Husiatyn
Encyclopedia
Urban-type settlement
Urban-type settlement ; , selyshche mis'koho typu ) is an official designation for a type of locality used in some of the countries of the former Soviet Union...
in the Ternopil Oblast
Ternopil Oblast
Ternopil Oblast is an oblast' of Ukraine. Its administrative center is Ternopil, through which flows the Seret River, a tributary of the Dnister.-Geography:...
(province
Oblast
Oblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"...
) of western Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. Alternate spellings include Gusyatin, Husyatin, and Hsiatyn. Husiatyn is the administrative center of the Husiatyn Raion
Husiatyn Raion
Husiatyn Raion is a raion in Ternopil Oblast in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is Husiatyn. It has a population of 66 803.-See also:* Subdivisions of Ukraine* Ternopil Oblast...
(district
Raion
A raion is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet countries. The term, which is from French rayon 'honeycomb, department,' describes both a type of a subnational entity and a division of a city, and is commonly translated in English as "district"...
), and is located on the west bank of the Zbruch River
Zbruch River
Zbruch River is a river in Western Ukraine, a left tributary of the Dniester.It flows within the Podolia Upland starting from the Avratinian Upland. Zbruch is the namesake of the Zbruch idol, a sculpture of a Slavic deity in the form of a column with a head with four faces, discovered in 1848 by...
. This river formed the old boundary between Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
and the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century, and the boundary between the Republic of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
during the inter-war period of the twentieth century.
History
Husiatyn was first mentioned in documents in 1559, a time when it was part of the Polish-Lithuanian CommonwealthPolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
and the year that it was granted self-government under the Magdeburg Law. At this time it was located in the province of Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
. It came under Austrian rule in 1772 with other parts of Southern Podolia (the region between the Zbruch and the Seret rivers) and attached to the Austrian Crown Land of Galicia and Lodomeria. The Emperor Joseph II toured this area immediately after its annexation to Austria and was very impressed by the fertility of the soil and its future prospects. It remained a county centre under Austrian rule until the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the declaration of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic in late 1918. In 1919, the Ukrainian Galician Army
Ukrainian Galician Army
Ukrainian Galician Army , was the Ukrainian military of the West Ukrainian National Republic during and after the Polish-Ukrainian War. -Military equipment:...
fought the Bolsheviks there but was driven out by the Poles who thereafter annexed the area to the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
. In 1939 it was annexed to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
In the nineteenth century, the population of Husiatyn County was predominantly Ukrainian, though there was a small Polish landowning stratum and some Jews in the town. In the late nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, Southern Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
, including Husiatyn County witnessed large-scale out-migration of its peasant population to western Canada.
Husiatyn and Hasidism
Husiatyn was home to a large Jewish population prior to the HolocaustThe Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, and in particular was the base for a significant Hasidic
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
group of the Husiatyner dynasty
Husiatyn (Hasidic dynasty)
Husiatyn is the name of a Hasidic dynasty, whose founder was a scion of the Ruzhiner dynasty. Husiatyn is located in present-day Ukraine.It started with the Rebbe Rabbi Mordechai Shraga Feivish Friedman, the youngest son of Rabbi Israel Friedmann of Rizhin...
and their Rebbes, that went four four generations in Husiatyn: Shraga Feivish Friedman, (1835-1894) 1st Rebbe of Husiatyn; Yisroel Friedman, (1858-1949) 2nd Rebbe of Husiatyn, Yaakov Friedman, (1878-1957) 3rd Rebbe of Husiatyn, and Yitzchok Friedman, (1900-1968) 4th and last Rebbe of Husiatyn.
Monuments
Prior to 1928, in the village of Chornokintsi Velyki (Czarnokońce Wielkie in Polish), Husiatyn County, a neolithic grave complete with a coffin was found.
The Husiatyn Synagogue
Husiatyn Synagogue
The Husiatyn Synagogue is a former synagogue in Husiatyn, Galicia, Ukraine.The synagogue is a rare example of a sixteenth-century "Fortress synagogue" built in Renaissance style.S...
, is a rare example of a sixteenth-century Fortress synagogue
Fortress synagogue
Fortress synagogues are synagogues built to withstand attack while protecting the lives of people sheltering within them.Fortress synagogues first appear in the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth in the sixteenth century at a time of frequent invasions from the east by Ottoman, Russian and Walachian...
and was restored and used as a museum until about 20 years ago.