| Page Views: 1,617 Last Visit to Roven'ki: December, 2008 I Visit Here Frequently | Rovenki Revisited by hunterV - last update: Nov 4, 2009  |
| Dzerzhinsky Street, Rovenki, Ukraine |
|  | Always Another Chance I visited this city before, but I have never spent four days in the city, like I did last time. I was there in 1998 with my Austrian friends who had come to Rovenki before within the framework of their historical research on forced labor in Germany during the Second World War. My friend Margarethe, a historian and a teacher, wrote a book about the fate of the Ukrainian “Ostarbeiter” - Ukrainian teenagers who were deported to Germany in 1942 to work in what is now Vorarlberg, Austria. In April 2007 my Austrian friends invited me to work with them again visiting those veterans who used to work in Austria during the war. So I had another chance of staying in Rovenki, this time for four days. In December 2008 my Austrian friends came to Rovenki again and the meeting was not without my help as an interpreter.
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| Downtown Rovenki, Luhansk region, Ukraine |
Industrial Center of Luhansk Region Rovenki is not far from Luhansk – just an hour’s drive by bus - about 60 km (37 miles) to the southeast. The city occupies a large area together with its numerous suburbs - ten small coalminers’ settlements and fourteen villages– 217 sq.km (about 84 sq.mi), a little less than the territory of Luhansk. About 100,000 inhabitants live in Rovenki with all its suburbs, among them about 87,000 residents live in the city itself. The official data of the city council says the average age of the residents is 40 years old. The city’s industrial base includes 27 enterprises, 9 construction enterprises, 180 small businesses and about 2,000 private entrepreneurs. There are seven coalmines in the city. Some more information about the city on the Internet is only in Russian: Information and communication center of Rovenki; ”Svetilen” Orthodox Journal of the Southeast of Ukraine Photos of Rovenki Dozens of photos of Rovenki Rovenki News |
Memories of the Last War Rovenki was mentioned for the first time in 1705. There were two settlements of Russian Don Cossacks on the territory of the present city: Novy Aydar and Ossinovy Rovenyok. Then it was mentioned as Ossinovy Rovenyok or simply Rovenyok. The city has always been famous for its coalmining enterprises (seven coalmines) and “Young Guards” memorial. The Young Guards war memorial is called “Slava” ("Glory") Memorial Complex. It was dedicated in December 1982. It was a must for many Soviet schoolchildren to visit that city to pay tribute to the heroic deeds of “Young Guards” underground organization that consisted of young people who had remained in the city during the Nazi occupation in 1942 and conducted a lot of subversive activities against the invaders. They were arrested and executed in January 1943 in Rovenki. The tomb of their leaders was a place of pilgrimage of Young Communist League members during Soviet times and is visited by school children and young people from all over Luhansk region and from Ukraine and Russia.
|  | | Young Guards memorial, Rovenki, Ukraine |
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| Pros: | "Lots of Soviet monuments and memorials; the biggest number of operating coalmines in the region" | | Cons: | "The roads and pavements leave much to be desired…" | | In A Nutshell: | "Friendly Coalminers’ City" |
hunterV's Roven'ki Travel Tips
hunterV's Roven'ki Travelogues | | | |
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Comments for hunterV about Roven'ki | | | | |
PierreZA Sun Nov 1, 2009 15:07 UTC Hi Victor, I took the step and bought the Lonely Planet - Ukraine. You write such good pages. | mvtouring Sun Jul 5, 2009 19:37 UTC Some very interesting accommodation tips you have here. Thanks for all the research you do to put into your tips ;-) | BruceDunning Mon Jun 15, 2009 15:52 UTC I really liked your pictures and the internet links were most interesting. Good job my friend | jumpingnorman Mon May 25, 2009 18:56 UTC Love the Ms. Rovenki pics - ooh lala...and great war memorial tips and also on that black stone memorial for Cosmonaut Shonin --- thanks for sharing that story... |
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