Zinovyevo

Zinovyevo was a town and the former name of Kropyvnytskyi, a city in central Ukraine. The city was named Zinovyevo between 1924 and 1934 in honor of Grigory Zinoviev, a prominent Bolshevik revolutionary.

History:

The renaming occurred shortly after the death of Vladimir Lenin and was part of a broader trend of naming cities and towns after prominent Soviet leaders. Grigory Zinoviev, although later purged by Stalin, was at the time considered a leading figure in the Soviet Union.

However, following Zinoviev's political downfall and execution in 1936, the name Zinovyevo was deemed inappropriate. In 1934, the city was renamed Kirovo, after Sergei Kirov.

After Ukraine gained independence in 1991, there were several attempts to rename the city. Eventually, in 2016, as part of decommunization laws, Kirovo was renamed Kropyvnytskyi in honor of Marko Kropyvnytskyi, a Ukrainian playwright and actor who was born nearby.

Significance:

The name Zinovyevo and its subsequent changes reflect the shifting political landscape of the Soviet Union and, later, independent Ukraine. The various names given to the city highlight the changing ideologies and political figures that held sway at different periods in history. The current name reflects a move towards embracing Ukrainian national identity and distancing from the Soviet past.