Follow
This project seeks to collect all of the Jewish families fro the town of Sokal, Ukraine.
Sokal is a district town with a population of 21,500 in the Lviv region of Ukraine, the administrative center of the district . Sokal is located 75 km to the north of Lviv.
The territory of Sokal contains archaeological finds of the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age. The first documented mention of Sokal was in the XI century as an important city of the Vladimir principality, which was part of the Belzkogo principality. In 1366, the city fell under the rule of the Polish Piast dynasty. In 1377, Sokal was mentioned in documents as the city Belzskogo, the principality belonging to Prince Wladyslaw of Opole. In 1424 it received the Magdeburg Law. From 1462 Sokal was the county town in the Belzskogo province of Poland.
The first documentary evidence of the Jews in Sokal was given around 1564-1565. A complete description of the middle-class artisans makes mention of two Jewish homes. A document from 1578 says that there were 12 Jews, who lived mainly through trade. In 1609, the Jews in Sokal signed an agreement with the magistrate for the right to build an additional 18 homes. However, the magistrate put a condition that the houses could not be in the market place, so a Jewish quarter was established to the east of the market square.
Since 1754 the city operated a Jewish printing house, which was moved from Tartakova.
A new era in the development of the city and Jewish businesses in Sokal began in 1885, when railroad access was established. A significant advantage to trade was the fact that here, as in Brody, there was a border crossing between Austria-Hungary and Russia (since 1772 Sokal was a part of the Austrian Empire).
In 1910, Sokal had 11,600 inhabitants, of whom 3248 were Ukrainian Greek Catholics, 3828 Polish Roman Catholics and 4,524 Jews. That is, it was the usual Galician shtetl.
After the First World War, during which the city suffered considerable damage, Sokal again became part of Poland (1919 -1939). Between the World Wars Hasidism was struggling with the new trends - Zionists, socialists and even communists. By 1931, many Jews had emigrated, reducing the Jewish population to 2,826.
Almost the entire Jewish population of Sokal was killed during World War II. The site of their homes is now a park.