Yavoriv (Ukrainian: Яворів, pronounced [ˈjɑ.wo.r⁽ʲ⁾iu̯]; Polish: Jaworów; Yiddish: יאַוואָראָוו, romanizedYavorov; German: Jaworiw) is a city in the Lviv region of western Ukraine which is around 15 kilometers from the Polish border. It is the administrative centre of Yavoriv Raion and is situated approximately 50 kilometres (31 miles) west of the oblast capital, Lviv. Yavoriv hosts the administration of Yavoriv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.[1] Its population is approximately 12,785 (2022 estimate).[2]

Yavoriv
Яворів
Jaworów
Yavoriv city hall
Yavoriv city hall
Flag of Yavoriv
Coat of arms of Yavoriv
Yavoriv is located in Lviv Oblast
Yavoriv
Yavoriv
Yavoriv is located in Ukraine
Yavoriv
Yavoriv
Coordinates: 49°56′49″N 23°23′35″E / 49.94694°N 23.39306°E / 49.94694; 23.39306
Country Ukraine
OblastLviv Oblast
RaionYavoriv Raion
HromadaYavoriv urban hromada
First mentioned1436
Magdeburg law1569
Area
 • Total23.35 km2 (9.02 sq mi)
Elevation
296 m (971 ft)
Population
 (2022)
 • Total12,785
 • Density550/km2 (1,400/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code
81000
Area code+380-3259

Not far from it is the watering-place of Shklo with sulphur springs.[3]

History

The town was first mentioned in written documents in 1436. It received Magdeburg rights in 1569, from Polish King Sigismund II Augustus. Jaworów was a royal town of Poland. It was a favorite residence of king John III Sobieski.[3] In 1675 John III signed the Polish-French Treaty of Jaworów in the town,[4] and there he also received the congratulations from the Pope on his success against the Turks at Vienna (1683),[3] and ratified the formation of the Holy League alliance in 1684.[5] In 1711, Francis II Rákóczi, Hungarian national hero who found refuge in Poland after the fall of the Rákóczi's War of Independence against Austria, visited the town.[6]

Until the First Partition of Poland, Jaworów was an important center of commerce, located along main merchant route from Jarosław to Lwów. In 1772 it was annexed by the Habsburg Empire, and included within newly formed Austrian Galicia, where it remained until late 1918. In Galicia, it was the seat of a county, with the population of almost 11,000 (Poles, Jews, Ukrainians and Czechs).

Early 20th-century view of the town

In the immediate post-World War I period, the area of Jaworów witnessed fights of the Polish-Ukrainian War. After the war, the town became part of the Second Polish Republic, where it remained until the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II, in September 1939. The Jews of the village were merchants or artisans. There was a synagogue.

During the invasion of Poland, on 14-16 September 1939, Poles defeated invading Germans in the Battle of Jaworów. Despite the victory, the town soon fell to the Soviets, and was under Soviet occupation from 1939 to 1941, and then under German occupation until 1944.

The Jewish population before the German occupation on 26 June 1941 was around 3000.[citation needed] Several hundred Jews were sent to local forced labor camps or to the Belzec extermination camp.[citation needed] A few were transferred to a labour camp in Lviv.[7][better source needed]

In 1944 the town was re-occupied by the Soviets, and in 1945 it was eventually annexed from Poland by the Soviet Union.

After the war, the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission reported that more than 4900 people, most of them Jews, had been killed in Yavoriv, in addition to those sent to Bełżec. Only about 20 of the town's Jews were thought to have survived.[8]

On 27 May 1947 the UPA blew up the statue of Lenin.[9]

In the decades between the 1960s and 1990s the town was a sulphur mining centre;[10] excavation pits and degenerated lands remain between Yavoriv and Novoiavorivsk.[10]

On 10 December 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union it became part of Ukraine.

On 13 March 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russians bombed the military base in Yavoriv. A Russian military spokesperson claimed the attack killed up to 180 foreign mercenaries. The Ukrainian side claimed there were at least 35 dead and 134 injured.[11][12][13] The attack was heard in neighbouring Poland.[14]

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±%
19218,910—    
193110,690+20.0%
202212,785+19.6%
Source: [15]

Language

Distribution of the population by native language according to the 2001 census:[16]

LanguageNumberPercentage
Ukrainian12 88096.95%
Russian3582.69%
Other or undecided470.36%
Total13 285100.00 %

Notable people

Among notable people born here are Władysław Langner (General of the Polish Army), Stanisław Nowakowski (president of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association), and mathematician Wawrzyniec Żmurko. Noted Jewish commentator Rabbi David Altschuler was born or served as rabbi at the local synagogue.[17][18]

Gallery

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Yavoriv is twinned with:

CityCountryYear
Jarosław Poland2006
Węgorzewo Poland
Lubaczów Poland
Havant United Kingdom
Trakai Lithuania
Yavoriv city centre

See also

References