Bels

Bels
Белз
	Bels
Basic data
Oblast :	Lviv Oblast
Rajon :	Sokal district
Height :	no information
Area :	5.85 km²
Residents :	2,478 (2004)
Population density :	424 inhabitants per km²
Postcodes :	80065
Area code :	+380 3257
Geographic location :	50 ° 23 '  N , 24 ° 0'  E Coordinates: 50 ° 22 '56 "  N , 24 ° 0' 4"  E
KOATUU :	4624810300
Administrative structure :	1 city
Address:	вул. Савенка 1 80062 м. Белз
Statistical information
Bels

Bels ( Ukrainian and Russian Белз ; Polish Bełz , Yiddish בעלז, בעלזא, Hebrew בלז) is a city in Lviv Oblast in western Ukraine , near the Polish border . Bels has about 2400 inhabitants (as of 2004).

history

Historical coat of arms 1772

Arian tower

A Slavic castle on the banks of the Bug has existed since the 10th century at the latest . In 981, Prince Vladimir I of Kiev conquered the neighboring area around Cherven west of the bow. From 1018 this belonged to the Duchy of Poland .

Bels is first mentioned in writing in 1030, when the Kiev prince Yaroslav the Wise conquered the castle. From 1170 to 1234 the city was the seat of its own principality of Bel . In 1234 she came to the Principality of Halych-Volhynia .
From 1340 to 1366 it was again part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as the capital of a principality . In 1366 the village became part of the Kingdom of Poland and in 1377 to the Kingdom of Hungary . From 1387 back to Poland, from 1462 to 1793 it was the seat of its own Bełz Voivodeship . In the course of the first division of Poland in 1772 it was annexed to the Austrian Empire , later Austria-Hungary , under which it belonged to the Crown Land Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria . Between 1854 and 1867 the village was the seat of a district administration, then until 1918 the seat of a district court for the Sokal district . In 1884 the Jarosław – Kowel railway was opened with a train station in Belz, connecting the village to the railway network. After 1951, the Ukrainian section of the line was converted to Russian broad gauge.

With the end of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy after the First World War in November 1918, Bels first became part of the West Ukrainian People's Republic , which ceded the place to Poland in April 1919 .

The Red Army occupied Bels in September 1939 and stayed there until the end of October. Then Bels came under German rule and was incorporated into the General Government. It was occupied by Germany until 1944 . Almost the entire population of the place was wiped out or fled during this time, not only Jews, but also Ukrainians and Poles, who fought each other violently in a bloody civil war in the regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia .

In 1944 Bels first became Polish again and in 1947 the Ukrainian population was resettled ( Aktion Weichsel ). On February 15, 1951, the city was transferred to the Soviet Union after an agreed exchange of territory . Since the remaining Polish population had almost completely withdrawn (around 800 people), the city was almost deserted when it was handed over. Bels now became part of the Ukrainian SSR . Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Bels has been part of independent Ukraine .

Jews in Bels

Old synagogue

Already in the 10th century there were followers of the Jewish community of the Karaites in Bels, who had come here after the fall of the Khaganate of the Khazars . The first reports of an Ashkenazi Jewish community in Bels, which achieved equal rights in 1665, come from the years 1469 and 1494 . Under Shalom Rokeach , the Belz Hasidim movement arose in Belz in 1816 and still exists in Israel today. In 1843 the Great Synagogue with space for 5000 people was inaugurated. From at least 1859 through 1931, more than half of the population of Bel was Jewish. In 1900 there were 2,872 living here, and in 1910 there were already 3,625, which made up 60% of the population. In 1914, 3,600 of the 6100 inhabitants were Jews.

Jewish hostel in Belz with synagogue

Although many Jews fled to the eastern parts of the Soviet Union after the Soviet and German occupation of Poland in September 1939, there were still over 1,540 Jews in Bels in 1942. On June 2, 1942, 1,000 of them were deported to Hrubieszów , and from there to the Sobibor extermination camp . In September of the same year, another 504 were brought to Hrubieszów after they were no longer needed in the surrounding fields. Almost the entire Jewish population of Bels perished in the Holocaust .

From 1944 the Hasidic movement in Bels moved to Palestine / Israel. For example, a new Bels synagogue for 6,000 people was inaugurated in Jerusalem in 2000. The old rabbis of Bels are still very important to the followers of the movement today, for some they are something like saints. Special attention is paid to their graves in the Jewish cemetery . There is a tradition that the arrival of the Jewish Messiah starts from the Bels synagogue.

The well-known Yiddish song Mein Schtetele Belz does not refer to this Belz , but to the city of Bălți (also pronounced Belz) in the Republic of Moldova .

Other ethnic groups

Until the middle of the 19th century, an estimated 80% of the population were Ruthenians / Russians . After that, their share changed drastically in favor of Jews, but also Poles. In 1914 there were only 1,600 Ukrainians and 900 Poles in the city, out of a total population of 6,100 inhabitants.

Ruins of the former monastery church

Wooden church of St. Paraskewa

Complex dedicated to the icon of the Holy Mother of God from Częstochowa

Attractions

The following sights can be found in the village:

• Arian tower of a former chapel of the Polish Reformation brothers (1606) - the oldest preserved building in the city
• Remains of the former Dominican monastery:
  • Ruins of the former St. Nikolai monastery church (mid-16th century)
  • Building of the former monastery (17th – 18th century, Baroque), today the town hall
  • Building of the former nunnery (17th – 18th century, Baroque), today the Greek Catholic Church of St. Nikolai
• Wooden Greek Catholic Church of St. Paraskewa (17th century)

Personalities

• Jan Zamoyski (1542–1605), Starost von Bels
• Shalom Rokeach (1779–1855), first Hasidic rabbi of Bels, see Belz (Hasidic movement)

Web links

Commons : Bels  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rizzi Zannoni, Woiewodztwo Ruskie, Część Krakowskiego, Sędomirskiego Bełzkiego y z y granicami Węgier, Polski, Które gory Karpackie nakształt łańcucha wyciągnione, od góry Wolska aż do Talabry, wyznaczaią .; 1772
2. ^ Reichsgesetzblatt of April 24, 1854, No. 111, page 401
3. ^ ÖNB-ALEX - Reichsgesetzblatt 1849-1918. Retrieved February 29, 2020 . 
4. ↑ Dr. Fryderyk Papée, Zabytki przeszłości miasta Bełza . Lwów 1884
5. ^ Rabbi Tsvi Rabinowicz: Chassidic Rebbes: From the Baal Shem Tov to Modern Times . Targum Press. 1989. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
6. ↑ Yitshak Shlomo Yodlov: Sefer Yikhus Belz (The Lineage Book of the Grand Rabbis of Belz) . 1984. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
7. ↑ Снитковский В. По еврейским улицам Европы ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ^ Dr Mieczysław Orłowicz. Ilustrowany Przewodnik po Galicyi. Lwów 1919
9. ^ Spector, Shmuel and Wigoder, Geoffrey, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust , p. 105. NY: NYU Press 2001.
10. ↑ https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/communities/balti/mein_shtetle_belz.asp Origin of the song. Retrieved November 29, 2019
11. ^ Dr Mieczysław Orłowicz. Ilustrowany Przewodnik po Galicyi. Lwów 1919