Event Timeline

Year	Month / Day	Event	Source	Page
Ancient History
1414		First mention of Tovste, in old chronicles	(3)	71
1427		Deed of Lithuanian Prince Vitovt of Augustio, in which it is written that he presents to his vassal the village of Pecherna on the Dniester River in Czerwonogrod "volost". On 30 September 1427 Ivan Pinkovich became the owner of Tovste	(2)
1434		Beginning of Polish domination of the land encompassing Tovste	(2)
1449		Tovste mentioned in the literature for the first time as "Tluste"	(1)	17
15th c.		First mention of a defensive castle in Tluste	(2)
1500s
1548		Tovste/Tluste attains the status of "settlement" and the Magdeburg right	(2)
1549		King Zygmunta Augusta grants Marcin Chodorowski, (nobleman, major landowner of Tluste) a title to collect customs duties in the Tluste area for purposes of repairing bridges, roads	(2) (17)
16th c.		Construction of the stone defensive castle	(2)
1579		First written mention of the Khmelnytskyy homestead in Tovste/Tluste	(2)
1580		Khmelnytskyy receives a title from Polish King Stefan Batoriy to hold annual and weekly markets in Tovste/Tluste	(2)
1594		Royal historian V. Kokhovsty writes that Mykhailo Khmelnytskyy was turned out of Tovste because of a crime against Poland	(2)
1600s
1620		Mykhailo Khmelnytskyy and his son Bogdan, together with Hetman Stanislav Zholkevskyy, take part in battle near Tsetsor against Turkish - Tatar troops	(2)
1621 -22		Bogdan Khmelnytskyy in Turkish captivity	(2)
1627		Mykhailo Khmelnytskyy takes part in an uprising under the leadership of Taras Fedorovych	(2)
1648 -54		Ukrainian uprising against Poland; Tluste was one of seven principal uprising centres between 1648-49	(2)
1672 -1772		Tluste and surrounding region under Turkish (1672-83), then renewed Polish (1683-1772) domination for a total of 100 years	(2)
ca. 1698		Israel ben Eliezer reportedly born in Okopy; later works as a teacher in Tluste	(7)	63-4 233
17th c.		Construction of the wooden synagogue	(2)
1700s
1717		Roman-Catholic parish is founded in Tluste	(1) (7)	35 64
1734-		While in Tluste, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer becomes known as the Ba'al Shem Tov ("Besht")	(16)
1740 -60		The Besht moves to Miedzyboz (population 5000; one-third Jews) -- a thriving commercial centre, one of largest towns in Ukraine	(7)	66
1741		Tluste suffers at the hands of passing Muscovite troops	(7)	64
1764		Census: 251 Jews living in Tluste	(8)	135
1772 -1914		Austrian "Kingdom of Galacia" created out of former Polish territory; laterly the Austro-Hungarian Empire
1779		The defensive castle of Tluste is rebuilt as the Roman Catholic church, and its forts are used as store houses for the 'Reitschule'	(2)
1785		Census: 163 families living in Tluste	(1)	41
1787		First mention of architectural monument of classic style	(2)
1800s
1816		Tluste is transferred from Zalishchyky jurisdiction to that of Chortkiv (until 1857)	(3a)
1852		First state trivial (public) school opens in Tluste	(1)	36
1854		Construction of "King's Road" from Chortkiv to Tluste	(2)
1856		Realisation of stone road from Buchach - Tluste - Zalischyky	(2)
1857		Following administrative reform, Tluste comes once again under Zalishchyky administration	(3a)
1870		174 families living in Tluste	(1)	41
1871		Severe flooding of Dniester River at Zalishchyky	(12)
1880		Tluste has 3285 inhabitants: 2225 Jews, 697 Greek Catholics (Ukrainian), and 363 Roman Catholics (Poles)	(9)
1889		Closure of markets, shops, and some schools in Tluste and elsewhere in the midst of a smallpox outbreak	(18)	173
1890		Tluste central post office gets first telephone	(1)	42
1895	October	Plans for construction of railway from Chortkiv to Zalischyky, through Tluste, drawn up by Austrian engineers in Vienna	(1)	41
1896 -1897		Construction of railway station in Tluste	(1) (2)	41
late 19th - beg. 20th century		Transformation of former fort of 16th century Tovste castle in to "Gwiazda" of Prince Geronim Lyudomyrskyy	(2)
1900-1919
1900		Tluste has 3,778 inhabitants: 2,213 Jews, 1,111 Greek Catholics (Ukrainian), and 454 Roman Catholics (Poles)	(9a)
1901		Construction of railway through Tluste completed	(1)	41
1902		"Prosvita" reading room established	(2)
1902 -04		Reconstruction of Roman Catholic Church of St. Anne	(2)
1912		Demolition of wooden Greek Catholic church dating from 1730; construction of new Church of St. Mykhail set to begin (which would take 30 years to complete)	(1)	45
1914	August	Beginning of World War I
1914	Second half	First Russian soldiers enter Tluste; the town comes under Russian occupation	(1)	48
1914	August	Destruction of Tluste's 18th century town hall	(2)
1914	Autumn	Russians capture Zalishchyky	(12)
1915	17 April	Jews of Zalishchyky expelled	(12)
1915	Summer	Cholera-infected soldiers are brought to Tluste; locals infected; “cholera cemetery” created in Jewish quarter	(1)	51
1915	September	Use of bacteriological weapons on the front line along the Dniester River; Austrian-German armies force the Russians to leave Tluste	(1) (2)	52
1916	June	Russian troops return to Tluste; and remain until July 1917	(1)	52
1917	July	Tluste once again under Austrian-Hungarian control	(2)
1918	31 October	Ukrainian political leaders declare "Western Ukrainian National Republic"
1918	1 November	Ukrainian forces occupy Lvov (later recaptured by Polish forces on or about 21-22 November 1918)
1918	3 November	After Austria's defeat in WWI, Austria transfers political control to Ukrainian Committee in Lvov; armed conflict begins within days between Poles and Ukrainians over rival claims to territory
1919	25 June	Decision of Allied Supreme Council authorizing Polish armed forces (at war with Soviet Union) to extend operations eastward to the river Zbrucz	(5)	4 65
1919	July	Polish forces regain control over whole of Galicia
1920s
1920	October	Poland makes truce with Soviet Union
1921	18 March	Treaty of Riga (between Poland, Russia and Ukraine); Poland retains Galicia and Tluste returns once again to Polish control	(5)	6
1923	15 March	Conference of Ambassadors recognizes the frontiers of Poland as including the eastern part of Galicia, whilst confirming that that territory's "ethnographical conditions necessitate an autonomous regime"	(5)	74
1925	1 December	Tluste public school has 469 children and 11 teachers	(1)	56
1927		Severe flooding of Dniester River at Zalishchyky	(12)
1927		Construction on Greek Catholic church reaches height of about 10 m	(15)
1930s
1930		Population of Tluste and neighbouring villages peaks at around 8,200 inhabitants: one-half Greek Catholic (Ukrainian); one-third Jews; and one-fifth Roman Catholic (Poles)	(9b)
1930		Anton Navolskyy (bishop) arrives in Tluste	(1)	58
1930	28 December	Declarations of parents submitted demanding introduction of Ukrainian as language of instruction in Tluste schools	(4)
1930 -32		Zalishchyky's rise to prominence as resort area	(12)
1939		Last known census of Tluste Jews: 1,196 citizens	(10)
1939		Construction of Greek-Catholic Church of St. Mykhail is finally completed, after three decades	(2)
1939	1 September	War breaks out; nearby Horodenka is bombed	(12)
1939	17 September	Citing the disintegration of the Polish State and Government, Soviet Union announces its intention to occupy Western Ukraine; in this month, the Soviets capture Zalishchyky	(5)	10 -11 75
1939	28 September	Ribbentrop-Molotov Agreement between Germany and Soviet Union, formalising de facto incorporation of eastern Galicia into Soviet territory	(5)	10 75
1939	17 August	Soviet rule is established	(1)	64
1939	17 September	Poland falls, Soviets occupy Horodenka (schools reopen in a few weeks, under Russian tutelage)	(11)
1939		Tluste becomes a district centre	(2)
1940-41
1940	January	Tluste loses status as town (for first time since 1548)	(1)	64
1940	February	Local underground organisation of young Ukrainian nationalists is formed	(1)	64-5
1940	February	First collective farm established	(1)	64
1941	January - June	30 Tluste students are arrested, shot or murdered by the Soviet KGB	(2)
1941		Creation of the "Sich" organisation in Tluste	(2)
1941	22 June	Germany attacks Soviet Union; during interregnum, Jews in outlying towns/villages are murdered by Ukrainians	(11)
1941	June	Soviets pull out of Tluste amidst incessant air raids; pandemonium and uncertainty reign, as a Ukrainian mayor is installed and settling of accounts begins	(20)	73 -75
1941	June	Occupation of Hungarian troops; independent Ukrainian State declared
1941	End of June / beginning of July	German air/ground offensive, and Soviet retreat from Zalishchyky, 25 km south of Tluste (destroying the railway bridge in the process)	(6)	Ch. 2
1941	July	Germans pass through Tluste from two directions (Czortkow and Borszczow), en route to the north and east; a small German force is installed in the town to engage the retreating Soviets	(20)	75
1941	July	Killing of Jews/looting of homes in Czortkow, 20 km north of Tluste, perpetrated by German soldiers and Ukrainian collaborators	(6)	Ch. 3
1941	Early July	Explosion of railway cars containing arms at Tluste station	(1)	67
1941	July	Germans occupy Horodenka; reign of terror begins (anti-Semitic proclamations/deportations)	(11)
1941	8 July	Germans capture Zalishchyky	(12)
1941	July-August	German officer becomes military governor of Tluste; organised and systematic persecution begins, in concert with local Ukrainian committee. Nightly curfew is imposed and freedom of movement of Jews is curtailed	(20)	75 -76
1941	ca. August	Germans set up a Judenrat (Jewish council) in Tluste under chairmanship of Dr. Averman, together with a Jewish police force, in order to impose order, persecute the Jewish community and facilitate mass deportations	(20)	76 -77
1941	September	Zalishchyky region is occupied and administered by the Hungarian allies of the Germans	(6)	Ch. 3
1941	October	Ghetto established in Horodenka	(11)
1941		Forced influx of stateless Jews expelled from Hungary and elsewhere -- arriving over a two-week period on columns of trucks under the guard of Hungarian soldiers	(20)	79 -80
1941		Gestapo headquarters established in Czortkow, from where control over Tluste is exerted	(20)	83
1941		Anti-Jewish edicts issued (imposition of forced labour, wearing of Star of David, restrictions on movement etc.) and periodic Gestapo raids begin, characterised by arrests, searches of houses, beatings/murders, confiscation of property etc	(20)	83, 88
1941	Fall	Torrential rains cause Dniester river to overflow its banks near Zalishchyky, 25 km south of Tluste	(6)	Ch. 3
1941	November	Mass slaughter of Jews near Zalishchyky	(12)
1941	December	Mass slaughter of Horodenka Jews at Siemakowce	(11)
1942-43
1942	12 April	Second 2-day Aktion against Jews at Horodenka	(11)
1942	Spring/Summer	Jews are sent to labour camps in vicinity of Tluste (many involved in manufacture of synthetic rubber from the plant called kok-saghys)	(20)	89
1942	August	First overt major Aktion in Tluste, intended to make up the shortfall in a neighbouring town's 'quota' of Jews to be deported. Judenrat rounds up 300 people, then dispatched to Belzec by train.	(20)	97
1942	(approx.)	Tluste's synagogue/kloizen are destroyed by the Nazis (the old one, made of wood; and the newer stone one, which had once served as one of the town's forts)	(2)
1942	September-October	Smaller Aktionen follow repeatedly in Tluste, engendering extortion and climate of fear among the Jewish population and attempts at concealment in hideouts	(20)	98 -100
1942	20 September	Germans expel Zalishchyky's Jews to neighbouring ghettoes, mostly to Tluste	(12)
1942	September	Third 3-day Aktion against Horodenka Jews; all remaining are forced to leave; town declared Judenfrei	(11)
1942	October	Second major Aktion in Tluste and nearby villages (unconfirmed report of 1000 Jews deported and more than 200 killed in town)	(20)	102
1942 - 43	Winter	Periodic expulsion of Jews from towns, concentration in ghettos. Amidst conditions of congestion and starvation, typhus epidemic breaks out in Tluste ghetto and elsewhere, claiming 6-8 lives daily.	(20)	105 -6
1943	12 February	40 Jews shot in Tluste	(14)
1943	April (Passover)	Gestapo postpones planned Aktion after discovering that nearly all Jews in the Tluste area have (temporarily) dispersed	(20)	112 -13
1943	Spring	Camp "W" (for Wehrmacht) is operating 2 km from Tluste, housing Jewish farm labourers from "privileged" families, particularly those close to the Judenrat	(20)	114
1943	26-27 May	Third major Aktion in Tluste: Germans and Ukrainian police deploy in the early morning (1:00-2:00 a.m.). Jews are rounded up and led in groups of 100 to the Jewish cemetery, where they are shot and buried in three mass graves. Shooting in town and at the cemetery continues until 21:00 in the evening. Total death toll reported to be more than 2,000.	(20)	121 -31
1943	June	Judenverteil (Jewish Quarter) set up in two streets in Tluste, into which remaining Jews are ordered prior to systematic deportations, beginning with refugees from the west and Hungarian Jews.	(20)	89, 135
1943	6 June	Start of final Aktion in Tluste with the aim of purging the town of all Jews, to make it Judenrein. 1000 Jews reported to have been killed or deported.	(20)	138 -41 14
1943	Early Summer	Labour camp operating at Lisowse	(11)
1943	mid-year	By this period, all Zalishchyky Jews have been transferred to work camps in Tluste	(12)
1943	Late August	Soviet partisans occupy the Czernowogrod area near Tluste; sporadic battles with German forces	(20)	181 -84
1944-49
1944	February-March	German flights begin over Czernowogrod/Tluste area, reaching a peak in mid-March. Dogfights in the air. Hungarian and German soldiers retreat.	(20)	218 -221
1944	March	Region liberated by the Soviets; Zalishchyky area is recaptured by Germans for a few days, but finally liberated by Soviets on 24 March	(12)
1944	End March	Soviet army enters Tluste. 200 Jews are said to have survived in labour camps or in hiding.	(20)	228
1944	13 April	Tluste again comes under Soviet control	(1)	73
1944	mid-April through July	German bombing sorties and aerial reconnaissance are carried out over Tluste, peaking in May (captured in aerial photographs).	(13) (20)	228
1944	May	Mobilisation of 530 Tluste men to Soviet army	(1)	73
1944	Until second half of July	Most of Tluste's population is evacuated to surrounding towns, as the town is in the front zone	(1)	74
1944	mid-year	Most Jews still remaining in Zalishchyky emigrate	(12)
1944		First issue of district newspaper published	(2)
1945	Autumn	Men of Tluste begin returning home after end of hostilities	(1)	77
1945		Almost all houses formerly owned by Poles are given to new migrants to Tluste	(1)	81
1946		Tluste is formally renamed "Tovste"	(3a)
1946		Greek Catholic church given the title "People's" church	(2)
1947		Collective farm and machinery station are established	(2)
1950-70s
1955		Old brick factory restored	(2)
1957		New secondary school and gypsum plant are constructed	(2)
1960		Milk plant constructed	(2)
1962		Tovste bus station becomes operational	(2)
1963		Metal processing factory and agricultural vocational training school opened	(2)
1967		Second building of secondary school opened	(2)
1968		Reorganisation of the collective machinery station	(2)
1973		Music school opened	(2)
1974		Reconstruction of metal processing factory into a plastics factory	(2)
1974		New building of post office built	(2)
1976		Construction of first building of Tovste district hospital	(2)
1977		Beginning of construction of new bakery	(2)
1980-90s
1982		Labour-training school opened	(2)
1985		Construction of second building of Tovste district hospital completed	(2)
1989		"Agronom technic" is organised	(2)
1990		Historic museum of Tovste opened under directorship of Jaroslav Pawlyk	(2)
1991		Tovste is part of the newly independent Ukraine	(2)
1992		Museum of history receives the honourable title of "People's Museum"	(2)
1995		New coat-of-arms for Tovste is prepared by J. Pawlyk	(1)	20 -21
1996	4 December	Tovste joins the League of Historic Towns of Ukraine	(1)	9
1998	1 January	Population of Tovste stands at 4,100 citizens; school enrolment reaches 729 students and 66 teachers	(1)	9, 96

Sources:

1 – Pawlyk, J. History of Tovste. Chortkiv, 2000.

2– Pawlyk, J. Unpublished manuscript.

3 – Siredzhuk, P. Original Sources. Kyiv, 1994.

3a - Siredzhuk, P. pers. comm. July 2001.

4 – Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine, Lviv: Fond 179, Opus 2, Sprava 3383.

5 – Skrzypek, S. The Problem of Eastern Galicia. London, 1948.

6 – Lecker, M. “I Remember: Odyssey of a Jewish Teenager in Eastern Europe”. In: Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies. Vol.5. https://migs.concordia.ca/memoirs/lecker/lecker.html; last accessed on 14 July 2005.

7 – Rosman, M.J. Founder of Hasidism: a quest for the historical Ba’al Shem Tov. Berkeley, 1996.

8 – Stampfer, S. “The 1764 Census of Polish Jewry” in Bar-Ilan / Annual of Bar Ilan University Vol. 24-25.

9 – Special Orts-Repertorien von Galizien. Bearbeitet auf Grund de Ergebnisse der Volkszählung vom 31. Dezember 1880. K.K. Statistischen Central Commission. Wien, 1886.

9a – Special Orts-Repertorien von Galizien. Bearbeitet auf Grund de Ergebnisse der Volkszählung vom 31. Dezember 1900. K.K. Statistischen Central Commission. Wien, 1907.

10 – International Jewish Cemetery Project: https://www.jewishgen.org/cemetery/e-europe/ukra-t.html; last accessed on 16 August 2005.

11 – Szechter Schneider, T. “A Horodenka Holocaust Memoir”. https://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Gorodenka/html/holocaust_memoir.html; last accessed on 9 February 2010.

12 – Pinkas Hakehillot Polin: “Zaleshchiki” - Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Poland, Volume II (Ukraine), pages 195-199. https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/pinkas_poland/pol2_00195.html; last accessed on 18 August 2005.

13 – German Flown Aerial Photography, NWDNC-373-GXPRINTS, 1939-1945. National Archives at College Park, Maryland.

14 – O'Neil, R. Unpublished Manuscript and Introduction: “A Reassessment: Resettlement Transports to Belzec, March-December 1942”. https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/belzec/belzec.html; last accessed 18 August 2005.

15 – Private photo collection of Jan Sas Zubrzycki.

16 – Heppenheimer, Alexander. 300 Years After His Birth the Ba’al Shem Tov’s Legacy Lives On. The Jewish Homemaker: https://www.homemaker.org/shvouot98/cover.html; last accessed in early 2005 (link not available in September 2005).

17 – Balinski, M. Polska Starozytna. tom II. 1846 - cited in Zubrzycki, J.S. Tluste nad Debna w ziemi Czerwonogrodzkiej. Lwow, 1923.

18 – Hryniuk, S. Peasants with Promise: Ukrainians in Southeastern Galicia 1880-1900. Edmonton, 1991.

20 – Milch-Avigal, S. (ed.). Can Heaven be Void? Jerusalem, 2003.