LANOVTSYL Ternopil

Alternate names: Lanovtsi and Ланівці  [Ukr], ], Lanovtse, Лановцы,  Lanavtse, Lanivtsy. Lanovits and לאנאוויץ  [Yid] Lanowce (Polish: Łanowce). A city in Ternopil Oblast anhd administrative center of the Lanivtsi Raion.49°52' N, 26°05' E. Two places are named 'Lanivtsi' in Ukraine: This one, 23 miles SE of Kremenets, in Volhynia, former Russian Empire; and a village in Borszczów district of Tarnopol, former Galicia. Population is 8,680 (2001). 1900 Jewish population: 1,174.

• KehilaLink. [Mar 2013]
• Lanovits: sefer zikaron le-kedoshei Lanovits she-nispu be-shoat ha-natsim (Tel Aviv, 1970)
• Encyclopedia of Jewish Life (2001), page 705: "Lanowce".
• Pinkas HaKehilot, Poland, Vol. 5 (1990), p. 102-103: "Lanowce"
• Shtetl Finder (1989), p. 46: "Lanovitz".
• Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), V, p. 585: "Łanowce".
• Jewish Records Indexing - Poland
• JewishGen Ukraine SIG

JEWISH CEMETERY:

US Commission No. UA19020101

Alternate name: Lanovtsi (Yiddish), Lanovits (German), Lanovtzy (Hungarian), Lanovitz (Slov), Lonovitse (Polish) and Lanowce (Ukraine). Lanovtsy is located in Ternopolskaya at 49º52 26º5, 55 km from Ternopol. The cemetery is located E at Ukrainskaya St. Present town population is 5,001-25,000 with fewer than 10 Jews.

• Town officials: Village Soviet of Lanovtzy of Nezavisimosty str.34 [Phone (03549) 21118]. Voronyuk Slav'yan Ivanovich of Nezavisimosty Street 41 [Phone (03549) 21209].
  
• Regional: Region Soviet of Ternopol, Grushevskogo Street 8 [Phone (03522) 22105].
  
• Jewish Community of Ternopol, 282022, Dovzhenko Street 11, apt. 75.
  

The earliest known Jewish community was 16th century. 1939 Jewish population was 629. Effecting Jewish Community was 1680 Khmelnitsky Pogroms and 1918-1920 Civil War. The last known Karlin-Stolensky Hasidic burial was 1941. No other towns or villages used this unlandmarked cemetery. The isolated suburban flat land has signs or plaques in local language and signs or plaques in Hebrew mentioning Jews and the Holocaust. Reached by turning directly off a public road, site open to all with no wall, fence, gate or structures. 21 to 100 common tombstones, all in original location between 25%-50% toppled or broken, date from 18th to 20th century. Vegetation overgrowth is a seasonal problem preventing access and disturbing graves. The cemetery contains marked mass graves. Municipality owns the property now used for Jewish cemetery only. Adjacent properties are agricultural and residential. The cemetery boundaries are smaller now than 1939 because of new roads or highways. The cemetery is visited rarely by private and local residents. The cemetery was not vandalized in the last ten years Local/municipal authorities cleared vegetation. Occasionally, authorities clear or clean. Very serious threat: vegetation. Moderate threat: pollution. Slight threat: uncontrolled access, weather erosion and vandalism.

Documentation: Shmuel Spektor The Holocaust of Vohlynian Jews. Yad Vashem. Jerusalem: The Federation of Vohlynian Jews, 1990, p. 53, 66, 129.

Kirzhner Moisey Davidovich of 263005 Lutsk, Grushevskogo Street 18, Apt. 38 [Phone (03322) 34775] visited and completed survey on 07/06/1995. He interviewed Rudik Pya of Village Soviet on 07/06/1995.

UPDATE: Ternopil province, at 49°52' 26°05', 31 miles NE of Ternopil on the south edge of the town. Alternate/former names of town or village: Lanovtsi (Yiddish), Lanovits (German), Lanovtzy (Hungarian), Lanovitz (Slov), Lonovitse (Polish) and Lanowce. 2005 total town population is 5,000 - 25,000 with fewer than ten or no Jews. Contact: Volodymyr Andrushuk ,of NEBSA Mission. Mayor: Ivan Panfilovich, 34 Nezalezhenosti Lanivitsi, 47400 Ukraine. Phone: 03549 21851 Fax: 03549 21118.

The earliest known Jewish community was late 16th century. Jewish population as of 1939 census was 629. In 1856, a fire destroyed 256 Jewish houses. The government in Kiev sent a team to investigate and was able to determine that the fire started in a Jewish woodworker's shop, Abraham Arlave. 
Noteworthy individual, who lived in this Jewish community, was Yisroel Zinberg who wrote "The History of Jewish Literature." Zinberg once said "I am one of the last Mohicans dealing only with the past. Today I am writing only about our past and the heritage of our forefathersWhile I do this, I have a desire to speak to live people."

Jewish cemetery was established: Old cemetery from late 1500s has been completely destroyed. I located it in July 2003. It was given by The Village Soviet to a private person. New Cemetery dates from early 1800s and is less than a mile from the synagogue that used it. The non-landmarked Orthodox New Cemetery last burial was in 1941. The urban cemetery on flat land is separate, but near other cemeteries with no sign or marker. The mass grave and memorial is immediately adjacent to the New Cemetery with a plaque in Hebrew and a plaque in Ukrainian mentioningThe Holocaust installed 1999 by Volodymyr Androshuck for a forgiveness ceremony. is immediately adjacent to the cemetery which has a continuous masonry fence installed in 2012 with donations from Lanovtsy descendants.

The cemetery owned by the municipality is reached by turning directly off a public road and is open to all with a continuous masonry wall, broken fence, and no gate. Approximate size of cemetery before World War II was 1.5 acre? 100 500 gravestones are in cemetery, regardless of condition or position, probably all in original location. Approximately 25% - 50% of surviving stones are toppled or broken. Vegetation overgrowth in the cemetery is a constant problem, disturbing stones. The limestone and sandstone flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones, and flat stones with carved relief decoration in the cemetery date from early 1800s and have Hebrew inscriptions. The mass grave contains special memorial monuments to Holocaust victims and for the burial of a woman, Eeta Nucheemovna ( daughter of Nuchem ) Onishinkov, the last Jew in Lanovtsy, who chose to be buried in the marked mass grave in 1981. The cemetery property is now used for Jewish cemetery only. Properties adjacent to the cemetery are residential. Private visitors (Jewish or non-Jewish) and local residents may visit rarely.

The cemetery was vandalized during World War II and occasionally, between 1981 and 1991. Only care has been clearing of vegetation by Jewish individuals abroad in Fall 2004.The cemetery and Mass grave are now cared for by the town and a Christian organization called Nebsa led by Volodymyr Androshuck .

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., grandson of Michael Chizda, who was killed in massacre of the Jews of Lanovtsy in August 1942, completed the survey.  815 W Sunset Way, Issaquah, Wa 98027 email: . This questionnaire was completed: July 28, 2005. He visited the site three times with Boomi Silverman, Katherine Sylvan, and Michael Sylvan. He interviewed local residents: Stepan Basiuk and his son Gregory Basiuk, Oct. 2002; Nina Minyok, July 2003; and Volodymyr Andrusuk June 2004 as well as the mayor, town architect and a contractor and discussed cemetery restoration. [July 2005]

UPDATE:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. notes that the cemetery has been landmarked by the Ternopolski Oblast. . [Mar 2013]