Bilshivtsy

Name in English: 
Bilshivtsy
Name in Ukrainian: 
Bilshivtsi [Більшівці]
Name in Polish: 
Bołszowce
Name in German: 
Bolszowice
Name in Russian: 
Bolshovtsi [Большовцы]
Name in Hebrew: 
Bolshovtse [בולשובצה]
Name in Yiddish: 
Bolshevits [באלשעוויץ]
Historical-cultural region: 
Eastern Galicia - Prikarpattia
Administrative History: 
Years State Province District
Till 1772 Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: Kingdom of Poland

Rus Voivodship (Województwo ruskie)

 
1772-1914 "Hapsburg Empire", since 1804 - Austrian Empire, since 1867 - Austro-Hungarian Monarchy

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (Königreich Galizien und Lodomerien)

Rohatyn powiat
1914-1915 Under Russian occupation General-Government Galitsiia  
1915-1918 Austro-Hungarian Monarchy

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (Königreich Galizien und Lodomerien)

Rohatyn powiat
1918 - May 1919 West-Ukrainian People's Republic    
May 1919 - Sept. 1939 Republic of Poland Stanislawów wojewódstwo Rohatyn powiat
Sept. 1939 - June 1941 USSR: Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Stanislav oblast'  
June 1941 - July 1944

Under German occupation:
General Government
(Das Generalgouvernement
für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete
)

 

Distrikt Galizien Stanislau Kreishaupt-mannschaft
1944-91 USSR: Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Stanislavov (Stanislaviv) oblast'; since 1962 renamed Ivano-Frankovsk (Ivano-Frankivs'k) oblast' Bilshivtsi raion
Since 1991 Republic of Ukraine Ivano-Frankivs'k oblast' Halych raion

-

Population Data: 
Year Total Jews Percentage of Jews
1765 -  178  
1880  2,932  1,760  60.00%
1890  3,481  2,658  76.35%
1900  3,938  2,256  57.28%
1910  4,629  2,438  52.66%
1921  2,186  825  37.74%
1931  ?  1,200  
1959  2,600  0  
2005  2,254  0  

Bilshivtsi is a village on the Gnilaya Lipa River (a tributary of the Dniester), 8 km from Halych and 3 km from the highway Lwow - Ivano-Frankivsk. Situated in a boggy plain. First mentioned in 1426. Chartered in 1609. Jews are entioned in documents going back to 1635. 

Once Bilshivtsi was a town with Jewish, Polish and Ukrainian population, but now it is a quite Ukrainian village.

The Annunciation church and Carmelite monastery, which were built in 1624 and desecrated by the Soviets, are being restored by Poles.

One synagogue was rebuilt during the Soviet times into a House of Culture. Its building was enlarged with attachments on the western and southern sides. Another synagogue, standing nearby, was destroyed and used as building material for the House of Culture.

At the Jewish cemetery on a hill, an Austrian artillery unit was stationed during World War I. The traces of the entrenchments are still visible, while all tombstones disappeared in the Soviet times. 

For photographs made by Dr. Vladimir Levin  in August 2009 see Gallery section.

 The synagogue building in the center of the town serves today as a club and a concert hall.