200px, Church in the village Bilozirka ( uk, Білозірка; pl, Białozórka; uk, Білозірка; yi, בילעזערקע, Bilezerke), also called Belozërka (russian: Белозирка), is a village in

Kremenets Raion Kremenets Raion ( uk, Кременецький район) is a raion (district) in Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine. The administrative center is the city of Kremenets. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukra ...

Ternopil Oblast Ternopil Oblast ( uk, Тернопі́льська о́бласть, translit=Ternopilska oblast; also referred to as Ternopilshchyna, uk, Терно́пільщина, label=none, or Ternopillia, uk, Тернопілля, label=none) is an obl ...

in western

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. It belongs to

Lanivtsi urban hromada Lanivtsi urban territorial hromada ( uk, Лановецька територіальна громада, translit=Lanovetska miska terytorialna hromada) is a hromada in Ukraine, in Kremenets Raion of Ternopil Oblast. The administrative center i ...

, one of the

hromada A hromada ( uk, територіальна громада, lit=territorial community, translit=terytorialna hromada) is a basic unit of administrative division in Ukraine, similar to a municipality. It was established by the Government of Ukra ...

s of Ukraine.

History

Bilozirka has been documented as a settlement since 1545. It was in an area where rule changed over the centuries.

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

Jews settled here beginning in the early 18th century, when it was part of the Russian Empire.Yad Vashem, "Bialozorka", ''The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: A-J''
New York: NYU Press, 2001, p. 138 In 1900, the

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

population was 1,070, and the total village population was about 2500."Belozërka"
, JewishGen Many Jewish communities, known as ''

shtetl A shtetl or shtetel (; yi, שטעטל, translit=shtetl (singular); שטעטלעך, romanized: ''shtetlekh'' (plural)) is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before ...

s,'' were within 8 to 26 miles of Bilozirka. Numerous Jews emigrated to the United States in the early 20th century, up until about 1921. During the 1920s, more than 100 Jews migrated to Palestine. By the late 1920s, Jews numbered 874, among a total village population of 2,331. In July 1941, during World War II, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, including this village and region. Its forces occupied the village. In the first week of occupation, Nazi forces murdered several Jewish girls of the village. Soon, the Germans created a

Judenrat A ''Judenrat'' (, "Jewish council") was a World War II administrative agency imposed by Nazi Germany on Jewish communities across occupied Europe, principally within the Nazi ghettos. The Germans required Jews to form a ''Judenrat'' in every com ...

, who were ordered to collect and transfer ransom payments to them. On February 28, 1942, the Jews of the city were taken to the Lanowce

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

, where they were used in forced labor. On August 13–14, 1942, the Germans murdered nearly all of the Jews from the ghetto in mass executions. About 20 Jews of the city survived the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. Until 18 July 2020, Bilozirka belonged to

Lanivtsi Raion Lanivtsi Raion ( uk, Лановецький район) was a raion in Ternopil Oblast in western Ukraine. Its administrative center was Lanivtsi. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduc ...

. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Ternopil Oblast to three. The area of Lanivtsi Raion was merged into Kremenets Raion.

Administration

References

Bilozirka profile at Verkhovna Rada website

History

Administration

References

Further reading