Buchach
Buchach (,
Polish: Buczacz,
Yiddish:
בעטשאָטש, translit.
Betshotsh,
German: Butschatsch) is a small
city located on the
Strypa River (a tributary of the
Dniester River) in the
Ternopil Oblast (
province) of western
Ukraine. It is the
administrative center of the
Buchatsky Raion (
district), and rests 135 km south east of
Lviv, in the historic region of
Galicia.
The current estimated population is around 12,500 (as of
2001).
The earliest recorded mention of Buchach is in
1397, almost fifty years after Galicia was conquered by
Poland. It was during this time that the area experienced a large influx of
Polish,
Jewish and
Armenian settlers. Buchach in particular became home to a large Jewish community, and is thus considered to be a
shtetl.
In
1772, Galicia was annexed by
Austria as part of the
First Partition of Poland. Buchach remained a part of Austria and its successor states until the end of the
First World War in
1918. Buchach was briefly a part of the independent
Western Ukrainian Republic before it was captured by the
Republic of Poland in
1923. In
World War II, Eastern Galicia, including Buchach, was annexed by the Soviet Union and incorporated into the
Ukrainian SSR (see
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact). In
1941, it was invaded by
Nazi Germany; the town's Jewish community was almost completely obliterated during
the Holocaust. The town was returned to the Soviet Union after the war, during which time its Polish community was
ethnically cleansed. After the fall of the Soviet Union in
1991, Buchach became a part of newly independent
Ukraine.
*
Lee Strasberg*
Shmuel Yosef Agnon*
Simon Wiesenthal*
Emanuel Ringelblum*
Alicia Appleman-Jurman*
Złotoryja,
Poland.
*
Budaniv*
Chortkiv*
Zolochiv*
Laskivtsi (
Laskovits)
*
Pyliava*
Velesniv*
Koropets'*
Monastyrs'ka*
shtetl
