Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria; Crown Land of Galicia

Polish: Galicja, Ukrainian: Halyčyna, Yiddish: Galitsien

The official name of the territory, previously part of southern Poland, which was annexed by Austria – the ‘Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria’ – was derived from the Latinised names of the former Ruthenian principalities of Halicz (Ukrainian: Halyč, Polish: Halicz) and Wladimir (Ukrainian: Volodymyr, Polish: Włodzimierz).

Galicia lies between the Carpathian Mountains to the south (the Beskids in the south-west, the Eastern Carpathians in the south-east) and the Vistula in the north-west, as well as the Bialka (Polish: Biała) River to the west and the Sbrutsch (Polish: Zbrucz) River to the east. Generally speaking, the areas of southern Poland extending as far as the Polish-Ukrainian border are now referred to as Western Galicia, whilst those to the east of them are known as Eastern Galicia.

Galicia features a variety of landscapes: in the south, the Carpathian Mountains, including the northern part of the High Tatras; adjoining these is the West Galician Lowlands, which lies between the hilly Krakówregion in the west – with its Jurassic and Cretaceous deposits, as well as coal and ore deposits – and the Podolian Plateau in the east. Numerous rivers flow through this region. Among the largest are the Vistula (Polish: Wisła), the Bug, the Styr, the Sbrutsch and the San. The European watershed runs between the San and the Dniester, and between the Bug and the Styr: to the west, the rivers flow towards the Baltic Sea; to the east, towards the Black Sea. Closely linked to the West Galician Lowlands is the East Galician Rift Valley. Around a quarter of the country is forested, although the forests are unevenly distributed. The eastern and western Carpathians are particularly densely forested. The arable land is productive; the black earth in Eastern Galicia is especially fertile.

The Polish voivodeships of Lesser Poland (Województwo małopolskie) and Subcarpathia (Województwo podkarpackie), as well as a small part of the Silesian Voivodeship (Województwo śląskie), the area around Bielitz-Biala/Bielsko-Biała and Saybusch/Żywiec, now comprise the territory of the former Western Galicia. What was formerly Eastern Galicia now comprises the Ukrainianoblasts of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil, as well as parts of the Chernivtsi oblast.

The term ‘Galicia’ refers to the region in southern Poland which, following the First Partition of Poland in 1772, came under Austrian rule and comprised the Polish province of Lesser Poland (Polonia Minor). The Austrian Crown Land of Galicia bordered Austrian Silesia, Prussian Silesia and the Kingdom of Poland (the Russian partition) to the west; Russia to the north-east; the River Moldau and Bessarabia to the east; and Hungary and Transylvania to the south. As part of the Third Partition of Poland in 1795, Austria gained Kraków and its surroundings, as well as large areas in the north-west, so that the border of Galicia extended almost as far as Warsaw. However, this area, known as ‘New Galicia’, was recaptured by Polish troops in 1809, and the borders of the Austrian partition once again roughly corresponded to those of Galicia in 1772. Under the Treaty of Schönbrunn in 1815, the city of Kraków was granted the status of a Free City and, together with its immediate surroundings, formed an enclave within Galicia until it was reintegrated into the Crown Land of Galicia in 1846. In 1849, the district of Czernowitz in the south-east was elevated to the status of a Crown Land in its own right, the Duchy of Bukovina. The borders of Galicia remained unchanged until 1918, apart from the various shifts in the front lines during the First World War. Following the Paris Peace Conference on 18 June 1919, the territories of former Eastern Galicia up to the Sbrutsch River were ceded to the Second Polish Republic.

The coat of arms of the Crown Land of Galicia and Lodomeria consists of a blue shield, divided vertically and adorned with a royal crown. In the left-hand half (Galicia), it is divided by a red horizontal bar with a jackdaw above and three golden crowns below, two of which are directly beneath the horizontal bar and one beneath the two crowns. The right-hand half (Lodomeria) features two chequered crossbars in silver and red.

Between 1776 and 1848, the population of Galicia almost doubled.

The western part of Galicia was predominantly inhabited by Poles, whilst the eastern part was predominantly inhabited by Ruthenians (Ukrainians). Jews lived in both parts of Galicia, but predominantly in the towns of eastern Galicia, as the 16th-century edict De non tolerandis Judaeis was still in force in many towns in western Galicia.

Around 1848, the Wadowice district in western Galicia had a population of 272,870, of whom 263,225 were Roman Catholic and, consequently, predominantly Polish. In addition, 2,135 Protestants of the Augsburg and Helvetic confessions, as well as 7,500 Jews, were counted. In the Kraków district, out of 146,000 inhabitants, 143,338 were Roman Catholic (Poles), 62 were Greek Catholic (Ruthenians), 1,700 Protestants of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions, and 10,040 Jews. In the Przemyśl district, of the 272,793 inhabitants, 74,870 were Roman Catholic (Poles) and 175,449 were Greek Catholic (Ruthenians). In addition, 1,464 Evangelicals ( A. and H. B.) and 19,834 Jews lived here. The only district in Eastern Galicia in which the Polish population accounted for only a slightly smaller proportion than the Ruthenian (Ukrainian) population was the Lviv District, where the religious affiliation of the population was as follows: Of the 194,292 inhabitants, 74,289 were Roman Catholic, 86,950 were Greek Catholic, 230 were Armenian Catholic, 807 Protestants (A. and H. B.) and 12,337 Jews. In the Czortków district, the easternmost district on the border with Russia, out of 220,184 inhabitants, 47,260 belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, 160,003 to the Greek Catholic Church, 228 were Evangelical (A. and H. B.) and 11,693 were of the Jewish faith.^[2]

In the second half of the 19th century, censuses in Galicia recorded a further increase in population:

The estimated number of Germans was as follows: in 1786: 18,000; in 1812: 26,000; in 1846: 49,300; in 1869: 67,500; in 1880: 75,500, 1900: 77,500 and 1910: 69,500.^[4] Their share of the total population of Galicia did not exceed one to three per cent throughout this period. In contrast to the first half of the 19th century, when censuses were conducted on the basis of religious affiliation, from 1869 onwards the question regarding the language spoken at home was used in censuses as a means of determining national affiliation. However, only the recognised languages – German, Polish and Ruthenian – were admitted as everyday languages; consequently, Jews had no opportunity to state Yiddish as their everyday language.

Social conditions changed very little between 1772 and 1918. The vast majority of the population consisted of the peasantry (Poles and Ruthenians), most of whom owned only a small plot of land that barely provided a livelihood for their families. Although the legal position of the peasants improved in 1782 following the abolition of serfdom by Joseph II (1741–1790), however, the compulsory labour services that had to be performed for the state and, to a greater extent, for the landowners, remained in place until 1848. Vast tracts of land, by contrast, were owned by a small number of nobles. The middle class was initially underdeveloped and only began to grow stronger in the course of the 19th century. Towards the end of the 19th century, overpopulation and a lack of work led to sustained emigration, primarily to the United States of America and Canada.

Galicia’s multi-denominational character had already emerged in the Middle Ages. Alongside the Roman Catholic denomination, the Armenian Catholic denomination was also represented. When the Greek Orthodox bishops of Poland–Lithuania entered into a union with the Roman Catholic Church (Union of Brest), the Greek Orthodox clergy in Lviv initially remained faithful to Orthodoxy and resisted the Union for over a hundred years. It was not until 1700 that the union of a section of the Orthodox community with the Roman Catholic Church was confirmed in Warsaw. The faithful united with Rome were referred to as Uniates or Greek Catholic believers.

The religious affiliation of the total population of Galicia, which stood at 5,290,974 in 1848, was as follows: 2,315,822 Greek Catholics, 2,285,537 Roman Catholics, 339,607 Jews, 307,619 Greek Orthodox (non-Uniates), 33,800 Evangelical A. and H. B., 4,674 Armenian Catholics, 2,020 Lipovans, 1,272 Armenian Apostolics (non-united), 372 Mennonites and 251 Karaites.^[5] In 1910, the religious breakdown was as follows: 3,732,290 Roman and Armenian Catholics, 3,379,233 Greek Catholics, 871,804 Jews, 37,693 Protestants and 2,841 Greek and Armenian (non-Uniate).^[6]

From the annexation of the region by Austria in 1772 until 1867, German was the official language and the language of instruction (in some areas, Latin was also used initially). Although Polish remained the lingua franca of the local population, it lost its significance in the public sphere. The rural population of Eastern Galicia spoke Ruthenian (Ukrainian). The everyday language of the Orthodox Jews was Yiddish; in addition, depending on where they lived, they spoke Polish, Ruthenian or German. Armenian was now used only in ecclesiastical contexts.

The University of Lviv, which was not founded until 1784 by Emperor Joseph II, posed no competition to the University of Kraków, which had existed since 1364. Following the incorporation of Kraków and its surroundings into Galicia as a result of the Third Partition of Poland in 1795, the University of Lviv was converted into a lyceum in 1805 at Vienna’s instigation, and only the University of Kraków, which was of a higher academic standard, was retained. When Kraków was occupied by Polish troops in 1809, the Crown Land of Galicia thus lost its only university. The lyceum in Lemberg was restored to university status in 1817; however, a medical school was not established for financial reasons, and only a medical-surgical course was set up. Alongside the university, a polytechnic college had also existed since 1871.

The Ossoliński National Institute (Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich), which was founded in Lemberg in 1817 by Maximilian Count Ossoliński (1748–1826), Prefect of the Vienna Court Library; its purpose was to collect works of Polish and Slavic literature and history, and its core collection was formed by Ossoliński’s extensive collections following his death in 1826. The Stauropigian Brotherhood, founded by Ruthenian citizens of the city, had existed since the 16th century and comprised both clerical and lay members. The Brotherhood devoted itself primarily to ecclesiastical matters and ran a school for Ruthenian children. Furthermore, the Brotherhood, which was transformed into an Institute in 1788, owned a printing press where numerous printed works were produced in the Cyrillic script. With the founding of the Shevchenko Society in 1873, the Ruthenians gained their own academic institution, in whose academic journal research papers in the Ruthenian language were published.

A library containing numerous works on the natural sciences formed part of Count Włodzimierz Dzieduszycki’s (1825–1899) Natural History Museum in Lviv. The university library in the Galician capital offered scholars the opportunity to consult recent academic publications; by contrast, the Jagiellonian Library (Biblioteka Jagiellońska) in Kraków housed a much older and larger collection. The most important non-university scientific institution in Kraków, the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (Polska Akademia Umiejętności), founded in 1872, also possessed an extensive library.

A Ruthenian literary tradition began to take shape in the 1830s through the literary works of three Ruthenian seminarians who were committed to improving the education of the Ruthenian population: Markijan Šaškevyč (1811–1843), Ivan Vahylevyč (1811–1866) and Jakiv Holovackyj (1814–1888). Among the best-known Ruthenian/Ukrainian writers of Galicia was Ivan Franko (1856–1916), who also published in German and Polish.

From the first half of the 19th century onwards, German and Polish newspapers and magazines were published in Galicia. The most widely read at that time were the *Lemberger Zeitung* (ceased publication in 1866) and the *Gazeta Lwowska*, each of which had its own editorial team. From 1848 onwards, an increasing number of Polish and Ruthenian newspapers and periodicals appeared, as well as, later on, newspapers in Yiddish.

Among the best-known Polish writers in Galicia during the first and second halves of the 19th century was the playwright Aleksander Count Fredro (1793–1876), whose plays were performed in Kraków and Lemberg. A writer of German-Polish-French origin who was very popular at that time was Wincenty Pol (Vinzenz Poll von Pollenburg; 1807–1872), who wrote his works in Polish. Well-known Polish writers of the turn of the century who were born in Galicia and who had a lasting influence on the ‘Young Poland’ literary movement included Jan Kasprowicz (1860–1926), Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer (1865–1940), Stanisław Wyspiański (1869–1907), Lucjan Rydel (1870–1918), Leopold Staff (1878–1957) and Stanisław Witkiewicz (1885–1939). Bruno Schulz (1892–1942), who hailed from Drohobych in Eastern Galicia, achieved great fame during the interwar period. Well-known German-speaking writers and journalists who spent their childhood or youth in Galicia included Karl Emil Franzos (1848–1904), Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1836–1895), Soma Morgenstern (1890–1976) and Joseph Roth (1894–1939), who repeatedly addressed Galician themes in their works. The religious philosopher Martin Buber (1878–1965) was also deeply influenced by his childhood and youth spent in Galicia.

The artists working in Galicia could look back on a centuries-long artistic tradition in southern Poland. The ecclesiastical and secular buildings in Galicia, particularly in Kraków and Lviv, bear witness to the influences of the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles on the architecture of southern Poland. Numerous artists from Italy and Germany were active here. Among the best-known works by German artists is the high altar (1477–1496) by Veit Stoß (c. 1447–1533) in St Mary’s Church in Kraków. In the 19th century, buildings were constructed in Lviv and Kraków whose architecture was largely modelled on that of Vienna (such as the opera houses). Under the direction of the renowned history painter Jan Matejko (1838–1893), the Kraków School of Fine Arts produced outstanding painters, most of whom also spent several years at the art academies in Vienna, Munich or Paris. Among the most significant painters of Galicia were Henryk Rodakowski (1823–1894), Juliusz (1824–1899) and Wojciech Kossak (1857–1942), Artur Grottger (1837–1867), Maurycy Gottlieb (1856–1879), Włodzimierz Tetmajer (1861–1923), Olga Boznańska (1865–1940), Józef Mehoffer (1869–1946) and Stanisław Wyspiański (1869–1907).

Since the political upheaval, an increasing number of Poles whose families originate from former Eastern Galicia have been travelling to western Ukraine. There is great interest amongst children born after 1945 in getting to know the places where their parents’ generation spent their childhoods. For example, the Polish poet and writer Adam Zagajewski (1945–2021), who was born in Lviv and grew up in Gleiwitz/Gliwice, dedicated several poems to his birthplace. On the Ukrainian side, since Ukraine’s independence, there has been intensive engagement with the history of former Galicia, though the focus is not so much on the Polish period as on the Austrian rule. Among the best-known writers from western Ukraine who write about the former Galicia is the writer Yuriy Andruchovyč, originally from Stanisławów, whose books have been translated into both German and Polish. The children and grandchildren of the German colonists born in Galicia also maintain close contact with their grandparents’ former home towns.

• Waldemar Bukowski, Bogusław Dybaś, Zdzisław Noga (eds.): Galicia on the Josephine Topographical Map 1779–1783 [The Josephine Survey of Galicia 1779–1783]. Vol. 1, Part A, Sections 1–30. Kraków 2012.
• Zbigniew Fras: Galicia. Wrocław 1999.
• Stanisław Grodziski: In the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. 2nd ed. Kraków 2005.
• Alexander von Guttry: Galicia. Land and People. Munich, Leipzig 1916.
• Agnieszka Kawalec, Wacław Wierzbieniec, Leonid Zaszkilniak (eds.): Galicia 1772–1918. Methodological Issues, Current State of Research and Research Needs [Galicia 1772–1918. Methodological Issues, Current State of Research and Research Needs]. Vol. 1–3. Rzeszów 2011.
• Rudolf A. Mark: Galicia under Austrian Rule. Administration – Church – Population. Marburg/L. 1994 (Historical and Regional Studies on East Central Europe 13).
• Jacek Purchla, Wolfgang Kos, Zanna Komar, Monika Rydiger, Werner Michael Schwarz (eds.): The Myth of Galicia. Vienna 2015 (Special Exhibition of the Vienna Museum 401).
• Isabel Röskau-Rydel (ed.): Galicia, Bukovina, Moldavia. Berlin 1999 (German History in Eastern Europe).
• Ukraine. A Guide to Political Criticism. Iza Chruślińska in conversation with Jarosław Hrycak [Ukraine. A Vademecum of Political Criticism. A conversation between Iza Chruślińska and Jarosław Hrycak]. With a foreword by Adam Michnik. Gdańsk, Warsaw 2009.
• Larry Wolff: The Idea of Galicia. History and Fantasy in Habsburg Political Culture. Stanford, California 2010.

• www.galizien-deutsche.de/ (Website of the Aid Committee for the Germans of Galicia e. V., containing information on the history of the Germans in Galicia)
• www.herder-institut.de/bildkatalog/index/index?searchfield_parameter=Galizien&newperspective=thumbnails (Images relating to Galicia in the Herder Institute’s image archive, Marburg)

[1] Mark: Galicia under Austrian Rule, p. 53.

[2] Hipolit Studnicki: The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, together with the Grand Duchy of Kraków and the Duchy of Bukovina, from a geographical, historical and statistical perspective. Lemberg 1853, table, pp. 6–7.

[3] Mark: Galicia under Austrian Rule, p. 70.

[4] Walter Kuhn: Population Statistics of the German-speaking Population in Galicia. Vienna 1930 (Publications of the Institute for the Statistics of Minority Peoples at the University 7), p. 156, Table 2.

[5] Stupnicki: The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (note 2), table between pp. 6 and 7.

[6] Peter Urbanitsch: The Germans in Austria. A Statistical and Descriptive Overview, Table 6: Religious Affiliation by Province and Vernacular Language, 1910. In: Adam Wandruszka, Peter Urbanitsch (eds.): The Habsburg Monarchy 1848–1918, Vol. III: The Peoples of the Empire, Part 1. Vienna 1980, pp. 33–153, here p. 59.

Isabel Röskau-Rydel: Galicia. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2015. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p32557 (as at 22 November 2021).