MOSTISKA

MOSTISKA (Pol. Mościska), city in Lvov district, Ukraine; from 1772 to 1918 in eastern Galicia, under Austrian rule. Jews first settled there in the middle of the 16th century, but the community was destroyed during the Chmielnicki massacres. It was renewed in the 18th century. The community was under the jurisdiction of the Council of Red Russia (Reissen) province (see councils of the lands ). In 1880 there were 2,123 Jews in Mostiska (51% of the total population) and in 1900 they numbered 2,548 (55%). Jews dominated the towns' trade and artisanship. From 1919 to 1939 the city belonged to Poland. In 1921 the Jewish community numbered 2,328 (49%). The Jewish economy deteriorated because of competition and anti-Jewish boycotts. Before the outbreak of World War II there were about 2,500 Jews in Mostiska. The Germans occupied the town on June 27, 1941, and concentrated Jews from the environs there, numbering about 3,500 persons. During the first half of 1942 more than 500 were sent to labor camps. The Jewish community was liquidated on November 28 (or October 10. 1942, when 2,000 Jews were murdered or sent to Camp Janonska in Lvov. In December 1942 the remaining Jews were sent to the Jaworow ghetto and shared the fate of the local Jews. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Wasiutyński, Ludność żydowska w Polsce w XIX i XX wiekach (1930), 96, 107, 116. (Shmuel Spector (2nd ed.)