Bolszowce is first cited in official documents in the 1430s. In 1624, it became a town with its own market. Jews are mentioned beginning in 1635. During the 19th century, Bolszowce was owned by the Kornel Kaszczonowicz, a member of the Austrian Parliament. Later in the century, Jews became part of an independent community.

As a result of the three partions of the Poland-Lithuanium Commonwealth beginning in the second half of the 18th century, Bolszowce was included in the Habsburg Empire (later the Austrian-Hungarian Empire), then briefly Russia in World War I, then briefly a western Ukrainian Republic at the end of WWI, then Poland, then the Soviet Union, then Nazi Germany, then the Soviet Union again, and finally Ukraine following the break-up of the Soviet Union.  When it was annexed by the Soviet Union, Bolszowce was renamed Bolshovtsy (or Bolshovtsi). It was changed again in 1991 to Bil'shivtsi (or Bilshivtsi) when Ukraine declared its independence.

In the 19th century, the waxing and waning of harsh taxes and regulations regarding Jewish religious, economic, and family life impacted Bolszowce Jews as it did Jews throughout Galicia. The civil "emancipation" of Jews in 1867 did broaden opportunities for participation in certain professions and occupations, but only for a relatively small group and mostly in larger cities. For the great majority, the options were much more limited. This was particularly the case in the smaller shtetls. Yiddish, the dominant language of the shtetl, was considered a local dialect rather than an officially recognized language. In fact, Jews were not considered a distinct nationality, and they were expected to assimilate into the broader community. Since the government did not recognize religious weddings, and since a large proportion of Jews did not register their marriages with local authorities, a majority of births were considered to be illegitimate by the government.

Galicia was on the eastern edge of the Empire, and Austrian officials considered it to be a strategic buffer between Russia and Austria. This is an important reason why industrialization was not encouraged in the region. This further limited the economic opportunities available to the Jewish population.  

In the face of religious discrimination and diminishing economic options, many Jews in Bolszowce and elsewhere in Galicia left the region beginning in the 1880s. A majority settled in the United States, with the most frequent initial settlement occurring on the Lower East Side of New York.

In the early stages of this emigration , the Jewish population of Bolszowce actually increased by 51% between 1880 and 1890 (from 1,760 to 2,658) and the Jewish share of the population in the latter year was 59%. But in every subsequent decade, the Jewish share declined, and by 1910, it was 53%. In fact, between 1890 and 1910, the total Jewish population in Bolszowce fell approximately 8% (2,658 to 2,438). 

A turning point for Bolszowce and the rest of Galicia was World War I and its aftermath. Galicia was a strategic battleground for the contending forces. Austria, Germany,  Russia, and their Polish and Ukrainian allies in the population fought battle after battle in the towns of Galicia, and Jews suffered the consequences, regardless of which side won. The Jewish cemetery in Bolszowce, which was on a hill overlooking the town, was used by the Austrian army for its artillery placements. Many Jewish homes in the town were destroyed.

But the human toll was even greater. The early victories of the Russian army, and its takeover of Bolszowce and other areas in Galicia in 1914, led many to flee, with Hungary and Vienna as prime destinations. This created a large refugee population that frequently faced anti-Semitism, especially after Austrian losses later in the war. Russian control of Bolszowce reinforced the miltary's anti-Semitic biases. Jews were denied their civil rights, became targets of military harassment and violence, and were victims of pogroms condoned by Russian authorities. Forced evacuations of Jews to Russia and elsewhere were accompanied by the loss of private property. Questions about the loyalty of the Jewish population persisted even after the Austrian military recaptured Bolszowce.

By the time the war was winding down, other forces entered the fray and used the towns of Galicia as their battlefields. They included Poles seeking as much land as possible to include in a reconstituted Poland vying against ultra-nationalist Ukrainians in Galicia who set up a short-lived West Ukrainian People's Republic with Lwow as the capital. Bolsheviks were also fighting White Russian forces for control of Ukraine. Most important for the Jewish residents of Galicia, however, was the Polish-Ukrainian conflict. Both sides, but particularly the Poles, exhibited open hostility to Jews and used large-scale pogroms to vent their anti-Semitic rage.

The establishment of Poland in 1919 marked the formal end of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. However, five years of war had devastated Galician towns and Jewish communities. In Bolszowce, the Jewish population was 825 in 1921, which was a two-thirds reduction in eleven years. The total population of the town fell by approximately 53% during the same period. What this means is that the Jewish declines represented two-thirds of all the net population changes in Bolszowce between 1910 and 1921. By 1921, the Jewish share of the total population dropped to 38%.

The human stories revealing the tragic consequences of war were chronicled by the written communications to and from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. A 1920 memo from the Lwow district about Bolszowce indicates that "80% of the jewish homes are completely destroyed" and  "All they want is a doctor. O[I]n the meantime, there are 120 sick of Typhus - 5 people died last week." See the memo.

The last chapter of the Jewish community in Bolszowce was written between 1939 and 1945. Once the Germans overran Bolszowce, Jews were either shot in town* or transported to the Belzec extermination camp. Located in the Lublin district, this notorious facility started out as a labor camp but it turned into the earliest "killing center" as part of Operation Reinhard. It was operational for a relatively short period of time - from March to December 1942 - but during this period approximately 435,000 Jews were killed there (as were an unknown number of Poles and Gypsies). For Bolszowce (and probably its environs), deportations occurred between September and December 1942.

By the time Germany surrendered in 1945, there were only a handful of Jewish survivors left in Bolszowce.