Stanisławów Voivodeship () was an administrative district of the

interwar In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

(1920–1939). It was established in December 1920 with an

administrative center An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

in Stanisławów. The voivodeship had an area of 16,900 km² and comprised twelve counties (powiaty). Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, at the insistence of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

during the

Tehran Conference The Tehran Conference (codenamed Eureka) was a strategy meeting of the Allies of World War II, held between Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It was the first of the Allied World Wa ...

of 1943, Poland's borders were redrawn, Polish population forcibly resettled and Stanisławów Voivodeship was incorporated into the

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

as Stanislav Oblast (later renamed as Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast).

September 1939 and its aftermath

Following German invasion on Poland, and in accordance with the secret protocol of

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...

, Soviet forces invaded eastern Poland on September 17, 1939. As bulk of the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

was concentrated in the west, fighting Germans, the Soviets met with little resistance and their troops quickly moved westwards. Polish authorities originally intended to organize anti-German resistance in Stanisławów Voivodeship ''(see: Romanian Bridgehead)'', with

units planning to stand ground until the spring of 1940 when a French attack on Germany was expected. However, the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military conflict by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Second Polish Republic, Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Polan ...

rendered these plans ineffectual. It is estimated that prior to Soviet counter-offensive in the latter part of World War II, over 18,000 Polish civilians in Stanisławów Voivodeship fell victims to OUN- UPA

massacres A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians en masse by an armed group or person. The word is a loan of a French term for "b ...

. Władysław Siemaszko, Ewa Siemaszko, ''Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na ludności polskiej Wołynia 1939–1945'', vol. 1–2,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, 2000; pp. 1056–1057.Szczepan Siekierka, H. Komański, E. Różański, ''Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na Polakach w województwie stanisławowskim w latach 1939–1946'',

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

, 2007, op. cit., s. 36, 118, 169, 258, 292, 354, 419, 508, 591, 650, 716, 769.

Demographics

The Voivodeship's capital was Stanisławów (now ''Ivano-Frankivsk'' in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

). In 1921 was inhabited by 1,339,191 people, and its population density was 72.9 persons per km².

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

and

Ruthenians A ''Ruthenian'' and ''Ruthene'' are exonyms of Latin language, Latin origin, formerly used in Eastern and Central Europe as common Ethnonym, ethnonyms for East Slavs, particularly during the late medieval and early modern periods. The Latin term ...

constituted 70% of the population, especially in the countryside. Poles, distributed across the entire voivodeship, made around 22%, Polish

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

(mainly in towns), around 7%. Also, there were smaller communities of Galician Germans. In 1931 the population grew to 1,480,285 and the density to 88 persons per km². According to the census of 1921 the Stanisławów Voivodeship was inhabited by 1,339,191 people, of whom by nationality 70.2% were Ruthenian (Ukrainian), 21.8% were Polish, 6.8% were Jewish, 1.1% were German and 0.1% all others. By religion 74.3% were Uniate or Orthodox, 14.3% were Roman Catholic, 0.8% were Protestant and 10.6% were Jewish. In 1931 the voivodeship had 1,480,285 inhabitants, of whom by mother tongue 68.8% spoke Ukrainian and Ruthenian, 22.4% spoke Polish, 7.4% spoke Yiddish and Hebrew, 1.1% spoke German and 0.3% spoke other languages. By religion 73% were Greek Catholic and Orthodox, 16.6% were Roman Catholic, 0.8% were Protestant, 9.4% were Jewish and 0.2% were others. The results of the 1931 census (questions about mother tongue and about religion) are presented in the table below:

Geography

The Stanisławów Voivodeship's area was 16,894 square kilometers. It was located in south-eastern corner of the country, bordering Tarnopol Voivodeship to the northeast,

Lwów Voivodeship Lwów Voivodeship () was an administrative unit of interwar Poland (1918–1939). Because of the Nazi invasion of Poland in accordance with the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, it became occupied by both the Wehrmacht and the Red Army in Septem ...

to the west,

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

(Between 1919 and 1938),

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

(Between 1938 and 1939) and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

to the south. It was in large part covered by forests of the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

, with numerous mountain spas ( Worochta, Skole, Dolina, Żabie, Sławsko, Woronienka, Jaremcza, Kuty). The landscape was hilly (in the north) and mountainous (in the south), with

Hoverla Mount Hoverla (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and ), at , is the highest mountain in Ukraine and part of the Ukrainian Carpathians. The mountain is located in the Eastern Beskids, in the Chornohora region. The slopes are covered with beech and spr ...

in the

Chornohora Chornohora () is the highest mountain range in Ukraine, Western Ukraine. It is within the Polonynian Beskids, a subgroup of the mountain group of Eastern Beskids of the Outer Eastern Carpathians, Eastern Beskids, which in turn is part of the Oute ...

range as the highest peak (2060 meters above sea level). The other significant mountain range was the Gorgany. The main river was the

Dniester The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Uk ...

, which also marked border with the Tarnopol Voivodeship. Other rivers were: the

Prut The Prut (also spelled in English as Pruth; , ) is a river in Eastern Europe. It is a left tributary of the Danube, and is long. Part of its course forms Romania's border with Moldova and Ukraine. Characteristics The Prut originates on the eas ...

, the Stryj and the

Cheremosh The Cheremosh River (, , ) is a river in western Ukraine, right-bank tributary of the river Prut. Description It is formed by confluence of two upper streams of the river ''Bilyi Cheremosh'' (White Cheremosh) and ''Chornyi Cheremosh'' (Black Che ...

(the last one was at the same time bordering Poland from

Administrative divisions

Before the onset of

the Stanisławów Voivodeship consisted of 15 powiats (

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

) (earlier 12), 29 towns, 904 villages and numerous smaller communities (''futory, kolonie''). Those were the same 12 powiats that were part of the

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, also known as Austrian Galicia or colloquially Austrian Poland, was a constituent possession of the Habsburg monarchy in the historical region of Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia in Eastern Europe. The Cr ...

with the addition of Turka powiat later on. Its capital Stanisławów was the largest city, with population of some 60,000 (as of 1931). Other important municipal centers of the voivodeship were: Kołomyja (pop. 33,800), Stryj (pop. 30,500),

Horodenka Horodenka (, ; , occasionally '';'' ) is a city located in Kolomyia Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, in Western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Horodenka urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: In 2001 the population ...

(pop. 12,200), Kalusz (pop. 12,100), Sniatyn (pop. 10,800) and Bolechow (pop. 10,700). The Stanisławów Voivodeship consisted of 12

powiat A ''powiat'' (; ) is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (Local administrative unit, LAU-1 ormerly Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS-4 ...

s (

): # Dolina Powiat (2,397 km²) #

Powiat (849 km²) # Kałusz Powiat (1,137 km²) # Kołomyja Powiat (1,339 km²), joined with Peczeniżyn Powiat # Kosów Powiat (1,839 km²) # Nadwórna Powiat (2,472 km²) #

Rohatyn Rohatyn (, ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city located on the Hnyla Lypa River in Ivano-Frankivsk Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, in western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Rohatyn urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Popula ...

Powiat (1,147 km²) # Stanisławów Powiat (1,249 km²), joined with Bohorodczan Powiat # Stryj Powiat (2,081 km²), joined with Skolski Powiat # Śniatyń Powiat (567 km²) # Tłumacz Powiat (934 km²) # Żydaczów Powiat (883 km²)

Railroads and industry

The Stanisławów Voivodeship was located in the so-called Poland "B" region, which meant that it was underdeveloped, with low level of industry and considerable numbers of inhabitants living in poverty. Agricultural production was low due to poor quality of soil. Since mid-1930s, the area was quickly gaining popularity as a tourist destination, with numbers of visitors to mountain springs rising steadily year by year. Railroad network was well-developed in the north, with such important junctions as Stanisławów, Kołomyja and Stryj. In the south, however, rail connections were lacking. On January 1, 1938, total length of railroads within Voivodeship's boundaries was 755 kilometers (4.5 km. per 100 km²).

Voivodes

The local government of voivodeship and city was located at address Ulica Karpinskiego, 7 (today - vulytsia Halytska, 2). *Edmund Jurystowski: 21 October 1921 – 18 August 1925 *Aleksander Des Loges: 18 August 1925 – 25 October 1926 *Władysław Korsak: 18 December 1926 – 12 September 1927 *Aleksander Morawski: 28 October 1927 – 30 October 1928 *Bronisław Nakoniecznikow-Klukowski: 30 October 1928 – 29 August 1930 *Zygmunt Jagodziński: 3 September 1930 – 1 February 1936 (acting until 2 February 1931) *Mieczysław Starzyński: 11 February 1936 – 22 June 1936 (acting ) *Jan Sawicki: 23 June 1936 – July 1936 *Stefan Pasławski: 14 July 1936 – 20 January 1939 *Stanisław Jarecki: 20 January 1939 – 2 September 1939 Following Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939, the voivodeship existed until 27 November 1939. On 6 October 1939 – 27 November 1939 the voivodeship was governed by Soviet provisional chairman of Civilian Administration Mikhail Grulenko who later continued to hold his post as the 1st secretary of the CPU in the region.

References

* Maly rocznik statystyczny 1939, Nakladem Glownego Urzedu Statystycznego, Warszawa 1939 (Concise Statistical Year-Book of Poland, Warsaw 1939).

External links

kresy.co.uk
- More on history

- 1931 Polish census
Stanislawow - Kresy
- Polish site on Stanislawow
JewishGen Stanislawow ShtetLink
- Jewish genealogy
Jewish History in Galicia and Bukovina: Stanislawow (Ivano-Frankivsk) Region
* http://jgaliciabukovina.net/161515/article/stanislawow-jews-and-during-holocaust {{DEFAULTSORT:Stanislawow Voivodeship Voivodeships of the Second Polish Republic History of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Historical geography of Ukraine Poland–Ukraine relations (1918–1939)