Under Habsburg rule , Galicia 's Jewish population increased sixfold , from 144,000 in 1776 to 872,000 in 1910 , due to a high birth rate and a steady stream of refugees fleeing pogroms in the neighboring Russian Empire . The Jews constituted one third of the population of many cities and came to dominate parts of the local economy such as retail sales and trade . They were also successful in the government ; by 1897 , Jews constituted 58 percent of Galicia 's civil servants and judges . During the 19th century Galicia and its main city , Lviv ( '' Lemberg '' in Yiddish ) , became a center of Yiddish literature . Lviv was the home of the world 's first Yiddish-language daily newspaper , the '' Lemberger Togblat . '' Towards the end of World War I , Galicia became a battleground of the Polish-Ukrainian War which erupted in November 1918 . During the conflict , 1,200 Jews joined the Ukrainian Galician Army and formed an all-Jewish Ukrainian battalion called '' Zhydivs ’ kyy Kurin '' ( UHA ) . In exchange , they were allotted 10 % of the seats in the parliament of the West Ukrainian People 's Republic which emerged in the same month and was disbanded nine months later . The West Ukrainian government respected Jewish neutrality during the Polish-Ukrainian conflict by an order of Yevhen Petrushevych forbidding to mobilize Jews against their will , or to otherwise force them to contribute to the Ukrainian military effort . Both Ukrainian and pro-Ukrainian Jewish armed units suffered significant losses as they retreated from Galicia before the army of General Edward Rydz-Śmigły . Although the Polish losses were estimated at more than 10,000 dead and wounded ; the Western Ukrainian army lost in excess of 15,000 men . " Despite the official neutrality , some Jewish men had been noticed aiding the combat Ukrainian units , and this fact alone caused a great enthusiasm in the Ukrainian press . " Reportedly , the Council of Ministers of the West Ukrainian People 's Republic provided assistance to Jewish victims of the Polish pogrom in Lviv , wrote Alexander Prusin . Nevertheless , as noted by Robert Blobaum from West Virginia University , many more pogroms and assaults against Galician Jews were perpetrated by the Ukrainian side in rural areas and other towns . Between 22 and 26 March 1919 , during massacres in Zhytomyr ( Jitomir ) , 500 – 700 Jews lost their lives at the hands of the armed men from the Ukrainian republican army led by Simon Petliura . The chief organizer of the pogrom became minister of war soon thereafter . Simultaneous Ukrainian pogroms took place in Berdichev , Uma , and Cherniakhov among other places
Polish pogrom in Lviv
Lwów pogrom (1918)
Galician Jews