Status of the Ukrainians of the Northern Bukovyna and the Northern Bessarabia Under the Conditions of the Dictatorship of Ion Antonesku of 1941–1944 (According to the Documents of the State Archives of Chernivtsi Region)

The purpose of the article is to analyze and introduce to the scientific circulation documents of the State Archives of Chernivtsi region, which highlight the issues of Ukrainian territories in the policy of the Romanian Kingdom and the status of Ukrainian population of Northern Bukovyna and Northern Bessarabia under the conditions of the dictatorship of Ion Antonescu of 1941–1944. The research methodology is based on the application of the principles of historicism and scientific objectivity, the use of general scientific methods (analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction), as well as special historical methods, first of all, specific research methods. The scientific novelty. The article publishes for the first time the documents of the State Archives of Chernivtsi region, translated from Romanian, which provide clear examples of the restriction of the rights of Ukrainian population of Northern Bukovyna and Northern Bessarabia by the military dictatorship of Romania. These documentary materials are significantly complemented by the works of ideologists of the Romanian Kingdom, which reflect the anti-Ukrainian nature of Romanian policy. Prospects for further researches should be seen in a comprehensive study of the processes of denationalization of Ukrainian population of the present-day Chernivtsi region both during World War II and in the interwar period, because the consequences of this policy are felt even today, during the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine. Conclusions. Documents discovered in the State Archives of Chernivtsi region allow us to get a clearer picture of the life of Ukrainians from Bukovyna and Bessarabia in conditions of total denial of their national and cultural rights as «Romanians who forgot their native Romanian language». Total control over all manifestations of everyday life, from the choice of the language of education in primary school to the possibility of obtaining the right to lease land, created conditions under which the life of ethnic Ukrainians of Northern Bukovyna and Northern Bessarabia was extremely difficult.