Haisyn

Hajsyn was first mentioned in 1545. In 1566, following the Union of Lublin, it became part of the Bracław Voivodeship of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Under the rule of Stephen Báthory, then-Galshchina (Гальщиной), the land was given to management under the Tromchinsky feudal lord.[4]

In 1600, the settlement was granted to nobleman Svirski from Tromchinsky.[5] In 1605, it passed from nobleman Oriszewski to Jadwiga Różynska of the Ruzhinsky family through right of her 4th husband,[6] although her rights to the land would be disputed with neighboring families until 1616 when the land was finally transferred to the Odrzywolski family for "lifetime possession".

On 16 November 1621, King of Poland Sigismund III gave the land of Galshin to the nobleman Jan Dzierzka for his military services.[5] 8 years later, the census of 1629 showed the village to have a population of 822 people.

In 1659, King of Poland John II Casimir Vasa granted Gaisin to the Zaporizhian Maxim Bulyga.[5] This was most likely done in an attempt to appease the Cossack population in order to maintain security in the region in the event that Turkish or Russian forces invaded the area.[7] However, in 1660, the land was granted to Stanislaw Jakubowski.[8]

In 1699, according to the Treaty of Karlowitz, the Ottoman Empire recognized Gaisin as Polish land. Polish feudal lords began managing the land once more, between which there were constant internecine disputes. The Ogiński and Sanigi fought over the territory of Gaisin. Caught in the crossfires of the dispute, Haisyn was plundered in 1701 and nearly destroyed.

In 1744, King Augustus III granted Haisyn Magdeburg rights, making it a royal city of Poland.[4]

In 1768, another Haydamak uprising occurred, and the citizens of the town joined in revolt. After the suppression of the uprising, the lands of Gaisin were divided among the magnates Potocki, Jaroszynski, Sobanski, and Holoniewski, among others. Gaysin itself with the surrounding villages, was given to Anthony Leduchowski in 1775. In 1783, he received the royal privilege to own the city and surrounding villages for the next 50 years. However, in 1789, Gaisin was given by Leduhovsky to Earl Felix Potocki, who owned 10 thousand dessiatinas of settled land and 1,200 dessiatinas of forest in the Gaisin region.

On May 22, 1792, Gaysin became a town of regional significance.

The city was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793 during the Second Partition of Poland, and became part of the Bratslav Viceroyalty. It became part of the Podolia Governorate in 1797, with its town status upheld in 1804.[5] The county was divided into 3 districts, Kuna, Teplyk, and Ternovka. A stone church, the Church of St. Nicholas, was built in the town.

The Gaisyn City Council was created in 1793, but its oversight was limited to city utilities, collection of taxes, and maintenance of city utilities (police, schools, hospitals, etc.). From 1793 to 1861, it also had a City Magistrate, who performed judicial and tax functions.[9] At the end of the 18th century, the governor of Haisyn was Colonel Petro Chechel, who is famous for the palace that he erected as his residence after purchasing multiple villages in the Starokonstantinovsky district.[10]

In the first half of the 19th century, the town had a mixed population of Jews and Ukrainians. A resolution was issued on 1836, authorizing local police to allocate 2000 rubles from the treasury due to insufficient funds from the government. Insufficient funding for the town's necessities had a negative impact on the organization and work of the local government, hindering the development of the rapidly-grown town.[11]

I commanded to leave the Magistrate in its former position in Gaisin, until the sources for multiplying municipal revenues are found, so (...) 2) that the local provincial administration, upon discovering new ways to sufficiently increase municipal revenues, submit its thoughts on the possibility of establishing a Duma to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (...)[12]

The government took a number of practical steps to develop the province, including the provision of special benefits:

24 December 1841. To improve the welfare of the cities of Podolsk province, privileges were granted to merchants, burghers, and people of free means, who moved to these cities from areas that did not belong to the Western provinces.[13]

Early 20th-century postcard of two-year college in Gaysin

The local government organization developed many town offices, including:

• The Magistrate (Composition: the mayor, two burgomasters, and four ratmans)
• Orphans' Court[14]
• Legal Court
• City Deputies' Assembly
• Kvartirny Komision (dealt with the cantonment of military units)[15]

In 1843 a wealthy merchant by the name of Israel Rozin settled in Gaisyn and began a business producing and selling alcohol. His philanthropic activity towards the local population and soldiers made him favorable towards the local government, who bestowed honors upon him in military rank under civilian status. During a cholera epidemic in 1855, Rozin undertook paycuts and provided free services and alcohol to citizens.[16]

By 1855, the ratio of Jews to Christians was 1,246 to 1,305, with 271 Jewish merchants and 45 Christian merchants. There were many artisans among the Jewish population.

In 1858 there were 10,106 inhabitants (5,316 men and 4,790 women) in Gaisin, the town budget was a little over 5,000 rubles (the town's income was 5060 rubles 93.75, and their expenses were 5055 rubles 25 kopecks).[17] In 1863 there were 9,630 inhabitants in Gaisin (4,952 men and 4,678 women). Over five years (see above) the city's population decreased by 476 people.[18]

In 1859, in the village of Mogilnoye, Gaisin district, the Mogilnyansky sugar factory was founded.[19] Refining sugar from sugar beets became an important industry for the town. In the 1864–1865 season, the Mogilnyansky factory, as well as Krasnosyolkansky factory, produced a total of 24,480 poods of sugar.[20][21] Another refinery, the Sobolevka Sugar Refinery, was founded in 1868.[19]

Russian economic reforms from 1860 to 1880 significantly accelerated industrial development in the region. Cloth manufacturing in Gaisyn county accounted for more than half of the total manufacturing capacity in the entire Podolia govenrorate. A silk factory was opened in the city, and in 1870, a brick factory was founded. Two tobacco processing plants were founded in 1880 and 1897. A steam mill for energy opened up on the outskirts of the city.[22] Two printing houses were established in the city by Jews. One by Udla Leibovna Shvartsman in 1876,[19] and one in 1893 by Nukhim Volkovich Weinstein.[23]

In May 1886, by the initiative of Archpriest Nikandr Gavrilovich Mikhnevich, the Holy Protection City Cathedral was founded. It was a five-domed brick building on a stone plinth with a bell tower. Inside, there was a three-tiered wooden iconostasis. There was a church cemetery near the cathedral. In the 1930s, the church, like many other religious buildings, was destroyed by Soviet authorities.

Photo of market in Gaisyn prior to the Russian Revolution

In 1896, there were 9,367 inhabitants in Gaisynsky, including Jews 5,152 (55.5%), Orthodox 3,840 (41.0%). There was one church, one synagogue, five Jewish prayer houses, and one schismatic chapel. There were nine plants and factory-industrial establishments, including one distillery, one candle factory, one tobacco factory, one copper-iron factory. For education, there was one male college for higher education and one female college with preparatory and handicrafts classes.

According to the 1897 census, there were 9,374 inhabitants in Gaisin, including:[24]

• Origin: 7,582 Gaisyn natives, 641 natives from other Podolian districts, 1,135 citizens from other Governorates,and 16 foreigners
• Class: 7733 petty bourgeois, 1075 peasants, 356 noblemen, 109 merchant, 43 hereditary and personal noblemen (and their immediate family), 33 persons of clerical rank (and their immediate family), 17 foreign citizens, 8 belonging to other estates, and 1 non-specified estate
• Native language: Jewish 4,322 (46.11%), Ukrainian 3,946 (42.1%), Russian 884 (9.43%), Polish 167 (1.78%)[39], Tatar 24, German 13, and 17 who spoke another native language[25]
• Faith: 4,557 Russian Orthodox (out of 212,002 in the district), 4,321 Jews (out of 21,438 in the district), 264 Old-believers and those "deviating from Orthodoxy", 181 Roman Catholics, 30 Mohammedans, 15 Lutherans, 4 Armenian Gregorians, and 2 Armenian Catholics

A significant event for the city's economy was the opening of the Southern Society of access roads in 1900 narrow-gauge railroad from Zhytomyr to Olviopil, which passed through Gaisin. By that time, the city had become one of the largest in Podolia. In 1900, the town budget of Gaisin amounted to more than 30,000 rubles (36,437 rubles in revenues, and 23,944 rubles in expenditures).[26]

By 1902, Gaisin had a total of 10,765 residents. There was a public school, 23 factories and plants employing 631 workers, with a total annual production value of 656,820 rubles.[27] A library was opened the same year.

The population of Gaysin in 1910 was 13,222. It had 6,208 Russian Orthodox, 359 Catholics, 14 Mohammedans, and 6,629 Jews.[28]

The development of the city was bright on the eve of World War I. There were 36 registered enterprises in the town, including a newly opened meteorological station. Stone buildings became more commonplace, including a hospital, bank, grand hotel, law office, schoolhouse, and pharmacy.

During World War I, the 75th Sevastopol Infantry Regiment of the Southwestern Front was stationed in the city.[29]

Bolshevik troops (7th Army of the Southwestern Front) captured Gaisyn and took control of the city on 2 February 1918.[30]

In June 1918, the Gaisyn district committee of the Council of Peasant Deputies distributed leaflets condemning the election of the Hetman and in favor of the Central Rada. Headman of the district Olexandr Savostyanov reported the leaflets to the Minister of Internal Affairs, resulting in the arrests of the Assistant District Commissioner and the Chairman of the People's Council.[31]

Nearly a year later, during the seizure of Haisyn by the gangs of Ataman Ananiy Volynets, 1,200 people were killed, most of whom were Jews. Later in the year, during the city's capture by Anton Denikin, business and homes were looted and women were raped.[32]

In October 1919, the city was occupied by units of the Volunteer Army.[33] By January, Denikin's troops had fled the city. On 7 January 1920, Prime Minister Ivan Mazepa, Colonel N. Nikonov, and P. Fedenko arrived in Gaysin on their way from Vinnitsa.[34] Mazepa described the condition of the city upon his arrival:

In Gaisin itself, there had been no law enforcement for more than two weeks. There was complete indifference and apathy [towards the suffering]. No one even thought of organizing the authorities. Even the local rebel Ataman Volynets, with whom Fedchenko had a meeting at that time, was sitting in one of the neighboring villages near Gaisin and "resting" without work.

Until the establishment of the USSR, the city would be continued to be passed from gang to gang, with death and destruction following. After the Soviet offensive on 6 June 1920, Gaisyn was reconquered under the command of Pyotr Solodukhin, which by that point had been turned into a stronghold of the 6th Polish Army, defended by the 18th Polish Infantry Division.[35]

A local newspaper began publishing in Gaisyn in 1920.[36] In 1922, the 24th Samara Rifle Division was stationed in the city, followed by troops of the 2nd Kotovsky Cavalry Corps.[37] From 1923 to 1925, Gaisyn was the center of the Gaisynsky district of the USSR.

Haisyn house of culture

By 1970, although lacking in Jews, the town's population had recovered and reached 23,700. The bulk of the city's economy was in the food industry: it had a meat processing plant, sugar factory, fruit canning factory, and oil, cheese, and alcohol factories. There were also a clothing and furniture factory and a medical school.[38] In January 1989, the population was recorded to be 25,766.[39] The population of the city has stagnated due to brain drain and falling birth rates, and it was recorded at 25,855 in 2013.[40]

Distribution of the population by native language according to the 2001 census:[41]

Haisyn suffered many damages during the Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648-1654), which was accompanied by looting of property and mass murder of the Jewish population in the area.[42][43]

Much of the 18th century was a turbulent time for Jews and Poles in the town. During 1734 and 1750, Haydamak uprisings devastated the ethnically Polish and Jewish populations in the Bratslav Voivodeship, with both being massacred by Ukrainian nationalists. The exact number of victims slaughtered is not known,[44] but almost all sources record that there was a near-total genocide of the communities during the conflict.[45]

In 1768, Ukrainian nationalists in Gaisyn participated in the Koliivshchyna, and a mass-murder of Jews and Poles once again ensued.[46][47]

At the time of the 1790 census, there were only 50 Jews in Gaisin. Following Jewish immigration waves within Eastern Europe, the population rapidly grew. By the year 1800, there were 1,275 Jews in the Haisyn district, with a total population of 1,857.[5]

In 1834, the Jewish community in Gaisyn had reached 1,692 people. The town contained a synagogue, a beit-midrash, two houses of prayer, and six cheders. There were three rabbis and three mohels.[16] The population grew further to 2,175 by 1863, split across 262 "individual Jewish buildings".[48] By 1896, that figure had risen to 5,152.

Many Jews began to leave Gaisyn in 1905 following Pogroms that hit the city particularly hard.[16] Nevertheless, there were nearly 7,000 Jews in Gaisyn in 1917, constituting half the city's population.[16]

Following the beginning of the Russian Revolution, pogroms broke out across the entire country, including Gaisyn. The town had a local Bolshevik faction, which included many Jews, who fought back against the bandits. From 1918 to 1920 there were continued pogroms in the city. Troops of volunteers, the Red Army, and the Hetman took part in them. Numbers are not clear, but at least 152 people were killed in Gaisyn in May 1919.[49] Other estimates place the death toll as high as 390. More violence against Jews took place between 20 July and 25 July.[50] One witness of pogroms in Ukraine during the Russian Revolution stated the following about how the pattern took place:

The most common type of pogrom is as follows. Armed men burst into a town or locality, scatter through the streets, rush in groups into Jewish apartments, murder with no care for age or sex, they brutally rape and often kill women, extort money under threat of death and then kill the victims, seize what they can carry, and break down ovens and walls in search of money and valuables. One group is followed by the second, the third, and so on, until there is nothing left to carry or take away. In Pereyaslav during the pogrom of July 15–19 by Zeleny, each Jewish apartment was visited by bandits 20-30 times a day. Later, the building was reduced to nothing but window panes, bricks and beams. Both those who would be murdered and the survivors are stripped down to their underwear, or sometimes even naked. Delegations of Jews or well-meaning Christians are sent to the newly-appointed authorities to ask for an end to the pogrom. The authorities agree on the condition that the surviving Jewish population pay a ransom to the government. The money is paid, new demands are made to deliver boots, meat, and so on. In the meantime, the groups [of bandits] continue to terrorize the remaining Jews, extort money, kill, and rape. Then, the enemy enters the town or locality, often completing the robbery of Jews and continuing the savage violence. The old thugs disappear, only to return again a few days later. [...] It is extremely common for Jews to be transported for mass murder, torture and robbery to one house: to the synagogue like in Ivankov, Rotmistrovka, and Ladyzhenka, to the Office or Executive Committee in Funduklejevka, Ladyzhenka, and Novomirgorod, or simply to some house as in Gaisin or Davydka.[50]

In February 1920. Gaisin was captured by the Red Army, in May by Tyutyunnik's gang, then by Volynets' gang. And every transition of the city from hand to hand was accompanied by pogroms and looting.[51]

In 1922, a Yiddish department was opened at the local higher education institution.[52]

During the NEP period, there was a short-term revival of trade and entrepreneurial activity in the Jewish community, but with the winding down of the NEP and the cessation of private trade activity, some of the Jews of Gaisin were forced to join the Jewish collective farm organized in the city.

In 1926, 5,190 Jews (33.9% of the total population) lived in Gaisin, in 1939 the number fell to 4,109. In the late 1930s, the large synagogue was demolished, and the small synagogue and Jewish school were closed.[16]

Monument to Holocaust & WWII victims in Gaysin

During World War II, Gaisin was occupied by the 11th Field Army of the Wehrmacht on July 25, 1941. In accordance with the agreement signed on August 30 in Bender between the German and Romanian commanders, Gaisin, unlike Mogilev-Podilskyi, was not part of "Transnistria", but of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. The occupation of Gaisin lasted almost 32 months. During this period, the German concentration camps Stalag 329/Z and Stalag 348 (March to August 1943) were located in the Gaisin area. According to various estimates, during the occupation in the northeastern outskirts of the city (Belendijka tract) the Germans shot from 8,000 to 10,000 people, mostly local Jews and Jews specially brought there for extermination from other occupied areas. During the first mass shooting on September 16, 1941, about three thousand (according to other sources - 1,300[53]) Jews were killed, and on September 17 another three thousand people were shot. In the following days, around four thousand Jews were shot, brought from the surrounding area.[16] Shootings were also carried out in October 1941 and May 7–10, 1942. By the end of the occupation, about 20 Jews remained in Gaisin (less than 1% of the pre-war population).[54] On March 14, 1944, Gaisin was taken back by units of the 232nd Rifle Division of the Red Army.