Lviv - Lwów - Lemberg

 Lviv Panorama

Lviv (Polish: Lwów, German: Lemberg) is a city in western Ukraine. Population: 760,000 (2010). The city is one of the most important centers of Ukrainian cultural, economic and political life and is noted for its beautiful and diverse architecture. The historical city center has survived WWII and the following Soviet era and is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Rynok Square (source + more pics)

Lviv was part by the Austrian Empire from 1772 until 1918; under the name Lemberg it functioned as the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia. Compared to the Russian and German Empires the Austrians granted their inhabitants relatively much freedom, resulting in the town developing into a main cultural center for the Poles and the Ukrainians. Lemberg was also a major center of Jewish culture, in particular as a center of the Yiddish language.

The old city wall

After the collapse of Austria-Hungaria Lwow became a part of Poland. In 1939 the Russians occupied the city, and between July 1941 and July 1944 Lemberg was under German occupation. In 1941 there were over 200,000 Jewish people living in the city (refugees included), from whom only 300 survived.

After WWII  Lviv was allocated to the USSR. Most of the Poles living in Lviv were resettled into Polish territories annexed from Germany, especially in Wroclaw (former Breslau). Since the collapse of the USSR in 1991 the city is a part of the Ukraine.

next episode: Wroclaw