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Strubowiska (Strubovishche)
1. Names Zruboviszcze 1567; Strubowiszcze 1589; z Strubowiszcz 1608; Strubowiszcza 1745; Strubowisko 1855; Strubowiska 1890 and early 20th century; in Ukrainian [Strubowyska]. The name originated from the Ukrainian word [zrubywaty] (zrebywac). In 1967 the name of the village was changed to Strzebowiska.
2. History The village is on the stream of Kalnica, which is a tributary of the Wetlinki. It was founded according to the Wolosky Law in the southern most lands owned by the Ball family from Hoczew. It is mentioned for the first time in the year 1567 under the name Zruboviszcze, when it was still owned wolnizne (freely?). It originated then, after 1543. The local count had one field (lan) of land. Strubowiska became part of the Terczanski key. After the death of Matiasza Bala III, the village with all of the key fell in 1598 to his son, Royal Rotmiester Samuel Bal. Shortly thereafter, Peter Bal II, the brother of Samuel, accumulated in his possession the majority of the lands of Samuel Bal - the key Steznicka, Terczanska and a large part of Hoczew. After his death in 1617, these lands were inherited by his son Adam and grandson Alexander. During the period when Strubowiska belonged to Adam Bal, the lessee of the village was Wojciech Leszczynski (about 1640). After Alexander, who died young and without children, his lands were turned over to his Uncle Stephan Bal. Subsequently they were inherited by his son Jan IV, and in 1711 by the grandson Ignacy. After a long court proceeding with the widow of Ignacy, Barbara from Andrass, the estate along with Strubowiska fall into the hands of the only child of Ignacy Bal - Salomei. He put together the above three keys into the House of Karsnicki. Before 1790, Strubowiska and the neighboring villages were bought by Franciszek, count Los. The family of Los was running this village most likely until the 1830’s. In 1846, the inheritor of Strubowiska and nearby Kalnica was Sylvester Brzescianski, co-organizer and a participant in the failed insurgency.
In 1868, the size of the village was 2,051 morgs (1,180.4 hectares), within that area forest made up 1,460 morgs (840.2 ha). The peasant lands consisted of: tilled land 154.2 ha, meadows and orchards 103.6 ha, grazing lands 57.6 ha, and forest 22.4 ha. In the 19th and first half of 20th century Strubowiska was treated as a hamlet of Kalnica. In the late 19th century local estates about 700 ha of forest belonged to Stanislaw Wysocki. Through his initiative in the years 1900-1904, the narrow gauge railroad was constructed from Majdan to Kalnica, later extended later to the hamlet of Beskid in the southern part of Smerek. This investment was financed by the owners of the forest estates in Cisna and Kalnica. This is also why the railroad tracks ran through the forest, near its edge -- in order to avoid the costly purchase of peasants’ land for construction of the track. We were unable to determine the surnames of all the owners who lived in the village in the first half of the 20th century. We know only some: Berezowski, Berezanski, Cygan, Kowal, Milawczak, Moskal, Pliszka, Popowicz, Rusyn, Salamasczak, Stachurskyj, Stepanowycz, Sywanycz, Warcholak, and Ziatyk. Among the inhabitants of the village of Strubowiska during the interwar period were two Gypsy families (one with the surname Haluszka), who worked as blacksmiths and musicians, and lived in the same house at the northern border of the village, near the road to Kalnica. Also, three Jewish families lived here. One of them lived as neighbors to the Gypsies. In the local dialect, the inhabitants of the village called them Dohen, Herszko, and Kowa. The family of Herszko leased their house to the soldiers of the border patrol (the so called kasarnia), whose main outpost was located in Przyslup. The inhabitants of Strubowiska, just like the inhabitants of all the other neighboring villages, were involved in smuggling. For their smuggling activities they would visit the village of Ruskie, on the Slovak side of the border. The trail to Ruskie lead through a clearing called Moniszowa, at the mountain peak called Okraglika. In 1939, 54 families inhabited the village. In 1944, the new administration selected 330 inhabitants for deportation to Ukraine. However, through March 1945, nobody was deported. In February, quartered in the village was a sotnia of UPA led by "Burlaki" a unit of NKVD was attacked, but the partisans managed to leave without casualties. In the spring of 1945, there resided in the village a sotnia of UPA commanded by "Weselyj". On March 21, the village was surrounded by two battalions of NKVD supported by a section of the Polish Army and the militia from Cisna. A very heavy battle here lasted for half a day. In the afternoon the sotnia retreated into the forest. While in the undefended village, the attackers burned nearly every house and murdered part of the civilian population. The Polish side and Ukrainian side put forth conflicting data as far as the casualties and how the battle was conducted. Let’s look then at the narration from the different sides. The Battle 21 March 1945 according to the UPA: According to the UPA, 13 partisans died in the battle: The leader "Wowk" (surname unknown); leader - Mychajlo Orenczak "Solomej" (age 36), Wolodymyr Chajus "Sowa" (age 38), rifleman "Bulawa" (surname unknown), Mychajlo Danyliuk "Mucha" (age 29), "Heroj" (surname unknown), Wolodymyr Iwanczyk "Strum" (age 23), Stepan Komar "Trawyczka" (age 24), Wolodymyr Pidhirnyj "Dysk" (age 26), "Poticznyj" (surname unknown), Stepan Snida "Krywyj", Mykola Wintoniuk "Czobit" (age 19), and Wasyl Worobec "Popowycz". All were buried in Strubowiska. Account of Jerzy Sywanycz, Inhabitant of Przyslup, Eyewitness to the Event An inhabitant of Wetlina recalls that the only survivors of Strubowiska were those who fled to nearby villages during the battle. When the village was entered by the soldiers there were only 26 people, elderly and children, who stayed behind. All of them were herded into a house, which was set on fire, and those who run away from the burning house were fired upon and thrown back into the fire. That’s how they all died. According to Polish accounts, the battle lasted almost a whole day and took place within inhabited houses. As a result of this fight, the whole village burned down. 84 underground soldiers were killed, along with inhabitants of the village. Twice as many were wounded. The casualties by the attackers were a few killed and several wounded. From this inferno only 3-5 houses survived. The rest burned down. Afterwards people built some underground shelters / tents. Then, in the summer they started to rebuild. The majority of the residents of Strubowiska were taken out, by force, to Ukraine in 1946 (about 230 people?). As part of Akcji Wisla during April 28 - May 10, 1947, 30 people were deported from the village. These people were from the families Beresoslky, Berezanski, Popovich (altogether 13 or 14 people) and two Gypsy families. After deportation, nobody remained. The Ukrainian families ended up in the village of Trzesacza, in western Pomerania, the Gypsys from Strubowiska now reside in Szczecin. Today in Strubowiska there are several new houses. The village is a seat for soltys. Owners of the Village 1552-1595 Mateusz Bal III Population
* Before March 21, 1945
Education and Culture In a report prepared in 1790, the local priest mentioned 4 children, who according to him, were qualified to attend school. There is no information if a school existed in the village during the Austrian occupation. In the 1930’s, the school was located in a leased house. In the fall of 1935, with the inhabitants of Przyslup, they jointly started the construction of a school in Strubowiska. By March of 1936, all of the lumber construction was in place. The construction advanced quickly; some people were helping the experts, others were making shingles, and others were cleaning up the ground for the school. The school was opened in the same year. The school was a wooden building with one classroom, a room for living quarters, kitchen, two rooms and storage for the teacher, who was Zygmunt Bak. All the children attended first grade, but after six months the teacher transferred some students to the second grade. In the winter of 1936 to 1937, the teacher began organizing classes for the adults. But this effort had little effect. In 1939, there were still many illiterate people in the village. Only three farmers subscribed to the newspaper, Narodnia Sprawa. From the beginning of the existence of the school they used textbooks in Lemko, which were introduced in 1934. This were the Lemkiwskyj Bukwar (Lemko Primer) and the Persza Lemkiwska Czytanka (First Lemko Reader). The letter below illustrates the attitude of the local inhabitants to these books:
Director of Public School in Strubowiska Strubowiska, October 24, 1936
In response to a secret letter from October 12,1936. To the school inspector in Sanok.
In regard to your letter of the 12 of this month, I am responding to your questions. 1. What kind of difficulties did you encounter when using the Lemko Primer.
During the German occupation there was an active Ukrainian school in the village, whose teacher was Szworda.
3. Places of Worship The Greek Catholic Cerkwa
The Greek Catholic church was a branch of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary church in Kalnica. The earlier one, which was wooden, was built around 1700. According to report from 1756, it was built with two peaks and a bell tower was later added to the Cerkwa. The bell tower had two bells. The last church was also built of lumber and was constructed in 1843. The interior of was covered with wood, like barrel staves. It was destroyed after 1945. All that remains are the three wrought iron crosses, which at one time decorated the Cerkwa, currently they rest on the graves in the cemetery. At the location where the Cerkwa used to stand, grows a clump of fir trees.
Until 1785, Strubowiska existed as a separate parish, then the village was combined with the parish of Kalnica. In the first half of the 19th century both locations were incorporated into the parish at Smerek. Contribution In the 19th and 20th centuries, the parish of Smerek received from Strubowiska contributions of the following levels: 1890 and 1895 --- 12 morgs of field and 34 cords of oak wood. Cemetery In 1852, the cemetery by the cerkva had the shape of an uneven seven-sided figure with the surface of 13 ares. Later, it was enlarged and now covers about 50 ars (about 1.2 acres). It is completely overgrown with trees. Only a few gravesites have survived. Chapels and Road Crosses A road cross, most likely a wooden one, was situated at the place where a chapel, described below, now stands. It existed in 1852 and in 1878; it is not indicated on the map from 1914. The chapel by the road, built of stone, has a place inside for a statue and is covered with a two-sloped roof. The chapel is surrounded by a semi-circle of linden trees. It is located along the road through the village, 300 meters south of the main road. It was financed by Wasyl Podolak, in about 1920. It is in effect, placed at the site of the wooden cross, which was described above.
4. Large Holdings. In 1852 there were no large estates. We do not know if any existed earlier. In 1868, the estate consisted of 842.5 ha, within that only 4.0 ha of tillable land, meadows and orchards 5.6 ha, grazing land 19.6 ha, and forest 817.8 ha. The forest belonging to the village of Strubowiska and Smerek, lies on the southern slopes of the border belt; it belonged to an estate in Kalnica, during the interwar period.
5. Inhabited Structures. Before the war, houses in Strubowiska were built from lumber with whitewashed walls and thatched roofs. By the houses, there were stone cellars (so-called sklepy) covered with a little roof. The walls were lined with stones, with the portion above ground constructed of lumber. Most frequently, the water was drawn with a pole with a hook on it. Only some nearby wells were like cranes (windlass?). The older wells are covered over but one brick one remains. After 1960, several new homes were built in the village. One of them has an interesting construction, which resembles the traditional Alpine (chalet) house construction. These houses are located in the neighborhood of the chapel described above.
6. Commerce, Industry, Trading & Services The narrow gauge railroad from Majdan to the hamlet of Beskid and Smerek. During the years 1900-1904 the segment from Majdan to Kalnica was built. During 1908-1909 the segment from Szpickiery (in Strubowiska) to Beskid (in Smerek) was constructed. This undertaking was financed by the landowners who owned the forest estates in Cisna and Kalnica, which stretched in a closed complex along the border from Wielky Jasla until Paportna. The railroad functioned until 1944. In the 1970’s, on this abandoned railroad track a hard road was constructed on the stretch from Majdan to Przyslup. In the 1980’s, it was extended to Smerek and Kalnica. A completely new track, built between 1957 and 1964, was laid at a lower altitude than the previous one. This railroad joined Majdan with Moczarne. It functioned until 1993.
The watermill in the upper part of the village was on the stream called the Bystry. In 1852, this was a wooden mill with one wheel. It was located along a stretch of about 200 meters which was dug out on the left side of the stream. This was located about 2,600 meters above the estuary of the stream where it enters the Wetlinka. In the interwar period there existed in Strubowiska a mill which was located in the main current of the brook from which water was directed through a wooden trough onto the wheel. It belonged to one of the residents with a surname Rusyn. Forestkeeper’s House Spieczkary, by the brook Bystry, in the place where the narrow gauge railroad split and went to Kalnica and Beskid. The narrowness of this valley in Bystry dictated that here was the sharpest turn in the railroad on the track from Majdan - Beskid. From it came the name of this location and also the name of the forest keeper’s house. In German, Spieczkary means sharp turn. The forest keeper’s house originated in 1914, in order to keep an eye on the forest, which belonged to an estate in Kalnica. In 1935 there were two buildings standing here. During the interwar period the forestkeeper’s name was Ludwik Maslyk. Karczma, the inn was located along the road through the village, 30 meters to the north from the cross by the road, described earlier. It belonged to the estate. In 1852, this was a wooden building in the shape of a rectangle with dimensions of 17.3 by 8.4 meters. Its existence was also noted in 1890. The oil house existed during the interwar period. Blacksmith and fiddler Tynio Haluszka (a Gypsy). He was active during the interwar period. He constructed metal rims for wheels and carriages, sleds, hoes, plowshares, axes, etc. For his work he would accept only food, never money. In addition to the residents of Stubowiska, the residents of Kalnica and Przyslup also took advantage of his blacksmith services. As a fiddler, he used to play at weddings and dances, even though he could barely hear. The store was operated during the interwar period by a Jew named Herzsko.
After 1947 The Forest Keeper’s House. Became government property in the late 1950’s under ZBL. It belongs to the forest keeper in Cisna. 7. Local Names (The numbers refer to the locations plotted on a map on p. 378 "Strubowiska. Local names of the terrain.") 1) Bagno Mochnaczka, forest between Strubowiska and
Kalnica
Source of Names: Mr. Jerzy Savanich, from Czapin Wielke near Trzebiatowa, February 1996
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