Eastern European town with a large Jewish population, which changed hands many times during the 20th century, 75 km (45 miles) from Lemberg [L'viv], 30 km (20 miles) from Ternopil.

Brzežany belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the 1860s until the end of the World War I, as part of Galicia. It was subsequently claimed by the West Ukrainian National Republic (1918–19), given to Poland, occupied by Nazi Germany, and annexed by the Soviet Union. Since 1991 Berezhany, as it is now known, is a city in the Ukraine.