Danubius International Conferences, 10th International Conference The Danube - Axis of European Identity

Nomen est Omen: Sociolinguistic Characteristics of the Bessarabian “Helvetianopolis”

Olga Kudinova
Last modified: 2020-06-18

Abstract

The existence of "Helvetianopolis" in Bessarabia is a unique fact in Swiss and Ukrainian history, which has not yet been reflected in Ukrainian textbooks or in extensive linguistic and cultural research. Today, it is necessary to indicate that only a small number of Bessarabian scholars know the history of the residence of French-speaking Swiss in their region. Most of the inhabitants of Bessarabia, especially young people, are not aware of important role of Swiss specialists, which, having left Switzerland in 1822, founded a colony on the Black Sea, not far from Odessa, in the development of bessarabian lands. This article is intended to partially fill the above gap in the Ukrainian research continuum.