 Zboriv (Ukrainian: Зборів, Polish: Zborów) is a small town in Ternopil Oblast, west Ukraine. It is located in the historical region of Galicia. The population is 7,400 (2001). It is administrative center of the Zboriv Raion. The town (located 35 km northwest of Ternopil, and 85 km southeast of Lviv) lies on Strypa River (Ukrainian: Cтpипа). It was mentioned for the first time in a document from 1166. In 1241, during the Mongol invasion of Europe, it was ransacked and destroyed. In 1639, Zborow was granted city rights. Its present name comes from a noble Polish family of Zborowscy. Ten years later, Zborow was besieged by the Tartar-Cossack armies during the Khmelnytsky Uprising. In 1913, Zborow had about 6000 inhabitants, including 1300 Poles, 2400 Ukrainians and 2300 Jews. During World War I, area around the town was the place of heavy battles between the Czechoslovak legionnaires and the Austrian Army (June 1917). After the war, it became part of Poland and was the seat of a powiat of the Tarnopol Voivodeship.
Information about the Jewish community destroyed during the Holocaust can be found in a Yizkor book published by Jews who fled Zborow and survived the Holocaust. This book is available online through the New York Public Library at http://yizkor.nypl.org/index.php?id=2792.
The town was completely destroyed in the summer of 1944 due to the Soviet offensive. Under Soviet rule (1944-1991), Zboriv was rebuilt and redeveloped. Construction plant and a small food processing factory were built in the 1960s. A significant part of a local budget was relied on agriculture and governmental subsidies. The state farm in Zboriv was one of the best in the region. In the 1980s, the town became the object of serious governmental investments. Among these few new town improwments were built, like: cinema, agricultural market, new secondary school, waterbike lake station, football stadium, a city hall and a culture hall. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the local economy experiences a deep downturn . During the 1990s (until present time)as a result of economical decline lots of active work age people left for abroad - mostly as a low skilled labourers in Western Europe or Russia. Nowadays, in spite of all unfavorable conditions , younger generation is less likely to quit and prefer to do a daily commutes for work to the closest regional centres like Ternopol and Lviv which offer wider job opportunities.
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