The Hertsa region, also known as the Hertza region ( uk, Край Герца, Kraj Herca; ro, Ținutul Herța), is a region around the town of

Hertsa Hertsa or Hertza ( ; ro, Herța ) is a city located in Chernivtsi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast in western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Hertsa urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine, and has a population of The town is locat ...

within Chernivtsi Raion in the southern part of

Chernivtsi Oblast Chernivtsi Oblast ( uk, Черніве́цька о́бласть, Chernivetska oblast), also referred to as Chernivechchyna ( uk, Чернівеччина) is an oblast (province) in Western Ukraine, consisting of the northern parts of the regio ...

in southwestern

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

, near the border with

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. With an area of around , it has a population of about 32,300 people (as of 2001), 93% of whom are ethnic

Romanians The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym '' Vlachs'') are a Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Romanian culture and ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they live primarily in Romania and Moldova. The 2011 Romania ...

History

The territory, historically part of

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...

, was one of the five districts of

Dorohoi County Dorohoi County, with its seat at Dorohoi, was a subdivision of the Kingdom of Romania and located in the region of Moldavia. Geography The county was located in the northeastern part of Greater Romania, in the north-eastern extremity of the Moldav ...

. Following the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , long_name = Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27337, Moskau, Stalin und Ribbentrop im Kreml.jpg , image_width = 200 , caption = Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking ...

of August 23, 1939, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

issued on June 26, 1940, an ultimatum to

that threatened the use of force. The Romanian government, responding to the Soviet ultimatum, agreed to withdraw from the territories to avoid a military conflict. A few days later, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were occupied by the Soviet Union, and the Hertsa region was attached to the

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

. As it was not mentioned in the ultimatum, the annexation of the Hertsa region was not consented to by Romania. The region (together with the rest of Bessarabia and Bukovina) was recaptured by Romania during 1941–1944 in the course of the

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

attack on the Soviet Union in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, until the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

captured it again in 1944. Soviet

annexation Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

of this territory was internationally recognized by the

Paris Peace Treaties The Paris Peace Treaties (french: Traités de Paris) were signed on 10 February 1947 following the end of World War II in 1945. The Paris Peace Conference lasted from 29 July until 15 October 1946. The victorious wartime Allied powers (princ ...

in 1947.

and

have signed and ratified a border agreement and are signatories of international treaties and alliances that denounce any territorial claims. Romanian organisations in the region consider Hertsa to be historically Romanian, detached from it by the Soviet Union in 1940 in violation of

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

. The correspondent of "New Region", Sergei Vulpe, with reference to the

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...

newspaper

Ziua ''Ziua'' (''The Day'' in Romanian) was a major Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest. It was published in Romanian with a fairly sizeable and often informative English section. ''Ziua'' was founded in 1994 by Sorin Roşca Stănescu, eve ...

reported on April 17, 2008 that the

President of Romania The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An indi ...

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 ...

, stated that if Ukraine wants to annex

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

, then they should return

Southern Bessarabia Southern Bessarabia or South Bessarabia is a territory of Bessarabia which, as a result of the Crimean War, was returned to the Moldavian Principality in 1856. As a result of the unification of the latter with Wallachia, these lands became part ...

(

Budjak Budjak or Budzhak ( Bulgarian and Ukrainian: Буджак; ro, Bugeac; Gagauz and Turkish: ''Bucak''), historically part of Bessarabia until 1812, is a historical region in Ukraine and Moldova. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danu ...

) and northern

Bukovina Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter Berge ...

(

that includes the Hertsa region) to

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistri ...

References

External links

* (Hertsa region Romanian organization protests against Ukrainian changes to its status as a raion.) * (One of the original authors of the Ukrainian Constitution speaks about the Hertsa region.) {{coord missing, Ukraine Moldavia Geography of Chernivtsi Oblast Historical regions in Ukraine Romanian-speaking countries and territories Romanian diaspora in Ukraine Romania–Soviet Union relations Romania–Ukraine border Territorial disputes of the Soviet Union

History

See also

References

External links