A History of Cities and
Villages of the UkrainianSSR
Published in Ukrainian as "Istoriia mist i sil Ukrainskoi RSR"
"Історія міст і сіл Української РСР"
Published in Russian as "Istoriia gorodov i sel Ukrainskoi SSR"
"История городов и сел Украинской ССР"
A massive project began by the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of Ukraine to publish a 26 volume series (one volume for each
oblast (Ukrainian for province) of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic)
covering the history of all cities, towns and villages in the republic. The 26
volumes were published over the period 1967 to 1974. After 1974, the volumes
were reprinted in Russian.
Over the course of its publication, over 100,000 people
were involved with gathering data and offering it for inclusion into the volume.
The collection is hard to come by in North America. (John Pihach informs me that
some university libraries have all the volumes of this publication.
Interested persons should conduct a search through a local library's ILL
(Inter-Library Loan) system. I found my copy of Lviv oblast in an open air
market in downtown Lviv.
There was only one copy of this one oblast. The man who
sold it to me forgot where he got it and did not know how to get any more copies
of either this oblast or any other. He suggested I try an open air market in
Ternopil for the volume on Ternopil oblast!
When using this reference, one must keep in mind that it
was written during the Brezhnev years. Upon the completion of the entire series
in 1974, an article appeared in the Ukrainian Historical Journal about the
initial genesis of the project and its progress through to publication. The
article states that the city, town and village descriptions were drawn "from a
party-class position...the common historical fate of the Russian and Ukrainian
people...their struggle against foreign occupiers and exploiters...to uncover
the great achievements of the Ukrainian people under the star of Soviet rule,
which is the result of the incomparable victories of the socialist ruling order,
and the wise rule of the Communist party and its Central Committee..." (quoted
from Adrian Karmazyn’s article "A Study of A History of Cities and Villages
of the Ukrainian SSR, Research Report No. 46, Canadian Institute of
Ukrainian Studies Press, University of Alberta: Edmonton, 1992.)
Therefore, it should be no surprise that information
found in the book is from a unique prospective, one that many contemporary
genealogists may not like or understand. The importance of this series, however,
should not be underestimated. The information you can learn from the series is
informative and invaluable. The narratives range from a sentence or two about a
larger village to many pages about towns and district centers. Although much of
the history is taken from the Soviet point of view, there are many references to
historical dates, buildings and people outside Soviet context. There are some
very good maps and many excellent photographs, some in black-and-white and
others in color. Of course, many of the pictures are of Soviet generals, party
members, statues and monuments dedicated to anti-fascist and Soviet heroes, and
newly constructed factories and collective farms. But you’ll also find pictures
of village life and castles, too.
The volume begins with a description and history of Lviv
oblast, followed by a detailed history of the city of Lviv. Then each district,
arranged alphabetically, is introduced with a general description and history,
followed by information on main cities and towns of importance within the
district. At the end of each section, smaller towns and villages in that
particular district are described. The smaller villages, though not described,
are listed to show which town or agriculture center then belong to.
Most historic descriptions list the number of Communist
Party members residing in the town or village, along with the number of
residents who took part in the Second World War (translated as the Great
Patriotic War) and number of casualties from the war.
At the end of the volume is both a Geographic Index and a
Person Index, allowing you to search quickly for your city, town or village.
Examples
Page 347 at the end of the Zolochiv District.
Note: Since this is taken from the 1978 Russian language
edition, all of the geographic references are transliterated from the Russian
Belyj Kamen’
Village, center of Village Soviet<political entity>.
Set on the Bug River, between the Zhulitsky and Podlisky Mountains. 13 km
from the district center of Zolochev, 8 km from the Ozhidov train station on the
Lvov-Zdolbunov line, and on the Zolochev-Olesko highway. 268 homesteads and a
population of 730.
Also belonging to the Belyj Kamen’ Village Soviet are the
villages of Buzhok, Gavarechchina, Podles’e, Rozvazh, and Cheremoshnya.
In Belyj Kamen’ is the Collective Farm Center of "Sickle
and Hammer," which contains 4,000 hectares of collective farmland and 1,800
hectares of plowed land. Production trends include raising calves and a
developing sugarbeet crop. The collective farm consists of a mill, 2 sawmills,
and a tractor workshop.
In 1972 Belyj Kamen’ was handed the memorable award of
the Red Banner of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union, Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and of the Soviet of the
Ministers of the USSR, for its success at winning the socialist competition
"Progress of the Agricultural Collective Farm." 17 people were honored with the
government award. Title of the Hero of Socialist Labor was bestowed upon
brigadier N.I. Evdokimov, while the Chairperson of the Collective Farm, Z. Ya.
Lozhovskaya was merited with the honor Agriculturist of the Ukrainian Soviet
Socialist Republic and awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of Labor of the
Red Banner. She was the delegate of the 24th Congress of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the 25th Congress Party of
the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
There is a count of 37 official communist party members
in 2 party organizations. There are 203 members in 2 Komsomol<Communist Youth
Organization>. The first party organization was created in 1952, the first
Komsomol in 1940.
In the village is a high school, where there are 28
teachers and 376 pupils, a library with a collection of 7,100 volumes, a club
with a 180 seat auditorium, a branch of communication services, a savings bank,
an outpatient clinic, a hospital equipped with 25 beds, a pharmacy, and 2
stores.
Belyj Kamen’ was first mentioned in the chronicles in
1493. In 1682 it was allowed into the Magdeburg Law. During the occupation of
bourgeois-landlord Poland the village was liberated by the Red Army in August
1920 and created a Revolutionary Committee headed by H. Bazarnitsky.
91 village citizens were victims on the front during the
Great Patriotic War (World War II), of which 47 courageously lost their lives.
35 were awarded orders and medals. On July 20, 1944, near Belyj Kamen’ were
fierce battles against the fascist armies in an attempt to break out of the
"Brody Broiler"<scene of a great clash between the two armies.> In the battles
the Hitlerites lost 15 tanks and transports, 18 heavy weapons, and nearly 500
soldiers. The partisans under A.K. Kundius offered significant help to the Red
Army. In a park an obelisk was erected in honor of those fallen in the fight
against the fascists.
In the village of Podles’e M.C. Shashkevich (1811-1843)
was born. He was a prominent Ukrainian writer, one of the founders of the new
Ukrainian literature in Western Ukraine, and an enlightened democrat. In 1959 a
museum dedicated to Shashkevich opened in the village and in 1962 a monument was
erected. Near the village of Buzhok a settlement form the Bronze and Iron Age
was discovered.
