Zolochiv

Zolochiv is a city in eastern Ukraine in Lviv Oblast. Zolochiv's population is approximately 24,000. There is another Zolochiv located in Kharkiv Oblast.

The history of Zolochiv can be documented back to the fifteenth century when it was first mentioned as a village in historical records. It was situated along a trade route that ran from Lviv to the regions of Volhynia and Podolia. In 1523, Zolochiv obtained Magdeburg Rights and formally became a city. The ownership of the city can be traced back to a succession of families, beginning with the Sienieński family, who sold it to the Górka family, who in turn pledged it to the Zborowski family. When it was found out that the Zborowskis were not intending to return Zolochiv to its legal owners, the Górkas, the city was reclaimed by them via court and subsequently sold to the Sobieski family in 1598. From that point, the Sobieskis controlled Zolochiv for close to one and a half centuries, building castles and fortifications that were often taken over by Turks. In 1649, the city was captured by Cossacks.

The city suffered many devastating fires and invasions over the first few centuries of its existence. Much of Zolochiv has been rebuilt several times over due to fires, including in 1672, 1691, 1797, and 1903, at which point buildings were rebuilt out of brick instead of wood to lessen future destruction.

In 1772, Zolochiv became part of Galicia and was annexed to Austria under the First Partition of Poland. The Piarist Order was dissolved in 1788, and the government took control over the land the order had owned.

At the beginning of World War I in 1914, Zolochiv was captured by the Russian army and held until 1915. From 1918 to 1919, it was under Polish rule. The Polish troops tortured and robbed the Jewish population during their occupation. The next year, Zolochiv was captured by the Red Army, and the Jewish were forced to dig trenches and give up their shops. The Polish army later recaptured the city, but this time did not mistreat the civilians.

In September 1939, Zolochiv was taken over by the Red Army for a second time during World War II. The Germans later occupied Zolochiv in the beginning of July 1941. Over the course of a few days, between 3,000 and 4,000 Jewish people were killed. In November 1941, almost 200 young people were forced to the work camp Latski-Vielkia. Zolochiv's Jewish population was slowly forced into the Bełżec extermination camp beginning at the end of August 1942, when 2,700 people were deported. Another deportation round consisting of about 2,500 people occurred a few months later in early November. Many of those deported were children and elders. A closed ghetto was established in the city on December 1, 1942; between 7,500 and 9,000 remaining Jewish people were confined to the area. Conditions in the ghetto were inhumane, and a typhus outbreak quickly ravaged the population. The local hospital was immediately overrun with infected people.

The ghetto was eventually liquidated four months later, on April 2, 1943. It was surrounded on the night of April 1. On the morning of April 2, German militiamen went to each house in the ghetto and forced every person they found to a designated collection point. Some hid in attics and cellars, but the Germans searched ruthlessly over the following days, and most were caught. After arriving at the collection point, everyone was forced to give up all valuables on their person. Deportation trucks arrived soon afterward, and everyone was forced on and brought to the village of Yelikhovichi, where they were eventually killed. They were brought to large pits by the truckload, then forced to undress and enter the pits where they were shot at. The pits were packed with people, so full that no one could move. Due to the thickness of the crowds, some victims escaped being shot fatally or entirely and were ultimately buried alive. Only two people were known to have escaped the pits.

Once the Germans had captured most of the Jewish population, they stopped forcing them to Yelikhovichi and began killing them in groups at the market in town in front of the surviving population. The final victims were killed at the local cemetery, where they were forced to dig their own graves. By the end of the liquidation, an estimated 6,000 Jewish people had been murdered; few remained alive. Zolochiv was liberated from the German occupation on July 13, 1944, but by then the city's Jewish population and culture were effectively destroyed.

In 1945, the Tarnopol Voivodeship (which included Zolochiv) was annexed by the Soviet Union under the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Since 1991, Zolochiv has belonged to the independent Ukrainian state.