Hertsa

Hertsa or Hertza (Герца ; Herța ) is a city located in Chernivtsi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast in western Ukraine and has a population of

The town is located close to the border with Romania, 28 km southeast of Chernivtsi and 21 km north of Dorohoi. Until 2020, it was the smallest raion administrative center in Ukraine.

History
The Hertsa region were part of the Moldavia historical region (administratively in Dorohoi County). In 1859, Moldavia united with Wallachia, forming the United Principalities of Moldavia and Walachia, which after the Romanian War of Independence, became the Kingdom of Romania, with Hertsa being incorporated into the Dorohoi County, and then into Ținutul Suceava.

In June 1940, it was occupied by the Soviet Union together with Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia, although this territory was not mentioned in the Soviet ultimatum or in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, being an integral part of the Old Kingdom. The Red Army also occupied this land, probably due to its strategic position over the city of Cernăuți and attached it to the Ukrainian SSR. The Romanian Army liberated the region in June 1941, during the first days of Operation Barbarossa. In August 1944, the Soviet Union reoccupied the city during the Second Jassy–Kishinev offensive.

From 1962 until December 1991 Hertsa was part of Hlyboka Raion. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it has been part of independent Ukraine. Until 18 July 2020, Hertsa served as an administrative center of Hertsa Raion. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Chernivtsi Oblast to three. The area of Hertsa Raion was merged into Chernivtsi Raion.

Demographics
In 1969, Hertsa had 1,500 inhabitants. In January 1989, the population was 2,360 people, while in January 2013, the population was 2,122 people.

As of 2001, the majority of the inhabitants (71.18%) identified themselves as Romanians, 17.88% as Ukrainians, 6.35% as Russians and 3.4% as Moldovans. According to the 2001 census, the majority of the population of Herța was Romanian-speaking (70.79%), with Ukrainian (17.98%) and Russian (10.89%) speakers in the minority. In the last Soviet census of 1989, out of 2,122 inhabitants, 409 declared themselves Ukrainians (14.27%), 1,327 Romanians (62.54%), 116 Moldovans (5.47%), and 222 Russians (10.46%). The decline in the number and proportion of Moldovans was explained by a switch from a census Moldovan to a census Romanian ethnic identity, and has continued after the 2001 census.

Notable people

 * Gheorghe Asachi (1788–1869), Moldavian and later Romanian prose writer, poet, painter, historian, dramatist, engineer, and translator
 * Herman Finer (1898–1969), Jewish Romanian-born British political scientist and Fabian socialist
 * Moisei Goldblat (1896–1974), Jewish Romanian-born actor and director
 * Lucas Gridoux (1896–1952), Romanian-born French stage and film actor