First Jews settled in Halych at the beginning of the 15th century. In 1506, King Alexander Jagiellon of Poland temporarily exempted the local Jewish population from paying taxes. They were also exempt from levies by Sigismund II Augustus after the fire of 1551. A document dating back to 1572 mentions 31 Jewish houses in the town.
In 1765, there were 258 Jews living in Halych, in 1870 – 839 (27.9% of the total population), in 1900 – 1,454 (30%). A synagogue was opened in the 19th century. In the first half of the 1800s, the post of the local rabbi was held by I. M. Froles (1784–1854). At the end of the century, two Zionist organisations were formed in the town. In 1907, a male school with Hebrew as the language of instruction was opened in Halych. In 1921, the town had 582 Jewish residents (16.9% of the total population), in 1931 – 878, and in 1939 – ca. 1,000.
On 2 July 1941, Halych was seized by Germans. Only a small part of the Jewish population had managed to evacuate to the East with the Soviets. On 14 April 1942, a group of ca. 100 Jews was murdered in the town, and over 500 people were sent to the labour camp in Stanisławów (now Ivano-Frankivsk). On 15 April 1942, 170 Jews from Halych were sent to Stanisławów. Many of them died of hunger and disease resulting from inhumane living conditions in the camp. In the summer of 1943, the prisoners of the labour camp were shot to death.
In the 1970s and 1980s, several Jewish families still lived in Halych. According to the 2001 census, the town did not have any Jewish inhabitants.
Based on
- “Galich,” Elektronnaya Yevreiskaya Entsiklopedya [online:] 20 Apr 2005, https://jewishencyclopedia.ru/?mode=article&id=11029 [Accessed: 2 Jan 2019].