Donetsk
Donetsk, since 1987 our twin town in the now independent Ukraine, is considerably larger than Bochum, both in area and population. With some 1.2 million residents, it is the fourth largest city in the Ukraine after the capital Kiev, Charkow, and Odessa.
It is located in one of the continent's vast steppe landscapes, but is surrounded by hills, forests and lakes. The popular Sea of Asov, the northern tip of the Black Sea, is about a hundred kilometres away, and the distance between Donetsk and Kiev is 700 kilometres. Because of its extraordinary show of flowers, Donetsk has been dubbed the "city of a million roses".
Bochum's twin town does not, however, have a long history. It was not founded until 1869 and was first named "Jusowka" after its Welsh founder John Hughes. It was later given the name Stalino, and since 1961 has been known as Donetsk. UNESCO lists Donetsk, which covers over 358 square kilometres compared to Bochum's 145, among the world's ten greenest cities, a fact that has earned it a much coveted UNO award. Statistically, there are over 16 square metres of green space for every resident. This includes the Botanical Garden which has a large and extremely diverse collection of plants. Donetsk is not only a young city from a historical perspective; one-half the population is under 35 years of age.
About 40 per cent of the city's population is of Ukrainian origin, an equally large share is Russian. The remainder is made up of many different ethnic groups from the former Soviet Union and other countries (mainly Greeks, Cubans, Arabs). Donetsk comprises nine districts and is administrated, rather like Germany, by district authorities. The city council, equivalent to the German city council, is elected directly by the people for four years. Donetsk is the largest city in the Donets Basin region, or Donbass, one of the world's largest coal-mining areas.
More than 20 million tons of coal are mined per year in the Donbass,where some of the world's largest mines are in operation. Apart frommining and the steel industry, which produces and exports about 100kinds of steel, Donetsk has a further 150 manufacturing plants,including textiles, furniture and mechanical engineering. The Ukraine'slargest toy factory is also located here. The city is home to several universities, six institutes of higher education, a military academy, several vocational schools,and 50 research institutes where some 200,000 students, teachers, andscientists study and work. Culture, too, plays a prominent role inDonetsk, with an opera and ballet, civic theatre, children's theatreand puppet theatre, and philharmonic orchestra. There is also a circuswhich performs almost daily in a purpose-built arena. The city has 65so-called "cultural palaces" and clubs, dozens of cinemas and 500libraries as well as a local history museum and an art museum. Churchbuildings are not a feature of the Donetsk cityscape, but there areseveral Russian Orthodox communities in the area today. They meet innormal residential buildings which are recognisable only by a cross onthe outside. There is also a Jewish and a Greek (Orthodox) community. Alarge number of modern sports facilities and training centres havehelped to produce such exceptional athletes as Sergei Bubka, many timespole-volt world champion and world record holder. The city has severalhotels most of which are located in the city centre.
A popular leisure-time destination for the people of Donetsk apart fromthe Asov Sea is the resort of Slavjanogorsk, which is some 150 km tothe north. Just outside the town an attractive recreation area has beenestablished on the banks of a river with hotels and holiday camps aswell as convalescent homes.
