CREDITS

NOTICES:
1. This Dateline project is UNDER CONSTRUCTION. While under construction all information is subject to additions, deletions, or modifications.
2. The KRG Coordinator is accountable for all errors of commission or omission on this project. KRG members and the general public are invited to submit constructive criticisms of additions, deletions, or modifications to the Dateline Events to the KRG Coordinator. The submission must include submitter’s name, email address, and the basis (document reference, URL, personal observation, recorded testimony, etc.) for the criticism in order to be considered.

INTRODUCTION

There is a certain difficulty in selecting which historic events may have influenced the way Jews in Kolomea lived, studied, worked, followed their religion, married, raised children, and died or emigrated from Kolomea. Certainly there are events which may have occurred anywhere in the world that affected Jews and non-Jews alike in Kolomea as well as elsewhere. The event of printing presses, wireless radio, the automobile, and the like certainly affected the way of life of many. We are not too concerned with such events in this project. We would like to focus on those events which more or less had direct influence on the way of life of Jews in Kolomea specifically and only incidentally to other people elsewhere. We are not rejecting events that impacted on Jews outside of Kolomea. The laws which required Jews to have surnames is an event we want to include. In particular if such a surname-law applied differently to Jews in Kolomea or Galicia as opposed to say Jews in Austria proper or elsewhere in Europe, we want to distinguish that specific event (disparity in law). World Wars, partitioning of what was Galicia, and events of that nature are surely wanted, but we must focus on the particulars that impacted most on Jews of Kolomea.

Three official spellings of the town in question are generally recognized. KOLOMEA was the Austrian-German spelling. KOLOMYJA was the Polish spelling. KOLOMYYA is said to be the Ukrainian spelling. KOLOMEA spelling is used throughout this report unless it is significant to use one of the other spellings to clarify matters.

Whenever possible a complete date (month, day, year) is desired for an event; otherwise, a partial date (month, year or year alone) is given. If an event like a law was enacted, then later repealed or amended, both the enactment date and the repeal/amendment date would be given in the appropriate place on the dateline.

DATELINE OF EVENTS

YEAR				EVENT
1240
Kolomyia founded.
1241
German colonization in Galicia started primarily by priests, soldiers, artisans and 	traders.
16th Century
A flourishing Jewish community existed in Kolomyja.
1540
Jews allowed to live in Kolomea with some restrictions
1616
Jews are permitted to have land to build a synagogue and cemetery
1648-1649
Chmielnick forces kill 300 Jews, nearly entire community
1700
Jews move back to Kolomea, are in retail trade and wholesale lumber 
	businesses
1765
Jewish population in Kolomyja is 1,072.
1772
In first partition of Poland Eastern Galicia plus land to the West between the San 
	and the Vistula were annexed by Austria, including Kolomea.  Austrians restrict 
	Jewish trade in lumber and salt.  The Hasidic movement is prominent in Kolomea.  
	Groups include followers of the Boyan, Vizhnuitz, Otynia, Zhadachov, Chortakov, 
	and Kosov rabbis.  Special taxes are imposed on Jews for marriage permits, 
	kosher meat, synagogues, and similar items.  Marriage is restricted to the 
	oldest son and quotas are placed on number of Jewish families that 
	can reside in an area are applied to all Galicia.
1773
Jewish marriage requires permission of government and 
	payment of fee.  Major decline in civil marriages.
1776
Judenordnung is issued.  It re-establishes a kehillah system 
	of self-governance of  the Jewish community.
1781
Jewish Leibmaut or ‘body tax’ is abolished.  Decrees issued
	 to establish Jewish rights to education, military service and 
	professions.  Marriage restriction are unchanged.
February 4, 1782
Jewish physicians of Galicia granted permission to treat 
	Christian patients
1783
Austrian legislature confirms mandated civil marriage 
	and creates Catholic registration of Jewish births, marriages, 
	and deaths.  Tax on kosher meat is increased.
1788
Government establishes Jewish elementary school.
January 1, 1788
Hereditary surnames required.
February 17, 1788
Conscription of Jews to the Austro-Hungarian army.
1789
Jewish marriage requirements relaxed.  Judenpatent establishes 
	141 Jewish communities in Galicia. and reduces the scope of 
	Jewish autonomy.  Kosher meat tax is increased again.
1791 - 1800
Conscription of Jews abolished and replaced by a 30 zloty levy 
	for each young man of military age.
1795
Additional land East and West of  the Vistula were annexed by Austria.
1797
Secular education for Jews is mandated again.
1800
 Census in Galicia indicates there are 250,000 Jews.
1806
Francis Ferdinand concedes defeat in mandated education for Jews.  
	Chassidism entrenched in Galicia.
1812
Jewish population in Kolomea is 2,033.
1814
Prohibition against publishing or importing Hebrew and Yiddish books.
1816
 Taxes on candles and kosher meat increased.
1820
A charitable society, Gemilut Chasidim, was established to 
	help the sick and deal with burials.
November 6, 1834
Jews of Austria forbidden to have first names of Christian saints
1848-1849
Rosenheck is elected to the Galician parliament (Sejm) in Lvov, 
	but it fails to meet.  There is a Cholera epidemic.  
	Austria abolishes serfdom in Galicia.
1852
33 women and 3 children died in the synagogue on Yom Kippur.  
	A false fire alarm during prayers caused a panic and victims 
	died in the scramble to get out of  the crowded synagogue.
1854
A Jewish hospital was established.
1860
Jews are allowed to own real estate and buy houses.
1861
Eliezer Ducas is elected to Galician Sejm and serves until 
	his death in 1865.  Four Jews are elected to the Galician Diet.
January 1863
Jewish birth records include maiden names, witnesses, and midwives.
1865
Fire destroys 500 houses.  1,000 families, mostly Jewish, 
	are left homeless and are given community aid to rebuild.
1867
Austria allows region a large degree of administrative autonomy.  Region 	becomes Austro-Hungarian Empire.
1867-1891
Rabbi Hillel Lichenstein, a renowned traditional scholar, is Chief Rabbi of 
	Kolomea
1869
Lvov-Jassy-Czernowicz railway line come through Kolomea
	 and improves trade with other areas in Austria and beyond. 
	 Jewish population is 8,232 which is nearly 50% of Kolomea.  
	Emancipation of Jews in Galicia declared. Over 500,000 Jews
 	live in Galicia.  Orthodox Jews begin political involvement.
1873
Dr. Oscar Henigsman is the first Jewish representative from 
	the Kolomea district to be elected to Austrian Parliament in Wien.
1877
Kehillot must appoint official rabbis to collect and maintain 
	registration of births, marriages, and death records.  Rabbis also 
	become civil agents for officiating at marriages.  Publication of law 
	sets Jewish district composition
1878
Jews win the majority of seats in town council elections 
	and Dr. Maximilian Trachtenberg, a lawyer, is elected mayor 
	of Kolomea and serves until 1885.
1880
Jewish population in Kolomea rises to 12,002.
1883
Dr. Samuel Bloch, Chief Rabbi of Florisdorf is elected to Austrian 
	Parliament.  Tallit weaving factory established by Shimon Heller.
1886
Jewish elementary school founded by Israelitische Alliance zu Wien.
1891
Dr. Bloch’s candidacy for re-election is opposed by Hasidic groups 
	supporting Polish candidate and pre-election riots breakout.  
	Bloch wins.
1892
Prayer shawl workers go on strike for better pay and working 
	conditions.
1896
Poles support candidacy of Mayor Trachtenberg for Galician Sejm 
	seat and he defeats Dr. Bloch and serves in Parliament until 1900.
1900
Kolomea’s Jewish population is 16,568, again nearly 50% 
	of the town’s population.  The Jewish community has a 
	Great Synagogue, about 30 other synagogues and Hasidic
	prayer houses, two houses of study, and numerous small prayer 
	groups.
1910
Jews are prohibited from selling alcoholic beverages.
1911
Jews are prohibited from salt and wine occupations.
1914
World War I begins and many Jews flee the town as the Russians 
	advance and occupy Kolomea in September.  Jews are abused for 
	supposedly supporting the Austrians and many Jewish homes are 
	ransacked and destroyed.
1915
Austrians retake Kolomea.
1918
War ends and Kolomyya is under Western Ukrainian People’s 
	Republic rule.  Many Jewish businesses were destroyed during the war.
1919
Anti-Semitic attacks increase.  Wesyern Ukraine annexed by Poland
1920
Western Ukraine including Kolomyja becomes part of Poland.  
	Polish government policies towards Jews restrict Jewish economic
	recovery.  About half of the Jewish community needs help from 
	its welfare institutions.  First group of Zionist youths leaves
	Kolomyja for Palestine.
1920s
Orphanage and old age home funded.
1920s-1930s
Lace factory and cooperative formed.  Horowitz drape and 
	bedding factory employs 400.  Other employment is found in 
	bakeries, tanneries, weaving, printing, carpentry, metal working, 
	poultry, egg, and airy product distribution, breweries, and 
	cattle dealing.
	
	Political and Zionist adult and youth groups include the Bund, 
	Hashomer, Hatsair, Hitahadut, He-Halutz, Hakhshara, Herzlia, 
	Gordonia, Betar, Mizrachi, Agudat Israel, and Tarbut.

	A cultural association, Halevy, was begun in 1924 and had choirs, 
	a theater group, and a 75 member orchestra.  Cultural figures 
	included:  Yiddish poet Itzik Manger, whose mother was from 
	Kolomyja, visited the city and mentioned it in his poems.  
	Yiddish poet Naftali Gross was born in Kolomyja and wrote 
	his first poems there.  He continued his career in Canada and 
	New York. Chaim Gross, renowned artist and sculptor was
	from Kolomea.  Other notable cultural figures were musician 
	Emanual Feuerman, historian Chaim Ringleblum, the Hebrew 
	librarian Jacob Bitter, the poet and translator Dr. Binew Frish, 
	and the poet A. D. Verbener.

	Jewish newspapers included:  Undzer Leben, 
	Der Zelbastschutz, Nai Kolomeyer,  
	Tzeitung,  Folks Blat,  and the Zionist 
	Undser Shtimme.
1930
Joseph Lau, the last Kolomyja Chief Rabbi, is elected with 
	the help of a coalition of Agudat Israel and Mizachi religious parties.
1930s
Bankruptcies increase.  Help given by new cooperative banks 
	and charity funds, central soup kitchen with branches, Opika to
	 help children, clinics at the Jewish hospital.
1938
Jewish refugees expelled from Nazi Germany to their places 
	of origin as well as Czech and Austrian Jews arrive in Kolomyja 
	and are given aid.
September 17, 1939
Soviets occupy Kolomyja and Jewish organizations cease operating. Western 	Ukraine becomes part of USSR
1940
New Soviet identity cards limit where former businessmen and refugees can live 
	and travel.  Most businesses are nationalized or have join cooperatives.  Zionist 
	youth groups secretly try to cross the border to Rumania to get to Israel, but few 
	succeed.  Many are caught and deported to Siberia.
June 30, 1941
The Soviet army retreats from Kolomyja as the Germans advance.  Some army 
	draftees and doctors and nurses go with them.
July 4, 1941
Hungarian troops allied with Germany occupy Kolomyja.
July 24, 1941
German SS troops arrive and are stopped from killing 2,000 Jews by the 
	Hungarian commander.
August 1, 1941
East Galicia comes under the direct rule of Germans.  
	A Judenrat, a Jewish governing body, is established to deal with 
	the Germans.  Marcus (Mordechai) Horowitz is the chairman.
November 15, 1941
500 Jews from Kolomyja executed by Nazis
August - December 1941
Property is confiscated, forced labor is begun, fines are levied 
	and arrests followed by slaughter in Szeparowice forest begins.  
	The Great Synagogues and others are destroyed.
January 24, 1942
Nazi attacks against Jewish intelligentsia
March 24, 1942
A ghetto with three sections is established and all Jews 
	must move into the fenced in area.
April 2, 1942
First mass roundups and deportations to Belzec death camp.  
	About 1,000 are sent out.
September 7, 1942
8,700 Jews sent to Belzec
October 3, 1942
4,500-5,000 Jews sent to Belzec
September - November 1942
Thousands more Jews sent to belzec.  Thousands killed in Kolomyja or 
	Szeparowice forest.  400 orphans shot in the orphanage.
October 1942
Marcus Horowitz, chairman of Judenrat, commits suicide.
February 2, 1943
Last 1,500 Jews shot in Szepariwice forest.  Ghetto is destroyed.
August 1944
Soviets occupy Kolomyya and all of Ukraine becomes part 
	of USSR.  Hidden survivors and those that escaped to Russia return, 
	but most move on after finding no family or friends left.
1957
Estimated about 200 Jewish families in Kolomyya
1969
Estimated about 70 families in Kolomyya
1991
USSR dissolves and Ukraine becomes independent country.

1.	Encyclopedia Judaica, Kolomyya.

2.	Extermination of the Jews of Galicia, by Robin O’Neil, chapter 6, 
	Extermination of 
	the Jews of Kolomyja and District, 
	http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/galicia/chap6-1.htm

3.	Pinkas ha-kehilot; entsyclopediya shel ha-yesshuvim 
	le-min hivisidam ve-ad le-aher milhemet ha-olam ha-sheniya, 
	Pinkas Hakehillot, Encyclopedia of  Jewish Communities, 
	Jerusalem, Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance 
	Authority, Poland, Vol. 2 Eastern Galicia, ed. Danuta Dobrowska, 
	Abraham Wein, Aharon Weiss, 1980.

4.	Pinkas Kolomey, (Kolomeyer Memorial Book), ed. Shlomo
	Bickel, New York, 1957.

5.	Sefer Zikaron le-kehillat Kolomey ve-ha-sevivah,
	(Kolomeyer memorial 	Book), ed. D. Noy and M. Shutzman, 
	former residents of Kolomyja and Surroundings in Israel, 1972.

6.	To Tell At Last, Survival Under False Identity, 1941-1945, 
	Blanca Rosenberg, University of Illinois Press, 1995.

7.	Two Brothers, by Siegfried Haber and Max Haber, 
	Division of Holocaust 	Studies, The Institute of Contemporary Judaism, The 	Hebrew University of  Jerusalem, 1981.

8.	Ivano-Frankivsk, http://www.geocities.com

9.	http://www.ou.org/about/Judaism/bhyom/nov.htm

10.	http://www.ou.org/about/Judaism/bhyom/feb.htm

11.	Grodzoski, Stanislaw, The Jewish Question in Galicia: The Reforms of 

	Maria Theresa and Joseph II, 1772-1790.  Studies in Polish Jewry
 	Volume 12.  Focusing on Galicia: Jews, Poles, and Ukrainians 1772-1918.
  	The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, London: 1999, pages 61-72.

12.	Wynne, Susan, “Highlights of Galician History,” The Galitizianer, Vol. 9, 	No. 2, February 2002, pp20-21.