Sokal ( uk, Сокаль,
romanized
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
: ''Sokal'') is a city located on the
Bug River
uk, Західний Буг be, Захо́дні Буг
, name_etymology =
, image = Wyszkow_Bug.jpg
, image_size = 250
, image_caption = Bug River in the vicinity of Wyszków, Poland
, map = Vi ...
in
Chervonohrad Raion
Chervonohrad Raion ( uk, Червоноградський район) is a raion (district) of Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It was created in July 2020 as part of the reform of administrative divisions of Ukraine. The center of the raion is the city of C ...
,
Lviv Oblast
Lviv Oblast ( uk, Льві́вська о́бласть, translit=Lvivska oblast, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna ( uk, Льві́вщина, ), ). The name of each oblast is a wikt:Appendix:Glossary#relational, relational adjective—in Englis ...
of 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 hosts the administration of Sokal urban hromada, one of the
hromadas of Ukraine.
The population is approximately
History
The first written mention of Sokal dates from 1377. In 1424, it received
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 ...
from
Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia
Siemowit IV (Ziemowit IV), also known as Siemowit IV the Younger (pl: ''Siemowit IV Młodszy''; ca. 1353/1356 – 21 January 1426), was a Polish prince member of the House of Piast from the Masovian branch, from 1373/74 Duke of Rawa, and aft ...
, and in 1462, the town became part of
Belz Voivodeship
Bełz Voivodeship ( pl, Województwo bełskie, la, Palatinatus Belzensis) was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland from 1462 to the Partitions of Poland in 1772–1795. Together with the Ruthenian Voivodeship it was ...
,
. On August 2, 1519, following the defeat of a Polish-Lithuanian army under
Hetman
( uk, гетьман, translit=het'man) is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders.
Used by the Czechs in Bohemia since the 15th century. It was the title of the second-highest military co ...
Konstanty Ostrogski
Konstanty Iwanowicz Ostrogski (c. 1460 – 10 August 1530; lt, Konstantinas Ostrogiškis; uk, Костянтин Іванович Острозький, translit=Kostiantyn Ivanovych Ostrozkyi; be, Канстантын Іванавіч Ас ...
by
Crimean Tatars
, flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg
, flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars
, image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg
, caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace
...
, the town was razed by the invaders.
Mikolaj Sep-Szarzynski later dedicated one of his poems to this battle.
The town remained part of Poland until the
first partition of Poland, when it was annexed by the
Habsburg Empire
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 ...
, as part of
Galicia. It was the capital of the Sokal district, one of the 78 ''Bezirkshauptmannschaften'' in the
Austrian Galicia
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 ...
province (Crown land) in 1900. After
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, possession of this province was disputed between Poland and
Soviet Russia
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
, until the 1921
Peace of Riga
The Peace of Riga, also known as the Treaty of Riga ( pl, Traktat Ryski), was signed in Riga on 18 March 1921, among Poland, Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus) and Soviet Ukraine. The treaty ended the Polish–Soviet Wa ...
, which attributed Eastern Galicia to Poland. In 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 ...
, Sokal was the seat of a county in
Lwow Voivodeship
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...
.
Sokal was in Polish territory until the German
invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
in September 1939. From September 1939 until June 1941 (see
Operation Barbarossa
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 ...
), it was part of Soviet-held territory. Before 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 ...
, Sokal had a Jewish population of 5,200; in addition, thousands of refugees from other parts of Poland arrived in Sokal. On September 17, 1942, 2,000 Jews from Sokal were deported to
Bełżec extermination camp. There was a severe water shortage in the Sokal ghetto. On October 24, 1942, a further 2,500 Jews from the town were deported to the Bełżec gas chambers. On May 27, 1943, the ghetto was liquidated and the town declared '
judenrein'. Only 30 Jews from the town survived the war, including 15 members of 3 families rescued by the Halamajowa family, consisting of the Polish Catholic grandmother Franciszka, her daughter and son (see
No.4 Street of Our Lady).
[Halamajowa FAMILY](_blank)
/ref> The Soviet army recaptured the town in July 1944, though the western part of the town (the former village of Zhvirka) remained part of Poland between 1944 and 1951 (see 1951 Polish–Soviet territorial exchange).
In the early 17th century, a large Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
monastery of the Bernardine monks, together with the Roman Catholic church of the Virgin Mary was built in Sokal. The complex is located in the district of Zhvirka, and until 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 opposin ...
, it housed a painting of Our Lady of Sokal, which attracted Catholic pilgrims. Jan Ostrorog, one of the first Polish humanists was buried in the town. After World War II, the painting was moved to a church in Hrubieszow, while the monastery was turned into a prison. On March 27, 2012, the historic complex was almost completely destroyed by fire.
Until 18 July 2020, Sokal was the administrative center of Sokal Raion. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Lviv Oblast to seven. The area of Sokal Raion was merged into Chervonohrad Raion.
Notable people
* Mieczyslaw Klimowicz, World War II historian
* Franciszka Halamajowa, subject of '' No. 4 Street of Our Lady''
* Czesław Hernas, philologist and folklorist
* Omelan Pleszkewycz
Emil Omelan Pleszkewycz ( uk, Омелян Плешкевич) (also spelled Pleshkewych and Pleshkevich) (January 20, 1908, Boratyn, a village near Sokal, Austro-Hungarian Empire – May 30, 2007, Chicago, Illinois) was a Ukrainian and Ukrainian- ...
, co-founder of the Selfreliance Ukrainian American Credit Union in Chicago and president of the World Council of Ukrainian Credit Unions[''Ukrainian Cooperative Movement in Diaspora.': Historical Overview, 1940–1992.'' Editor-in-chief Omelan Pleshkewych. Chicago, Illinois: World Council of Ukrainian Cooperatives. pp.135–137]
* Walter Smishek
Walter Edmund Smishek (July 21, 1925December 22, 2014) was a Polish-born Canadian trade unionist and former political figure in Saskatchewan. He represented Regina East from 1964 to 1967 as a Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) member a ...
, politician and labour leader in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
In fiction
Sokal is the location of the opening of the 2009 novel ''The Kindly Ones'' by Jonathan Littell
Jonathan Littell (born October 10, 1967) is a writer living in Barcelona. He grew up in France and the United States and is a citizen of both countries. After acquiring his bachelor's degree he worked for a humanitarian organisation for nine year ...
, which takes place immediately following 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 ...
invasion of Soviet
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, ...
-occupied Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
in June 1941.
Sokal is mentioned in ''The Good Soldier Švejk
''The Good Soldier Švejk'' () is an unfinished satirical dark comedy novel by Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek, published in 1921–1923, about a good-humored, simple-minded, middle-aged man who pretends to be enthusiastic to serve Austria-Hungar ...
'' by Jaroslav Hašek
Jaroslav Hašek (; 1883–1923) was a Czech writer, humorist, satirist, journalist, bohemian and anarchist. He is best known for his novel '' The Fate of the Good Soldier Švejk during the World War'', an unfinished collection of farcical inc ...
as the town passed by Austro-Hungarian soldiers on the way to the battlefields of World War I.
The short story ''Squadron Commander Trunov'' by Isaac Babel
Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel (russian: Исаак Эммануилович Бабель, p=ˈbabʲɪlʲ; – 27 January 1940) was a Russian writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. He is best known as the author of ''Red Cavalry'' ...
centres around the burial of the title character in the public gardens next to Sokal's cathedral.
In film
Sokal was the setting for two documentary films: One was the '' No.4 Street of Our Lady'' (2009) about the rescue of three Jewish families in Sokal by Franciczka Halamajowa family, and the other was '' The Same Snowy Ground'' (2020), that featured the ruined synagogue and the new park and told the tale of the town's Jewish community.
Gallery
2015 Sokal, Klasztor Bernardynów 03.JPG, Bernardine Monastery
2015 Sokal, Cerkiew św. Mikołaja 01.JPG, Saint Nicholas church
2015 Sokal, Katedra Świętych Apostołów Piotra i Pawła 01.JPG, Cathedral of Saints Apostles Peter and Paul
2015 Sokal, Kościół rzymskokatolicki 01.JPG, Roman Catholic Church
Сокаль. Церковь..jpg, Church of Archangel Michael
2015 Sokal, Gimnazjum 03.JPG, Gymnasium
2015 Sokal, Departament Skarbu Państwa rejonu sokalskiego obwodu lwowskiego 03.JPG, Department of State Treasury in Sokal district
2015 Sokal, Ratusz 04.JPG, City hall of Sokal
Вежа, оборонні мури монастиря бригіток.jpg, Tower and walls of Bridgettines convent
References
External links
*
Sokal
in the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland
The Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic Countries ( pl, Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich) is a monumental Polish gazetteer, published 1880–1902 in Warsaw
Warsaw ( p ...
(1890)
''Golos z-nad Bugu''
*
{{Authority control
Cities in Lviv Oblast
Lwów Voivodeship
Cities of district significance in Ukraine
Holocaust locations in Ukraine