Balta ( uk, Ба́лта, ; ro, Balta; yi, באַלטאַ) is a city in Podilsk Raion, Odesa Oblast in south-western Ukraine. Population: The city's population was 19,772 as of the

2001 Ukrainian Census The Ukrainian Census of 2001 is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.

History

Balta is located near the

Dniester River The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...

border with Moldova. First mentions of Balta go all the way to 1526. Until 1792 Balta was part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1797 two nearby towns; Yuzefhrad (Юзефград, pl, Józefgród, until 1793 part of Poland) and Yelensk (Еленськ), were added to the city. It is located in the historic Podolia region of Ukraine. According to the

Russian census of 1897 The first general census of the population of the Russian Empire in 1897 (Russian alphabet#Letters eliminated in 1917–18, pre-reform Russian: ) was the first and only nation-wide census performed in the Russian Empire (the Grand Duchy of Fi ...

, with a population of 23,363 it was the fourth largest city of Podolia after Kamianets-Podilskyi, Uman and Vinnytsia. In 1900, the city's Jewish population numbered 13,235.

Pogroms A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russian ...

occurred in Balta in 1882 and 1905. From 1924–1929, the city was the capital of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. With the annexation of Bessarabia in 1940, Balta became a part of the Odessa Oblast of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. It was occupied by German and Romanian troops on 5 August 1941 and became part of Transnistria Governorate in Kingdom of Romania until its liberation on 29 March 1944 by Red Army. Until 2016, Balta was part of Balta Raion. On 4 February 2016, it was designated the city of oblast significance but remained the administrative center of the raion.

People from Balta

Aryeh Altman Aryeh Altman ( he, אריה אלטמן, 6 January 1902 – 21 August 1982) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Herut and Gahal between 1951 and 1965. Biography Born in Balta in the Russian Empire (today in Ukr ...

, Israeli politician * Yuly Aykhenvald, Ukrainian Jewish literary

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

* Zellig Harris,

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

linguist, mathematical syntactician, and methodologist of science * Vsevolod Holubovych, Prime Minister of the Ukrainian People's Republic * Grigori Panteleimonov, Russian sport shooter who competed in the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, be ...

* Aryeh Leib Schochet,

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

* Samuel (Sholem) Schwarzbard, (1886–1938), Yiddish poet, watchmaker, soldier, anarchist; grew up in Balta * Louis E. Stern (b. 08/27/1886 d. 01/11/1962), American International Lawyer, patron and friend of Chagall, Picasso, Klee and Miro, collection left to Philadelphia Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Cities in Odesa Oblast Bratslav Voivodeship Baltsky Uyezd Shtetls Cities in Podilsk Raion Balta Hromada