Skala-Podilska

This article is about the Ukrainian town Skala-Podilska, also known as Skala on the River Zbrucz ("Skala Nad Zbruczem" in Polish, "Skala am Zbrucz" in German). The town is also known as Skała Podolska and Skala Podolskaya. For other uses of the word Skala, see Skala.
Look up Skala in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Skala-Podilska or Skala on the River Zbrucz is an urban-type settlement in Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine. It was, at one time, named simply "Skala." ("Skala" means "cliff" in Russian and Polish.) To distinguish itself from another town with that same name, the town compounded its name, variously, to "Skala on the River Zbrucz" (Ukrainian: Скала-над-Збручем, "Skała Podolska" (in Polish), "Skala Podilska" (in Ukrainian), and "Skala Podolskaya" (in Russian).[1]

History

Geographically, Skala on the River Zbrucz straddles traditionally Ukrainian regions and traditionally Polish regions. Because of this precarious location, it has a history of ethnic diversity and has been, during periods of war or political unrest, particularly susceptible to turmoil.[2][3][4]

Prior to World War I, Skala on the River Zbrucz was part of the province of Galicia, on the eastern border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.[5]

In 1919 -- after World War I, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Polish-Ukrainian War -- Skala on the River Zbrucz became part of eastern Poland. It was populated mostly by Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews.[6][7] The town bordered the Soviet Union, from which it was separated only by the Zbrucz River.[8][9]

Prior to the World War II, Skala on the River Zbrucz was home to a significant Jewish population.[10] Cossacks from the east frequently crossed over the river to raid the town, focusing their violence and destruction on Skala's Jewish population.[11][12][13]

In 1939 -- toward the beginning of World War II -- the Soviet Union invaded Skala on the River Zbrucz (see, Soviet invasion of Poland (1939)) and forcibly "resettled" many of the Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews to remote areas of the Soviet Union (see, Involuntary settlements in the Soviet Union#Deportations from border territories in 1939–1941). Due both to the forceble nature of these "resettlements" and to the severe conditions of the resettlement regions, these "resettlements" have sometimes been characterized as "being arrested and sent to the gulag"[14] (see Gulag#During World War II").

In the summer-autumn of 1941, the territories annexed by the Soviet Union were overrun by Nazi Germany in the course of the initially successful German attack on the USSR. Most of the Jews from Skala on the River Zbrucz perished during the Holocaust in Borshchiv Ghetto .[15] (See generally, World War II and the Destruction of Polish Jewry History of the Jews in Poland#World War II and the destruction of Polish Jewry (1939–45)).

After the defeat of Nazi Germany, Skala on the River Zbrucz officially became part of the Soviet Union as a result of the territorial changes of Poland after World War II. It became part of Ukraine on July 16, 1990, when Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union (see, Ukraine - Independence Ukraine#Independence)

References

  1. ↑ Skala on the River Zbrucz, website hosted by JewishGen Inc
  2. ↑ Skala on the River Zbrucz, website hosted by JewishGen Inc
  3. ↑ Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Poland, Volume II, Pinkas Hakehillot Poland Series, Yad Vashem, see chapter titled "Skala (Skala Podolskaya)"
  4. ↑ Nancy Sinkoff, Out of the Shtetl, Making Jews Modern in the Polish Borderlands, (Brown Judaic Studied, 336)
  5. ↑ Skala on the River Zbrucz, website hosted by JewishGen Inc
  6. ↑ Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Poland, Volume II, Pinkas Hakehillot Poland Series, Yad Vashem, see chapter titled "Skala (Skala Podolskaya)"
  7. ↑ Fanya Gottesfeld Heller, Love In A World Of Sorrow: A Teenage Girl's Holocaust Memoirs (Devora Publishing, 2005)
  8. ↑ Max Mermelstein (Weidenfeld), et al., Skala, (Skala Benevolent Society, New York, Tel Aviv, 1978)
  9. ↑ Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Poland, Volume II, Pinkas Hakehillot Poland Series, Yad Vashem, see chapter titled "Skala (Skala Podolskaya)"
  10. ↑ Max Mermelstein (Weidenfeld), et al., Skala, (Skala Benevolent Society, New York, Tel Aviv, 1978)
  11. ↑ Max Mermelstein (Weidenfeld), et al., Skala, (Skala Benevolent Society, New York, Tel Aviv, 1978)
  12. ↑ Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Poland, Volume II, Pinkas Hakehillot Poland Series, Yad Vashem, see chapter titled "Skala (Skala Podolskaya)"
  13. ↑ Fanya Gottesfeld Heller, Love In A World Of Sorrow: A Teenage Girl's Holocaust Memoirs (Devora Publishing, 2005)
  14. ↑ Franciszek Proch, Poland's Way of the Cross, New York 1987 P.146
  15. ↑ Max Mermelstein (Weidenfeld), et al., Skala, (Skala Benevolent Society, New York, Tel Aviv, 1978)

Coordinates: 48°51′00″N 26°12′00″E / 48.850000001°N 26.200000001°E / 48.850000001; 26.200000001

Additional External Resources

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