Vinnytsia


Vinnytsia or Vinnytsya, or Vinnitsa, 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 town of oblast significance. It also serves as an administrative center of Vinnytsia Raion, one of the 27 districts of Vinnytsia Oblast, though it is not a part of the district. Population:
The city's roots date back to the Middle Ages and it was under Polish control for centuries until the Russian Empire annexed it in 1793. During 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.

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 "Vino", meaning "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 given as a gift to his nephews.

Geography

Location

Vinnytsia is located about southwest of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, north-northwest of the Black Sea port city of Odessa, and east of Lviv.
It is the administrative center of the Vinnytsia Oblast, as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Vinnytsia Raion within the oblast. The city itself is directly subordinated to the oblast.

Climate

The town has a warm-summer humid continental climate, similar to northern Pennsylvania however with the precipitation of the Great Plains, summers are warm, hardly hot and humid and winters are cold.
A long lasting warm summer with a sufficient quantity of moisture and a comparatively short winter is characteristic of Vinnytsia. The average temperature in January is and in July. The average annual precipitation is.
Over the course of a year there are around 6–9 days when snowstorms occur, 37–60 days when mists occur during the cold period, and 3–5 days when thunderstorms with hail occur.

History

From Medieval to Early Modern period

Vinnytsia has been an important trade and political center since the fourteenth century, when Fiodor Koriatowicz, the nephew of the Lithuanian Duke Algirdas, built a fortress against Tatar raiders on the banks of the Southern Bug. The original settlement was built and populated by Aleksander Hrehorovicz Jelec, 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 Winnica Magdeburg city rights. In 1566, it became part of the Bracław Voivodeship. Between 1569 and 1793 the town was a part of Poland and in this period, for a short time between 1672 and 1699 was a part of the Ottoman Empire. During period of Polish rule, Winnica was a Polish royal city. On 18 March 1783, Antoni Protazy Potocki opened in Winnica the Trade Company Poland.
After 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 were converted to Russian Orthodox churches.
According to the Russian census of 1897, Vinnytsia with a population of 30,563 was the third largest city of Podolia after Kamianets-Podilskyi and Uman.

World War II

Vinnytsia was occupied by German troops on 19 July 1941 during World War II. In 1943, the Germans exhumed 9,439 bodies, mostly male and ethnically Ukrainian, from mass graves to discredit Soviet Communist government claims that men had been sent to prison and not executed. The majority of the executions were believed to have happened during the Stalinist Great Purge between 1937–1938 in the Vinnytsia massacre.
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 but the complex included about 20 other log buildings, a power generating station, gardens, wells, three bunkers, a swimming pool, and wire; it was surrounded by defensive positions. Hitler spent a number of weeks at Wehrwolf in 1942 and early 1943. The few remains of the Wehrwolf site, can be visited but 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 although 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 Einsatzgruppe D 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.

Cold War period

Since the end of World War II, Vinnytsia has been 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 also stationed in Vinnytsia from 1960 to 1992. The Ukrainian Air Force Command has been based in Vinnytsia since 1992.

Education

There are many educational universities and research institutions in Vinnytsia:
There is also the Regional Universal Scientific Library named after Kliment Timiryazev in Vinnytsia.

Economy

Vinnytsia is an industrial center in Ukraine.
There are the Roshen confectionery corporation, the Crystal diamond polishing corporation, RPC Fort largest Ukrainian firearms manufacturing corporation, Analog corporation, Mayak corporation, Budmash corporation, Agregat corporation, Pnevmatika corporation, PlasmaTec corporation etc.
The headquarters of the Ukrainian Air Force is situated in Vinnytsia.

Politics

Vinnytsia is considered the long-time political base for Ukrainian oligarch and former President Petro Poroshenko. He owns a local confectionery and was elected member of parliament from the local constituency for several convocations. However, contrary to some speculations, Poroshenko has never lived in the city.
The former Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman is from Vinnytsia.

Parks and squares


Park of Culture and Rest named after Maxim Gorky located in Vinnytsia city - between the streets of the Cathedral, May Day and Khmelnytsky highway.
The park is 40 hectares.
In the park there are numerous monuments, and "Walk illustrious countrymen" are objects of leisure and recreation: a concert hall "Rainbow", a summer theater, stadium, ice club, city planetarium, numerous attractions and gaming machines.
For more than 70 years history of the park has always been a place of celebration as the general public and local/municipal events and holidays. Fine tradition was held in the park folk festivals and holidays is particularly on City Day, Victory Day, Independence Day and more.
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in Vinnytsia City near Festivalny Isle

Buildings and structures

Air

is situated near Vinnytsia.

Railway

There is a railway station in Vinnytsia, which is a part of 'South-Western Railway'. In 2013 it was named among 10 biggest railway stations in Ukraine Current building of Vinnytsia railway station was built in 1952 and considered to be the 4th railway building in Vinnytsia. Vinnytsia is an important transport point, both for internal and external railway connection. Most of the international trains, which cross through Ukraine, have a stop in Vinnytsia. For example, trains from Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Minsk, Sofia, Chisinau, Bratislava, Belgrade, Budapest transit through Vinnytsia. In internal railiway connection, Vinnytsia is also an important transport point for trains, heading to Western Ukraine and to South, as well as to Central Ukraine.

Tram

The tram is the most popular public transport in Vinnytsia. There are six tram routes in Vinnytsia.
Number of the routeRoute starting and ending point
1The railway station - Elektromerezha.
2Barske Shose - Vyshynka
3Vyshynka - Electromerezha
4Barske Shose - the Railway station
5Barske Shose - Elektromerezha
6The railway station - Vyshynka.

There are a lot of trams in Vinnytsia. The newest ones are from Switzerland.

Bus

There are the central bus station and the Western bus station in Vinnytsia.

Notable people

Twin towns – Sister cities

Vinnytsia is twinned with:

  • Bursa, Turkey
  • Bat Yam, Israel
  • Panevėžys, Lithuania

    • Gallery