Storozhynets

Storozhynets [Сторожинець; Storožynec']. See Google Map; see EU map: V-6. A city (2022 pop 14,077) on the Seret (Siret) River and a raion center in Chernivtsi oblast. The town was first mentioned in historical documents in 1448, when it was part of the Moldavian principality. In the 16th century it was under Turkish rule, and from 1774, under Austria. In 1854 the town was granted city status. By the end of the 19th century it had developed into a small manufacturing and trading center with a population of 7,000. In 1904 it became a county center. After the First World War the city was occupied by Romania. In 1921 Romanian was imposed as the only official language in the region and the Ukrainian language was suppressed in civic and political life. In June 1940 the town was annexed by the Ukrainian SSR, but in July 1941 it was occupied by Nazi Germany and its Romanian allies. During Holocaust in 1941–3 the town’s Jewish population was exterminated or imprisoned in the concentration camps of Transnistria. In 1944 Storozhynets was captured by the Red Army and incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR. Today it has a lumber-manufacturing complex. It’s forestry college, located partly in the Orenstein family palace (1912), includes a large dendrological park.

[This article was updated in 2026.]