Historical photo: starting partnership with the city of Linz

This year, Zaporizhzhia is commemorating several anniversaries of city twinning. It has been 70 years of cooperation with the Finnish city of Lahti and 50 years with Birmingham, UK.

Furthermore, it was exactly 40 years ago that our city entered into a partnership agreement with the city of Linz, Austria.

Mr. Yurii Rozhko, who was as an interpreter at the meeting with the Austrian delegation in our city forty years ago, shared his memories of how the partnership with Linz began:

“…a delegation from Linz, led by Burgomaster Hugo Schanowsky, visited Zaporizhzhia. The agreement was signed by the already legendary Mayor Yalanskii on behalf of the Zaporizhzhia City Council.

There was also a cultural program, including visits to the regional library, as depicted in the enclosed photo. Hugo Schanowsky(with a bow tie) is on the left, followed by Yalanskii, the director of the regional library, and myself as the interpreter.”

We appreciate Mr. Yuri Rozhko for sharing these memories and the historical photo with us.

Moreover, we take pride in the fact that the friendship with our twin cities continues to thrive and strengthen. Linz, Lahti, and Birmingham – each in their own way – stay in touch with Zaporizhzhia today and support us as we face the challenges of the war.