Wednesday, July 27, 2016

How "Empty" Street Became "Lutheran" Street

Berdyansk, Ukraine
  Now there is one more "Lutheran" street in the world!… A street with such a name appeared in the city of Berdyansk of the Zaporozhskaya oblast. On the 25th of January a government committee  voted to change the names of 70 streets in this coastal city; all of their previous names were tied with the communist past. One of these streets had previously been called “Pustaya” (“Empty”) though from 1921 on it was named “Gorbenko” after early communist leaders in the city. Now there is a reminder to everyone that the city is a home to historic “kirche” thanks to the street being renamed “Lutheran.” The Lutheran Church of Christ the Savior was built from 1901-1903 together with a congregational hall and a German Lutheran school, dedicated on September 26, 1903. After the church was closed in the 1930s the church and the school became the home of a primary school and then a part of the teacher's university. The current church council president of the Brynsk congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ukraine, Arthur Kozhevniko, went to classes there when he was a student.  
  The kirche was returned to the congregation in 2007. Today the building is under reconstruction. Not long ago the congregation began to meet in the kirche again, though only during the warm months of the year. On March 1st a representative of the German cultural center “Freundschaft” installed a sign with the new name of the street. Now you can read “вул. Лютеранська“ there. 

No comments:

Post a Comment