Banyliv

Banyliv (ukr. Банилів) first mentioned in 1445 in the books of the Galician Court. In the 19 - beg. of the 20 centuries - the village of Banila Ruska, or Rus-Banila in the Duchy of Bukovina as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1918-40 - as part of Romania, in 1940-91 - as part of Ukrainian SSR.

In 1887, in Banyliv lived 818 Jews (19.4%),
in 1910 - 1,200,
in 1930 - 517 Jews.

Jews settled in Banyliv in the 2nd part of the 19 century. Most of the Jews were Vizhnits Hasidim.

The Jews of the town farmed and raised cattle. Among these were landowners and those that leased their land. Mendl Thau, Jankel Leder, and Leiser Nagel should be mentioned. The lessee in Slob. Banila, Eisik Lipmann Eifermann was the father of the lawyer Dr. Nathan Eifermann who lives in Argentina. In the forests of Rus-Banila, engineer Schlomo Geller (died 1961 in Tel-Aviv) had a model enterprise.

In 1918, a Zionist organization came into existence in Rus-Banila. Its founders were Israel Sattinger (died in Israel), Hermann Neumeier, also Hermann Bildner the estate owner in the nearby village of Millie who together with his brother-in-law Benno Herer was deported to Siberia by the Russians. Both perished there.

The leadership of the Zionist organization was in the hands of Herman Neumeier who later served many years as secretary of the regional Zionist organization in Chernivtsi, the lawyer Dr. Elias Burg (died in Transnistrien) who was in the Bukovina section of the Jewish political federal party and Moses Bildner. The above named were responsible for the opening of a well attended Hebrew school in Banyliv in 1918.

Banyliv took active part in every Zionist campaign. The first national battle took place with the regional parliment election (1910) as Prof. Kellner and Dr. Straucher ran for office. 705 of the Jewish voters of Rus-Banila voted for Prof. Kellner. David Bildner, a good Talmud scholar and an expert on Maymonides stated at that time that it was in the interest of the national Jews to vote for Prof. Kellner's list. His example was decisive in the outcome of the election.

The rabbi of Banyliv, Rabbi Berisch Reimann and his son Elieser and family died on the way to Transnistrien.

After, the occupation of Banyliv by the German-Romanian armies, 263 Jews were murdered by the Soldateska 3 and the Ukrainian village residents. They were buried in two mass graves in the Jewish cemetery.

About 70 families lost their lives in Transnistrien, 15 were transported over the Bug and then murdered by the SS. It is certain that we will remember their fate with great sadness.


	That's what happened with the text

Vyzhnytsya district, Chernivtsi region

Mass grave in the cemetery, 2016

Banyliv cemetery is one of the most beautiful in Bukovina. But recently there was a sad story: the descendants of immigrants from Banyliv wiped the matsevot with a chemical agent in order to easier to read the inscriptions. When it started to rain, the text on those matsevot was completely destroyed.

Sources:
- Russian Jewish encyclopedia. Translated from Russian by Eugene Snaider
- Zwi Hermann Neumeier. Rus-Banila / Geschichte der Juden in der Bukowina (History of the Jews in the Bukowina), vol. II. Edited by Hugo Gold. Tel Aviv: Olamenu, 1962. Translated from German by Jerome Silverbush z”l, JewishGen, Inc

Photo:
- Eugene Shnaider

Chernivtsi region - list of settlements and location of objects

Banyliv, 2016