Chortkiv (, ; ; ) is a city in Chortkiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Chortkiv Raion, housing the district's local administration buildings. Chortkiv hosts the administration of Chortkiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population:

Chortkiv is located in the northern part of the historic region of Galician Podolia on the banks of the Seret River.

In the past Chortkiv was the home of many Hasidic Jews; it was a notable shtetl and had a significant number of Jews residing there prior to the Holocaust. Today, Chortkiv is a regional commercial and small-scale manufacturing center. as well as historic wooden churches of the 17th and 18th centuries.

History

thumb|left|[[Chortkiv Castle]]

The first historical mention of Chortkiv dates to 1522, During that time, the town was also granted Magdeburg rights. After First Partition of Poland Chortkiv came under Austro-Hungarian rule which lasted from 1772 to 1918, during the time of which it was the center of the Chortkiv Bezirk except brief Russian rule between 1809 and 1815 as part of Tarnopol Governorate. On June 8, 1919, the Ukrainian Galician Army broke for couple months through the Polish front at Chortkiv and began the Chortkiv offensive. which would serve as the first Polish uprising of World War II. In the last days of June 1941, following the German invasion of the USSR, the Soviets executed an estimated 100 to 200 prisoners held in the local prison. The remaining prisoners were evacuated further east, either by train or on foot, while hundreds died due to the inhumane conditions of transport or at the hands of guards.

From 1941-1944 Chortkiv was annexed to Nazi Germany. The Jewish residents were persecuted and deported as part of the Holocaust. When the Nazis arrived, they proceeded to execute many of the local Jews, including the family of Charles Schumer, American Senate Majority Leader. The surviving Polish residents of the town were transferred to the Recovered Territories in the immediate postwar period (see Polish population transfers (1944–1946)). After the defeat of the Nazis by the Red Army in 1944, the town returned to Soviet control until in 1991 it became part of independent Ukraine.

Due to heavy destruction of Ternopil, in 1944 Chortkiv served as a regional seat.

In January 1989 the population was 26 681 people.

In January 2013 the population was 29 640 people.

In 2019, at the 40-meter height of the tower of the Saint Stanislaus church in Chortkiv, archaeologist, researcher of fortifications and antiquities Volodymyr Dobrianskyi discovered a detonator of a shrapnel projectile, according to its flight trajectory determined that the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 7th cannon regiments (64 guns) under the command of Ataman Kirill Karas during the Chortkiv offensive (June 7–28, 1919) were stationed in the woods west of the village of Shmankivtsi in the Chortkiv district.

Until 18 July 2020, Chortkiv was designated as a city of oblast significance and did not belong to Chortkiv Raion even though it was the center of the raion. As part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Ternopil Oblast to three, the city was merged into Chortkiv Raion.

The former Chortkiv Air Base is located nearby.

Religion

Existings

  • Church of the Dormition (1584; wooden; restored in the 1990s);
  • Church of the Ascension (UGCC; 1630; wooden; rebuilt in 1717; restored in 1997);
  • Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (UGCC; 1854; brick);
  • Church of the Intercession (OCU, 1905; brick);
  • Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (OCU; brick);
  • Saint Volodymyr the Great church (under construction since 1993; OCU);
  • Church of the Transfiguration (UGCC; 2007; brick);
  • Saint Michael church (UGCC, 2008; stone);
  • Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul (Buchach Diocese of the UGCC, 2001);
  • one men's monastery (the Convent of the Holy Family) and two women's monasteries (the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family and the Congregation of the Myrrh-Bearing Sisters) of the UGCC;
  • Saint Stanislaus church (1610; rebuilt in the early 20th century; restored in 1989);
  • two Jewish synagogues – the main one (1680s) and the new one (1909; architect Hans Geldkremer);
  • the chapels of Our Lady of Lourdes (1908) and Our Lady of the Cross (2013).

No longer existing

  • Church of the Holy Trinity (UGCC; 1607–?)
  • Saint Nicholas Church (UGCC; 1714–1801)
  • Basil of Caesarea Monastery (UGCC; 1607–1792)

Geography

Climate

Notable people

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  • Anna Blazhenko (born 1955), Ukrainian journalist
  • Sasza Blonder (1909–1949), Polish painter
  • Karl Emil Franzos (1848–1904), Austrian novelist
  • Bernard Hausner (1874–1938), rabbi, politician and diplomat
  • Oleksii Hunovskyi (1882–1961), Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest, composer, public figure, educator, political prisoner and head of the Chortkiv District National Council of the ZUNR
  • Pinchas Horowitz (1731–1805), rabbi and Talmudist
  • Halyna Hrytskiv (1937–2016), Ukrainian public and cultural figure, poet, publicist, and Easter egg maker
  • Jerzy Janicki (1928–2007), Polish writer and reporter
  • Vasyl Makhno (born 1964), Ukrainian poet, essayist, and translator
  • Vasyl Marmus (1992–2022), Ukrainian musician, actor, soldier
  • Shmelke of Nikolsburg (1746–1778), one of the great early Chasidic Rebbes
  • Ludwik Noss (1848–1913), Austrian government official, philanthropist, public and educational figure; burgomaster of Chortkiv
  • Volodymyr Petrashyk (born 1985), Ukrainian art historian, art critic, participant in the Russo-Ukrainian War
  • Olha Pidvysotska (1899–?), Ukrainian soldier, teacher
  • Roxolana Roslak (born 1940), Ukrainian soprano singer
  • Kateryna Rubchakova (1881–1919), Ukrainian actress and singer
  • Tadeusz Wazewski (1896–1972), Polish scholar, mathematician, professor of Jagiellonian University
  • Volodymyr Zabolotnyi (born 1960), Ukrainian actor, public and religious figure

<gallery widths=180>

File:Ратуша, Чортків.jpg|Town hall

File:Чортков. Новая ратуша..jpg|City hall

File:Чортків4497.jpg|Assumption Church

File:Чортков. Бывший Дворец юстиции..jpg|Historic county court building

File:Chortkiv Polkova church.JPG|Ruins of Chortkiv Castle and Regimental Church

File:St Stanislav Church in Chortkiv.jpg|St. Stanislaus Church

File:Chortkiv Synagogue.JPG|Hasidic synagogue

File:Chortkiv Railway Station.JPG|Railway station

File:Чортков. Дом Культуры..jpg|House of Culture

File:Chortkiv-stara-ratusha-10081392.jpg|City centre and the old Town Hall

File:Чортків спортивний (1938 рік).jpg|Football Match at Stadium, 1938

File:Полкова церква P1190065.jpg|Peter and Paul Cathedral

</gallery>

Twin towns

Chortkiv is twinned with:

  • Dobrodzień, Poland
  • Leżajsk, Poland
  • Zawadzkie, Poland
  • Korczyna, Poland
  • Talsi, Latvia
  • Béziers, France
  • Grosuplje, Slovenia
  • Căușeni, Moldova
  • Karlskrona, Sweden
  • Bad Soden-Salmünster, Germany
  • Whitehorse, Canada
  • Ajka, Hungary
  • Caravaggio, Italy
  • Lexington, United States

See also

  • Chortkov (Hasidic dynasty)
  • Old Chortkiv Castle

References

  • Miri Gershoni Shifris, Site dedicated to city Jews