The old surname Kitzman/Kotzman originated in Jewish culture, which had gradually become more common in parts of western Ukraine. The name was occupational and derivative of Hebrew roots; shortening the phrase kohen Tsedek. It was widespread in the Yiddish culture, where -man was the standard suffix applied to commoners' surnames.
History
The first historical mention of Kitsman is dated to 1413, which also appears on the city's crest. Kuzmyn Forest, woods are situated between Siret and Prut valleys next to the town are named so, because they are traversed by the roads that connect Suceava, the Middle Ages' capital of the Principality of Moldavia, with what was then its boundary town of Cozmin / Kozmyn. In the Austrian period, Kitsman, as part of the Duchy of Bukovina, was the seat of the planning section of the district administration and it had a district court and a state gymnasium, where instruction was given in the Ruthenian language. The Ruthenian farmers from the 13 surrounding villages brought their produce to the market in Kitsman. During the period of Romanian rule, the Romanian authorities viewed both the Ukrainians and the Jews as enemies of the state whose suppression was one of the goals of the state. A local newspaper is published here since June 1, 1941. In January 1989 the population was 9500 people. In January 2013 the population was 6762 people.
Notable figures
Remarkably, Kitsman is the birthplace of several nationally well-known musicians including Volodymyr Ivasyuk and Ani Lorak.
Out of the population of 6000 that Kitsman had, approximately 700 were Jews who had immigrated from nearby areas of Galiciaat the beginning of the 19th century and who dealt mainly with commerce in agricultural products. They also were occupied as craftsmen and were practically the only representatives of the intellectual professions. There were Jews in the ranks of the judges and in the bureaucracy. To name a few, Nathan Seidmann, a clerk in the planning section of the district administration in Kitsman who in his time as a member of the executive committee 2 during the years 1921 to 1927 and intermittently as chairman of the Zionist organization, performed notable service. Before 1914, the Jews and the Ruthenian population of the town and the surrounding villages co-existed in peace.
