Everything about Volhynia totally explained
Volhynia (,, ; ; also called
Volynia) comprises the historic region in western
Ukraine located between the rivers
Prypiat and
Western Bug -- to the north of
Galicia and of
Podolia. The area has one of the oldest
Slavic settlements in Europe. Part of historical Volhynia now forms the
Volyn,
Rivne, and parts of
Zhytomyr and
Ternopil Oblast of
Ukraine, as well as parts of Poland (see
Chełm). Other major cities include
Lutsk,
Kovel,
Kremenets, and
Volodymyr-Volynskyi. Many Jewish
shtetls like
Trochenbrod and
Lozisht were once an integral part of the region.
History
The ancient city of
Halych first appears in history in 981 when taken over by
Vladimir the Great of Kievan Rus. Volhynia's early history coincides with that of the duchies or principalities of Halych and
Volodymyr-Volynsky. These two successor states of
Kievan Rus formed
Halych-Volhynia between the 12th and the 14th centuries.
After the disintegration of the
Grand Duchy of Halych-Volhynia (also called Galich-Vladimir Rus) circa 1340, the
Kingdom of Poland and the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania divided up the region between them, Poland taking Western Volhynia and Lithuania Eastern Volhynia (1352-1366). After 1569 Volhynia formed a province of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During this period
Poles and
Jews settled in the area. The
Roman and
Greek Catholic churches became established in the province, and many Orthodox churches were forcibly annexed by the latter. Records of the first agricultural colonies of
Mennonites date from 1783.
After the third
Partition of Poland in 1795 Volhynia became a province (gubernia - the
Volhynian Governorate) of the
Russian Empire. By the end of the 19th century Volhynia had over 200,000
German settlers (
colonists), most of whom immigrated from
Congress Poland. A small number of
Czech settlers also arrived. Although economically the area was developing rather quickly, upon the eve of the
First World War, it was still the most rural province in Western Russia.
In 1921 after the end of the
Polish-Soviet war, the treaty known as the
Peace of Riga divided Volhynia between Poland and the USSR. Poland took the larger part and established a
Volhynian Voivodeship. (See the map at
Voivodeships of Poland). Most of eastern Volhynia became part of the
Zhitomir Oblast.
In 1935-1938 Stalin had the Poles of Eastern Volhynia deported — the first ethnic deportation in the history of the
Soviet Union — see
Polish minority in Soviet Union.
In 1939 the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact transferred all of Volhynia territory to the Soviet Union. In the course of the
Nazi-Soviet population transfers which followed this German-Soviet reconciliation, the German minority population of Volhynia migrated to
Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany. The Nazi authorities later
evacuated them. Most of the Jewish and Polish minorities became victims of the ethnic cleansing by Nazis and
Ukrainian groups. Between 1942 and 1944, there was a major escalation in armed ethnic conflicts between the Polish and Ukrainian populations resulting in
ethnic cleansing operations. Volhynia remained a part of Soviet Union after the end of World War II. Most of those Poles who survived the war were expatriated to Poland in 1945 (see:
Recovered Territories). Since the
collapse of the Soviet Union, Volhynia has been part of independent Ukraine.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Volhynia'.
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