Zolochiv, Lviv Oblast

Zolochiv (, ; ; ; ) is a small city in Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine, and the administrative center of Zolochiv Raion. It hosts the administration of Zolochiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The city is located east of Lviv along Highway H02 Lviv-Ternopil 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.

Polish period

In 1442, the city was founded as "Złoczów", by John of Sienno, a Polish nobleman of the Dębno family, although the first written mention of Zolochiv was in 1423.

By 1523, it was already a city of Magdeburg rights.

Zolochiv was incorporated as a town on 15 September 1523 by the Polish king Sigismund I the Old. Located in the Ruthenian Voivodship of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, 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 (in the Austrian part of the empire after the compromise of 1867). It was the center of one of the 78 Bezirkshauptmannschaften in the Austrian Galicia province in 1900.

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.

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.

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, 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.

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, including Ivan Lahola, Bohdan Kachur and Stepan Petelycky, were imprisoned in the Gestapo headquarters in Zolochiv and were later transported to Lącki prison in Lviv.

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, 1724 (destroyed during World War II)

Notable people

In chronological order:

John III Sobieski (1629–1696), king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania
Katarzyna Sobieska (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, the national anthem of Israel
Moyshe-Leyb Halpern (1886–1932), Yiddish writer
(born 1995), pornographic film actress and model
Tadeusz Brzeziński (1896–1990), Polish diplomat, father of Zbigniew Brzezinski
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 (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 Argentina
Roald Hoffmann (born 1937), Polish-American chemist, 1981 laureate of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
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

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References

External links

History of Zolochiv and Zolochiv Region (in Ukrainian)
Zolochev/Zolochiv (pp. 427) at Miriam Weiner's Routes to Roots Foundation.