BRIEF OVERVIEW

Red box shows the location of Zolynia within modern-day Poland.

WHAT: Zolynia is a community in rural, southeastern Poland. Zolynia Borough ("Gmina") is made up of the villages of Zolynia, Brzoza Miasteckzo and Smolarzyny. The village of Zolynia has historically been divided into Upper Zolynia ("Zolynia Gorne"), Lower Zolynia ("Zolynia Dolne") and Zolynia Centre ("Zolynia Miasteczko"). The name Zolynia is related to the Polish word for "yellow" (zolty), probably referring to the local forests.

WHERE: Zolynia is located at precisely 50 degrees, 10 minutes north latitude and 22 degrees, 19 minutes east longitude. Zolynia lies about 730 feet (221 meters) above sea level in the Karpackie ("Carpathian") Foothills, just north of the vast Carpathian mountain range. Slovakia is about sixty miles (96 km)to the south. Ukraine is about forty miles (64 km) to the west.

WHO, PRE-WORLD WAR II: Population peaked in the 1880s, with the town and village of Zolynia reaching a total population of nearly 6,000. Eight in ten local residents were Roman Catholic Poles and two in ten Jewish, with a handful of Protestants and Ruthenian (Ukrainian) Greek Catholics. Jews were concentrated in the smaller town or miasteczko district, which was 55-60 percent Jewish. Jewish population of the township peaked at 1,071 in 1880, but emigration to other cities and countries reduced thise count to 569 in the 1920s. Emigration (and war) had reduced the overall population of the Zolynia area to under 4,000 by the 1930s. As a result, Zolynia lost its legal status as a full township and was downgraded to a village in 1925.

WHO, POST-WORLD WAR II: The Gmina of Zolynia has a population of 6,787, virtually all Poles. There are no longer any Jews in Zolynia or any adjacent communities.

REGIONAL HISTORY: In medieval times, this region was part of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1772, it was annexed by Austria and would be part of the Province of Galicia within the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. After World War I, Zolynia became part of a new independent Poland.

LOCAL HISTORY: Starting in the 1330s, the area was privately owned by the local Polish nobility based in nearby Lancut. Settled by the 1500s, the Jewish congregation was formally established by the late 1700s. Starting in the 1880s, poor economy and other factors encouraged Jews and Gentiles to emigrate in large numbers, particularly to America. Since the war and the Holocaust, the town has been rebuilt.