Lanivtsi

Lanivtsi received a town charter in 1545 from the Polish king. Until the Partitions of Poland, it was part of Volhynian Voivodeship. Ashkenazy Jews began to settle here later. In 1795 - 1918, Lanivtsi belonged to the Russian Empire. In 1897 the Jewish population numbered 1,174 of a total of 2,525 in the city. A number of Jews were killed in pogroms, and others emigrated to western Europe or the United States. By 1921 their population in the city was 640. There was a Tarbut school and yeshiva, and many of the younger people became Zionists.[3]

In the Second Polish Republic between the world wars, Lanivtsi, known then as Łanowce, belonged to Krzemieniec County, Volhynian Voivodeship. For centuries, Lanivtsi was the center of an area of large estates that belonged to several noble families, such as the Jelowiecki, Wisniowiecki, Mniszech and Rzewuski.

By 1940 this area was part of the Soviet Union, and was invaded by Nazi Germans in 1941, with occupation starting July 3 of that year. With the help of Ukrainian guards, the Germans created a Jewish ghetto in Lanowce, where Jews worked as forced laborers. Jews from neighboring villages were transported and confined there in 1942. From August 13-14, 1942, the Germans and Ukrainians murdered a total of 1,833 Jews beside open pits, where they were buried in mass graves. Few survived the Holocaust.[3]