Stara Syniava () is a

rural settlement The definition of a rural settlement depends on the country, in some countries, a rural settlement is any settlement in the areas defined as rural by a governmental office, e.g., by the national census bureau. This may include even rural towns. ...

Khmelnytskyi Raion Khmelnytskyi Raion () is one of the three administrative raions (districts) of Khmelnytskyi Oblast in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Khmelnytskyi. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of ...

Khmelnytskyi Oblast Khmelnytskyi Oblast (), also known as Khmelnychchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in western Ukraine covering portions of the historical regions of western Podolia and southern Volhynia. The Capital (political) ...

, western

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It hosts the administration of Stara Syniava settlement hromada, one of the

hromada In Ukraine, a hromada () is the main type of municipality and the third level Administrative divisions of Ukraine, local self-government in Ukraine. The current hromadas were established by the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine, Government of Uk ...

s of Ukraine. The settlement's population was 5,961 as of the

2001 Ukrainian Census The 2001 Ukrainian census is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (, , ; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages gr ...

in 1543. In 1956, the town received the status of an urban-type settlement.

History

Until 18 July 2020, Stara Syniava was the administrative center of

Stara Syniava Raion Stara Syniava Raion (, ) was one of the 20 administrative raions (a ''district'') of Khmelnytskyi Oblast in western Ukraine. Its administrative center was located in the urban-type settlement of Stara Syniava. Its population was 24,985 in 2001. ...

. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Khmelnytskyi Oblast to three. The area of Stara Syniava Raion was merged into Khmelnytskyi Raion. Until 26 January 2024, Stara Syniava was designated

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

. On this day, a new law entered into force which abolished this status, and Stara Syniava became a rural settlement.

Jewish Population

Stara Syniava had a large Jewish population for nearly 300 years, having been given the status of

shtetl or ( ; , ; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ''shtetelekh'') is a Yiddish term for small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish populations which Eastern European Jewry, existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. The t ...

. In 1897, the town had 2279 Jews. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, many Jewish residents were able to flee temporarily to Siberia and Uzbekistan, escaping extermination by the advancing

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

and Hitler's SS. Many who remained behind were rounded up by the invaders and killed evidenced by a mass grave of Jews found in Stara Sinyava. After the war some Jews returned to Stara Syniava and resumed living there. In the late 1970s Stara Syniava's Jewish population began emigrating from the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, largely to the U.S, Canada, and Israel. Today there are almost no Jews in the town.

References

{{Authority control Rural settlements in Khmelnytskyi Raion Populated places established in 1543 1543 establishments in Europe 16th-century establishments in Ukraine