Vinnytsya

Vinnytsia (English: /ˈvɪnɪts(j)əˈvn-/ ; Ukrainian: Вінниця, Ukrainian: [ˈʋinːɪtsʲɐ]; Yiddish: װיניצע) is a city in west-central Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug.

It is the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast and the largest city in the historic region of Podillia. Administratively, it is incorporated as a city of oblast significance. It also serves as an administrative center of Vinnytsia Raion, one of the 6 raions of Vinnytsia Oblast. It has a population of .

The city's roots date back to the Middle Ages. It was under Lithuanian and Polish control for centuries. During 1653-1667, Vinnytsia was a regimental city of the Hetman state, and in 1793 it was ceded to the Russian Empire. During the 1930s and early 1940s the city was the site of massacres, first during Stalin's purges and then during the Holocaust in Ukraine and the Nazi occupation. A Cold War–era airbase was located near the city. Currently, Vinnytsia is developing as one of the most comfortable cities for life in independent Ukraine.

Name

The name of Vinnytsia appeared for the first time in 1363. It is assumed that the name is derived from the old Slavic word "", meaning "a bride price." This name can be explained by the fact that Vinnytsia and the surrounding land were captured by Lithuanian Duke Algirdas in the 14th century, and then, they were gifted to his nephews.

Geography

Location

Vinnytsia is located about southwest of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, north-northwest of the Black Sea port city of Odesa, and east of Lviv.

It is the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast (province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Vinnytsia Raion within the oblast. The city itself is directly subordinated to the oblast.

History

From Medieval to Modern times

Vinnytsia has been an important trade and political center since the fourteenth century, when Theodor Koriatovits, the nephew of the Lithuanian Duke Algirdas, built a fortress (1363) against Tatar raiders on the banks of the Southern Bug. The original settlement was built and populated by Aleksander Hrehorovicz Jelec, a hetman under Lithuanian Prince Švitrigaila. Aleksander Jelec built the fort, which he commanded as starosta afterwards.

In the 15th century, Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon granted Vinnytsia Magdeburg city rights. In 1566, it became part of the Bracław Voivodeship. Between 1569 and 1793 the town was a part of Poland. In 1648, Vinnytsia found itself at the epicenter of the liberation struggle led by Bohdan Khmelnytskyi. In February 1651, during the defense of the city, Ivan Bohun's Cossack regiment defeated a 20,000-strong Polish army. Vinnytsia was part of the Hetman state until 1667, and during 1672-1699 was a part of the Ottoman Empire (and still part of the historic region of Podolia). During Polish rule, Vinnytsia was a Polish royal city. On 18 March 1783, Antoni Protazy Potocki opened the Trade Company Poland in Vinnytsia.

After the Second Partition of Poland in 1793 the Russian Empire annexed the city and the region. Russia moved to expunge the Roman Catholic religion. Catholic churches in the city, including what is currently the Transfiguration Cathedral, were converted to Russian Orthodox churches.

In the Russian census of 1897, Vinnytsia had a population of 30,563. It was the third largest city in Podolia region after Kamianets-Podilskyi and Uman. After railway connections were appeared in 1871, Vinnytsia developed rapidly economically and infrastructurally. The city architect Hryhorii Artynov erected a number of buildings (a water tower, a theater, churches, hotels and mansions), which still shape the city image.

During the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1920, Vinnytsia was chosen three times as the seat of government structures of the Ukrainian People's Republic. The residence of the Directory was Savoy Hotel, which turned the city into a de facto capital. On May 16, 1920, a meeting was held in Vinnytsia between the heads of Ukraine and Poland, Symon Petliura and Józef Piłsudski.

Soviet Vinnytsia becomes an industrial giant with an emphasis on sugar production, but it experiences the terrible famine of 1932-1933 in the shadow of its prosperity.

The Vinnytsia massacre was the mass execution of between 9,000 and 11,000 people in Vinnytsia by the Soviet secret police NKVD during the Great Purge in 1937–1938.

World War II

Vinnytsia was occupied by German troops on 19 July 1941 during World War II. While Vinnytsia had a pre-war Jewish population of over 34,000, only 17,000 of these Jews remained, with the rest of them successfully being evacuated to the interior of the Soviet Union beforehand. Virtually all of the Jews who remained in Vinnytsia under Nazi occupation were subsequently murdered in the Holocaust.

Adolf Hitler sited his eastern headquarters, Führerhauptquartier Werwolf or Wehrwolf, at the Wehrmacht headquarters near the town. The complex was built in 1941–1942 by Russian prisoners of war. Many of them were subsequently killed. Hitler's accommodation consisted of a log cabin built around a private courtyard with its own concrete bunker. The complex included about 20 other log buildings, a power station, gardens, wells, three bunkers, a swimming pool, and wire and defensive positions.

Hitler spent a number of weeks at Wehrwolf in 1942 and early 1943. The few remains of the Wehrwolf site, described in one report as a "pile of concrete" because it was destroyed by the Nazis in 1944, can be visited. Plans to create a full-fledged museum had not come to fruition as of August 2018.

Nazi atrocities were committed in and near Vinnytsia by Einsatzgruppe C. Estimates of the number of victims often run as high as 28,000. Historian Oliver Rathkolb states that 35,000 Jews were deported from the Vinnytsia region and most of those later died.

In 1942 a large part of the Jewish quarter of Yerusalimka was destroyed by Germans. One infamous photo, The Last Jew of Vinnytsia, shows a member of the Einsatzgruppe about to execute a Jewish man kneeling before a mass grave. The text The Last Jew of Vinnytsia was written on the back of the photograph, which was found in a photo album belonging to a German soldier. It was captured by the Red Army on 20 March 1944.

Soviet era

After the end of World War II, Vinnytsia was the home for major Soviet Air Forces base, including an airfield, a hospital, arsenals, and other military installations. The headquarters of the 43rd Rocket Army of the Strategic Rocket Forces was stationed in Vinnytsia from 1960 to the early 1990s. The 2nd Independent Heavy Bomber Aviation Corps, which later became 24th Air Army, was stationed in Vinnytsia from 1960 to 1992.

Independent Ukraine

The Ukrainian Air Force Command has been based in Vinnytsia since 1992. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the command center was significantly damaged by Russian cruise missiles on 25 March 2022.

On 14 July 2022 the center of the city was attacked with three Russian cruise missiles. Missiles hit the local NeuroMed clinic and House of the Officers, which was currently used as a concert hall. Due to the strike 27 people were killed (three children among them), 80 were hospitalized. The next day the Russian Ministry of defense said that the target was top-ranking Ukrainian military officers and representatives of foreign military industry companies.

On October 12, 2022, a pilot Vadym Voroshylov (call sign Karaia) destroyed 5 "Shahed 136" drones near Vinnytsia. Due to damage to the plane, Vadym ejected in Vinnytsia oblast, having previously diverted the fighter jet from the settlement. For this, he was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.

Clusters

As part of the decentralized cooperation program between the city of Vinnytsia and Vinnytsia region with the city of Dijon, the Burgundy-Franche-Comté region, AgroVin agricultural cluster was created in March 2021. The participants of the agrocluster are processing enterprises of the city of Vinnytsia, agricultural producers and specialized scientific institutions (Agrana Fruit Ukraine LLC, Vinnytsia Food and Gustatory Factory PJSC,, Agroposluhtransservis LLC,Dibrova LLC, Organik-d LLC, Vinnytsia National Agrarian University, Institute of Fodder and Agriculture of Podillia National Academy of Sciences).

Vinnytsia Instrumentation and Automation Cluster was created in February 2021 by local enterprises (Promavtomatyka-Vinnytsia LLC, Innovinprom LLC, Maitek Plus LLC, Grampis LLC, Tiras LLC, Vinaerogis LLC, and others) that work in the instrument-making industry and are engaged in the automation of production with the aim of creating competitive products, creating jobs for the best local graduates, promoting the definition and implementation of smart specialization of the city territorial community and the region.

Military

The headquarters of the Ukrainian Air Force is situated in Vinnytsia.

Parks and squares

Central urban park in Vinnytsia

Park of Culture and Recreation named after Mykola Leontovych located in Vinnytsia city between the streets Soborna (center), Mahistratska and Khmelnytske Shose.

The park is 40 hectares.

There are numerous monuments (soldiers in Afghanistan, Sich Riflemen, killed police officers, victims of NKVD’s purge), and the Alley of outstanding countrymen are objects of leisure and recreation: a summer theater, a stadium, an ice club, a city planetarium, a fountain, a chess club, Mini-Vinnytsia open air museum, numerous attractions and gaming machines.

For more than 70 years of its history, the Central Park has always been a place of celebrations and recreation for the residents and for holding local/municipal events and holidays. It became a fine tradition to hold folk festivals and all major holidays in the Park, in particular on the City Day, Europe Day, Independence Day, and more.

Buildings and Structures

• Saint Nicholas Church is considered to be the oldest building in the city — built in 1746 in the place of older one;
• The Transfiguration Cathedral, built in Vinnytsia in 1758 by Italian architect Pao…