History of Ivano-Frankivsk
Kingdom of Poland 1435–1569 Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 1569–1772 Habsburg monarchy 1772–1804 Austrian Empire 1804–1867 Austro-Hungarian Empire 1867–1918 West Ukrainian People's Republic 1918–1919 Republic of Poland 1919–1939 Soviet Union 1939–1941 (occupation) Nazi Germany 1941–1944 (occupation) Soviet Union 1944–1945 (occupation) Soviet Union 1945–1991 Ukraine 1991–present Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukrainian: Івано-Франківськ, Ivano-Frankivs'k; Polish: Iwano-Frankowsk; German: Iwano-Frankiwsk; Russian: Івано-Франкoвск, romanized: Ivano-Frankovsk, see also other names) is an administrative center in western Ukraine with almost 350 years of history as a city settlement.
The city, named Stanisławów (Stanyslaviv), was erected as a fortress to protect the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from Tatar invasions and to reinforce the region in case of some other Khmelnytsky Uprising would occur.
[2] The village of Zabolotiv and the land around it were purchased by Stanisław Rewera Potocki from another Polish nobleman Rzeczkowski.
The Magdeburg rights also allowed for the creation of various craftsman shops, independent craftsmen guilds, and, most importantly, the freedom of religion.
On April 24, 1664 the newly created city's Butchers Guild was awarded the "20-year freedom" exception from taxation.
In the same year Jews were granted the right to become permanent residents, and who could work, conduct commerce, and come and go from the city as they pleased.
His body was transferred to his native city and buried in the Potocki family parish kosciol also known as Fara (today the Art museum on Sheptytsky Square).
In the city operated the Polish-Armenian court that had a strict stance against the local peasant uprising known as Opryshky.
Due to numerous military conflicts, diseases, and other socially dangerous events, the population of the city by the end of the 18th century did not exceed 5,000.
In 1759 the Jewish community of Stanisławów took part in a dispute with the Frankists from Lwow eventually joining the later group (see Jacob Frank).
In 1772, after the Partitions of Poland it became a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and successively of the autonomous Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria.
One of the first streets that appeared outside of the city fortifications were Dvirska (today Chodkewicz), Mlynarska, Tartakova (Dudayev), Polyova (Petlyura).
The street that connected the railway station with the old town (midtown) the city magistrate named Grunwaldska to commemorate the 500 Anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald.
One of the famous students of that school was the Ukrainian writer, historian, and ethnographer Ivan Vahylevych who studied there in 1824 - 1830.
On September 1, 1866 the city was connected to a railway network Lviv-Chernivtsi, while the locomotive-repair shop was opened along with the train terminal.
During that time the center of the city slowly moved from the market square southward towards the Tysmenytsia Road (today Nezalezhnist street - stometrovka).
Dr. Arthur Nemhein was the mayor of the city from 1897 to 1919, but was later fired by Polish authorities in 1919 for cooperating with Ukrainian separatists.
In the elections to the Austrian parliament of 1907, Dr. Marcus Braude, a Zionist Jew, gained the majority of votes.
[12] During World War I, the front-line was for some time in the area of the city, Russians and Austro-Hungarian forces fought several battles in Stanisławów and its vicinity.
In October 1918, the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed and the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR) was proclaimed.
[13] In the early months of 1919 (from January to May) the city became a temporary capital of the West Ukrainian National Republic, while still recovering from World War I.
The same year it was subjected to the Polish–Ukrainian and the Romanian-Ukrainian skirmishes eventually being annexed by Poland as part of the Second Polish Republic as the center of the Stanisławów Voivodship.
[16] During the interbellum period, Stanisławów was a large military base for the Polish Army, with two major units stationed there – 11th Infantry Division and Podolska Cavalry Brigade.
Between September 1939 and June 1941, the Soviet regime ordered thousands of inhabitants of the city to leave their houses and move to Siberia, where most of them perished.
On October 12, 1941, later called "Blutsonntag" ("Bloody Sunday"), the Nazi Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei or "SiPo") rounded up thousands of Jewish residents.
During the post-war period the city was part of the Carpathian Military District housing the 38th Army (70th Motor Rifle Division) that participated in the Operation Dunai.
On August 16 the "Prykarpattian Pravda" (local newspaper) announced about the start of preparation works in the reconstruction of the city on which the Soviet government of Ukraine promised 100,000 rubles.
On October 31, 1945 a local guerrilla group "Chornyi Lis" (Black Forest, name of the forests outside of the city) headed by Vasyl Andrusyak conducted a raid on the city occupying a store of the Regional Customer Association (Oblspozhyvspilka), medical warehouses, and taking hostage several officials of the local Communist party and NKVD.
On February 25 the body of the killed Vasyl Andrusyak (also known as Hrehota-Rizun) was brought to the city where he was viewed for four days by several Soviet officials.
In 2002, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called a move by the city council inexcusable and "profoundly insulting to honour Nazi war veterans of the SS Galicia division as "fighters for independence" whom the head of the SS, Himmler, congratulated in May 1944 for having cleansed Ukraine of all its Jews.
