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Glinyany

GLINYANY (Pol. Gliniany; Yid. Gline), small town in Lvov district, Ukraine. An organized Jewish community existed from 1474. The first settlers were leaseholders. The Jews of Glinyany suffered during the Tatar raids and Cossack massacres in 1624, 1638, and 1657, and particularly in 1648–49 (see *Chmielnicki). The first synagogue, built of wood, was erected there in 1704. Glinyany was a stronghold of the Shabbateans and later of the Frankists (see Jacob *Frank); in 1758 King Augustus III assigned Glinyany to the latter as one of their places of residence before baptism. In the 18th century Glinyany became a center of Ḥasidism when R. Jehiel Michael Moskovich (great grandson of Jeciel Michael of Zloczow) established his court there. A Jewish-German school in Glinyany, established under Joseph II after Austrian annexation of Galicia, remained open until 1806. A public school in the name of Baron Hirsch existed there from 1816 to 1914, and among the teachers was the historian Meir Balaban. The center of Zionist activity was a club, "National Home," founded in 1906, and a Hebrew school was opened in 1909. Between the world wars the economic situation deteriorated due to Ukrainian and Polish competition and antisemitism. The community numbered 688 in 1765, 1,708 in 1880 (out of a total population of 3,695), 2,177 in 1900 (out of 4,906), 1,679 in 1921 (out of 4,355), 1,906 in 1931, and 2,300 in 1939.

Holocaust Period

Under Soviet rule (1939–41), the communal bodies were disbanded and all political activity outlawed. In 1940 the former political leaders and important businessmen were arrested. In spring 1941 young Jews were drafted into the Soviet army and placed in special work units. The city fell to the Germans on July 1, 1941. On July 27 a pogrom broke out, led by the Ukrainian populace in which the Jews were murdered and robbed, and their sacred literature was burned. A provisional Jewish committee was set up in an attempt to prevent further persecution. The community had to pay a fine of 1,000,000 zlotys, but could not raise such a sum. Emissaries were sent to the German authorities in Peremyshlyany in an effort to lower the sum and delay payment, but met with partial success. The Jews of Glinyany were sent to a labor camp in Kurwice. The *Judenrat, headed by Aaron Hochberg, considerably assisted the community until the period between Nov. 20, 1942, and Dec. 1, 1942, when the remaining Jews were interned in Peremyshlyany ghetto. They perished there when it was liquidated in the summer of 1943. A few groups of Jews tried to hide in bunkers in the woods but were hunted down, mostly by the Ukrainians, and killed. A group of 40 resisted and fought when discovered. The city of Glinyany was taken by Soviet forces in August 1944, at which time only 20 Jewish survivors were found there. These left Glinyany in 1946.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

M. Balaban, in: YE, 6 (c. 1910), 586; Bleter far Geshikhte, 4 pt. 3 (1953), 163; H. Halpern (ed.), Megiles Gline (1950); Khurbn Gline (1964); A. Korech (ed.), Kehillat Glina 1473–1943, Toledoteha ve-Ḥurbanah (1950).


Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.