Uman

Uman (Ukrainian: Умань, IPA: [ˈumɐnʲ] ⓘ, Polish: Humań) is a city in Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine.

Its role at this time was as a defensive fort to withstand Tatar raids, containing a prominent Cossack regiment that was stationed within the town.

[4] Notably during the latter, Cossack rebels Maksym Zalizniak and Ivan Gonta captured Uman during the Koliyivshchyna uprising against Polish rule.

[4] On the very first day large numbers of Ukrainians deserted the ranks of Polish forces and joined the rebels when the city was surrounded.

The military commander of Uman, Mladanovich, betrayed the city's Jews and allowed the pursuing Cossacks in, in exchange for clemency towards the Polish population.

[citation needed] The Germans operated the AGSSt 16 assembly center for prisoners of war in 1941, and the Stalag 349 POW camp from September 1941 to October 1943.

The main architectural monuments are the catacombs of the old fortress, the Basilian monastery (1764), the city hall (1780–1782), the Dormition Roman Catholic church in the Classicist style (1826), and 19th-century trading stalls.

The park features a number of waterfalls and narrow, arching stone bridges crossing the streams and scenic ravines.

[12] Another Russian missile strike on 28 April 2023 hit a residential building in the city, killing at least 23 people including 6 children and injuring dozens more.

[13][14] The airstrike was quickly followed by a Telegram post by the Russian Ministry of Defense of an image of a missile launch with the caption "right on target".

After the war, a Breslov Hasid managed to locate the Rebbe's grave and preserved it when the Soviets turned the entire area into a housing project.

In 2018, the community saw large growth with about 10–20 families coming from Israel, accompanied by a small movement of young American couples.

A handful of Soviet Hasidic Jews continued to make the pilgrimage clandestinely; some were discovered by the KGB and exiled to Siberia, where they died.

From the 1960s until end of the Cold War in 1989, several hundred American and Israeli Hasidic Jews made their way to Uman, both legally and illegally, to pray at the grave of Rebbe Nachman.

The event brings together a wide variety of Orthodox society, from Yemenite yeshiva students, to former Israeli prison inmates, and American hippies.