Shtetl or shtetel is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. The term is used in the contexts of peculiarities of former East European Jewish societies as islands within the surrounding non-Jewish populace, and bears certain socio-economic and cultural connotations. Shtetls were mainly found in the areas that constituted the 19th-century Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire, as well as in Congress Poland, Austrian Galicia, the Kingdom of Romania and the Kingdom of Hungary.
In July 1941, 25 Polish academics from the city of Lwów along with the 25 of their family members were killed by Nazi German occupation forces. By targeting prominent citizens and intellectuals for elimination, the Nazis hoped to prevent anti-Nazi activity and to weaken the resolve of the Polish resistance movement. According to an eyewitness the executions were carried out by an Einsatzgruppe unit under the command of Karl Eberhard Schöngarth with the participation of Ukrainian translators in German uniforms.
Brody is a city in Zolochiv Raion, Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located in the valley of the upper Styr River, approximately 90 kilometres northeast of the oblast capital, Lviv. Brody hosts the administration of Brody urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 23,134.
Olyka is an urban-type settlement in Lutsk Raion, Volyn Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located east of Lutsk on the Putylivka Rriver. Its population is 3,032.
Berdychiv is a historic city in Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Berdychiv Raion within the oblast. It is 44 km (27 mi) south of the administrative center of the oblast, Zhytomyr. Its population is approximately 73,046.
Galician Jews or Galitzianers are members of the subgroup of Ashkenazi Jews originating and developed in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and Bukovina from contemporary western Ukraine and from south-eastern Poland. Galicia proper, which was inhabited by Ruthenians, Poles and Jews, became a royal province within Austria-Hungary after the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. Galician Jews primarily spoke Yiddish.
Justingrad was a Jewish community in present-day Uman Raion, Ukraine. The Justingrad shtetl was created after Jews were forced out of their homes in the village of Sokolivka, Kyiv Oblast. These Jews from Sokolivka moved to the land on the other side of a quarter mile bridge/dam across a lake edge. This shtetl was named Justingrad in honor of Justina, wife of the nobleman who sold the land to the Jews. Many of these Ukrainian Jews left for a better life in the United States around 1900.
Yavoriv is a city in the Lviv region of western Ukraine which is around 15 kilometers from the Polish border. It is the administrative centre of Yavoriv Raion and is situated approximately 50 kilometres west of the oblast capital, Lviv. Yavoriv hosts the administration of Yavoriv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Its population is approximately 12,785.
The history of the Jews in Latvia dates back to the first Jewish colony established in Piltene in 1571. Jews contributed to Latvia's development until the Northern War (1700–1721), which decimated Latvia's population. The Jewish community reestablished itself in the 18th century, mainly through an influx from Prussia, and came to play a principal role in the economic life of Latvia.
Yiddishkeit literally means "Jewishness". It can refer broadly to Judaism or specifically to forms of Orthodox Judaism when used particularly by religious and Orthodox Jews. In a more general sense, it has come to mean the "Jewishness" or "Jewish essence" of Ashkenazi Jews in general and the traditional Yiddish-speaking Jews of Eastern and Central Europe in particular.
The Great Synagogue was a historic Jewish synagogue in Łomża, Poland. The synagogue stood at the southeastern corner of the Main Square, at the intersection of today's Giełczyńska and Senatorska streets.
Trochenbrod or Trohinbrod, also in Polish: Zofiówka, or in Russian: Софиевка (Sofievka), in Ukrainian: Трохимбрід (Trokhymbrid), Hebrew: טרוכנברוד, was an exclusively Jewish shtetl – a small town, with an area of 1,728 acres (6.99 km2) – located in the gmina Silno, powiat Łuck of the Wołyń Voivodeship, in the Second Polish Republic and would now be located in Kivertsi Raion of Volyn Oblast in Ukraine. Following the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939, Zofiówka was renamed in Russian and incorporated into the new Volyn Oblast of the UkSSR. Two years later, at the start of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, it was annexed by Nazi Germany into the Reichskommissariat Ukraine under a new Germanized name. Trochenbrod (Zofiówka) was completely eradicated in the course of German occupation and the ensuing Holocaust. The town used to be situated about 30 kilometres (19 mi) northeast of Lutsk. The nearest villages of today are Yaromel (Яромель) and Klubochyn (Клубочин).
Meir Balaban or Majer Samuel Bałaban was a historian of Polish and Galician Jews, and the founder of Polish Jewish historiography.
The Golden Rose Synagogue, known also as the Nachmanowicz Synagogue, or the Turei Zahav Synagogue was a synagogue in Lviv, western Ukraine. The Golden Rose Synagogue was the oldest synagogue in what is now Ukraine.
Wieluń, Poland is a small town situated in the south of central Poland, between the large cities of Łódź and Kraków. A Jewish presence in Wieluń was recorded from the early part of the 16th century (1537). Before World War II (1939–1945), Wielun had a large Jewish community, which was completely destroyed by the Nazis between 1940 and 1944.
The history of the Jews in Kyiv stretches from the 10th century CE to the 21st century, and forms part of the history of the Jews in Ukraine.
The history of the Jews in Łęczna, Poland is first recorded and dated to 1501. The Jewish community of the town was evident and stable until the holocaust, after which it ceased to exist. The Glincman family from Wlodawa sent some family members to live there in the late 1800s to widen their business to surrounding towns. Nowadays monuments and buildings are still visible and commemorated in town.
Issachar Ber Ryback, also Riback was a Jewish-Ukrainian-French painter.
Staryi Rynok Square is a square in Lviv, Ukraine. It is located north of the Market Square, along Bohdan Khmelnytsky street, in the vicinity of St. Nicholas Church. The area in which the square is situated constituted the town center during the earliest period of Lviv's history, when it was part of the Galician-Volhynian state.
Ozjasz Wasser was born in Lviv, Poland on September 12, 1866. At that time, Lviv was the capital of Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
