Kamianets-Podilskyi

Kamianets-Podilskyi Кам'янець-Подільський
View overlooking the city's castle
Flag Coat of arms
Kamianets-Podilskyi Location in Ukraine
Kamianets-Podilskyi Location in Khmelnytskyi Oblast
Coordinates:
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Khmelnytskyi Oblast
Raion	Kamyanets-Podilskyi Raion
Founded	1062 (first mentioned)
City rights	1432
Government
• Mayor	Mikhaylo Simashkevich
Area
• Total	27,871 km2 (10,761 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	103,036
• Density	3,550/km2 (9,200/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	32300—32318
Area code(s)	+380-3849
Sister cities	Targówek, Kraków, Głogów, Przemyśl, Kalisz, Sanok, Gniew, Zawiercie, Ejmiatsin, Suzhou, Ukmergė, Polatsk, Edineţ, Zalău, Dolný Kubín, Ponte Lambro, Michurinsk

Kamianets-Podilskyi (Ukrainian: Кам'янець-Подільський, translit. Kam'ianets'-Podil's’kyi or Kamyanets-Podilsky, Armenian: Կամիանեց-Պոդոլսկի, Polish: Kamieniec Podolski, Romanian Camenița, Russian: Каменец-Подольский, translit. Kamenets-Podolskiy) (see Nomenclature section below for more names) is a city on the Smotrych River in western Ukraine, to the north-east of Chernivtsi.

Formerly the administrative center of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast, the city is now the administrative center of the Kamianets-Podilskyi Raion (district) within the Khmelnytsky Oblast (province), after the administrative center of the oblast was moved from the city of Kamyanets-Podilsky to the city of Khmelnytskyi in 1941. The city itself is also designated as a separate district within the region.

The current estimated population is around 101,728 (2015).

Nomenclature

Kamianets historical coat of arms

Kamianets-Podilskyi City Hall at night

The first part of the city's dual name originates from kamin' (Ukrainian: камiнь) or kamen, meaning "stone" in the Old East Slavic language. The second part of the name relates to the historic region of Podolia (Ukrainian: Поділля, Polish: Podole) of which Kamianets-Podilskyi is considered to be the historic capital.

Equivalents of the name in other languages are Polish: Kamieniec Podolski; Romanian: Cameniţa Podoliei; Turkish: Kamaniçe; Latin: Camenecium; Hungarian: Kamenyeck-Podolszk; Yiddish: קאָמענעץ (Komenets)

Geography

Kamianets-Podilskyi is located in the southern portion of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast, located in the western Ukrainian region of Podillia. The Smotrych River, a tributary of the Dniester, flows through the city. The total area of the city comprises 27.84 square kilometers (10.7 sq mi). The city is located about 101 kilometres (62.8 mi) from the oblast's administrative center, Khmelnytskyi.

History

Antiquity

Several historians consider that a city on this spot was founded by the ancient Dacians, who lived in what is now modern Romania, Moldova, and portions of Ukraine. Historians claim that the founders named the settlement Petridava or Klepidava, which originate from the Greek word petra or the Latin lapis meaning "stone" and the Dacian dava meaning "city".

Middle ages

Modern Kamianets-Podilskyi was first mentioned in 1062 as a town of the Kievan Rus' state. In 1241, it was destroyed by the Mongol Tatar invaders. In 1352, it was annexed by the Polish King Casimir III. In 1378 it became seat of a Roman Catholic Diocese. In 1432 King Sigismund I the Old granted Kamieniec Podolski city rights. In 1434 it became the capital of the Podolian Voivodship and the seat of local civil and military administration. The ancient castle was reconstructed and substantially expanded by the Polish kings to defend Poland from the southwest against Ottoman and Tatar invasions, thus it was called the gateway to Poland.

Modern times

The Stephen Báthory Gate is part of the city's old fortification complex.

During the free election period in Poland, Kamieniec Podolski as one of the most influential cities of the state enjoyed voting rights (alongside Warsaw, Krakow, Poznań, Gdańsk, Lwów, Wilno, Lublin, Toruń and Elbląg).

During the Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648–58), the Jewish community there suffered much from Khmelnytsky's Cossacks on the one hand, and from the attacks of the Crimean Tatars (their main object being the extortion of ransoms) on the other.

After the Treaty of Buchach of 1672, it was briefly part of the Ottoman Empire and capital of Podolya eyalet. To counter the Turkish threat to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, King Jan III Sobieski built a fortress nearby, Okopy Świętej Trójcy (now Okopy, Ternopil Oblast; mean "the Entrenchments of the Holy Trinity"). In 1687, Poland attempted to regain control over Kamieniec Podolski and Podolia, when the fortress was unsuccessfully besieged by the Poles led by Prince James Louis Sobieski. In 1699, the city was given back to Poland under King Augustus II the Strong according to the Treaty of Karlowitz. The fortress was continually enlarged and was regarded as the strongest in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The preserved ruins of the fortress still contain the iron cannonballs stuck in them from various sieges.

Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle, 2008

A 1691 French map depicting the city's old town neighbourhood and castle, surrounded by the winding Smotrych River

About the middle of the 18th century, Kamenets-Podilskyi became celebrated as the center of the furious conflict then raging between the Talmudic Jews and the Frankists; the city was the residence of Bishop Dembowski, who sided with the Frankists and ordered the public burning of the Talmud, a sentence which was carried into effect in the public streets in 1757.

After the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, the city belonged to the Russian Empire, where it was the capital of the Podolia Governorate. The Russian Tsar Peter the Great, who visited the fortress twice, was impressed by its fortifications. One of the towers was used as a prison cell for Ustym Karmeliuk, a prominent peasant rebel leader of the early 19th century), who managed to escape from it three times.

In 1798, Polish nobleman Antoni Żmijewski founded a Polish theatre in the city. It was one of the oldest Polish theatres. In 1867 the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamieniec Podolski was abolished by the Russians authorities. It was re-established in 1918 by Pope Benedict XV.

Kamenets-Podolsk was also the residence of the wealthy Joseph Yozel Günzburg. During the latter half of the 19th century, many Jews emigrated to the United States, especially to New York, where they organized a number of societies.

According to the Russian census of 1897, Kamenets-Podolsk remained the largest city of Podolia with a population of 35,934.

In 1914, a direct railway line linked the city to Proskurov.

World War I

During the World War I, the city was occupied by Austria-Hungary in 1915. With the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, the city was briefly incorporated into several short-lived Ukrainian states: the Ukrainian People's Republic, the Hetmanate, and the Directoriya, and ended up as part of the Ukrainian SSR when Ukraine fell under Bolshevik power. During the Directorate period, the city was chosen as de facto capital of Ukraine after the Russian Communist forces occupied Kiev. During the Polish-Soviet War, the city was captured by the Polish Army and was under Polish administration from November 16, 1919 to July 12, 1920. It was later ceded to Soviet Russia in the 1921 Treaty of Riga, which determined the future of the area for the next seven decades as part of the Ukrainian SSR.

Soviet times

Poles and Ukrainians have always dominated the city's population. However, as a commercial center, Kamianets-Podilskyi has been a multiethnic and multi-religious city with substantial Jewish and Armenian minorities. Under Soviet rule it became subject to severe persecutions, and many Poles were forcibly deported to Central Asia. Massacres such as the Vinnytsia massacre have taken place throughout the Podillya, the last resort of the independent Ukraine. Early on, Kamianets-Podilskyi was the administrative center of the Ukrainian SSR's Kamianets-Podilskyi Oblast, but the administrative center was later moved to Proskuriv (now Khmelnytskyi).

In December 1927, TIME Magazine reported that there were massive uprisings of peasants and factory workers in southern Ukraine, around the cities of Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Tiraspol and others, against Soviet authorities. The magazine was intrigued when it found numerous reports from the neighboring Romania that troops from Moscow were sent to the region and suppressed the unrest, causing no less than 4,000 deaths. The magazine sent several of its reporters to confirm those occurrences which were completely denied by the official press naming them as barefaced lies. The revolt was caused by the collectivization campaign and the lawless environment in the cities caused by the oppressive Soviet government.

World War II

Kamianets-Podilskyi was occupied by Germany in 11 July 1941. One of the first and largest Holocaust mass-murder events occurred on 27–28 August, 1941 near the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi. In those two days, 23,600 Jews were killed, most of them Hungarian Jews (14,000-16,000) and the rest mainly local Ukrainian Jews. As the researchers of the Holocaust point out, the Kamianets-Podilskyi massacre was the first mass action in the "final Solution" of the Nazis, and the number of its victims reached 5 figures. Eyewitnesses reported that the perpetrators made no effort to hide their deeds from the local population. It was liberated in 27 March 1944.

Since 1945

On January 16, 1991, Pope John Paul II re-established the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamyanets-Podilskyi, which ceased to exist under Soviet rule.

As of 2015, Kamianets-Podilskyi is the third largest city of Podolia after Vinnytsia and Khmelnytskyi.

Culture

The canyon at river Smotrych.

A nice park with a fountain near the Kamianets-Podilskyi's old town quarter

An old street in Kamianets-Podilskyi's old town quarter. Recently restorational works are being conducted in the city.

Main sights

The different peoples and cultures that have lived in the city have each brought their own culture and architecture. Examples include the Polish, Ruthenian and Armenian markets. Famous tourist attractions include the ancient castle, and the numerous architectural attractions in the city's center, including the cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Holy Trinity Church, the city hall building, and the numerous fortifications.

Ballooning activities in the canyon of the Smotrych River have also brought tourists. Since the late 1990s, the city has grown into one of the chief tourist centers of western Ukraine. Annual Cossack Games (Kozatski zabavy) and festivals, which include the open ballooning championship of Ukraine, car racing and various music, art and drama activities, attract an estimated 140,000 tourists and stimulate the local economy. More than a dozen privately owned hotels have recently opened, a large number for a provincial Ukrainian city.

Famous people

• Nikolai Chebotaryov (1894–1947)), noted Russian and Soviet mathematician, best known for the Chebotaryov density theorem.
• David Günzburg (Baron de Günzburg; 1857—1910) Russian orientalist and Jewish communal leader, was born here.
• Józef Kallenbach (1861—1929), Polish historian of literature, was born here.
• Stanisław Koniecpolski (1590 or 1594—1646), Polish military commander, fought here.
• Mark Kopytman (1929—2011), Soviet-Israeli composer, born here
• Mykola Leontovych (1877—1921), Ukrainian composer, studied and graduated from the city's Theological Seminary
• Iryna Merleni (born 1982), female wrestler.
• Aleksander Michałowski (1851—1938), Polish pianist, was born here.
• Mieczysław Mickiewicz (1879—before 1939), Polish politician, was born here.
• Szymon Okolski (1580—1653), Polish historian; lived here.
• Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski (1876—1945), Polish writer, explorer, professor, anti-communist and political activist; lived here.
• Krzysztof Radziwiłłowski was a town official in 1768.
• José Antonio Saravia (1785—1871), Spanish-born Russian general during the Napoleonic Wars; married and lived here.
• Zvee Scooler (1899–1985), actor and radio commentator, best known as the Rabbi in Fiddler on the Roof; was born here.
• Mendele Mocher Sforim (1836—1917), Jewish author; lived here.
• Mihail Starenki (1879—?), a Bessarabian politician; was born here.
• Leonid Stein (1934—1973), Soviet chess Grandmaster; was born here.
• Arthur Tracy (1899—1997), American singer; was born here.
• Anton Vasyutinsky (1858—1935), painter, coin and medal designer; was born here.
• Mikhail Veller (born 1948), Russian writer; was born here.
• Jan de Witte (1709—1785), famous Polish architect and commander of the local fortress.
• Jerzy Wołodyjowski, Polish colonel, the prototype for one of Henryk Sienkiewicz's characters, Michał Wołodyjowski; was killed here.
• Józef Zajączek (1752—1826), Polish general, was born here.
• Maurice Zbriger (1896—1981), Canadian violinist, composer and conductor; was born here.

Gallery

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  Arch of triumph

• 

  Maidan Vidrodzhennia

• 

  Bus Station in Kamieniec Podolski

• 

  Virmensky rynok

• 

  Kamianets-Podilskyi district administration

• 

  College of arts

• 

  Consistorium building

• 

  Zarvanska Street

• 

  Polish magistrate building

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  Belle-Vue Hotel

• 

  Starobul'varna Street

• 

  Former seminary building

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  St. Peter and Paul Cathedral

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  Pushkin People's House

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  Court building

• 

  Gymnasium on Shevchenko Street

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Ukraine

Twin towns – Sister cities

Kamianets-Podilskyi is twinned with:

• Kalisz in Poland (since 1993)

See also

• The Lost Jewish Community of Kamenets-Podolsk
• Kamianets-Podilskyi massacre
• Kamenets-Podolsky pocket

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• "The old fortress on the Smotrich River," in Zerkalo Nedeli (Mirror Weekly), 28 June – 5 July 2002, available online in Ukrainian and in Russian
• History of Jewish Community in Kamenets-Podolski
• The murder of the Jews of Kamianets-Podilskyi during World War II, at Yad Vashem website.