Boryslav (Ukrainian: Борислав, IPA: [borɪˈslɑu̯]; Polish: Borysław) is a city located on the Tysmenytsia (a tributary of the Dniester), in Drohobych Raion, Lviv Oblast (region) of western Ukraine.

Kingdom of Poland 1387–1569 Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 1569–1772 Habsburg monarchy 1772–1804 Austrian Empire 1804–1918 West Ukrainian People's Republic 1918-1919 Second Polish Republic 1919–1945 Soviet Union (Ukrainian SSR) 1939–1941 (occupation) Nazi Germany 1941–1944 (occupation) Soviet Union (Ukrainian SSR) 1944–1991 Ukraine 1991–present Between the 9th and 13th centuries, the site of the modern town housed a fortress named Tustan, which was part of a belt of similar strongholds defending the Kievan Rus' from the west and south.

[2] One of the great technological developments of the 19th century was the discovery by pharmacists Johan (Jan) Zeh (uk:Зег Ян, pl:Jan Zeh) (1817–1897)) and Ignacy Łukasiewicz, in nearby Lviv, of technology that led to the establishment of a new industry based on petroleum.

Scientists worked out a method of distilling Boryslaw crude oil, and on 30 March 1853 made the first kerosene lamp.

Their discoveries marked the beginnings of the rapid search for petroleum in the Carpathians — especially in the eastern sector of the mountain chain where rich oil deposits were discovered.

In the second half of 1853, following the research of Jan Zeh, Ignacy Łukasiewicz and several other scientists working in the nearby city of Lemberg (the then official name of Lviv), the town and its surroundings saw the emergence of an oil industry.

Also the ozokerite, a natural mineral wax, mined in Borysław, was used for insulation of the first trans-Atlantic telegraphic cable line.

On 31 December 1872, a railway line linking Borysław with the nearby city of Drohobycz (now Drohobych, Ukraine) was opened.

Together with the nearby settlement of Tustanowice (Tustanovychi, now part of Boryslav), Boryslaw produced in 1925 about 80% of Polish oil (812,000 tons).

The first official anti-Jewish actions began at the end of November 1941, when around 1,500 Jews, the majority of whom were deemed weak and unable to work, were shot by the Ukrainian militia and German security police in the forest near the town of Truskavets.

In another action in November, about 1500 Jews were rounded up, held for three weeks under depraved conditions in a local cinema, and then sent to Belzec.

[9] A personal-account history of this period is recounted by the Polish-American writer — and Boryslav native — Wilhelm Dichter in his popular and acclaimed literary debut, Koń Pana Boga.

The title of Righteous Among the Nations belongs to the Miniv family from Boryslav Following Germany's defeat in World War II, the town came again under Soviet rule.