Olyka

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City in Volyn Oblast, Ukraine

title: "Olyka" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cities-in-volyn-oblast", "dubensky-uyezd", "holocaust-locations-in-ukraine", "jewish-ghettos-established-by-nazi-germany"] description: "City in Volyn Oblast, Ukraine" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olyka" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary City in Volyn Oblast, Ukraine ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
official_nameOlyka
native_nameОлика
settlement_typeCity
image_skylineOlyka collage.jpg
image_caption
subdivision_typeCountry
subdivision_name
subdivision_type1Oblast
subdivision_name1Volyn Oblast
subdivision_type2Raion
subdivision_name2Lutsk Raion
established_titleThe first mention
established_date1149
established_title2Magdeburg law
established_date21564
area_total_km24,91
population_as_of2022
population_total3032
population_footnotes
population_density_km2637
timezoneEET
utc_offset+2
timezone_DSTEEST
utc_offset_DST+3
pushpin_mapUkraine Volyn Oblast#Ukraine
coordinates
postal_code_typePostal code
postal_code45263
area_code+380 3365
subdivision_type3Hromada
subdivision_name3Olyka urban hromada
mapframeyes
mapframe-zoom11
mapframe-wikidatayes
::

| official_name = Olyka | native_name = Олика | motto = | settlement_type = City | image_skyline = Olyka collage.jpg | image_caption = | image_flag = | image_shield = | shield_size = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = | subdivision_type1 = Oblast | subdivision_name1 = Volyn Oblast | subdivision_type2 = Raion | subdivision_name2 = Lutsk Raion | leader_title = | leader_name = | established_title = The first mention | established_date = 1149 | established_title2 = Magdeburg law | established_date2 = 1564 | area_total_km2 = 4,91 | population_as_of = 2022 | population_total = 3032 | population_footnotes = | population_density_km2 = 637 | timezone = EET | utc_offset = +2 | timezone_DST = EEST | utc_offset_DST = +3 | pushpin_map = Ukraine Volyn Oblast#Ukraine | coordinates = | elevation_m = | postal_code_type = Postal code | postal_code = 45263 | area_code = +380 3365 | website = | footnotes = | subdivision_type3 = Hromada | subdivision_name3 = Olyka urban hromada | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 11 | mapframe-wikidata = yes Olyka (, ; ; ) is a city in Lutsk Raion, Volyn Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located east of Lutsk on the Putylivka Rriver. Its population is

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Olyka_2.jpg" caption="Olyka, watercolor by [[Napoleon Orda]] (1874)"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Street_in_Olyka_(1912-1914).jpg" caption="Street in Olyka (1912–1914)"] ::

Olyka was founded in the early Middle Ages as one of the villages belonging to the Kievan Rus'. It was first mentioned in 1149 in the Hypatian Chronicle. In the 14th century it was conquered by Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Under the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the village grew rapidly and became a centre of local magnates, initially the family of Kiška and, after 1533, the Radziwills. In 1569, Olyka became part of Poland after the Union of Lublin.

In the second half of the 16th century, during the Protestant Reformation, the town became one of the most important centres of Calvinism in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Its growth was halted by the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648, during which the town was captured by Cossacks, plundered and burnt.

In the Third Partition of Poland (1795), the town was annexed by the Russian Empire and became part of the Volhynian Governorate. In the 19th century, it continued to play a role as a centre of wood and grain trade. During World War I in 1915 and 1916, the area was a scene of heavy fighting between the forces of Russia and Austria-Hungary. After the Polish-Bolshevik War, the town was restored to Poland as part of Wołyń Voivodeship, and the local palace was refurbished.

Following the invasion of Poland of 1939 and the Nazi-Soviet Alliance, the town was occupied by Soviet Union forces. After Operation Barbarossa, when Germany attacked the Soviet Union, the German occupation started and lasted until 1944. Olyka was attacked and deeply damaged by Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) forces.

After World War II the area was annexed by the Soviet Union and incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR. Since 1991 it is a part of independent Ukraine.

Until 26 January 2024, Olyka was designated urban-type settlement. On this day, a new law entered into force which abolished this status, and Olyka became a rural settlement.

On 23 April 2025, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine officially granted the rural settlement of Olyka the status of a city.

Olyka Academy

Between 1637 and 1774 a branch of Zamoyski Academy functioned in Olyka, making it an important educational centre in Volhynia. Created by prince Albrycht Stanisław Radziwiłł on the base of a previously existing school, the establishment received official recognition from the Polish king.

Notable landmarks

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Олика.png" caption="the coat of arms of its owners]] on a 19th-century map"] ::

  • Olyka Castle (surrounded by Radziwill Fortress) – late 16th century, expanded in the mid-18th century, damaged after 1945, restored after 1990
  • The Calvinist Church, converted in 1580 to a Catholic church of the Holy Trinity, and from 1592 dedicated to Apostles Peter and Paul
  • Roman Catholic Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity (1635–1645)
  • The Lutsk Gate of the city (1630s)
  • Orthodox Christian Church of the Presentation in the Temple (1784)
  • Orthodox Christian Church of the Holy Trinity (1886)

Other Radziwill estates

Jewish presence

Pre-World War II

Jewish presence in Olyka dates back to the 16th century, and in the late 17th century the Jewish community became one of the largest in the Volhyn Region.

After the Cossack Chmielnicki Uprising of 1648, 20 out of 30 Jewish households survived.

Olyka was the cradle of the Olyker Hasidic dynasty that was founded by the famous Rabbi Hersh Leib Landa the first Olyker rebbe. He was followed by his son Rabbi Yosef (Yoseph) Dovid, who was followed by his son Rabbi Mordechai (he authored a book called Gedulas Mordechai). He was followed by his son Rabbi Shimon Shloima (he authored a book called Shekel Hakodesh, and was father-in-law of Rabbi Yochanan Perlow of the Karliner Dynasty), who was followed by his son Rabbi Alter Yosef (Yoseph) Dovid.

In 1897 a total of 2,606 people – 50 percent of the total Olyka population – were Jews, and that amount increased when many Jewish refugees from nearby towns fled to Olyka during World War I.

The Holocaust

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Olyka_Holocaust_Monument.jpg" caption="Monument outside Olyka commemorating over 4,000 Jews massacred during Holocaust in 1942"] ::

Olyka's large Jewish community was completely destroyed during the Holocaust, including Nazi persecutions at the site of the Radziwill Fortress/Olyka Castle. It is an important place of Jewish memory. Rabbi Alter Yosef Dovid Landa and his family perished.

Following the September 1939 Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact and German-Soviet Occupation of Poland, many Jewish refugees from central and western Poland settled in Olyka in the fall of 1939, as did 60 Jewish refugees from Czechoslovakia. Around 150 Jews evacuated eastward; most Jews stayed in the ghetto. Jews and non-Jewish Ukrainians continued to trade goods and food in and around the ghetto; for example, an Olyka ghetto Jew traded his house for sixteen kilograms of rye due to famine. As part of the Einsatzgruppen Aktion of August 1941, 720 Jews, including Rabbi Alter Yosef Dovid Landa, were killed at the Olyka Castle and at the town's Jewish cemetery towards Czemeryn.

In March 1942, Jews from surrounding villages were brought into Olyka, and a closed ghetto was created with barbed-wire fence to imprison those inside. Monuments outside Olyka commemorate this massacre.

Accounts vary as to the total number of Jews in and around Olyka who had died by the time the Olyka ghetto was liquidated in July/August 1942. Given the circumstances of Nazi massacres, it has been difficult to accurately count the dead. Most reports state the total amounted to 5,220 to 5,673 Jews. In early 1943, 130 remaining Jewish artisans remaining in the ghetto were shot to death.

Fewer than 30 Jews escaped to the forest in the summer of 1942. Of those survivors, 23 men created a partisan unit with 30 Jews already outside the village. They joined the underground resistance in the region against the Nazis, and a small number survived after early 1943.

Population

|source = Census data |1959 |3905 |1970 |3965 |1979 |4199 |1989 |3741 |2001 |3255 |2010 |3141 |2014 |3138 |2017 |3083

According to the last census from 2001, there were 3,255 people living in Olyka. It is estimated 3,083 people lived there as of 2017.

Climate

The climate in Olyka is cold and temperate, with significant rainfall that occurs mostly in July.

| location=Olyka, Ukraine | source=Climate-Data |-2.2|-1.2| 3.5|12.4| 19|22.7|23.9| 23|18.3|12.1|5.2|0.1 |-8.1|-7.3|-3.7| 2.7|8.1| 12|13.3|12.2| 8.3| 3.8| 0|-4.8 | 31| 30| 26| 37| 58| 71| 80| 66| 53| 39| 39|38

Notable people

References

References

  1. Kravtsov, Sergey R.. (2008). "Jewish Cultural Studies, vol. 1, Jewishness: Expression, Identity, and Representation". Littman Library of Jewish Civilization.
  2. "Olyka". Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine.
  3. Narbutas, Sigitas. "Mikołaj Radziwiłł the Black". Lithuanian Publishers Association.
  4. (1888). "Słownik geograficzny Królewstwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich [Geographical dictionary of Polish Kingdom and other Slavic countries], vol. 7".
  5. (1916). "The New York Times Index, Volume 4, Issue 2". New York Times.
  6. "Olyka". Yad Vashem.
  7. Zhovtyansky, Victor. (2022-12-15). "To the history of the right-bank towns in encyclopedias of the 18–21 centuries (on the example of Olyka princely town)". The Encyclopedia Herald of Ukraine.
  8. (1 January 2024). "Что изменится в Украине с 1 января". glavnoe.in.ua.
  9. (22 April 2025). "". link. Official Website of the Parliament of Ukraine]]
  10. (2025-05-30). "До історії освіти 300 років тому: про Олицьку академію і Любешівський колегіум".
  11. "פורים אליק כ"ו סיון - אידישע וועלט פארומס".
  12. Spector, Shmuel. (1990). "Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities, Poland (Volume V)". Yad Vashem.
  13. Dean, Martin. (2012). "Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945 Volume II Ghettos in German-Occupied Eastern Europe Part B". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum/Indiana University Press.
  14. Grinstein, Michael. (1973). "Never Again".
  15. "Written Testimonies". Yad Vashem.
  16. "YIU Field Course in Ukraine". Yahad-In Unum.
  17. "Commemoration of Jewish Victims". Yad Vashem.
  18. Sterling, Eric. (2005). "Life In The Ghettos During The Holocaust". Syracuse University Press.
  19. "Jewish Cemetery". Yad Vashem.
  20. "Execution Sites of Jewish Victims: Olyka". Yahad-In Unum.
  21. "International Jewish Cemetery Project". International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.
  22. "Żorniszcze Village". Yad Vashem.
  23. Pohl, Dieter. (2008). "The Shoah in Ukraine: history, testimony, memorialization". Indiana University Press.
  24. Arad, Yitzhak. (2010). "In the Shadow of the Red Banner: Soviet Jews in the War Against Nazi Germany". Gefen Publishing House Ltd.
  25. "Olyka in Kivėrcivs'kyj rajon (Volhynia)". citypopulation.de.
  26. "Cities & Towns of Ukraine". Tim Bespyatov.
  27. "Climate: Olyka". Climate-Data.
  28. [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1384436/ Janusz Chodnikiewicz]

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cities-in-volyn-oblastdubensky-uyezdholocaust-locations-in-ukrainejewish-ghettos-established-by-nazi-germany