These demographic shifts are explained by several separate but concurrent phenomena : In the first year of Soviet occupation , the population of the region decreased by more than 250 , 000 . According to NKVD orders , tens of thousands of Romanian families were deported to Siberia during this period , with 12 , 191 people deported on 2 August 1940 ( less than a month after the occupation ) , and another 2 , 057 persons deported to Siberia in December 1940 , together with their families . The largest action took place on 13 June 1941 , when about 13 , 000 people were deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan . Until the repatriation convention of 15 April 1941 , NKVD troops killed hundreds of Romanian peasants of Northern Bukovina as they tried to cross the border into Romania in order to escape from Soviet authorities . This culminated on 1 April 1941 with the Fântâna Albă massacre . Almost the entire German population of northern Bukovina was coerced to resettle in 1940 – 1941 to the parts of Poland then occupied by Nazi Germany , during 15 September 1940 – 15 November 1940 , after this area was occupied by the Soviet Union . About 45 , 000 ethnic Germans had left Northern Bukovina by November 1940 . This figure , higher than the size of the German minority , included also a couple thousand Romanians , Ukrainian , etc . , posing as Germans to flee the Soviet rule . In July 1941 , the new Romanian military government counted at least 36 , 000 missing persons . After the war . In 1944 the Red Army drove the Axis forces out and re - established the Soviet control over the territory . Romania was forced to formally cede the northern part of Bukovina to the USSR by the 1947 Paris peace treaty . The territory became part of the Ukrainian SSR as Chernivtsi Oblast ( province ) . After the war the Soviet government deported or killed about 41 , 000 Romanians . As a result of killings and mass deportations , entire villages , mostly inhabited by Romanians , were abandoned ( Albovat , Frunza , I . G . Duca , Buci — completely erased , Prisaca , Tanteni and Vicov — destroyed to a large extent ) . Men of military age ( and sometimes above ) were conscripted into the Soviet Army . That did not protect them , however , from being arrested and deported for being " anti - Soviet elements " . As a reaction , partisan groups ( composed of both Romanians and Ukrainians ) began to operate against the Soviets in the woods around Chernivtsi , Crasna and Codrii Cosminului . In Crasna ( in the former Storozhynets county ) villagers attacked Soviet soldiers who were sent to " temporarily resettle " them , since they feared deportation . This resulted in dead and wounded among the villagers , who had no firearms . Spring 1945 saw the formation of transports of Polish repatriates who ( voluntarily or by coercion ) had decided to leave . Between March 1945 and July 1946 , 10 , 490 inhabitants left northern Bukovina for Poland , including 8 , 140 Poles , 2 , 041 Jews and 309 of other nationalities . Overall , between 1930 ( last Romanian census ) and 1959 ( first Soviet census ) , the population of northern Bukovina decreased by 31 , 521 people . According to official data from those two censuses , the Romanian population had decreased by 75 , 752 people , and the Jewish population by 46 , 632 , while the Ukrainian and Russian populations increased by 135 , 161 and 4 , 322 people , respectively . After 1944 , the human and economic connections between the northern ( Soviet ) and southern ( Romanian ) parts of Bukovina were severed . While the northern part is the nucleus of the Ukrainian Chernivtsi Oblast , the southern part is tightly integrated with the other Romanian historic regions . Geography . The territory of the Romanian ( or Southern ) Bukovina is located in northeastern Romania and it is part of the Suceava County ( plus three localities in Botoșani County ) , whereas the Ukrainean ( or Northern ) Bukovina is located in western Ukraine and it is part of the Chernivtsi Oblast . Population . Historical population . In 1919 , I . Nistor claimed that Romanians constituted an overwhelming majority in 1774 , roughly 64 , 000 ( 85 % ) of the 75 , 000 total population . Meanwhile , about 8 , 000 ( 10 % ) were Ruthenians / Ukrainians and 3 , 000 ( 4 % ) other ethnic groups . On the other hand , a 2011 anthroponimical study reveals a population of 68 , 700 people in 1774 , out of which 40 , 920 ( 59 . 6 % ) Romanians , 22 , 810 Ruthenians and Hutsuls ( 33 . 2 % ) and 7 . 2 % Jewish , Rroma and Armenians . Based on the above estimate for 1774 , the ethnic composition of Bukovina changed dramatically in the years after 1775 when the Austrian Empire occupied the region . The population of Bukovina increased steadily , primarily through immigration , which Austrian authorities encouraged in order to develop the economy . According to Alecu Hurmuzaki , by 1848 only 55 % of the population was Romanian . At the same time , the Ukrainian population rose to 108 , 907 in 1848 and the Jewish population surged from 526 in 1774 to 11 , 600 in 1848 . It is however important to note that official censuses in the Austrian Empire ( later Austria - Hungary ) did not record ethno - linguistic data until 1850 - 1851 . The 1857 and 1869 censuses omitted ethnic or language - related questions . ' Familiar language spoken ' was not recorded again until 1880 . The Austrian census of 1850 - 1851 which for the first time recorded data regarding languages spoken , shows 48 . 50 % Romanians and 38 . 07 % Ukrainians Subsequent Austrian censuses between 1880 and 1910 reveal a Romanian population stabalizing around 33 % and a Ukrainian population around 40 % . Therefore , based on the aforementioned sources , this dramatic change in Bukovina ' s ethnic composition changed the proportion of Romanians from a majority ( between 60 % and 85 % before 1774 ) to a plurality majority ( 48 . 5 % in 1851 ) and then a minority ( 33 . 4 % in 1880 ) . According to estimates and the census data of Austria - Hungary , the population of Bukovina was : Current population . The present demographic situation in Bukovina hardly resembles the one of the times of the Austrian Empire . The northern ( Ukrainian ) and southern ( Romanian ) parts became significantly dominated by their Ukrainian and Romanian majorities , respectively , with the representation of other ethnic groups being decreased significantly . According to the Ukrainian Census ( 2001 ) data , the Ukrainians represent about 75 % ( 689 , 100 ) of the population of Chernivtsi Oblast , which is the closest , although not an exact , approximation of the territory of the historic Northern Bukovina . The census also identified a fall in the Romanian and Moldovan populations to 12 . 5 % ( 114 , 600 ) and 7 . 3 % ( 67 , 200 ) , respectively . Russians are the next largest ethnic group with 4 . 1 % , while Poles , Belarusians , and Jews comprise the rest 1 . 2 % . The languages of the population closely reflect the ethnic composition , with over 90 % within each of the major ethnic groups declaring their national language as the mother tongue ( Ukrainian , Romanian , and Russian , respectively ) . The fact that Romanians and Moldovans were presented as separate categories in the census results , has been criticized by the Romanian Community of Ukraine - Interregional Union , which complains that this old Soviet - era practice , results in the Romanian population being undercounted , as being divided between Romanians and Moldovans . The Romanians mostly inhabit the southern part of Chernivtsi region , being the majority in Hertsaivskyi Raion , while they form the majority with Moldovans in the Ukrainian plurality Hlybotskyi Raion . Moldovans are the majority in Novoselytsia Raion . In the other eight districts , and the city of Chernivtsi , Ukrainians are in the majority . The southern , or Romanian Bukovina has a significant Romanian majority ( 97 . 5 % ) , largest minority group being the Ukrainians , who make up 1 . 2 % of the population ( 2002 census ) . The 2002 Romanian Census was subject to a criticism of undercounting of ethnic minorities in Romania brought up by the Ukrainian communities inside and outside Romania .