Volodymyr (city)

Volodymyr Володимир Володимѣрь
City
Top: Church of Sts. Joachim and Anne; Bottom: Lutheran Church and Dormition Cathedral and Bishop's Palace
Area code		+380 3342
Website	volodymyrrada.gov.ua

Volodymyr (Ukrainian: Володи́мир), previously known as Volodymyr-Volynskyi (Володи́мир-Воли́нський) from 1944 to 2021, is a small city in Volyn Oblast, northwestern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative centre of Volodymyr Raion and the center of Volodymyr urban hromada. It is one of the oldest cities in Ukraine and the historic centre of the region of Volhynia; it served as the capital of the Principality of Volhynia and later as one of the capital cities of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia. Population: 37,910 (2022 estimate).^[1]

The medieval Latin name of the town "

The city was named after Vladimir the Great (Volodymyr the Great), who was born in the village of Budiatychi, about 20 km from Volodymyr, and later also abbreviated Lodomeria, Ladimiri. Following the partitions of Poland and the annexation of Volhynia by the Russian Empire in 1795, it was called Volodymyr-Volynskyi (Vladimir-Volynsky) to distinguish it from Vladimir-on-Klyazma.^[2] The name was not in use between 1919 and 1939 when the city was again part of Poland. In 1944, the name Volodymyr-Volynskyi was restored.

On 1 October 2021, the city council voted to drop the regional qualifier and change the name of the city to just Volodymyr.^[3] The decision had to be ratified by Ukraine's national parliament (Verkhovna Rada) to take effect. On 14 December 2021 parliament approved the name change (it was supported by 348 people's deputies).^[2] The city of Vladimir in Russia opposed the name change, claiming that there can be only one city called Vladimir.^[2]

Over the centuries its residents and rulers have used various names:

• German: Wolodymyr
• Latin
  : Lodomeria
• Old Church Slavonic: Владимирь, romanized: Vladimirĭ
• Old East Slavic
  : Володимѣрь, romanized: Volodiměrĭ
• Ruthenian: Володимєръ, romanized: Volodimer
• Polish: Włodzimierz
• Russian: Влади́міръ/Влади́міръ-Волы́нскъ/Влади́мир-Волы́нск/Влади́мир-Волы́нский, romanized: Vladimir/Vladimir-Volynsk/Vladimir-Volynsky
• Ukrainian: Володимир/Володимир-Волинськ/Володимир-Волинський, romanized: Volodymyr/Volodymyr-Volyns'k/Volodymyr-Volyns'kyi
• Belarusian: Уладзімер/Уладзімер-Валынск/Уладзімер-Валынскі, romanized: Uładzimier/Uładzimier-Vałynsk/Uładzimier-Vałynski
• romanized
  : Ludmir

History

The city is one of the oldest towns in Ukraine. It was originally a stronghold founded by Vladimir the Great (Volodymyr the Great).^[4] In 988, the city became the capital of Volodymyr Principality and the seat of an Orthodox bishopric, as mentioned in the Primary Chronicle.

In 1160, the building of the Sobor of Dormition of the Holy Mother of God was completed.^[5] By the 13th century, the city became part of Galicia–Volhynia as one of the most important trading towns in the region. After being conquered by Batu Khan in 1240, the city was under the rule of the Mongol Empire, together with other principalities in Rus'. In 1241, the Mongol army gathered near the town before the First Mongol invasion of Poland.^[6]

In the early 14th century, the

In the 18th and 19th centuries the town started to grow rapidly, mostly thanks to large numbers of Jews settling there as part of the Pale of Settlement. By the second half of the 19th century, they made up the majority of the population. According to the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland,^[8] in the late 19th century, the city had 8,336 inhabitants, 6,122 of them Jews. In 1908, the railway station was opened.

Immediately after

Following the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and the start of World War II, the city was occupied by Soviet forces on 19 September 1939. On 23 June 1941, at the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the city was occupied by Germany and attached to the Reichskommissariat Ukraine, and immediately the Jewish community of 11,554 began to be persecuted. Between 1–3 September 1942, 25,000 Jews from the local area were shot at Piatydni. On November 13, 1942, the Germans killed another 3,000 Jews from the town near Piatydni. During World War II, a German concentration camp was located near the city. About 140 Jews returned to the city after the war but most later emigrated. By 1999, only 30 remained.^[13]

From September 1941, the Germans operated the Oflag XI-A

A Cold War air base was located north-east of the town at Zhovtnevy.

Since 1991, the city has been part of Ukraine.

Discovery of mass graves from World War II

A series of mass graves were discovered in 1997, with exhumations completed by 2013. Originally thought to be an example of NKVD mass murder, similar to the Katyn massacre and the Vinnytsia massacre,^[15] the Volodymyr-Volynskyi murders were shown in 2012 to have been carried out by German forces, most likely the Einsatzgruppen C.^[16] The primary archeological evidence for German culpability was that most of the bullet shell casings were dated 1941 and were from a German factory. Testimony by a Jewish survivor of the city, Ann Kazimirski (née Ressels),^[17][18] who lived on Kovelska Street, recorded by the USC Shoah Foundation corroborated the view that the perpetrators were German and that the victims were primarily Jewish.^[19] Anthropological analysis of the remains led to the conclusion that three quarters of the victims were women and children. The 747 victims were reinterred in local city cemeteries.^[20]

Geography

Climate

Churches in Volodymyr

The oldest place of worship in the town is the Temple of Volodymyr, erected several kilometres from the modern town's centre and first mentioned in a chronicle (letopis) of 1044. The oldest existing church is the

In 1497, Duke

There also exists Volodymyr-Volynsky Historical Museum, an architectural monument of the 19th century.

International relations

Twin towns - Sister cities

Volodymyr is

• Dubno, Ukraine
• Korosten, Ukraine
• Hrubieszów, Poland
• Kętrzyn, Poland
• Łęczyca, Poland
• Malbork, Poland ^[22]
• Zwickau, Germany
• Raseiniai, Lithuania

Notable people

• archeparch (archbishop) of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, also a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church
• Amtylochius – bishop and saint of Eastern Orthodox Church
• Ipatii Potii – bishop, writer, and humanist, also co-founder and supporter of the Union of Brest
• Wacław Hipsz – protonotary apostolic of the Catholic Church and the Prefect of Secondary Education in Volodymyr-Volynsky until 1939
• Janusz Bardach – surgeon, Kolyma survivor, and memoirist
• Juliusz Bardach – legal historian and professor of the University of Warsaw.
• Teresa Lewtak-Stattler – social activist,
  Nazi high-ranking officials in German-occupied Poland during World War II and was involved in underground humanitary aid to Jews from Warsaw Ghetto
• Józef Han – chairman of society of veterans of 27th Home Army Infantry Division (Poland) in Hrubieszów
• Ann Kazimirski (née Ressels) – Holocaust survivor, teacher, lecturer, and author of the autobiographical book Witness to Horror, in which she describes growing up in Volodymyr (Ludmir), surviving the Holocaust, and making a new life in Canada for her and her family^[19]
• Jerzy Strojnowski – psychiatrist, philosopher and writer, also professor and co-founder of Psychology Institute at John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
• Jerzy Antczak – film director.
• Jan Tadeusz Stanisławski – writer, satirist, and actor
• Ahatanhel Krymsky – orientalist and polyglot
• Hannah Rachel Verbermacher (1805–1888), also known as the Maiden of Ludmir or the Ludmirer Moyd, the only independent female Rebbe in the history of the Hasidic movement

Gallery

• 
  Greek-Catholic Saint Josaphat's Church (formerly Lutheran)
• 
  Saint Nicolas Сhurch
• 
  Soborna street
• 
  Former Border Guard headquarters
• 
  A building on Kovelska street
• 
  Saint Basil's Rotunda

References