Turka is a Ukrainian town situated on the left bank of the river Stryi. Jews first came to Turka in the 1800s. The first synagogue, Jewish cemetery and the Jewish old age home were built in 1730. In 1903, Turka began to flourish when a railway line connected the city with Lwow and with Budapest, and the Austrian government authorized the founding of an official Jewish community. Business expanded, especially the lumber business. Jews owned the sawmills, had licenses to sell liquor. Others worked at various trades - tailoring, shoemaking, barbering, clock making, and lock smithing. Many of the...