Uman

Uman Умань
Hasidim residence in Uman
Flag Coat of arms
Map of Ukraine with Uman highlighted.
Uman Location of Uman
Coordinates: 48°45′0″N 30°13′0″E / 48.75°N 30.216667°E / 48.75; 30.216667
Country Oblast Raion	Ukraine Cherkasy Oblast Umanskyi Raion
First mentioned	1616
City rights	1795
Government
- Mayor	Yuri Bodrov
Area
- Total	41 km2 (15.8 sq mi)
Elevation	166 m (545 ft)
Population (2008)
- Total	100,000
- Density	2,154/km2 (5,578.8/sq mi)
Postal code	20300
Area code(s)	+380 4744
Website	www.uman.kiev.ua

Uman (Ukrainian: Умань, translit. Uman’; also referred to in Polish as Humań and in Yiddish as Imen' with palatized n) is a city located in the Cherkasy Oblast (province) in central Ukraine, to the east of Vinnytsia. The city rests on the banks of the Umanka River at around 48°45′N 30°13′E / 48.75°N 30.217°E / 48.75; 30.217, and serves as the administrative center of the Umanskyi Raion (district), however the city itself is also designated as a separate region within the oblast.

The current estimated population is 100,000 (as of 2008).^{[citation needed]}

Among Jews, Uman is famous as the burial site of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. An annual pilgrimage to the Rebbe's gravesite at Rosh Hashana (the Jewish new year) attracts tens of thousands of people from around the world.

History

Uman is known since 1616 as a defensive fort built against Tatar raids and a prominent Cossack regiment was stationed in the town. In 1670–1674, Uman was a residence of the Hetman of right-bank Ukraine.

The 1768 Massacre of Uman occurred after Cossack (Haydamak) rebels Maksym Zalizniak and Ivan Gonta captured Uman during anti-Polish uprising known as "Koliyivschyna" in the area (Uman's modern coat-of-arms commemorates the event depicting a "Koliy" rebel armed with a spear). Tens of thousands of Polish nobles and Jews from the surrounding areas fled to the Cossack garrison in Uman for protection from the Haydamaks. The military commander of Uman betrayed the city and let in the Haydamaks in exchange for sparing all the gentiles. In the space of three days, approximately 20,000 Poles and Jews were slain.^[1]

Sofiyivsky Park in Uman

In 1793, Uman became part of the Russian Empire and a number of aristocratic residences were built there. Uman's landmark is a famous park complex, Sofiyivka (Софiївка; Polish: Zofiówka), founded in 1796 by Count Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki, a noble Polish szlachcic, who named it for his wife Sofia. The park features a number of waterfalls and narrow, arching stone bridges crossing the streams and scenic ravines. About this park, Rebbe Nachman himself said, "To be in Uman and not go there?"^[1]

Jewish community

A large Jewish community lived in Uman in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the Second World War, in 1941, the Battle of Uman took place in the vicinity of the town, where the German army encircled Soviet positions. The Germans deported the entire Jewish community, murdering some 17,000 Jews,^[1] and completely destroyed the Jewish cemetery, burial place of the martyrs of the 1768 Massacre of Uman as well as Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. (After the war, a Breslov Hasid managed to locate the Rebbe's grave and preserved it when the Soviets turned the entire area into a housing project.^[1])

Pilgrimage to Rebbe Nachman's grave

Every Rosh Hashana, there is a major pilgrimage by tens of thousands of Hasidim and others from around the world to the burial site of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, located on the former site of the Jewish cemetery in a rebuilt synagogue. Rebbe Nachman spent the last five months of his life in Uman,^[2] and specifically requested to be buried here.

The Rosh Hashana pilgrimage dates back to 1811, when the Rebbe's foremost disciple, Nathan of Breslov, organized the first such pilgrimage on the Rosh Hashana after the Rebbe's death. The annual pilgrimage attracted hundreds of Hasidim from Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Poland throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, until the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 sealed the border between Russia and Poland. A handful of Russian Hasidim continued to make the pilgrimage clandestinely; some were discovered by the KGB and exiled to Siberia, where they died. The pilgrimage ceased during World War II and resumed on a drastically smaller scale in 1948. From the 1960s until the fall of Communism in 1989, several hundred American and Israeli Hasidim made their way to Uman, both legally and illegally, to pray at the grave of Rebbe Nachman. In 1988, the Soviets allowed 250 men to visit the Rebbe's grave for Rosh Hashana; the following year, over 1,000 Hasidim gathered in Uman for Rosh Hashana 1989. In 1990, 2,000 Hasidim attended.^[1][3] In 2008, attendance reached 25,000 men and boys.^[4]

The Soviet general Ivan Chernyakhovsky, as well as the Yiddish poet Ezra Fininberg and the Yiddish writer Hershl Polyanker were born in Uman.

See also

• Sofiyivsky Park - a landscape park near the city

Twin Towns - Sister Cities

Uman is twinned with:

• Gniezno in Poland
• Łańcut in Poland ^[5]
• Davis in California, United States
• Milford Haven in Wales (Aberdaugleddau, Cymru)

Notes

References

• (Ukrainian) (1972) Icтopia мicт i ciл Укpaїнcькoї CCP - Черкаськa область (History of Towns and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR - Cherkasy Oblast), Kyiv.
• (English) Uman in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine

External links

• (Ukrainian) Uman informational portal
• (English) All about Uman

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Uman

Administrative divisions of Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine Administrative center:  Cherkasy Raions Cherkasy · Chornobay · Chyhyryn · Drabiv · Horodyshche · Kamyanka · Kaniv · Katerynopil · Khrystynivka · Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi · Lysianka · Mankivka · Monastyryshche · Shpola · Smila · Talne · Uman · Zhashkiv · Zolotonosha · Zvenyhorodka Cities Cherkasy · Chyhyryn · Horodysche · Kamianka · Kaniv · Khrystynivka · Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi · Monastyrysche · Shpola · Smila · Talne · Uman · Vatutine · Zhashkiv · Zolotonosha · Zvenyhorodka Urban-type settlements Babanka · Buky · Chornobai · Drabiv · Irdyn · Katerynopil · Lysianka · Mankivka · Shramivka · Stebliv · Tsvitkove · Tsybuliv · Verkhniachka · Vilshana · Yerky · more... Villages Moryntsi · Subotiv · more...