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History of Zhovkva


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The site of Zhovkva has been inhabited since the 14th century. In 1594, the Polish military commander Stanis?aw ?�?kiewski fortified the settlement and built ?�?kiew Castle. Due to its strategic location at the intersection of important trade routes, the town prospered.

In the 17th century, it became the royal residence for King John III Sobieski of Poland, and a hub of religious life, arts and commerce. From its earliest days, the population was a mix of Poles, Ukrainians and Jews. Landmark buildings include a fortress-like synagogue, churches and monasteries.

Before World War II, the town's 4,500 Jews accounted for nearly half the population, but few survived the Holocaust. The synagogue was blown up by the Nazis in 1941, leaving only the outside walls. In 2000, the building was declared one of the world's most endangered sites by the World Monuments Fund. A restoration campaign began in 2001, supported by WMF's Jewish Heritage Program and other sources, which is ongoing.

In 1939, followed the division of Poland after it lost World War II, Zhovkva, together with the rest of Western Ukraine, was occupied by the Soviet Union and became a part of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1951 the town was renamed Nesterov after the World War I aviator Pyotr Nesterov who became the first to perform aerial ramming in the history of aviation near Zhovkva. The aerial ramming was fatal to both parties. The name Zhovkva was restored in 1992
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