Terebovlia

Terebovlia (Ukrainian: Теребовля, also Terebovlya, Polish: Trembowla) is a small city in the Ternopil Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Terebovlya Raion (district), and is located at around 49°17′57″N 25°41′24″E. In modern medieval history texts written in English it is usually called Terebovl.

Arms of Trembowla

The current population as of 2001 census is 13,661. In 1929 there was 7,015 people (mostly Polish, Ukrainian and Jewish). Prior to the Holocaust the city was home to 1,486 Jews. Most of the local Jews (1,100) were shot by Germans in the nearby village of Plebanivka on April 7, 1943.

Terebovlia is one of the oldest cities in western Ukraine and during the Red Ruthenia times it used to be the center of Terebovlia principality. It was called Terebovl (Polish: Trembowl). Terebovlia principality included lands of whole south east of Galicia, Podolia and Bukovyna. The city was first mentioned in chronicles in the year 996. After the construction of a castle in 1366, Poland (Podole Voivodeship) took over Terebovlia, making it part of the system of border fortifications of Polish Kingdom, mainly against constant Crimean Tatars and Turkish invasions from the south and south east. That is why Terebovlya castle, monastery and churches were all designed as defensive structures. In 1594, the Ukrainian peasant rebel Severyn Nalyvaiko captured the castle. During the liberation war of the Ukrainians against Polish rule in 1648–54, Terebovlia became one of the centers of the struggle in Galician Podolia lands. The city was frequently raided by the Crimean Tatars and Turks. In 1675 the Ottoman Army destroyed the town but the castle was held by a small group of defenders (80 soldiers and 200 townsmen) in the so-called Battle of Trembowla until the Polish king Jan III Sobieski arrived to relieve them. The castle was destroyed during the final Turkish invasion of 1688. After the first partition of Poland (1772) Terebovlia became part of Austrian Empire (until 1918), then again part of Poland (1918–1939), the Soviet Union (1944–1991) and in 1991 part of an independent Ukraine.

External links

• The fate of Jews in Terebovlia
• Terebovlia Shtetlinks Jewish Site
• Private Terebovlia Site
• Pictures and history of Terebovlia
• The Old City of Terebovlya
• Images of Terebovlia castle and the city