View source for Boryslav

{{short description|City in Lviv Oblast, Ukraine}}
{{for-multi|the village in central Poland|Borysław, Łódź Voivodeship|the small city in [[southern Ukraine]]|Beryslav}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2012}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name               = Boryslav
| native_name        = {{lang|uk|Борислав}}
| other_name         = 
| settlement_type    = [[List of cities in Ukraine|City]]
| image_skyline      = {{Photomontage|position=center
 | photo1a                 = Нафтова_качалка._Борислав.jpg 
 | photo1b                 = Католицький костел святої Варвари в місті Борислав.jpg
 | photo2a                 = Церква святої Анни (Борислав). Частина Фасаду. Фронт 1.jpg
 | photo3a                 = Борислав аптека-музей Йогана Зега в міському парку.jpg
 | photo3b                 = Борислав військовий меморіал.jpg
   | size                  = 260
   | spacing               = 2
   | color                 = #FFFFFF
   | border                = 0
   }}
| imagesize          = 
| image_caption      = {{hlist|From top, left to right: Pumpjack|Church of Saint Barbara|Church of Saint Anne|Pharmacy and Museum of Jan Zeh|War Memorial}}
| image_flag         = Flag of Boryslav.svg
| image_shield       = Coat of Arms of Boryslav.svg
| nickname           = 
| motto              = 
| image_map          = 
| mapsize            = 250px
| map_caption        = Map of Ukraine with Boryslav highlighted.
| subdivision_type   = [[Countries of the world|Country]]
| subdivision_name   = {{UKR}}
| subdivision_type1  = [[Subdivisions of Ukraine|Oblast]]
| subdivision_name1  = [[Lviv Oblast]]
| subdivision_type2  = [[Raions of Ukraine|Raion]]
| subdivision_name2  = [[Drohobych Raion]]
| established_title  = First mentioned
| established_date   = 1387
| cityrights_title   = 
| cityrights_date    = 
| leader_title       = [[Mayor]]
| leader_name        = Ihor Yavorskyi
| area_magnitude     = 
| area_total_km2     = 37.0
| area_land_km2      = 
| area_water_km2     = 
| population_as_of   = 2022
| population_note    = 
| population_total   = 32473
| population_footnotes = 
| population_metro   = 
| population_density_km2 = 
| pushpin_map        = Ukraine Lviv Oblast#Ukraine
| pushpin_label_position = <!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
| pushpin_map_caption = Location of Boryslav
| pushpin_mapsize    = 
| coordinates        = {{coord|49|17|21|N|23|25|08|E|region:UA|display=inline,title}}
| elevation_m        = 
| postal_code        = 
| area_code          = 
| blank_info         = 
| blank1_info        = 
| website            = [http://www.boryslavmvk.gov.ua www.boryslavmvk.gov.ua]
| footnotes          = 
| pushpin_relief     = y
| module             = {{Infobox mapframe |wikidata=yes |zoom=12|frame-height=260 | stroke-width=1 |coord={{WikidataCoord|display=i}}}}
| subdivision_type3  = [[Hromada]]
| subdivision_name3  = [[Boryslav urban hromada]]
}}
'''Boryslav''' ({{langx|uk|Борислав}}, {{IPA|uk|borɪˈslɑu̯|ipa}}; {{langx|pl|Borysław}}) is a [[city]] located on the [[Tysmenytsia (river)|Tysmenytsia]] (a tributary of the [[Dniester]]), in [[Drohobych Raion]], [[Lviv Oblast]] ([[Oblast|region]]) of western [[Ukraine]]. It hosts the administration of [[Boryslav urban hromada]], one of the [[hromada]]s of Ukraine.<ref name="admreform_2020_boryslav">{{cite web |title=Бориславская городская громада |url=https://gromada.info/ru/obschina/boryslav/ |publisher=Портал об'єднаних громад України |language=ru}}</ref> Boryslav is a major center of the [[petroleum industry|petroleum]] and [[ozokerite]] industries.<ref name="Bridgwater" /> Population: 34,000 (2024 estimate);<ref>{{Cite web |title=Boryslav Territorial Community |url=https://cities4cities.eu/community/boryslav-territorial-community/ |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=Cities 4 Cities {{!}} United 4 Ukraine |language=en-GB}}</ref> {{Ua-pop-est2022|32,473|punct=.}}

==History==
===Bronze age===
The area of the modern town of Boryslav has been inhabited at least since the [[Bronze Age]]. There are remnants of a [[Paganism|pagan]] [[shrine]] from the 1st millennium BC located in the area, where approximately 270 [[petroglyph]]s are found, mostly depicting solar signs – symbols of a pre-Christian [[Solar deity]].

===Development of the community===
{{Quote box |width=25em |align=left |bgcolor=#B0D4DE
|title=Historical affiliations
|fontsize=85% |quote=<poem>{{flagicon image|Alex K Kingdom of Poland-flag.svg}} [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Kingdom of Poland]] 1387–1569
{{flagicon image|Chorągiew królewska króla Zygmunta III Wazy.svg}} [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] 1569–1772
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy.svg}} [[Habsburg monarchy]] 1772–1804
{{flag|Austrian Empire}} 1804–1918
{{flagicon image|Flag of Ukraine (1917–1921).svg}} [[West Ukrainian People's Republic]] 1918-1919
{{flag|Second Polish Republic}} 1919–1945
{{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} ([[Ukrainian SSR]]) 1939–1941 (''[[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|occupation]]'')
{{flag|Nazi Germany}} 1941–1944 (''[[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|occupation]]'')
{{flag|Soviet Union}} ([[Ukrainian SSR]]) 1944–1991
{{flag|Ukraine}} 1991–present</poem>
}}
Between the 9th and 13th centuries, the site of the modern town housed a [[fortress]] named ''Tustan'', which was part of a belt of similar strongholds defending the [[Kievan Rus']] from the west and south. After the dissolution of Kievan Rus', the town became a part of the [[Halych-Volhynia|Halych-Volhynian Principality]].

With the collapse of the latter, in 1387 Boryslav became a part of the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland]].<ref name="Bridgwater" /> In 1772, during the [[Partitions of Poland]], it was annexed by [[Austria]] and became a part of the Austrian [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria]].<ref name="Bridgwater">{{Cite book |last=Bridgwater |first=W. |url=http://archive.org/details/columbiaencyclop00brid |title=The Columbia encyclopedia. Third edition |last2=Kurtz |first2=S. |date=1963}}</ref>

===Oil and ozokerite production===
[[File:Oil wells in Boryslav.jpg|thumb|left|Oil wells in Borysław]]
One of the great technological developments of the 19th century was the discovery by pharmacists [[Jan Zeh|Johan (Jan) Zeh]] ([[:uk:Зег Ян]], [[:pl:Jan Zeh]]) (1817–1897)) and [[Ignacy Łukasiewicz]], in nearby Lviv, of technology that led to the establishment of a new industry based on petroleum. Scientists worked out a method of distilling Boryslaw crude oil, and on 30 March 1853 made the first kerosene lamp. As early as 31 July 1853 their new lamp was used to illuminate the Public Hospital in Lviv. Their discoveries marked the beginnings of the rapid search for petroleum in the Carpathians — especially in the eastern sector of the mountain chain where rich oil deposits were discovered. In 1854 the first [[ozokerite]] mine was started in the town after the ore was discovered by Robert Doms. In the second half of 1853, following the research of Jan Zeh, Ignacy Łukasiewicz and several other scientists working in the nearby city of Lemberg (the then official name of Lviv), the town and its surroundings saw the emergence of an [[oil industry]]. One of the first [[Oil platform|oil rigs]] in the world was built near Boryslav by Robert Doms in 1861. The number of oil rigs also rose from 4,000 in 1870 to over 12,000 three years later. The oil boom drew many industry moguls from all over [[Austria-Hungary]] and many fortunes were earned and lost there.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Frank, Alison Fleig|title=Oil Empire: Visions of Prosperity in Austrian Galicia |series=Harvard Historical Studies |publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2005|isbn=0-674-01887-7}}</ref> A period of prosperity saw the city's population grow as almost 10,000 new workers arrived to the area. In 1886 an oil mining school was opened in Borysław, one of the first such facilities in Europe. Also the ozokerite, a natural [[mineral wax]], mined in Borysław, was used for insulation of the first trans-Atlantic telegraphic cable line. On 31 December 1872, a railway line linking Borysław with the nearby city of Drohobycz (now [[Drohobych]], Ukraine) was opened. In 1909, more than 1,920,000 tonnes of oil were produced in the region — roughly 5% of the world's oil production at that time making the region the third biggest producer of oil after the US and the [[Russian Empire]] in the world.<ref name="UWBoryslav16418">[http://ukrainianweek.com/Gallery/212457 Oil extraction of the early 1910s in Boryslav, Western Ukraine (photographs of Boryslav from the 1910-1930s)], ''[[The Ukrainian Week]]'' (16 April 2018)</ref>

===Poland===
{{Historical populations|1921|16099|1931|41683|2022|32473
|source=<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Wiadomości Statystyczne Głównego Urzędu Statystycznego|volume=X|year=1932|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Główny Urząd Statystyczny|page=138}}</ref>}}
After the [[World War I|Great War]] the area became part of the new [[West Ukrainian People's Republic]]. After the [[Polish-Ukrainian War]] of November 1918 – July 1919 the area became part of the newly reborn Poland. In 1920 the mining school was significantly expanded and was renamed to Carpathian Geological Station, a ''[[de facto]]'' oil mining university. As the capital of the ''Zagłębie Borysławskie'' (''Borysław Oil Basin''), the town of Borysław was the centre of then Polish oil and ozokerite extraction industries and one of the most important industrial zones of Poland.<ref name="UWBoryslav16418"/> Because of that, on 26 July 1933 the town was granted a city charter. Together with the nearby settlement of Tustanowice (Tustanovychi, now part of Boryslav), Boryslaw produced in 1925 about 80% of Polish oil (812,000 tons). Boryslav was then commonly called the "Polish [[Baku]]". In the period 1929–1936, oil extraction shrank from 511,000 to 319,000 tonnes of oil annually.<ref name="UWBoryslav16418"/>

===World War II===
In 1939, it was allocated to the [[Ukrainian SSR]]<ref name="Bridgwater" /> after the [[Soviet invasion of Poland]], the town was annexed by the [[Soviet Union]] under the terms of the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]]. It was renamed ''Boryslav''. In 1941, the city fell under [[Nazi Germany|German]] control upon the advances of the [[Wehrmacht|German army]] to the east at the start of [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Soviet–German hostilities]].

====Jewish casualties====
About 13,000 Jewish residents lived in Boryslav at the beginning of the war. On the day following the Germans' arrival, local Ukrainians launched a pogrom, participated in by some German soldiers, that murdered approximately 350 Jews and wounded and robbed many more. The first official anti-Jewish actions began at the end of November 1941, when around 1,500 Jews, the majority of whom were deemed weak and unable to work, were shot by the Ukrainian militia and German security police in the forest near the town of Truskavets. During the winter of 1941–1942, many Jews died of hunger and disease, including typhus. In May 1942, an official [[Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany|ghetto]] was established; some Jews from neighboring towns were brought there to live. At the beginning of August 1942, Jews, including those from neighboring villages, like Pidbuzh and Skhidnytsya, were rounded up by the German police, Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, and Jewish police. Some were shot on the spot, about 400 were sent to the [[Janowska labor camp]] near Lwów, and 5000 were sent to [[Belzec extermination camp|Belzec]] where they were immediately gassed.

Two separate ghettos were created in Boryslav, including one for workers in the oil industry. In October 1942, the German and local Ukrainians and Poles, led by German soldiers, rounded up more than 1000 Jews and sent them to Belzec to be murdered. In another action in November, about 1500 Jews were rounded up, held for three weeks under depraved conditions in a local cinema, and then sent to Belzec.

[[File:Generalgouvernement 1944 I Bohrtürme.jpg|thumb|upright|World War II German post stamp]]
During the fifth action in February 1943, 600 Jews were shot by members of the [[Ukrainian Auxiliary Police]], German police, and the [[Schupo]]. The isolated executions of Jews in hiding took place all the time from May till June 1943 until the total liquidation of the Boryslav ghetto at the end of June 1943. Over the course of one week, the German forces murdered around 700 Jews (sick, young and elderly Jews and members of the Jewish Police). Other Jews were hunted down by Ukrainian and German forces and shot. The remaining Jews were deported to different labor camps ([[Plaszów]] and [[Mauthausen concentration camp|Mauthausen]]) from April to June 1944. In all, over 10,000 Jews native to Boryslaw were shot by Germans and Ukrainians or murdered in the camps.<ref name="Yahad">{{Cite web|url=http://yahadmap.org/#village/boryslav-boryslaw-lviv-ukraine.624|title=Yahad - in Unum}}</ref>

====Jewish lives saved====
Some Jews escaped and formed partisan units in the forests. Resistance groups in the ghetto obtained some arms and set fire to some raw materials in ghetto industry.

The manager of the German Karpathen oil company, [[Berthold Beitz]], and his wife [[Else Beitz]] rescued about 250 people in one day when he had them pulled off a train at Boryslav who were headed for the [[Belzec extermination camp]] in July 1942.<ref name="Bartrop" /> Beitz had also helped adults and children escape across the Hungarian border.<ref name="Yahad" /> Saying that the Jewish people were crucial to oil production during the war, Berthold and Else rescued about 800 people between 1941 and 1944. Berthold and Else Beitz were recognized as [[Righteous among the Nations]] by [[Yad Vashem]].<ref name="Bartrop">{{Cite book |last=Bartrop |first=Paul R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4I2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 |title=The Holocaust: An Encyclopedia and Document Collection [4 volumes] |last2=Dickerman |first2=Michael |date=2017-09-15 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-4084-5 | chapter=Beitz, Berthold |pages=68–69 |language=en}}</ref>

For a description of the activities in Boryslav during the war, see the ''[[Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Megargee |first1=Geoffrey |title=Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos |date=2012 |publisher=University of Indiana Press |location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=978-0-253-35599-7 |page=Volume II, 755–757}}</ref> A personal-account history of this period is recounted by the Polish-American writer — and Boryslav native — [[Wilhelm Dichter]] in his popular and acclaimed literary debut, ''Koń Pana Boga''. It is a memoir of the war in Borsylav as Dichter experienced it as a Polish-Jewish child.

The title of Righteous Among the Nations belongs to the Miniv [https://drogmedia.net.ua/2023/05/14/toj-khto-vriatuvav-zhyttia-podibnyj-tomu-khto-vriatuvav-tsilyj-svit/ family from Boryslav]

===After World War II===
[[File:Gerb m. Boryslawa.gif|thumb|upright=0.5|Coat of arms in 1996–2012]]
Following Germany's defeat in [[World War II]], the town came again under Soviet rule. Most local Poles were expelled to Poland, with a sizeable group settling in [[Wałbrzych]], now a twin town of Boryslav.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Babińska|first=Małgorzata|year=2019|title=Przerwane historie. Ludność Wałbrzycha po II wojnie światowej|magazine=Nowa Kronika Wałbrzyska|publisher=Fundacja MUSEION|location=Wałbrzych|language=pl|volume=7|page=291|issn=2353-4354}}</ref> Since 1991, the town has been part of an independent [[Ukraine]]. The oil industry remains operating.<ref name="UWBoryslav16418"/> Experts believe that potential oil fields around Boryslav contain far more stocks.<ref name="UWBoryslav16418"/>

Until 18 July 2020, Boryslav was designated as a [[City of regional significance (Ukraine)|city of oblast significance]] and belonged to [[Boryslav Municipality]]. As part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Lviv Oblast to seven, Boryslav Municipality was merged into Drohobych Raion.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Про утворення та ліквідацію районів. Постанова Верховної Ради України № 807-ІХ.|url=http://www.golos.com.ua/article/333466|access-date=2020-10-03|date=2020-07-18|website=Голос України|language=uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Нові райони: карти + склад |url=https://www.minregion.gov.ua/press/news/novi-rajony-karty-sklad/ |publisher=Міністерство розвитку громад та територій України |language=uk}}</ref>

==In culture==
Ukrainian writer and poet [[Ivan Franko]] dedicated his novel ''Boryslav Laughs'' to the [[labour movement|workers' movement]] of the town's oil refinery workers, who organized the first [[ſtrike action|strike]] in Ukrainian history.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ivan Franko, friend of Zionists and enemy of Jewish capitalists|url=https://jewishjournal.com/israel/106146/|date=2012-07-15|author=Klaudia Klimek|website=Jewish Journal|access-date=2025-06-02}}</ref>

==Landmarks and visitor attractions==
* [[Fortress of Tustan|Tustan fortress]], a historic-cultural preserve
* [[Skole Beskids]], a National Park

==International relations==
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Ukraine}}

[[File:Wałbrzych, Stara Kopalnia - 2021.03.27 (4).jpg|thumb|Memorial in [[Wałbrzych]] to Poles resettled from Boryslav to Wałbrzych]]
===Twin town – sister city===
Boryslav is [[Twin towns and sister cities|twinned]] with:
* {{flagicon|POL}} [[Wałbrzych]] in [[Poland]] ''(since 27 February 2009)''

==Notable people==
[[File:DraganFoto5.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|Mykhailo Dragan]]
* [[Hank Brodt]] (1925-2020), Holocaust survivor and author of Hank Brodt Holocaust Memoirs. A Candle and a Promise [Amsterdam Publishers, 2016]
* [[Johan (Jan) Zeh]] (1817–1897), pharmacist, discovery of technology that led to the establishment of a new industry based on petroleum. Scientists worked out a method of distilling Boryslaw crude oil, and on 30 March 1853 constructed the first kerosine lamp
* [[Mykhailo Dragan]] (1899–1952), Ukrainian art historian, born in Tustanovychi
*[[José Maurer]] (1906-1968), stage and cinema actor starring mainly in the Yiddish theatre in [[Europe]], [[Argentina]] and [[Israel]]
*[[Zbigniew Balik]] (born 1935), Polish scientist and politician, deputy to the [[Sejm]] 1989–1991.
* [[Wilhelm Dichter]] (born 1935), engineer, Holocaust survivor and writer
* [[Wladyslaw Nehrebecki]] (1923–1978), a Polish animator and cartoon director, creator of [[Bolek and Lolek]]
* [[Michael Sobell]] (1892–1993), British businessman and philanthropist
* [[Szewach Weiss|Shevah Weiss]] (1935–2023), Israeli politician
* [[Vira Vovk]] (1926–2022), Ukrainian poet
* [[Zdzisław Żygulski (junior)|Zdzisław Żygulski, Jr.]] (1921–2015), Polish art historian and professor of the [[Academy of Fine Arts]] in Kraków

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Борислав парк качалки.jpg|Oil pumps in the Boryslav city park, 2009
File:The bell tower of the Church of St. Anna. Boryslav..JPG|The bell tower of the Church of St. Anna
File:Церква Успення Пресвятої Богородиці на Мражниці. Борислав.jpg|Assumption Church
File:Борислав-Палац Культури.jpg|Polish-built Palace of Culture for Oilers, 2009
File:Міцкевич борислав.jpg|Bust of [[Adam Mickiewicz]]
File:Boryslav3.JPG|City administration building, 2006
File:Wojciech Grabowski - Wizyta Franciszka Józefa I do Borysławia.jpg|Visit of [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Francis Joseph I]] to Boryslav by [[Wojciech Grabowski]], 1880
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Wilhelm Dichter]]
* [[Sabina Wolanski]] (1927–2011), Holocaust survivor

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Boryslav}}
* [http://encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages\B\O\Boryslav.htm Boryslav] in the [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com Encyclopedia of Ukraine]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060526103150/http://sunsite.berkeley.edu:8085/x-ussr/100k/M-34-107.jpg Soviet military topographic map 1:100,000]
* [https://drogmedia.net.ua/ DrogMedia]
* [http://vanishedworld.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/memories-of-a-lost-childhood-the-german-occupation-of-poland-in-world-war-ii-from-the-perspective-of-a-jewish-child/#more-837 holocaust memories] [memories of a lost childhood by holocaust from Prof. Lipman]
* [http://amsterdampublishers.com/en/hank-brodt-holocaust-memoirs] [Hank Brodt Holocaust Memoirs - A Candle and a Promise by Deborah Donnelly]
{{Lviv Oblast}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cities in Lviv Oblast]]
[[Category:Cities of regional significance in Ukraine]]
[[Category:Holocaust locations in Ukraine]]
[[Category:Historic Jewish communities in Ukraine]]