Makhnivka ( uk, Махнівка; russian: Махновка; yi, מאכניווקא - ''Makhnivka'') is a village in

Khmilnyk Raion Khmilnyk Raion ( uk, Хмільницький район) is one of the 6 regions of Vinnytsia Oblast, located in southwestern Ukraine. The administrative center of the raion is the city of Khmilnyk. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the a ...

Vinnytsia Oblast Vinnytsia Oblast ( uk, Ві́нницька о́бласть, translit=Vinnytska oblast; ; also referred to as Vinnychchyna — uk, Ві́нниччина) is an oblast of western and southwestern Ukraine. Its administrative center is Vinnytsia. ...

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 ...

, located on the west bank of the Hnylopiat River. It was named Komsomolske (russian: Комсомольское - ''Komsomolskoye'') in 1935–2016. Prior to the establishment of the Soviet regime the place was considered to be a town.

Geography

Makhnivka is in central Ukraine, south-southeast of Berdychiv and southwest of

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

. It is located in

forest steppe A forest steppe is a temperate-climate ecotone and habitat type composed of grassland interspersed with areas of woodland or forest. Locations Forest steppe primarily occurs in a belt of forest steppes across northern Eurasia from the eastern ...

zone of the

Dnieper Upland The Dnieper Upland or Cisdnieper Upland ( uk, Придніпровська височина, translit=Prydniprovska vysochyna) is a southeastern European plain occupying the territory between the Dnieper and the Southern Bug. It lies in central Uk ...

. The former town is near a wide spot in the Hnylopiat river, a tributary of

Teteriv River The Teteriv () is a right tributary of the Dnieper River in Ukraine. It has a length of 365 km and a drainage basin of 15,300 km². In the underflow the valley of the Teteriv in Polissia on up to 4 km, the width of the river widens ...

where several small streams feed into it from both sides.

Name

The original name of the town was Makhnovka (pronounced ''Makhnivka'' in Ukrainian). During the Soviet period in 1935–2016 it was named Komsomolskoye (''Komsomolske'' in Ukrainian), honoring the Lenin's Communist League of Young People Komsomol. Voted by the village council in 2001, the original name was finally restored in 2016. There are at least four other populated places with the same name in Ukraine.

History

The first mention of the village is in the beginning of 15th century when progenitor of the

Tyszkiewicz family Tyszkiewicz is the name of the Tyszkiewicz family, a Polish–Lithuanian magnate noble family of Ruthenian origin. The Lithuanian equivalent is Tiškevičius; it is frequently transliterated from Russian and Belarusian as Tyshkevich. Other peopl ...

received it from the Grand Duke of Lithuania Svidrigailo.

Machnowka Hasidic center

The first mention of Jews in Makhnivka came in 1648, in an account from the

Cossack-Polish War The Khmelnytsky Uprising,; in Ukraine known as Khmelʹnychchyna or uk, повстання Богдана Хмельницького; lt, Chmelnickio sukilimas; Belarusian: Паўстанне Багдана Хмяльніцкага; russian: � ...

(1648–57), when Chmielnicki's Cossacks attacked the local fortress and murdered a number of Poles and Jews. Over 100 years later, in 1765, six Jews are recorded in Makhnivka.Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (Avotaynu) Upon the

Partition of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 12 ...

(), territories including western Ukraine were annexed into the Russian Empire. Orthodox Tsarist Russia, which was intolerant of Jews, suddenly acquired a significant

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 in the territories annexed from

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Poland. As a result, the

Pale of Settlement The Pale of Settlement (russian: Черта́ осе́длости, '; yi, דער תּחום-המושבֿ, '; he, תְּחוּם הַמּוֹשָב, ') was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 19 ...

was created, generally restricting Jews to living in the new territories, but not in "Russia proper". Jews during this period had a generally harder time, at best being isolated, and at worst being visited with

pogrom 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 Russia ...

s. In the census of 1897, the village of Makhnivka had 2,435 Jews out of a total population of 5,343 (about 45%). On an 1845 Russian map, "Machnowka" was the chief city of the Machnowka uyezd in Kiev guberniya, while Berdychiv was just a small town in

Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( uk, Жито́мир, translit=Zhytomyr ; russian: Жито́мир, Zhitomir ; pl, Żytomierz ; yi, זשיטאָמיר, Zhitomir; german: Schytomyr ) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the administrative ...

county (uyezd) of

Volhynian Governorate Volhynian Governorate or Volyn Governorate (russian: Волы́нская губе́рния, translit=Volynskaja gubernija, uk, Волинська губернія, translit=Volynska huberniia) was an administrative-territorial unit initially ...

(gubernia). When the railroads were developed (some time after 1860), the railroad went through Berdychiv and

Koziatyn Koziatyn ( uk, Козятин; also referred to as Kozyatyn, pl, Koziatyn, russian: Каза́тин) is a town in the Vinnytsia Oblast (province) in central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Koziatyn Raion (district), the town ...

( east of Makhnivka), but bypassed Makhnivka. This caused Makhnivka to decline, while both Berdychiv and Koziatyn grew. Sometime around the turn of the century, Berdychiv was separated from Volhynian Governorate and joined to

Kiev Governorate Kiev Governorate, r=Kievskaya guberniya; uk, Київська губернія, Kyivska huberniia (, ) was an administrative division of the Russian Empire from 1796 to 1919 and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1919 to 1925. It wa ...

, replacing Makhnivka as the chief city of the county (which was renamed from the Makhnovka county to the Berdichev county). By the outbreak 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 ...

in 1939, the Jewish population of Makhnivka had dwindled to 843. The

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

s captured the town on 14 July 1941 and on 9 Sept. executed 835 Jews in the Zhezhelevsk forest from Komsomolske. A Hasidic dynasty was established in Makhnivka in the early 20th century. It continues to flourish in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Makhnivka was previously located in Koziatyn Raion until it was abolished and its territory was merged into Khmilnyk Raion on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Vinnytsia Oblast to six.

Notable people

Volodymyr Antonovych Volodymyr Antonovych ( ukr, Володимир Боніфатійович Антонович, tr. ''Volodymyr Bonifatijovych Antonovych''; pl, Włodzimierz Antonowicz; russian: Влади́мир Бонифа́тьевич Антоно́вич, ...

In the village is buried Polish song writer

Tomasz Padura Tymko (Tomasz) Padura, also Padurra, ( uk, Тимко Падура; 21 December 1801 – 20 September 1871) was a Polish Romantic poet of the so-called Ukrainian school, musician-torbanist, and composer-songwriter. He was born into patriotic Po ...

who is being assumed as an author of Polish-Ukrainian song Hej Sokoly (Hey, Falcons) about Cossacks of Ukraine.

References