Burshtyn (Ukrainian: Бурштин, Polish: Bursztyn, Hebrew: בורשטין) is a city located in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, in western Ukraine, to the north of Halych. It lies in the raion of Halych and is accessible by rail.
The current estimated population is around 14,700 (as of 2004). It developed rapidly and significantly grew in population during the Soviet period.
The town, which was one of the Jewish shtetls, and whose name in Ukrainian literally means Amber, was only granted city status in 1993. There is an old Roman Catholic Church in the center of the city, which was restored in the last decade.
One of its landmarks is the Burshtynskyi TES coal-fired power station, which is situated on a reservoir approximately 8 km long and 2 km wide. A fish farm lies on the lake near the district of Bilshivtsi. The town is known for its soccer club Enerhetyk.
The first mention of this town was in a Halych history book from 1596, where it was referred to as Nove Selo (New village), although the town actually dates back to 1554. In 1809, Franz Xaver Mozart, son of Wolfgang A. Mozart, lived in in Burshtyn. At that time Burshtyn was part of Austrian Empire.
There is an old Jewish cemetery in Burshtyn, the only surviving testament of once thriving Jewish community in the city - in 1942 there were 1,700 Jews residing in Burshtyn. Nazis transferred all Burshtyn Jews to ghetto nearby Rohatyn, where they have been executed by shootings, the remainder of Jews were taken to Belzec extermination camp.
The Jewish cemetery was established in the 18-th century with the last known Hasidic Jewish burial from 1940-s.
