Brody, Buczacz und Drohobycz in Western Ukraine

The book project focuses on the urban history of Eastern Central Europe, comparing three cities in western Ukraine that share many similarities in terms of their history, culture and architecture: Brody, Buczacz and Drohobycz. All three cities have their origins in Ukrainian settlements and belonged to the Polish state from the 14th century onwards, where they also obtained city rights. With the First Partition of Poland in 1772, these cities fell to Austria, then back to Poland after 1918, and to the Soviet Union in 1939. Since 1991, they have been part of Ukraine. Our study focuses on the architectural heritage of these three cities and shows what has remained from each phase of historical development, but also what has been lost. This question is always linked to the city as a living space for different ethnic groups, primarily Poles, Ukrainians and Jews. It examines the architectural and cultural heritage of these groups in the respective cities which groups of people used which buildings and pursued which occupations? The fate of the Jewish population, most of whom have now disappeared after their extermination in the Holocaust, is of particular significance. The architectural description is supplemented by a literary one, descriptions of the cities from travel guides from around 1900 are compared with descriptions from the present day, and questions are asked about constants and differences in the perception of these cities. Each of the three ethnic groups mentioned above also has its own specific version of the city`s history. These different historical narratives are compared and their similarities and differences analysed. Brody, Buczacz and Drohobycz are also literary cities in the sense that they are described in numerous works of fiction, but also in the sense that they were centres of a vibrant literary life. Each of these cities produced an author of world renown Joseph Roth from Brody, Shmuel Yosef Agnon from Buczacz and Bruno Schulz from Drohobycz. These authors also described their cities, as did many other Polish, Ukrainian and Jewish authors who are little known because they stand in the shadow of the "greats". Our study examines these lesser-known writers in detail. The third part examines the city as a place of remembrance culture, asking to what extent the historical memory of its inhabitants is linked to certain architectural realities. Buildings, monuments and street names are used to draw conclusions about memory politics and identity constructions, with particular attention being paid to changes in remembrance culture in connection with the changed political circumstances. Finally, an attempt is made to identify perspectives for the future development of these cities with regard to the appropriation of historical heritage, but also the development of their tourist potential.