Symbolic Changes in the Space of the City: Address Urbanonyms of Khmelnytskyi in the XX Century

Abstract

Symbols are a significant resource in preserving historical memory. Influencing the consciousness of people, they contribute to the unity of different ways of life, worldview values and individual human experience. In the complex nature of symbols ideological, educational and spiritual potential lies, taking into account a culture of memory formed. The names of the streets of Khmelnitsky city in the twentieth century received an ideological connotation and wer e intended to fulfill the function of demonstrating the symbolic strength of Soviet power. Many streets of the city were named after a certain person. The symbolic marking of the streets of Khmelnitsky is significantly focused on the militarist component. In such conditions, the symbolic image of the city lost its uniqueness, acquired universal features that were inherent in many average Ukrainian cities of the Soviet period. An analysis of the symbolism of the modern city of Khmelnytskyi testifies to significant shifts towards the democratization of this process and the ideological decolonization of the toponymic system of verbal markers. Historical amnesia remained virtually unchanged in relation to the multicultural issues of Khmelnytskyi in the past.