Uhniv Sokalskyi Lvivska-Mill-general view-2

Uhniv ( ) is a city in

Sheptytskyi Raion Sheptytskyi Raion () is a raion (district) of Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It was known as Chervonohrad Raion () from 2020 until 2024. The center of the raion is the city of Sheptytskyi. Population: History From the 12th century, the area that is now ...

Lviv Oblast Lviv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. The capital city, capital of the oblast is the city of Lviv. The current population is History Name The region is named ...

, western

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 ...

. It has a population of 939 as of 2022. Uhniv is the smallest city of

. It is located from

Belz Belz (, ; ; ) is a small city in Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine, located near the border with Poland between the Solokiya River (a tributary of the Bug River) and the Richytsia stream. Belz hosts the administration of Belz urban hromada, one of ...

and from

Rava-Ruska Rava-Ruska (, ; ; ) is a city in Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine. It is a border town between Ukraine and Poland. The Rava-Ruska (border checkpoint), border checkpoint is situated west of the city, along the international autoroute Warsa ...

. It is located next to the

Poland–Ukraine border The Polish–Ukrainian border is the state border between Poland and Ukraine. It has a total length of Belz urban hromada, one of the

hromada In Ukraine, a hromada () is the main type of municipality and the third level Administrative divisions of Ukraine, local self-government in Ukraine. The current hromadas were established by the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine, Government of Uk ...

s of Ukraine. It was passed to Ukraine from Poland as a result of the 1951 Polish–Soviet territorial exchange.

Name

Names of Uhniv in other languages are: * ; * ; * . In addition to the official and common name Uhniv, the city was also known as Hovniv, Hivnev, Hivniv, Univ, and Unov.

History

At the end of the 2nd century AD the

Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...

invaded Galicia. They conquered the Uhniv area and settled there. At the end of the 4th century, the Huns conquered and replaced the Goths. In the middle of the 5th century, the Slovenes took control of the area. In 1019 the area was conquered by Polish Crown; until 1462 the area was under ducal control. In that year, Belz was established as a capital of

voivodeship A voivodeship ( ) or voivodate is the area administered by a voivode (governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in ...

(pol. ''województwo'') under Polish rule - this district included the town that was later called Uhniv. The settlements in the Belz area belonged to various owners; some to the kingdom (these were called crown cities) and some individuals called squires. In that year (1462) King

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (Casimir Andrew Jagiellon; ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under ...

gave

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

and the name Uhnów (Uhniv) to the place, so the village became an independent town, free of wider supervision. The inhabitants were not under the squires control but under the king's rule. In 1477 several villages were included in the general area of Uhniv, This area was extended in 1595. In 1914 there were more than 20 villages surrounding the town of Uhniv. In 1497 the crusaders came to the district to help the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

king against Turkish invaders. In 1548-9 the Tatars invaded; from 1648 to 1655 the area suffered from the Cossack uprising under

Bohdan Khmelnytsky Zynoviy Bohdan Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky of the Abdank coat of arms (Ruthenian language, Ruthenian: Ѕѣнові Богданъ Хмелнiцкiи; modern , Polish language, Polish: ; 15956 August 1657) was a Ruthenian nobility, Ruthenian noble ...

hetman ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...

of the Zaporozhian who joined forces with the Tartars against Poland. In the following years many wars took place there. From the first partition of Poland in 1772 until 1918, the town (named ''UHNOW'') was part of the

Austrian monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ( composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it ...

(Austria side after the

compromise of 1867 The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (, ) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, which was a military and diplomatic alliance of two sovereign states. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereign ...

), in the ''Rawa ruska'' (

) district, in

Austrian Galicia 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 in Eastern Europe. The crown land was established ...

province (Crown land). The fate of this province was then disputed between Poland and Ukraine, until the

Peace of Riga The Treaty of Riga was signed in Riga, Latvia, on between Poland on one side and Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus) and Soviet Ukraine on the other, ending the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1921). The chief negotiators o ...

in 1921. A post-office was opened in 1857. The Onyshkevych family supposedly had its origins in Uhniv, and many Onyshkevychs were born in this city. For instance, Rev. Stepan Onyshkevych, a Deputy in the Imperial Council of Austria, member of the

Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance The Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance (UNDO) (, ) was the largest Ukrainian political party in the Second Polish Republic, active in Western Ukraine. It dominated the mainstream political life of the Ukrainian minority in Poland,Mykhailo Hrushevsky Mykhailo Serhiiovych Hrushevsky (; – 24 November 1934) was a Ukrainian academician, politician, historian and statesman who was one of the most important figures of the Ukrainian national revival of the early 20th century. Hrushevsky is ...

and

Ivan Franko Ivan Yakovych Franko (, ; 27 August 1856 – 28 May 1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, translator, economist, political activist, doctor of philosophy, ethnographer, and the author of the first d ...

, was born here in 1861. Myroslav Onyshkevych, a colonel in the

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist partisan formation founded by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) on 14 October 1942. The UPA launched guerrilla warfare against Nazi Germany, the S ...

and commandant of UPA forces in Military District-6 "San", was born here in 1911, and a dedication to him and his brother Taras Onyshkevych (also born in Uhniv, 1914) was created in 2000, on the house where both brothers were born. After World War II, along with the 1951 Polish–Soviet territorial exchange, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

took control of the area. Until 18 July 2020, Uhniv belonged to 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.

Jews of Uhniv

The Jewish community of Uhnów (Uhniv) goes back very far. There is little historical evidence of this since. The place is too small to be mentioned in Jewish or other records. But thanks to famous rabbis who are mentioned in various sources because of their importance, it is clear that a Jewish community existed there for at least 350 years and even had a rabbinical court and Judge. In 1629, there were 30 Jewish families, and in 1648–9, 100 families. Rabbi Shmuel Feivish, son of Rabbi Nathan Feitel, wrote in 1658, in his description of the Khmelnytsky massacres called ''Tit ha-Yaven'': "From there the enemy went to Magerov where there were about 100 families who escaped to Narol (mentioned before). From there the enemy went to Potelych - also about 100 families - who escaped to Narol. The enemy went to

which had 100 families and they also ran away to Narol... In Narol there were 600 householders, not counting refugees; altogether more than 5000 families. As a result of our many sins, a terrible decree was issued and more than 10,000 people were killed, including woman and children. From there, the enemy advanced to

which had about 200 families. In addition, Belz had more than 10,000 families who escaped from other towns because Belz was a very strong city. But some died of hunger. From there the enemy went to Uhnów (Hivniv) which had 100 families - they all were killed by their enemies. From there the enemy went to Tishevitz which had 100 families and killed most of them. The enemy went to

Sokal Sokal (, ) is a city located on the Bug River in Sheptytskyi Raion, Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Sokal urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The population is approximately History The first written ...

which had 100 families who had behind a very thick wall which was built like a fortress and so were saved". The Jewish community was rebuilt by Jews from the surrounding area. After calm restored, they came out of hiding, built new homes, and lived there until

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 ...

Notes

References

{{Authority control Cities in Lviv Oblast Cities of district significance in Ukraine