Galicia, ???? (need historians and Ukrainian/ Polish people)?

Question

I have family from Galicia and its not Galicia Spain. They are from Bursztyn (Burshtyn), Galicia, Ukraine and Tarnopol ( ternopil), Galicia, Ukraine. They are Jewish and that (Russian Jew last names). They lived there around 1850-1903ish and I was wondering around that time was Galicia Polish or Ukrainian owned. And Would I be considered Polish or Ukrainian?

Answer 1

The answer above is great, I just want to add that in Poland we say Galicja if this may help you somehow.

And btw Bursztyn means amber in Polish.

Answer 2

An interesting period of time.  The towns you mention were in the hands of the Empire of Austria-Hungary from the late 1700s until WWI.

Re Tarnopol: During WWI it passed back and forth a dozen times between Austria and Russia. It was not part of Galician Poland. It was still considered the Ukraine because they didn't speak Polish. It wasn't heavily Catholic, either. It was more Ukrainian Orthodox and caught between the Catholics and the Russian Orthodox. Judaism wasn't big in the town, but it was "healthy" in as much as they weren't the site of major pogroms.

Bursztyn is a little different. It was actually a Polish town that was built specifically as a Jewish shtetl. They were also under the control of Austria-Hungary. As 19th century European history goes, that was a good thing. Unlike the Russians who control much of the Ukraine, Austria-Hungary was very tolerant of Judaism. It was during WWI and WWII that being Jewish and in that part of the Ukraine was a deadly combination.

There are several groups who have started meticulously archiving any remaining records from the region. Have you had a chance to tap into any of them? If not, drop me an email and I'll help you hook up with some of the better ones.