Zolochiv (, ; ; ; ) is a small

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

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 ...

, and the administrative center of Zolochiv Raion. It hosts the administration of Zolochiv 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. The city is located east of

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

along Highway H02

Ternopil Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. The populatio ...

and the railway line Krasne-Ternopil. It has a population of covering an area of

History

Medieval settlement, Tatar invasion

The site was occupied from AD 1180 under the name Radeche until the end of the 13th century when a wooden fort was constructed. This was burned in the 14th century during the invasion of the

Crimean Tatars Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...

Polish town (1442)

In 1442, the city was founded as "Złoczów", by John of Sienna, a Polish

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

of the Dębno family although the first written mention of Zolochiv was in 1423. By 1523, it was already a city of

Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (, , ; 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 cities and villages gr ...

. Zolochiv was incorporated as a town on 15 September 1523 by the Polish king

Sigismund I the Old Sigismund I the Old (, ; 1 January 1467 – 1 April 1548) was List of Polish monarchs, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until his death in 1548. Sigismund I was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the son of Casimir IV of P ...

. Located in the

Ruthenian Voivodship The Ruthenian Voivodeship (; ; ) was a voivodeship of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1434 until the First Partition of Poland in 1772, with its center in the city of Lwów (lat. Leopolis) (modern day Lviv). Together with a number of ot ...

of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

, it belonged to several noble families.

Austrian period (1772–1918)

From the first partition of Poland in 1772 until 1918, the town 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 ...

), head of the district with the same name, one of the 78 ''Bezirkshauptmannschaften'' 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, or "Crown land", in 1900.

Interbellum: Polish Złoczów

From 15 March 1923 until the

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

in 1939, when the town was occupied by 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 ...

, Zolochiv, still named Złoczów, belonged to the Tarnopol Voivodship of the second Republic of Poland.

World War Two

First Soviet occupation

Zolochiv was occupied by the USSR from September 1939 to July 1941. At the Zolochiv prison they committed horrific atrocities against Ukrainian nationalists including priests.

Nazi occupation

After July 1941, Zolochiv was occupied by Germany and incorporated into the

General Government The General Government (, ; ; ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovakia and the Soviet ...

in the District of Galicia. On 27 June, the town and its surrounding vicinity was bombed by the Germans, causing panic. In the weeks prior the Germans had parachuted into the area. On 1 July the Germans arrived in the town, rumours had been circulating of a massacre in the Old Polish Prison, a two-three storied building on Ternopil St. Many Ukrainian locals were able to identify their friends and loved ones amongst the victims. Several rows of corpses were lined up in a pit in the prison yard that was encrusted with blood and human flesh. People repeated that the NKVD had been running tractor engines during the massacre to quiet the noise of those being tortured. Those clearing the yard had to work quickly, as due to the summer heat the bodies were decomposing and there was a risk of disease spreading. Inside the prison cells, Greek-Catholic priests were found with crosses carved into their chests. In one cell a pool of coagulated blood lay with numerous corpses that had been severely tortured. One of the local Jews, named Shmulko, who had worked in the flour mill before the war but had joined the NKVD and worked at the prison upon the Soviet invasion, was captured near Sasiv. The individual was forced to show people the corpses of their relatives and friends and was then stoned to death. Before he died he confessed to a second burial pit, that people had suspected but could not find. The Germans forced local Jews to clear the prison and clean the bodies of those killed and place them outside of the prison for further identification. After that, SS troops executed those Jewish people. No Ukrainians participated in those atrocities. According to a German Einsatzgruppen report in Zolochiv "before the Russians fled . . . they arrested and killed in all about 700 Ukrainians. In retribution, the militia arrested several hundred Jews and shot them, on instructions from the Wehrmacht. The number of Jews killed was between 300 and 500." Then the killing spread beyond the fortress where the Ukrainians and Jews were shot. Within three to four days, around 1400 Jews had been killed. Later the Germans shot another 300. Once they established their occupation administration, the Germans began to rob and persecute the Jews, including forcing them to do slave labor. The Germans also confiscated their homes and valuables. In August 1942, the Germans with the assistance of the Ukrainian police, rounded up about 2000 Jews and sent them to Belzec where they were immediately murdered. In November, the German and Ukrainian police rounded up another 2500 and sent them to be murdered in Belzec. Other Jews were shot in Zolochiv. After that, the Germans established a ghetto to which Zolochiv Jews were confined along with Jews from other villages who had been sent there. The ghetto, containing about 4000 people, was severely overcrowded and lacked sanitary facilities. Consequently, a typhus epidemic broke out. In April 1943, about 3500 Jews were taken by German and Ukrainian police to be shot at a pit near the village of Yelhovitsa. One German official, Josef Meyer, tried to protect Jews, hiding several. After the war,

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

awarded him, his wife and two daughters the title

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

. There are numerous recorded cases of local Ukrainians sheltering Jews within the town of Zolochiv and the surrounding provinces. The number of Jewish survivors is unknown. In the spring of 1942, guerrillas from the

Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists The Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN; ) was a Ukrainian nationalist organization established on February 2, 1929 in Vienna, uniting the Ukrainian Military Organization with smaller, mainly youth, radical nationalist right-wing groups. ...

(OUN) ambushed a Nazi transportation of livestock to the Reich, killing one or more Nazis. There were immediate reprisals on local Ukrainian nationalists. The

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

was vigilant and focused on eliminating the OUN within and around Zolochiv. Numerous Ukrainian nationalists were imprisoned in the Gestapo headquarters in Zolochiv and were later transported to Lącki prison in Lviv, these included Ivan Lahola, Bohdan Kachur and Stepan Petelycky. On 1 December 1942 a

ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

was established, confined within the ghetto was a brewery where beer continued to be produced. Between 7,500 and 9,000 people were imprisoned there, as well as remnants of communities of the surrounding areas, including Olesko, Sasov, and Biali Kamen. The ghetto was liquidated on 2 April 1943, and 6,000 people were murdered in a mass execution perpetrated by an

Einsatzgruppen (, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the imp ...

at a pit near the village of Yelhovitsa.

Second Soviet occupation

From July 1944 to 16 August 1945, the town was occupied by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

Soviet period

After the Yalta Conference (4–11 February 1945), drawn as a consequence of the findings of the interim Government of national unity signed on August 16, 1945, an agreement with the USSR, recognising the slightly modified Curzon line for the Eastern Polish border, on the basis of the agreement on the border between the Soviet Union and Polish Committee of National Liberation Government on 27 July 1944. In the Tarnopol voivodeship agreements, Zolochiv was included in 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. ...

in the

USSR 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 ...

, where it remained until 1991.

Independent Ukraine

Since 1991, Zolochiv has been part of independent Ukraine. On July 17, 2007, a man-made disaster occurred near Ozhydiv, 20 km from Zolochiv, when 50 meters of railroad track, about 100 meters of the contact network and three power poles were damaged as a result of a tanker derailment. The fire was extinguished by a cloud of combustion products (the affected area is about 90 km²). Evacuation from the affected area began. First, people from the nearest villages were evacuated, and others were evacuated on request. The situation was complicated by the fact that phosphorus cannot be extinguished with water. On March 28, 2014, a living alley in memory of the Heavenly Hundred appeared in front of the administrative building of the Zolochiv District Council. On June 9, 2015, a decision was made in Zolochiv to rename Tchaikovsky Street to Heavenly Hundred Heroes Street. The decision was voted for by 23 members of the city council. P. Tchaikovsky Street runs past Zolochiv School No. 1 and rests on a linden alley planted in front of the district state administration in honor of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred. By the way, Heavenly Hundred Heroes Street is located next to the Zolochiv Maidan, where the Viche took place during the Revolution of Dignity. On June 14, 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Zolochiv was hit by a missile attack. The missile (probably a Kalibr) was shot down by air defense systems, but the debris fell on the territory of the city, destroying a brick-making company and damaging nearby houses. Six people (including a one-year-old child) were also injured.

Architectural landmarks

* Zolochiv Castle, built in the early 17th century by Jakub Sobieski (the king's father)

Destroyed

* Stone

Synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

, 1724 (destroyed during World War II)

Notable people

In chronological order: *

John III Sobieski John III Sobieski ( (); (); () 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobieski was educated at the Jagiellonian University and toured Eur ...

(1629–1696), king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania *

Katarzyna Sobieska Katarzyna Sobieska (1634–1694) was the sister of King John III Sobieski of 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 Carpathi ...

(1634–1694), sister of John III Sobieski * James Sobieski (1667–1737), Polish prince * Rabbi Yechiel Michel (1726–1786) * Ignacy Zaborowski (1754–1803), Polish mathematician and geodesist * Zev Wolf of Zbaraz (died 1822), rabbi * Naphtali Herz Imber (1856–1909), Jewish poet, wrote lyrics of ''

Hatikvah Hatikvah (, ; ) is the national anthem of the Israel, State of Israel. Part of 19th-century Jewish literature, Jewish poetry, the theme of the Romantic poetry, Romantic composition reflects the 2,000-year-old desire of the Jews, Jewish people ...

'', the national anthem of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

* Moyshe-Leyb Halpern (1886–1932),

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

writer * (born 1995), pornographic film actress and model * Tadeusz Brzeziński (1896–1990), Polish diplomat, father of

Zbigniew Brzezinski Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński (, ; March 28, 1928 – May 26, 2017), known as Zbig, was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was Jimmy Carter's National Securi ...

* Abraham Shalit (1898–1979), Jewish historian, studied in Vienna, worked in Mandate Palestine/Israel * Weegee - Arthur (Usher) Fellig (1899–1968), photographer, best known for his New York photos * Ilya Schor (1904–1961), painter, jeweler, engraver, and artist of Judaica; lived in Europe and the US *

Jan Cieński Bishop Jan Cieński (; 7 January 1905 – 26 December 1992) was a Roman Catholic clandestine prelate from Ukraine as an Auxiliary bishop of Archdiocese of Lviv and a single Roman Catholic prelate in Ukraine since 30 June 1967 until 16 January 199 ...

(1905–1992), Roman Catholic bishop; worked in part clandestinely during Soviet era * Marian Iwańciów (1906–1971), painter * Carlos Feller (1923–2018), born Kalman Felberbaum; opera singer, emigrated in 1929 to Uruguay *

Roald Hoffmann Roald Hoffmann (born Roald Safran; July 18, 1937) is a Polish-American theoretical chemist who won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He has also published plays and poetry. He is the Frank H. T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters Emeritus at C ...

(born 1937), Polish-American chemist, 1981 laureate of the

Nobel Prize in Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outst ...

* Andriy Husin (1972–2014), Ukrainian football player

Gallery

File:Tyr 870.jpg, Zolochiv Castle File:Золочевский замок. Большой дворец..jpg, Great Palace of Zolochiv Castle File:ZolochivChurch2018.jpg, Church of the Assumption File:Золочев. Интерьер костела Внебовзятия.jpg, Interior of the Assumption Church File:Золочев. Церковь Святого Николая..jpg, St. Nicholas Church File:Золочев. Воскресенская церковь..jpg, Church of the Resurrection File:Золочев. Василианский монастырь..jpg, Monastery of the Order of Saint Basil the Great File:Золочев. Храм Василианского монастыря..jpg, Church of the Ascension File:Будинок шпиталю (нині монастир Чесного Хреста Св. Дам'яна) P1620863.jpg, Former hospital File:Адмінбудинок P1620823 вул. Шашкевича, 43.jpg, Administrative building File:Золочев. Здание военкомата..jpg, Military commissariat building File:11 Shashkevycha Street, Zolochiv (01).jpg, Residential building at Shashkevycha Street, 11

References

External links

*
History of Zolochiv and Zolochiv Region (in Ukrainian)

Zolochev/Zolochiv
(pp. 427) at Miriam Weiner's Routes to Roots Foundation.