Drohobycz County
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Drohobych ( uk, Дрого́бич, ; pl, Drohobycz; yi, דראָהאָביטש;) is a
city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
of regional significance in Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Drohobych Raion and hosts the administration of Drohobych urban hromada, 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. In 1939–1941 and 1944–1959 it was the center of Drohobych Oblast. The city was founded at the end of eleventh century as an important trading post and transport node between Kyiv Rus' and the lands to the West of Rus'. After extinction of the local Ruthenian dynasty and subsequent incorporation of the
Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia , conventional_long_name = Principality of Galicia–VolhyniaKingdom of Galicia–Volhynia , common_name = Galicia–Volhynia , status = Vassal state of the Golden Horde (from 1246) , era = Middle Ages , year_start = 1199 , year_end = 1349 , ...
into the
Polish Kingdom The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities *Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 *Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exist ...
by 1349, from the fifteenth century the city was developing as a mercantile and saltworks centre. Drohobych became part of the Habsburg Empire in 1772 after the first partition of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the mid-nineteenth century it became Europe's largest oil extraction center, which significantly contributed to its rapid development. In the renascent, interwar Poland it was the center of a county within the Lwów Voivodeship. In the outcome of World War II the city was incorporated into the Ukrainian part of the Soviet Union, which in 1991 became the independent Ukraine. The city was the birthplace of such well-known personalities like Elisabeth Bergner, Yuriy Drohobych (Kotermak), Ivan Franko and Bruno Schulz. The city has several oil refineries. The Drohobych saltworks are considered to be the oldest in Europe. The estimated population of the city is


Administrative status

As the administrative center of Drohobych Raion ( district), Drohobych itself is a city of oblast significance, subordinate directly to the ''oblast'' authorities, rather than to the ''raion'' administration located in the city itself.


History

While there are only legendary accounts of it, Drohobych probably existed in the Kievan Rus' period. According to a legend, there was a settlement, called ''Bych'', of salt-traders. When Bych was destroyed in a
Cumanian The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian exonym ), were a Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation. After the Mongol invasion (1237), many sough ...
raid, survivors rebuilt the settlement in a nearby location under its current name which means a ''Second Bych''. In the time of Kievan Rus', the Tustan fortress was built near Drohobych. However, scholars perceive this legend with skepticism, pointing out that Drohobych is a Polish pronunciation of Dorogobuzh, a common East Slavic toponym applied to three different towns in Kievan Rus'. The city was first mentioned in 1387 in the municipal records of Lviv, in connection with a man named Martin (or Marcin) of ''Drohobych''. Furthermore, the same chronicler's ''List of all Ruthenian cities, the farther and the near ones''А СЕ ИМЕНА ГРАДОМЪ ВСЂМЪ РУССКЫМЪ, ДАЛНИМЪ И БЛИЖНИМЪ
in
PSRL The Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles (, abbr. ''PSRL'') is a series of published volumes aimed at collecting all medieval East Slavic chronicles, with various editions published in Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, and Russian Federat ...
, Т. VII. Летопись по Воскресенскому списку. — СПб, 1856. — с. 240–41.
in
Voskresensky Chronicle Voskresensky (russian: Воскресенский; masculine), Voskresenskaya (; feminine), or Voskresenskoye (; neuter) may refer to: People *Alexander Voskresensky (1809–1880), Russian chemist *Vasily Voskresensky (1880–1951), Russian ballet ...
(dated 1377–82) mentions "Другабець" ''(Druhabets')'' among other cities in Volhynia that existed at the same time such as Холмъ ('' Kholm''), Лвовъ Великій ('' Lviv the Great''). In 1392 Polish king Vladislav II ordered the construction of the first Roman Catholic municipal parish church (Polish: ''Kosciół farny''), using the foundations of older Ruthenian buildings. In the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the city was the center of large rural
starostvo Starostwo (literally "elder (administrative title), eldership") ; be, староства, translit=starostva; german: Starostei is an administrative unit established from the 14th century in the Polish Crown and later in the Polish–Lithuania ...
(county within the
Ruthenian Voivodeship The Ruthenian Voivodeship (Latin: ''Palatinatus russiae'', Polish: ''Województwo ruskie'', Ukrainian: ''Руське воєводство'', romanized: ''Ruske voievodstvo''), also called Rus’ voivodeship, was a voivodeship of the Crown of ...
). Drohobych received Magdeburg rights some time in the 15th century (sources differ as to the exact year, some giving 1422 or 1460, or 1496 but in 1506 the rights were confirmed by King
Alexander the Jagiellonian Alexander Jagiellon ( pl, Aleksander Jagiellończyk, lt, Aleksandras Jogailaitis; 5 August 1461 – 19 August 1506) of the House of Jagiellon was the Grand Duke of Lithuania and later also King of Poland. He was the fourth son of Casimir IV Jagie ...
). The salt industry was significant in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. From the early seventeenth century, a
Ukrainian Catholic Ukrainian Catholic Church may refer to: * Latin Church in Ukraine * Greek Catholic Churches (Eastern Catholic communities of the Byzantine Rite, centered in Ukraine, in communion with the Church of Rome) ** Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church **Ukrai ...
brotherhood existed in the city. In 1648, during the
Khmelnytsky Uprising The Khmelnytsky Uprising,; in Ukraine known as Khmelʹnychchyna or uk, повстання Богдана Хмельницького; lt, Chmelnickio sukilimas; Belarusian language, Belarusian: Паўстанне Багдана Хмяльніц ...
, the Cossacks stormed the city and its cathedral. Most of the local Poles, as well as the Greek Catholics and the Jews, were murdered at the time, while some managed to survive in the
Bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
not taken in the raid. The 1772 partition of Poland gave the city to the
Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
. In the 19th century, significant oil resources were discovered in the area, making the city an important center of the oil and natural gas industries. After the World War I, the area became part of the short-lived independent West Ukrainian People's Republic (''Zakhidnoukrayins’ka Narodna Respublika''; ZUNR). The ZUNR was taken over by the
Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...
in the event of Polish–Ukrainian War and Drohobych became part of the Lwów Voivodeship in 1919. In 1928 the still extant Ukrainian private gymnasium (academically oriented secondary school) opened in the center of the city. The population reached some 40,000 in the late 1920s, and its oil refinery at
Polmin Polmin (English: State Factory of Mineral Oils, Polish: Państwowa Fabryka Olejów Mineralnych) was an interwar Polish petroleum company. The company was founded in 1909 and nationalized in 1927. Crude run in 1930 reached over 731 thousand barrels ...
became one of the biggest in Europe, employing 800 people. Numerous visitors came there to view the wooden Greek Catholic churches, among them the Church of St. Yur, which was regarded as the most beautiful such construction in the Second Polish Republic, with
fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
es from 1691. Drohobych was also a major sports center (see:
Junak Drohobycz Junak Drohobycz was a Polish Association football, football team, located in Drohobycz in the historic territory of the Kresy Wschodnie, Polish Eastern Borderlands, what is now Drohobych, Ukraine. The club was disbanded by the Soviet Union, Sov ...
). In September 1939, as a result of German and Soviet invasion of Poland the city was annexed to Soviet Ukraine when the territory of the interwar Poland was divided between the Nazi Germany and the USSR according to the Ribbentrop-Molotov agreement. After the invasion Nazi Germany wanted to incorporate the city into its
General Government The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...
as the result of its oil fields, but the USSR refused and annexed it. In Soviet Ukraine, Drohobych became the center of the Drohobych Oblast ( region). Its local Polish
boy scouts Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...
created the White Couriers organization, which in late 1939 and early 1940 smuggled hundreds of people from the Soviet Union to Hungary, across the Soviet-Hungarian border in the
Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
. In early July 1941, during the first weeks of the
Nazi invasion of the USSR Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after F ...
, the city was occupied by Nazi Germany. Pre-war Drohobych had a significant Jewish community of about 15,000 people, 40 % of the total population. Immediately after the Germans entered the city,
Ukrainian nationalists Ukrainian nationalism refers to the promotion of the unity of Ukrainians as a people and it also refers to the promotion of the identity of Ukraine as a nation state. The nation building that arose as nationalism grew following the French Revol ...
started a pogrom, lasting for three days, supported by the Wehrmacht. During 1942 there were several selections, deportations, and murders in the streets, again led out by German troops and
Ukrainian Auxiliary Police The ''Ukrainische Hilfspolizei'' or the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police ( ua, Українська допоміжна поліція, Ukrains'ka dopomizhna politsiia) was the official title of the local police formation (a type of hilfspolizei) set up b ...
. In October 1942,
Drohobych ghetto Drohobycz Ghetto or Drohobych Ghetto was a Nazi ghetto in the city of Drohobych in Western Ukraine during World War II. The ghetto was liquidated mainly between February and November 1942, when most Jews were deported to the Belzec exterminati ...
with approximately 10,000 people imprisoned was established, also with Jews brought from neighboring localities. In June 1943, the German administration and troops liquidated the ghetto, only 800 Jews from Drohobych survived.Israel Gutman u. a. (Hrsg.): ''Enzyklopädie des Holocaust''. München und Zürich 1995, , vol. 1, p. 371. On 6 August 1944, the German occupation ended with the Red Army entering the city. Despite the large Jewish population prior to the war, a current resident stated that he was one of only two Jews who came back to his village to live after the war. After the war, the city remained an oblast center until the Drohobych Oblast was incorporated into the Lviv Oblast in 1959. In Soviet times, Drohobych became an important industrial center of
Western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine ( uk, Західна Україна, Zakhidna Ukraina or , ) is the territory of Ukraine linked to the former Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austria ...
with highly developed oil-refining, machine building, woodworking, food, and light industries. Until 18 July 2020, Drohobych was designated as a city of oblast significance and belonged to
Drohobych Municipality Drohobych ( uk, Дрого́бич, ; pl, Drohobycz; yi, דראָהאָביטש;) is a city of regional significance in Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Drohobych Raion and hosts the administration of Drohobych urban hro ...
but not to Drohobych 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 Lviv Oblast to seven, Drohobych Municipality was merged into Drohobych Raion.


Demographics

The population of Drohobych over the years was: *1931 – 32,300 *1959 – 42,000 *1978 – 65,998 *1989 – 77,571 *2001 – 79,119 *2010 – 78,368 *2022 – 73,682


Drohobych district

In 1931, the total population of the Drohobych district was 194,456, distributed among various languages: *Polish: 91,935 (47.3%) *Ukrainian: 79,214 (40.7%) *Yiddish: 20,484 (10.5%) In January 2007, the total population of the metropolitan area was over 103,000 inhabitants.


Climate


Economy

Industries currently based in the city include oil-refineries, chemicals,
machinery A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecule ...
,
metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
, and
food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industr ...
.


Sights

*
St. George's Church, Drohobych St. George's Church in Drohobych is one of the oldest and best preserved timber churches of Galicia. The church is a monument of Galician wooden architecture of the late 15th – early 16th centuries, one of the best preserved and one of the bes ...
(c. 1500) *
St. Bartholomew Church, Drohobych ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...
(1392–16th century) *its bell tower, former castle tower (late 13th century and 15th century) *
Ascension Church, Drohobych Ascension or ascending may refer to: Religion * "Ascension", "Assumption", or "Translation", the belief in some religions that some individuals have Entering heaven alive, ascended into Heaven without dying first * Ascension of Jesus * Feast o ...
(late 15th century) *
Holy Cross Church, Drohobych Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...
(early 16th century) * Choral Synagogue (1842–1865) *
Progressive Synagogue, Drohobych Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...
*
City Hall, Drohobych A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
(1920s) *
St. Peter's and Paul's Monastery, Drohobych ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...
*
Drohobych Museum Museum Drohobychchyna (officially known as Drohobych Museum of Local Studies or The Drohobych Museum of Local Lore, commonly called the Drohobych Museum) is a museum in Drohobych, Ukraine, is a major cultural and educational centre of the Lviv ...
File:Drohobych - church.jpg, St. George's Church, 16th–17th centuries Дрогобыч. Церковь Воздвижения Честного Креста..jpg, Church of the Holy Cross, 1613–1661 File:Костел Вознесіння Господнього, вул.Т.Шевченка,1, м.Дрогобич.JPG,
Brick Gothic Brick Gothic (german: Backsteingotik, pl, Gotyk ceglany, nl, Baksteengotiek) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resourc ...
St-Bartholomew Church (14th–16th centuries) and its bell tower File:Дрогобич - Ратуша-1.jpg, Town Hall Drohobych2.JPG, Basilian monastery of Saints Peter and Paul, 1825–1828 Pohribets.jpg, A historic building in Drohobych Drohobycz ulica stryjska 2008.jpg, Mazepy Street in Drohobych 4 Osmomysla Street, Drohobych (1).jpg, Osmomysla Street, Drohobych Палац з парком 2.jpg, Villa of Raymond Jarosz Палац з парком м. Дрогобич.JPG, Bianchi Palace Дрогобыч. Фрагмент центра города..jpg, Shevska Street, Drohobych 46-106-5003 Drohobych Park RB 18.jpg, Drohobych City Park ХІХ st. Drohobych_Synagogue2018.jpg, Until 1918, Choral Synagogue had been the central synagogue of
Galicia and Lodomeria The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria,, ; pl, Królestwo Galicji i Lodomerii, ; uk, Королівство Галичини та Володимирії, Korolivstvo Halychyny ta Volodymyrii; la, Rēgnum Galiciae et Lodomeriae also known as ...
Церква Пресвятої Трійці в Дрогобичі.jpg, Holy Trinity Cathedral Дрогобыч. Перекрёсток..jpg, A historic building in Drohobych


Notable people


Politics

* Zenon Kossak, Ukrainian military and political leader (born here) * Andriy Melnyk, Ukrainian military and political leader (born near Drohobych) * David Horowitz (economist), Israeli economist and the first Governor of the Bank of Israel. *
Leon Reich Leon Reich (July 11, 1879 – December 1, 1929) was a Polish Zionist leader, lawyer and politician. Life Reich was born on July 11, 1879 in Drohobych, Galicia, Austria-Hungary. His parents were wealthy merchants and Orthodox Jews. He attended a h ...
(1879–1929), lawyer and member of the Sejm of Poland (born here)


Arts

* Ivan Franko, Ukrainian poet and writer, born in Nahuievychi, near Drohobych *
Irene Frisch Irene Frisch (born Irene Bienstock, May 3, 1931 - November 7, 2021) was an American writer who wrote many articles and stories about her childhood in Poland, surviving the Holocaust, living in Israel and then in the United States. Life and career ...
, Jewish-Polish writer and memoirist * Leopold Gottlieb, Jewish-Polish painter *
Maurycy Gottlieb Maurycy Gottlieb ; 21/28 February 1856 – 17 July 1879) was a Polish realist painter of the Romantic period. Considered one of the most talented students of Jan Matejko, Gottllieb died at the age of 23. Career Gottlieb was born in Drohobycz ...
, Jewish-Polish painter *
Diana Reiter Diana Reiter eiterówna(November 6, 1902 – 1943) was a Polish architect of Jewish descent, one of the first female architects in Kraków. Born in Drohobycz, in 1927 she graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of Lviv Polytechnic. In the yea ...
, Jewish-Polish architect, victim of Holocaust * Ephraim Moses Lilien, Jewish-Zionist painter * Alfred Schreyer, Jewish-Polish vocalist and violinist * Bruno Schulz, Polish-Jewish writer, graphic artist, and literary critic *
Kazimierz Wierzyński Kazimierz Wierzyński (Drohobycz, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, 27 August 1894 – 13 February 1969, London) was a Polish poet and journalist; an elected member of the prestigious Polish Academy of Literature in the Second Polish Republic. ...
, Polish poet and writer David Grunschlag, violinist, founding member and concertmaster of Israel philharmonic orchestra (1936-1959) first violinist Philadelphia Orchestra (1960-1984)


Other fields

*
Tadeusz Chciuk-Celt Tadeusz Chciuk-Celt (17 October 1916 – 10 April 2001) was a Polish "Silent-unseen" special forces fighter during World War II, later journalist, and published author. He did two parachute missions into German occupied Poland and for his braver ...
, Polish war hero * Yuriy Drohobych, first doctor of medicine in Ukraine, 1481–1482 rector of the University of Bologna *
Yaroslav Popovych Yaroslav Popovych ( uk, Ярослав Попович; born 4 January 1980) is a Ukrainian former professional cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2016. The winner of the under-23 road race at the 2001 UCI Road World Championships, ...
, cyclist (born here) *
Józef Schreier Józef Schreier (; 18 February 1909, Drohobycz, Austria-Hungary – April 1943, Drohobycz, Occupied Poland) was a Polish mathematician of Jewish origin, known for his work in functional analysis, group theory and combinatorics. He was a member o ...
, Polish-Jewish mathematician * Viktor Vekselberg, Russian oligarch


Twin towns and sister cities

Drohobych is twinned with:


References


External links


Drohobych Info - biggest news site

Drohobych - city portal

Drohobych.com - Drohobych city administration website

Drohobych
in Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine database
Drohobych the King's city

Drohobych.Net

Stories by Irene Frisch, a Drohobych-born Holocaust Survivor
i
Encyclopedia of Ukraine
of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, in Drohobych
Drohobych during the period of Nazism (PHOTOS)
* {{Authority control Cities in Lviv Oblast Lwów Voivodeship Ruthenian Voivodeship Shtetls Cities of regional significance in Ukraine Holocaust locations in Ukraine Populated places on the Dniester River in Ukraine