Uman Умань
Flag Coat of arms
Uman Location of Uman
Coordinates: 48°45′0″N 30°13′0″E / 48.75°N 30.216667°E / 48.75; 30.216667Coordinates: 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
Founded	1616
Magdeburg rights	1760
Government
- Mayor	Yuri Bodrov
Area
- Total	41 km2 (15.8 sq mi)
Elevation	166 m (545 ft)
Population (2010)
- Total	86 911 UNIQ7f90cee768c1c2c3-ref-00,000,000-QINU
- Density	2,154/km2 (5,578.8/sq mi)
Postal code	20300
Area code(s)	+380 4744

Uman (Ukrainian: Умань) 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 self-governing administrative center of the Umanskyi Raion (district).

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.

Sofiyivsky Park in Uman

The 1768 Massacre of Uman occurred after Cossack (Haidamaky) rebels Maksym Zalizniak and Ivan Gonta captured Uman during the 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. The military commander of Uman betrayed the city and let in the cossacks in exchange for the sparing of gentiles. In the span of three days, approximately 20,000 Poles and Jews were slain.

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?"

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, 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.)
Since the mid of the 90's there is a small, but growing, Jewish population in Uman, concentrated around Rebbe Nachman of Breslov tomb in Pushkina street. The local Jews are mostly involved in Pilgrimage of Jewish tourists that arrive to the town.

Pilgrimage to Rebbe Nachman's grave

Tomb of Nachman of Breslov

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, 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. In 2008, attendance reached 25,000 men and boys. In 2009, over 25,000 Jews came on Israeli El Al chartered flights.

Conflict

Recently, the pilgrimage has drawn protests from residents due to the large influx of visitors from Israel who arrive, and the strain on security and utility that occurs. Common complaints from residents relate to the loud noise, rowdiness, widespread drinking, and general aggressiveness the pilgrims cause.

On September 10, 2010, several cases of violence and riots broke out amongst the Hasidic pilgrims. Conflict erupted near a local children's hospital between activists of the first Jewish Evangelical Church, who arrived from Odessa to preach their faith. They were met with violent backlash from Hasidim pilgrims who objected.

In clashes with locals, cases of Hasidim provoking riots have occurred. In one instance, pilgrims staying in a residential tower began tossing rocks and bottles from above onto a car, and when at one point a local policeman’s hat was knocked off, police with German Shepherds were called to scatter the crowd. In another case, hundreds encircled a man outside a residential tower and began shouting to “tear him apart”. One woman from Uman who had leased her apartment to Hasidim pilgrims threatened to phone the police due to the excessive noise, when a neighbour came to aid in the situation and call the police for help, the Hasidim assaulted the man and chased him into the streets. A passer-by who came to the defense of the victim was also assaulted. Both men were hospitalized as a result of the attacks.

An Israeli police officer sent to the proceedings to monitor security commented, explaining that “people get drunk and act crazy in the streets, go out to pubs and hit on women and harass them. They do all types of things that they would never do in Israel, but they come out here and feel like they can do it.”

On September 13, 2010, ten Hasidic pilgrims were deported back to Israel and banned from Ukraine for five years for disrupting public order and causing bodily harm to citizens. Three more were also under investigation.

On September 26, 2010, an Israli Hasid was stabbed and killed and killed in an altercation that broke out following the vandalism of a car owned by Jews. In pursuing the vandals, who allegedly were retaliating for the recent killing of a local Ukrainian by an Israeli, the man was stabbed and his brother injured.

See also

• Sofiyivsky Park - a landscape park near the city

Twin towns - Sister cities

Uman is twinned with:

• Davis, United States
• Gniezno, Poland
• Haapsalu, Estonia (2003)
• Łańcut, Poland
• Milford Haven, United Kingdom

Sources

• (English) Uman in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine

Bibliography

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

Notes

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...