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.
Polish town (1442)
In 1442, the city was founded as "Złoczów", by John of Sienna, a Polishnobleman of the Dębno family although the first written mention of Zolochiv was in 1423.
From the first partition of Poland in 1772 until 1918, the town was part of the Austrian monarchy (Austria side after the compromise of 1867), head of the district with the same name, one of the 78 Bezirkshauptmannschaften in Austrian Galicia province, or "Crown land", in 1900.[3]
Interbellum: Polish Złoczów
From 15 March 1923 until the Invasion of Poland in 1939, when the town was occupied by the Soviet Union, 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.[4]
Nazi occupation
After July 1941, Zolochiv was occupied by Germany and incorporated into the General Government 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.[4]
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.[4]
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.[4]
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.[4]
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. [4]
German photograph of Jews killed in mass grave at Zolochiv about 1941. Found by the Soviets in Zolochiv's Gestapo headquarters when the city was liberated in July 1944
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.[5]
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,[5] 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.[6] One German official, Josef Meyer, tried to protect Jews, hiding several. After the war, Yad Vashem awarded him, his wife and two daughters the title Righteous Among the Nations.[7]
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 (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 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.[4]
On 1 December 1942 a ghetto 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 at a pit near the village of Yelhovitsa.[4]
Second Soviet occupation
From July 1944 to 16 August 1945, the town was occupied by the Red Army.
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 in the USSR, 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, 20km 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 90km2). 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.[8]
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.[9]
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.[10]
Andriy Husin (1972–2014), Ukrainian football player
Gallery
Zolochiv Castle
Great Palace of Zolochiv Castle
Church of the Assumption
Interior of the Assumption Church
St. Nicholas Church
Church of the Resurrection
Monastery of the Order of Saint Basil the Great
Church of the Ascension
Former hospital
Administrative building
Military commissariat building
Residential building at Shashkevycha Street, 11
Related Research Articles
Tarnopol Voivodeship was an administrative region of interwar Poland (1918–1939), created on 23 December 1920, with an area of 16,500 km2 and provincial capital in Tarnopol. The voivodeship was divided into 17 districts (powiaty). At the end of World War II, at the insistence of Joseph Stalin during the Tehran Conference of 1943 without official Polish representation whatsoever, the borders of Poland were redrawn by the Allies. The Polish population was forcibly resettled after the defeat of Nazi Germany and the Tarnopol Voivodeship was incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. Since 1991, most of the region is located in the Ternopil Oblast in sovereign Ukraine.
Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret. Administratively, it serves as the administrative centre of Ternopil Oblast. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. It is served by Ternopil Airport. The population of Ternopil was estimated at 225,004.
The NKVD prisoner massacres were a series of mass executions of political prisoners carried out by the NKVD, the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union, across Eastern Europe, primarily in Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic states and Bessarabia. After the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, NKVD troops were supposed to evacuate political prisoners to the interior of the Soviet Union, but the hasty retreat of the Red Army, a lack of transportation and other supplies, and general disregard for legal procedures often led to prisoners being simply executed.
Buchach is a city located on the Strypa River in Chortkiv Raion of Ternopil Oblast (province) of Western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Buchach urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Buchach rests 135 kilometres south-east of Lviv, in the historic region of Halychyna (Galicia). The city was located in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until the partitions, followed by the Habsburg monarchy (1772–1804), Austrian Empire (1804–1867), Austria-Hungary (1867–1918), West Ukrainian People's Republic (1918–1919), the Second Polish Republic (1919–1939), and the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union (1939–1991). The population was estimated at 12,171.
Berezhany is a city in Ternopil Raion, Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It lies about 50 km (31 mi) from the administrative center of the oblast, Ternopil. Berezhany hosts the administration of Berezhany urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 17,139.
Zhovkva is a city in Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast (region) of western Ukraine. Zhovkva hosts the administration of Zhovkva urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Its population is approximately 13,852.
Yavoriv is a city in Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine. It is situated about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the Polish border. It serves as 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 Lwów Ghetto was a Nazi ghetto in the city of Lwów in the territory of Nazi-administered General Government in German-occupied Poland.
Terebovlia is a small city in Ternopil Raion, Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. Terebovlia hosts the administration of Terebovlia urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 13,226 ; 13,661 (2001).
Berezne is a city in Rivne Oblast, Ukraine. It is located on the Sluch River north of Rivne. It was the administrative center of Berezne Raion until it was merged with Rivne Raion in 2020. Population: 13,126.
Busk is a city located in Zolochiv Raion in Lviv Oblast (region) of western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Busk urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 8,662.
Janowska concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp combining elements of labor, transit, and extermination camps. It was established in September 1941 on the outskirts of Lwów in what had become, after the German invasion, the General Government. The camp was named after the nearby street Janowska in Lwów of the interwar Second Polish Republic.
Zolochiv Castle was a residence of the Sobieski noble family on a hill at the confluence of two small rivers in the south-eastern part of Zolochiv, Galicia.
Bilyi Kamin is a village in Zolochiv Raion in Lviv Oblast, located in western Ukraine. It belongs to Zolochiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Bilyi Kamin is located near the larger town of Brody, Ukraine.
Sasiv is a village in Zolochiv Raion, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine, since 1945. Until 1772 the village was located in the historical territory of Ruthenia, in the Ruthenian Voivodeship of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, thereafter until 1919 became part of the Austro-Hungarian Cisleithanian crown lands in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (Galicia). From 1919 until 1945 the town was once again part of Poland within the Tarnopol Voivodeship. It belongs to Zolochiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The town is located 8 km north-east of Zolochiv on the west bank of Western Bug River.
The Tarnopol Ghetto was a Jewish World War II ghetto established in 1941 by the Schutzstaffel (SS) in the prewar Polish city of Tarnopol.
The Sarny massacre was the execution of an estimated 14,000-18,000 people, mostly Jews, in the Nazi-occupied Polish city of Sarny on August 27-28, 1942.
Sambor Ghetto was a Nazi ghetto established in March 1942 by the SS in Sambir, Western Ukraine. In the interwar period, the town (Sambor) had been part of the Second Polish Republic. In 1941, the Germans captured the town at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa. According to the Polish census of 1931, Jews constituted nearly 29 percent of the town's inhabitants, most of whom were murdered during the Holocaust. Sambor (Sambir) is not to be confused with the much smaller Old Sambor located nearby, although the Jewish history of the two is inextricably linked.
The history of Ternopil describes the history of the city of Ternopil, located in modern day Ukraine.
The NKVD prisoner massacre in Zolochiv was a Soviet war crime conducted by the NKVD in the city of Zolochiv, then in occupied Poland and now in Ukraine. In the last days of June 1941, following the German invasion of the USSR, the Soviets executed an estimated 650 to 720 prisoners held in the Zolochiv prison. This atrocity was one of several prisoner massacres carried out by the Soviet secret police and army during the summer of 1941.
1 2 Megargee, Geoffrey (2012). Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos. Bloomington, Indiana: University of Indiana Press. p.Volume II 849–851. ISBN978-0-253-35599-7.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Ukraine
