Zhydachiv
| Zhydachiv Жидачів Żydaczów | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| City | |||
 Church of the martyrs of Boris and Hlib. | |||
| |||
  Zhydachiv | |||
| Coordinates: 49°23′06″N 24°08′40″E / 49.38500°N 24.14444°E | |||
| Country |
 Ukraine | ||
| Province | Lviv Oblast | ||
| District | Zhydachiv Raion | ||
| Area | 13 km2 (5 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 261 m (856 ft) | ||
| Population | 11,204 | ||
| Website | meriya-zhydachiv.lviv.ua | ||
Zhydachiv (Ukrainian: Жидачів, Polish: Żydaczów) is a city in Lviv Oblast (province) in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Zhydachivskyi Raion (district), and is located at around 49°22′53″N 24°8′27″E / 49.38139°N 24.14083°ECoordinates: 49°22′53″N 24°8′27″E / 49.38139°N 24.14083°E. Local government is administered by Zhydachivska city council.[1]
The estimated population, as of 2001, was 11,800. Zhydachiv lies on the Stryi River. It has two schools and one Ukrainian gymnasium.
In the mid-14th century, Zhydachiv, together with whole Red Ruthenia, was annexed by the Kingdom of Poland, in which it remained for over 400 years. The town, known then as Zydaczow, was part of Poland’s Ruthenian Voivodeship, and in 1772 (see Partitions of Poland) it was seized by the Habsburg Empire, as part of Austrian Galicia. Zydaczow received Magdeburg rights from King Kazimierz Wielki. The town had a defensive castle and was the seat of a starosta. In 1393, King Wladyslaw Jagiello granted it several privileges, also founding a Roman - Catholic church. Zydaczow for centuries remained in private hands, among others it belonged to the noble Rzewuski family. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Zydaczow was an important center of salt trade.
From 1 November 1918, until May 1919, it was administered by the West Ukrainian People's Republic. After the Polish–Ukrainian War, Zydaczow returned to Poland. In the Second Polish Republic, it was the seat of a county in Stanislawow Voivodeship. Here, in 1897, General of the Polish Army Klemens Rudnicki was born. In 1929, the population of Zydaczow was almost 4,000.
In September 1939, following the Invasion of Poland, Zydaczow was occupied by the Red Army. Soviet authorities forcibly deported a number of residents, mostly Polish, to Siberia, and in 1941 - 1944, local Jewish community perished in the Holocaust. After World War Two, most of Polish survivors left for the Recovered Territories. Nevertheless, Zhydachiv remains a local center of Polish minority, with an office of the Association of Polish Culture of the Lviv Land operating here.
