Known in historical documents since 1404, Sataniv was part of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania,
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,
Ottoman Empire,
Russian Empire,
Ukrainian People's Republic,
Soviet Union, and after the latter's dissolution, became part of independent
Ukraine. The town over the
Zbruch River and its surroundings have been the scene of military actions during the
Khmelnytsky Uprising,
World War I,
Ukrainian War of Independence, and
World War II. As noted by
Kateryna Lypa, "the history of Sataniv is typical of a small border town-fortress, where periods of terrible destruction alternated with periods of prosperity, flourishing in trade and crafts". Sataniv was a village, a town, a city, then a town again, and in 1938, it acquired the status of an urban-type settlement. It once enjoyed
Magdeburg rights, and from the late 1920s to 1959, it was the district center. In 1985, Sataniv was recognized as a resort of republican significance. In 2001, it was included in the
List of historical settlements of Ukraine. Sataniv is part of one of the
Seven Natural Wonders of Ukraine — the largest in Europe, the national natural park "Podilski Tovtry", established on 27 June 1996.
Foundation The exact founding date of Sataniv is unknown. The earliest written mention of it dates back to 1404. The first mention of the settlement named Szatanów is in a charter by the
Polish king Władysław II Jagiełło to Kraków's
Podstoli Piotr Szafraniec. This charter, written in Latin, was published in 1894 in the second volume of the eighth part of the "Archive of Southwestern Russia", published in Kyiv by the Temporary Commission for the Arrangement of Ancient Acts, founded at the Kyiv, Podolia, and Volhynia
Governor-General. The documents of this volume were prepared for publication by
Mykhailo Hrushevsky. The charter is cited from a copy written in 1564 in the book of privilege revision. During the publication of the charter, this book was stored in the Moscow Archive of the Ministry of Justice, and now it is kept in the Main Archive of Ancient Acts in
Warsaw in the fund of the
Lithuanian Metrica. In 1905, another copy of the charter issued to Piotr Szafraniec was published by the Polish historian
Franciszek Piekosiński. The year 1404 is generally recognized as the date of the first written mention of Sataniv. It is mentioned in the works of
Oleksandr Stepenko,
Vartan Hryhoryan,
Mykola Petrov,
Ivan Rybak, and other historians. However, some guides, reference books, and even encyclopedias claim that the first chronicle mention of Sataniv dates back to 1385, but they provide no references to support this assertion. For instance,
Volodymyr Radzievsky and
Vasyl Burma in the guide "Medobory" (second edition, 1975) write: "It is likely that the first information about Sataniv dates back to 1385. However, in historical documents, Sataniv is first mentioned in 1404". Similar categorical statements are made by the authors of the historical guide "100 Jewish towns" (second edition, 1998) and the third issue of the reference publication "Who's Who in Khmelnytskyi" (2005), which directly state that "the first chronicle mentions of Sataniv date back to 1385". The same categoricalness is characteristic of the "Universal Dictionary-Encyclopedia" (fourth edition, 2006), where it is stated that Sataniv "is first mentioned in the chronicle in 1385". In December 1886, a member of the Committee for the Church-Historical and Statistical Description of the Podillia Diocese,
Ivan Shipovych, wrote in the "Podolskie Eparkhialnye Vedomosti":
Jewish history A Jewish community was organized in Sataniv in the second half of the 16th century, in the
Kingdom of Poland. Jews in Sataniv were involved in the import of goods from the east, leasing of estates and customs dues, manufacture of alcoholic drinks, and
goldsmithery. The town was periodically attacked by the
Tatars and
Cossacks, including combined attacks in 1651 and from the Cossacks in 1703. The
synagogue in Sataniv was built as a fortress to allow the Jews and the wider community to defend themselves in such attacks. In the 18th century Sataniv was Podolia's leading community. In 1756 its
dayyanim (religious judges) held a trial of the
Frankists. In 1765 there were 1,369 Jews paying the
poll tax in Sataniv. The Jews there were involved in international commerce, traveling to fairs in
Leipzig,
Breslau, and
Frankfurt, until the
Second Partition of Poland of 1793, when Sataniv was incorporated into
Russia. The Hebrew writer and
maskil Isaac Satanow lived in Sataniv, and was active there in the latter half of the 18th century. He,
Menachem Mendel Lefin, and Alexander b. Ẓevi Margaliot, all of whom also lived in the town, were among the pioneers of the
Haskalah movement. From the end of the 18th century and during the 19th, Sataniv was an important center of
Hasidism. Until 1862 the Jewish settlement there was restricted by the authorities, because of Sataniv's closeness to the Austrian border. The Jewish population was 2,848, 64% of the total, in 1897. In 1919, Jews in Sataniv underwent
pogroms by Ukrainian nationalists. In 1926 Satanov probably had 2,359 Jews, then declining to 1,516, or 40% of the total population. A rural Jewish council existed in the Soviet period. On 6 July 1941 the Germans entered Sataniv, and on 14 [15(?)] May 1942 Ukrainian police locked 286 Jews into two cellars, letting them suffocate. (The remains of the 286 victims were found on 27 July 2020). Throughout 1942, 210 Jews were shot. The Germans murdered 800 people according to official numbers, most of them Jews.
2020 onwards Until 18 July 2020, Sataniv belonged to
Horodok Raion. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Khmelnytskyi Oblast to three. The area of Horodok Raion was merged into Khmelnytskyi Raion. Until 26 January 2024, Sataniv was designated
urban-type settlement. On this day, a new law entered into force which abolished this status, and Sataniv became a rural settlement. ==See also==