Chortkiv ( uk, Чортків; pl, Czortków; yi, ''Chortkov'') is a city in Chortkiv Raion,

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 ...

(

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

) 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 is the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of the Chortkiv Raion (

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

), housing the district's local administration buildings. Chortkiv hosts the administration of

Chortkiv urban hromada Chortkiv ( uk, Чортків; pl, Czortków; yi, ''Chortkov'') is a city in Chortkiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast (Oblast, province) in western Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of the Chortkiv Raion (Raion, district), housing ...

, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: Chortkiv is located in the northern part of the historic region of Galician

Podolia Podolia or Podilia ( uk, Поділля, Podillia, ; russian: Подолье, Podolye; ro, Podolia; pl, Podole; german: Podolien; be, Падолле, Padollie; lt, Podolė), is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the west-central ...

on the banks of the

Seret River The Seret (Ukrainian: Серéт) is the left tributary of the Dniester that flows through the Ternopil Oblast of Ukraine. It is long and its basin area is .Hasidic

Jew 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""T ...

s; it was a notable

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 ...

and had a significant number of

s residing there prior to 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; ...

. Today, Chortkiv is a regional commercial and small-scale manufacturing center. Among its architectural monuments is a fortress built in the 16th and 17th centuries as well as historic wooden churches of the 17th and 18th centuries.

History

The first historical mention of Chortkiv dates to 1522, when Polish King Sigismund I the Old granted an ownership order for Jerzy Czortkowski over the town and allowed him to name it after himself—''Czortków''. The small community, numbering at 50 families, were almost all massacred during the Chmielnicki Uprisings of 1648–9. Jewish leadership opposed the resettlement of Jews in Chortkiv until 1705. During that time, the town was also granted

Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within ...

. However, Chortkiv would later decline in the second half of the 17th century during Ottoman Expansion of central Europe. The town was taken over by

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, whose rule lasted 27 years. It was part of the short-lived Turkish

Podolia Eyalet Podolia Eyalet ( ota, Eyalet-i Kamaniçe) was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. Its capital was Kamianets-Podilskyi ( pl, Kamieniec Podolski; ua, Кам’янець-Подільський; tr, Kamaniçe). History In 1672, the Ottoman army, led ...

, which lasted from 1672 to 1699. During this period, it was nahiya centre in Yazlofça sanjak as ''Çortkuv'' (Spelled as ''Chortkoov'' in Turkish). After First Partition of Poland Chortkiv came under Austro-Hungarian rule which lasted from 1772 to 1918, during the time of which it was the center of the Chortkiv

Bezirk The German term ''Bezirk'' (plural ''Bezirke'', derived from la, circulus, "circle") translated as "district" can refer to the following types of administrative divisions: * ''Stadtbezirk'', a subdivision of a city in the sense of a borough (e. ...

except brief

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

rule between 1809 and 1815 as part of Tarnopol Governorate. On June 8, 1919 the

Ukrainian Galician Army Ukrainian Galician Army ( uk, Українська Галицька Армія, translit=Ukrayins’ka Halyts’ka Armiya, UHA), was the Ukrainian military of the West Ukrainian National Republic during and after the Polish-Ukrainian War. It w ...

broke for couple months through the Polish front at Chortkiv and began the Chortkiv offensive. Soon afterwards, the town was seized by the Poles. It was ceded to sovereign Poland in the Peace Treaty of Riga between Poland, Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus) and Soviet Ukraine, and remained part of the

Tarnopol Voivodeship Tarnopol Voivodeship ( pl, Województwo tarnopolskie) was an administrative region of interwar Poland (1918–1939), created on 23 December 1920, with an area of 16,500 km² and provincial capital in Tarnopol (now ''Ternopil'', Ukraine). The voi ...

of the Second Polish Republic until the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subs ...

in September 1939. In 1931, the town had 19,037 inhabitants, 10504 were

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

Roman Catholics, 4860 were Ukrainian and Polish

Jews 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 ...

, and 3633 were Ukrainian. Chortkiv was an important garrison of the Polish

Border Defence Corps The Border Protection Corps ( pl, Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza, KOP) was a military formation of the Second Polish Republic that was created in 1924 to defend the country's eastern borders against armed Soviet incursions and local bandits. Other ...

Brigade "Podole", whose commandant from 1935 to 1938 was General Stefan Rowecki. Furthermore, it was home to the 36th Reserve Infantry Division. The town was annexed by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

from September 17, 1939 until June 1941. Its Polish inhabitants, particularly students of the local high school, organized a failed uprising in January 1940, which would serve as the first Polish uprising of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. From 1941-1944 it was annexed to Nazi Germany. After the defeat of the Nazis by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

in 1944, the town returned to Soviet control until in 1991 it became part of independent

. The Jewish residents were persecuted and deported as part of

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; ...

. The surviving Polish residents of the town were transferred to the

Recovered Territories The Recovered Territories or Regained Lands ( pl, Ziemie Odzyskane), also known as Western Borderlands ( pl, Kresy Zachodnie), and previously as Western and Northern Territories ( pl, Ziemie Zachodnie i Północne), Postulated Territories ( pl, Z ...

in the immediate postwar period (see

Polish population transfers (1944–1946) The Polish population transfers in 1944–1946 from the eastern half of prewar Poland (also known as the expulsions of Poles from the Kresy macroregion), were the forced migrations of Poles toward the end and in the aftermath of World War II. ...

). Due to heavy destruction of

Ternopil Ternópil ( uk, Тернопіль, Ternopil' ; pl, Tarnopol; yi, טאַרנאָפּל, Tarnopl, or ; he, טארנופול (טַרְנוֹפּוֹל), Tarnopol; german: Tarnopol) is a city in the west of Ukraine. Administratively, Ternopi ...

, in 1944 Chortkiv served as a regional seat.Snitovsky, O.
Five centuries of Ternopil. The city of Hetman Jan and mason Leontiy
'.

Ukrinform The National News Agency of Ukraine ( uk, Українське національне інформаційне агентство), or Ukrinform ( uk, Укрінформ), is a state information and news agency, and international broadcaster of ...

. 28 August 2015 In January 1989 the population was 26 681 people.Чортков // Большой энциклопедический словарь (в 2-х тт.). / редколл., гл. ред. А. М. Прохоров. том 2. М., "Советская энциклопедия", 1991. In January 2013 the population was 29 640 people. In 2019, at the 40-meter height of the tower of the

Saint Stanislaus church in Chortkiv Saint Stanislaus church ( uk, Костел святого Станіслава) is a Roman Catholic Church (RCC) in Chortkiv of the Chortkiv urban hromada of the Chortkiv Raion of the Ternopil Oblast. History On February 22, 1610, the Rus' v ...

, archaeologist, researcher of fortifications and antiquities

Volodymyr Dobrianskyi Volodymyr Dobrianskyi ( uk, Володимир Добрянський, born December 12, 1966, in Horodok) is a Ukrainian scientist, archaeologist, historian, speleologist, and researcher of antiquities, fortifications and toponymy. He be ...

discovered a detonator of a shrapnel projectile, according to its flight trajectory determined that the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 7th cannon regiments (64 guns) under the command of Ataman Kirill Karas during the Chortkiv offensive (June 7–28, 1919) were stationed in the woods west of the village of Shmankivtsi in the Chortkiv district. Until 18 July 2020, Chortkiv was designated as a city of oblast significance and did not belong to Chortkiv Raion even though it was the center of the raion. As part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Ternopil Oblast to three, the city was merged into Chortkiv Raion. The former

Chortkiv Air Base Chortkiv Air Base is a former Ukrainian Air Force installation located in Chortkiv, Chortkiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine. In December 1954 the 236th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment (APIB) arrived, and was present until August 1984. Formed p ...

is located nearby.

Climate

People from Chortkiv

Kateryna Rubchakova Kateryna is a Ukrainian form (transliteration) of Hellenic name Katherine. It may refer to: *Kateryna Bondarenko (born 1986), professional female tennis player from Ukraine * Kateryna Grygorenko (born 1985), Ukrainian cross country skier who has c ...

(1881–1919), Ukrainian actress and singer * Maria Maciyivska (born 1918), first soprano Leeds Church Toronto, Ontario 1954 - 2008. * Sacha Blonder () (1909-1949), Ecole de Paris painter * Waclaw Czerwinski - Polish engineer and pilot, pioneer of Polish gliding, * Jerzy Czortkowski, founder of Chortkiv *

Bernard Hausner Bernard Hausner (March 11, 1874 – August 8, 1938) was a Polish rabbi, politician, and diplomat. Life Hausner was born on March 11, 1874 in Chortkiv, Galicia, Austria-Hungary, the son of Shlomo and Tsherna Hausner. Hausner became an active Zion ...

(1874–1938), rabbi, diplomat and member of the Sejm * Pinchas Horowitz (1731–1805),

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 of ...

and

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

ist * Jerzy Janicki (1928-2007) – Polish writer and reporter, * Edward Kmiecik (born 1928) - Polish painter, * Ireneusz Opacki (1933-2005) – academic of the Katowice Silesian University, expert on Polish literature, *

Jerzy Przystawa Jerzy is the Polish version of the masculine given name George. The most common nickname for Jerzy is Jurek (), which may also be used as an official first name. Occasionally the nickname Jerzyk may be used, which means "swift" in Polish. Peopl ...

(born 1939) - Polish scientist, physicist, * Alfred Trawinski - major of the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...

, doctor and professor of Medicine Academy of Lviv, * Tadeusz Wazewski (1896-1972) – Polish scholar, mathematician, professor of Jagiellonian University, * Shmelke of Nikolsburg (1746–1778), one of the great early Chasidic

Rebbe A Rebbe ( yi, רבי, translit=rebe) or Admor ( he, אדמו״ר) is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spiritua ...

s *

Karl Emil Franzos Karl Emil Franzos (25 October 184828 January 1904) was a popular Austrian novelist of the late 19th century. His works, both reportage and fiction, concentrate on the multi-ethnic corner of Galicia, Podolia and Bukovina, now largely in western U ...

(1848–1904),

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n novelist * Leopold Levytskyi (1906–1973), Ukrainian painter * Perla (Penina) Richter Feldschu (1900-1943), Warsaw musicologist, wife of Zionist activist Ruben Feldschu (Ben Shem)Laurence Weinbaum "'Shaking the Dust Off". The Story of the Warsaw Ghetto’s Forgotten Chronicler, Ruben Feldschu (Ben Shem)" Jewish Political Studies Review 22:3-4 (Fall 2010)
/ref> * Bernard (Berl) Hausner (1874-1938) father of Gideon Hausner. Gideon was the Prosecutor of Adolf Eichmann, and Attorney General of Israel. Bernard was a Rabbi in Lemberg, Polish consul to Palestine, and Zionist. Migrated to Israel in 1927.

Gallery

File:Ратуша, Чортків.jpg, Town hall File:Чортков. Новая ратуша..jpg, City hall File:Чортків4497.jpg, Assumption Church in Chortkiv File:Чортков. Бывший Дворец юстиции..jpg, Historic county court building File:Chortkiv Polkova church.JPG, Ruins of Chortkiv Castle and Regimental Church File:St Stanislav Church in Chortkiv.jpg, St. Stanislaus Church File:Chortkiv Synagogue.JPG, Hasidic synagogue of Chortkiv File:Chortkiv Railway Station.JPG, Railway station File:Чортков. Дом Культуры..jpg, Chortkiv House of Culture File:Chortkiv-stara-ratusha-10081392.jpg, City centre and the old Town Hall in Chortkiv File:Чортків спортивний (1938 рік).jpg, Football Match at Stadium in the city Chortkiv, 1938 File:Полкова церква P1190065.jpg, Peter and Paul Cathedral

References

8. Czortków KehilaLinks Site - JewishGen http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Suchostaw/sl_czortkow.htm

External links