WETLINA, POLAND

BIESZCZADY  Slownik Historyczno-Krajoznawcy

Book 2, GMINA CISNA, Warsaw, 1996

Marcin Gruszczynski, Wojciech Krukar, Stanislaw Krycinski

Towarzystwo Karpackie, Wydawnictwo Stanislaw Krycinski

 (Wetlina Chapter), pages 380 to 423

Transcription Notes:

1. Text Translation by M. Spierings.  Table translation and transcription, Bill Tarkulich, 2001-2003

2. Not all photos and maps are reproduced here, though most historic photos are included.

3. Ambiguities or translation difficulties are stated.

Table of Contents

1. Name

2. History

Owners

Population

Education

Border Guards

Commanders

Post Office

Forest Directorate

Fire Station

3. Places of Worship

Greek Catholic Church

Bell Tower

Vicarage

Vicarage Property

Greek Catholic Cemetery

Roman Catholic Church

Monastary

Roman Catholic Cemetery

Grave of Serfdom

Wayside Shrines

Healing Springs

4. Estate

5. Dwellings-Houses

6. Industry

After 1947

7. Place Names, Onomatology

 Cisna County 

1. Name

 Wethlina 1580; Wetlina 1589; in Wetlina 1618; Wetlina 1745, 19th and 20th century; Ukrainian: Wetlyna. The name comes from a Ukrainian noun Wetlo, Wetlyna which means a kind of willow. The oldest written name of the village probably comes from the word “wetchij” which means old or ancient. 

2. History

 The village was located in the highest part of the valley of Wetlinka (Polish for Small Wetlina) stream and was organized according to the Walachian Law. The village was a part of the Kmita family property. The first time it was mentioned in writing was in 1580 as a fully inhabited village. Again in 1580, because of the division of the estate according to the will of Barbara Herbut, the widow of Piotr Kmita, Wetlina became the property of Katarzyna and Stanislaw Herbut.

 According to the local tradition the village was settled in sequence, first Stare Siolo (Old Village), then Zabrodzie (By-the-River), and then the highest situated part of the village - Osada (Settlement). This has been supported by a written source in 1594 mentioning Great Wetlina and Small Wetlina. People who settled in Wetlina came most probably from the neighboring village called Moczarne, which was owned by the Polish king and was founded at the end of the 16^th century in the valley of the river Upper Solinka. The movement from Moczarne to Wetlina must have taken place most probably at the beginning of the 17^th century. It was known as fact is that Moczarne was deserted before 1629, partially due to the high mortality caused by the disease, partially due to being killed by robbers and highwaymen, and partially because a lot of people just abandoned their homes. One of the families that arrived from Moczarne was named Kohut. The owner of Wetlina at that time was Lukasz Boguski. The village belonged to the Boguski family until the sixties of the 17^th century when it became a part of a dowry of Helena Boguska who married Jan Lipski.  Their grand daughter Teresa married Michal Count Konarski in the first half of the 18^th century. The village remained in the hands of Konarski family until the First World War. The manor house in the village had belonged to 8 generations of Konarskis. They also owned the villages of Lutowiska and Chrewt.

 More or less every fifteen years, some sort of an epidemic ravaged the village. For example, in the three summer months of 1801, 13 children died of smallpox.

 Jan Kanty Podolecki, the folklore researcher, who lived in Rzepedz in the years 1820-1840, wrote a poetic story entitled “Hnatowe Berdo”, on the basis of the legends that he had heard in the area. It was published in 1835 in the journal “Home Museum” (no. 19, pgs. 146-148). His version of history was a bit dramatized and poetized. According to the inhabitants of Wetlina one of the stories told the following:

 “In the Carpathian Mountains, on the Hungarian border, there is a mountain which is called after the Ruthenian prince Ihnatija, whose castle was on the top of the mountain. During the Tatar invasion, seeing that the attackers are capturing the castle, the prince, trying to flee to the Hungarian side of the mountain, jumped from the mountain and killed himself.”

 In 1846, the Treasury Guard from Wetlina, Jozef Neronowicz, took part in an unsuccessful uprising and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

 In 1868 the village covered 6123.4 ha, of which 4183.3 ha were woods. Farmers’ land included 677.4 ha of farmland, 589.3 ha of meadows and gardens, 190.5 ha of pastures and 16.7 ha of woods. (1 ha is approximately 2.2 acres)

 Between 1883 and 1885 Oskar Kolberg conducted ethnographic studies in the Bieszczady Mountains. Most probably he never reached Wetlina but he wrote some short comments about the village stating that the “Highlanders from Bereh, Wolosaty, Ustrzyki Gorne and Wetlina already add the ending “lem” to the verbs”.

 Even in the 20^th century, in Wetlina stories circulated about Oleks Dowbusz. One of them described how he came to Wetlina in a coach pulled by 4 horses and lived in the manor house for 2 years. There were also stories about him and Gnat’s Berda. Apparently there were two rooms there with floors made of stone and Oleks Dowbusz and Gnat, the latter being incredibly strong and muscular, used to have meetings there. Also, in the Polonina Osadzka (Settlement Pasture), close to one of the today’s hotels, there used to be the Dowbusz’s highwaymen shelter. People also talked about the castle on the Rybia Skala (Fish Rock).

Figure 1:  PAGE 382-383 Wetlina.  Cadastral Map in 1852

Figure 2: Wetlina Austria Topographical Map, 1914

Figure 3: Wetlina Starego Siolka Map, 1852

 In the village there is a hill called Szybenycia, where, according to the word of mouth, the peasants who refused to work the master’s fields were hung.

 At the beginning of the 20^th century Herman Baron Groedel became the owner of the estate and split it into small parts. At the end of 1920 one of the parts belonged to Szymon Feld. In 1938 it was purchased by Wasyl Chaszcziwski, who was a chief officer of Cisna County.

 Between the 1^st and 2^nd World War the houses in Wetlina stretched along 6.5 km of the road (152 house numbers). The village consisted of three parts which reflected the consecutive stages of its settlement. The oldest and the lowest situated part was called Old Village (Stare Siolo) which included the manor house and the mill. The middle part that was called By the River (Zabrodzie), included the (Russian) Orthodox Church. The highest situated and the newest part of the village, above the Upper Solinka River, was called The Settlement (Osada). It reached all the way to the Bereh Pass.

 Wetlina had strong ties with the Slovak villages of Nova Sedlica (New Settlement) and Zboj (Ruffian) [both in present-day Slovakia] , which were situated where the Hlubokim stream flowed to the Rabia Skala. Ukrainians inhabited both villages and there were a large number of marriages between them and the people of Wetlina.

 There were thirteen families in the village of Wetlina who traveled to America to earn money: they were Blacha, Buchwak, Bunga, Byrcza, Dziuba, Korol, Lumianyk, Rywar, Salamaszak, Stawnyj, Sulypka, Sycz, and Zazwirski. Those who returned bought land or built new houses. Some built multi-building farms, breaking the usual practice of putting everything, the house and the farm, under one roof.

 The farmers grew rye, oat, barley, clover, potatoes, cabbage and beans. They bred pigs which were sold at the market in Baligrod. The mountain pasture belonged to the estate and only three farmers could have their cattle graze there, Michailo Sawka from Stare Siolo, Wasyl Lopuch from the Zabrodzie and the farmer with the nickname of Staryj (Old). They bought the part of the pasture from Szymon Feld. On the pasture they would build sheds for shepherds. Other farmers had their cows, horses and sheep graze on their little pastures in the valley. Ox and heifers were grazing in the woods close to the border in Jawornik and Moczarne. On the August 15 they were brought to the barn and then brought for sale to the market in Lutowiska, which took place on August 20. There they would also buy young bulls and heifers that would graze in the woods in the southern part of Wetlina Mountain Pasture. From spring till fall all the cattle would stay in the pastures. The shepherds would build wooden huts for themselves in the woods on the sites sheltered from strong winds. The cattle would drink out of the troughs made out of beech trunks. This kind of trough existed in the upper part of Popowy Zwir stream, on the northern side of Gnatowy Berd, on the southern side of Gnatowy Berd, at the mouth of Kimkiwski Zwir Stream, on the southern slope of Osada plain, in the place called Szczawnik, and on the west side where the two streams join to form Kostywski Stream.  All the cattle grazing on the plains were put together into one herd that was run by a bacza (could be called “head shepherd”). The best bacza during the time between the First and Second World War was Wasyl Mucha whose nickname was Hawryla.  In 1938 he was arrested and accused of poaching. The piece of the deer hide that he had found in the woods and which had belonged to the deer killed by wolves led to the accusation. He was so severely beaten during the interrogation by the police that he died shortly afterwards.

 The church fairs were held in Lopienki and Carynski on June 24, St. John’s Day. People dressed similarly as they did in Smerek but in Wetlina many more sheepskin coats were worn. The travelling salesmen brought clay pots for everyday use from Sambor. They were paid for with corn or linen.

 There were a few musicians in Wetlina who played at weddings and parties. In the Stare Siolo they were Mychajlo (Michael) Dziuba, Mychajlo Dziunycz, Mychajlo Marycz and Fedor Tytanycz, in Zabrodzie it was Buchwak, Ivan Korol, Wasyl Kalynycz (Gypsy), Jaroslaw Lopuch and Hryhorij Taciak and in Osada Semen Hlystyj, Iwan Hlystyj, Petro Polulak, Wasyl Rewak, Wasyl Handulak and someone with the nickname of Prytis. The band consisted of two violins, percussion, a clarinet and an accordion.

 There were two Jewish families, the name of Feld and Selder, who lived in the village. Young men from these families took part in the September Campaign against the Nazi Germany. During the German occupation the entire Feld family was killed. Before the Second World War two traveling salesmen from Lutowiska, Berko and Mendel, frequently visited Wetlina and sold some practical items of everyday use. For payment they received eggs, hens, and beans. There was also one Gypsy family in Wetlina by the name of Kalynycz, who lived in Zabrodzie. Local Gypsies did not go to the Orthodox Church.

 At the end of 1938 and at the beginning of 1939 one of the inhabitants of the village by the name of Mucha, tried to illegally cross the eastern border to get to the Carpathian Cossacks but got caught by the border patrol and beaten to death.

 During the occupation the Germans built the watch tower of Grenzschutz (border patrol). In the village there was a German customhouse.

 In 1943 two Soviet planes attacked from the air. They arrived from the south and dumped 26 bombs. As a result the house of Wasyl Bunga burned down and his son got wounded. Also the house of Jewstachyj Nykolyszak burned down and his son was slightly wounded.

 At the end of 1944 the Red Army entered the village.  During their attack 12 houses and a school burned down in Zabrodzie. Twenty-five people from the village were forced to join the Red Army. Eleven of them died in the war. For seven weeks the Soviet army fought without success to get to Slovakia. The Germans, hidden in the trenches in Nova Sedlica and Zboj, managed to prevent the Soviets from advancing. The old Border Patrol house in Zadnia Mlaca served the Soviets as the hospital. The whole meadow of 1.5 ha around was covered with dead bodies.

 In November the soldiers of NKWD appeared in the village bringing arrests and general terror. Those who were educated and involved in the Ukrainian Independence Movement were suffering most. Among others, the teacher of the local school, Stefan Ficio, was arrested. The arrested villagers were mercilessly beaten while interrogated for some information about UPA (Ukrainian Liberation Army), which, at that time, was trying to form a coherent organization in the, so called, Zakerzonski Kraj. The soldiers conducted brutal searches in houses, destroying property and beating inhabitants.

 Figure 4: PHOTO Page 387 Wetlina.  Church.  Bells, rectory and rebuilt manor. 

View from south. (about 1935)

Figure 5: PHOTO Page 387 Wetlina.  Residents (about 1935)

Figure 6: PHOTO Page 388: Wetlina. Woman’s clothing (1935)

 In January a group of policemen from Cisna came to Wetlina to get a levy of grain and cattle. The battle between them and the unit of UPA resulted in death of 2 Ukrainian partisans and the unit had to retreat.

 At the beginning of 1945 the army left Wetlina but the bad smallpox epidemic took hold. The population of the village as well as the members of the UPA unit in Smerek, Wetlina and Strubowiska was decimated. There was a shortage of medicine and some of the drug stores in Bieszczady Mountains (the closest one was in Balogrod) were forbidden to sell medication to the Ukrainians, so that the medicines do not get into the hands of the rebels. The people in Wetlina were convinced that they were purposefully infected by the NKWD army to weaken the Ukrainian underground army as well as the people in the village who supported it. Out of the 180 members of “Wesely” guerilla unit only 70 did not get sick.

 According to the information given by the militia in Cisna, in February 1945, in Jaworzec, Smerek and Wetlina there were about 1200 armed Ukrainian guerillas stationed. However, the count was not accurate because apart from the “Wesely” unit only the unit called “Burlaki” was stationed there for a very short time.

 The authorities were planning to evacuate 507 people from Wetlina to the Ukraine but till March 1945 nobody was evicted from the village. In the second half of March the NKWD units again appeared in Bieszczady. The local population called them “Red Broom”. The number of soldiers amounted to about 5000. They conducted a systematic search of the villages and woods to liquidate Ukrainian guerrillas. After a few hours of fight with the “Wesely” Unit in Strubowisko on March 21, 1945, the NKWD reached Wetlina, having fought small battles with the guerillas and populations of all the local settlements. In Wetlina they arrested 14 farmers who were sent to Siberia. Together with them they took 17 year old Ania Hasjak from Berehy Gorne, who had carried orders from the UPA guerillas to Wetlina.

 “Wesely” Unit, not being able to station in villages and deprived of food supply, stayed in the woods between Smerek-Beskid and Moczarne. Desperate because of hunger, members of “Oslaw” unit managed to steal a cow from Wetlina that was full of soldiers. On the 2nd of April 1945 at 6 in the morning, Soviets, led by informants, surrounded “Wesely” unit, which was hidden in the dugouts near the Sredni Lutowy stream. During the fight, the sanitary officer “Hucul” (real name unknown) and political officer Oleksandr Kotljariw “Krywulja” (41 years old) were killed. They had both been sick. They were buried at the Wetlina cemetery. The leader “Weselyj) disappeared during the fight and then the whole unit fell apart. Some of the fighters, in small groups, tried to get to the river San, to return to their homes on the other side of the river. The commander of the group “Ren”, having heard about the defeat of the Unit managed to gather the fighters together again and put them in the dug-outs on the northern side of the Wetlina mountain pasture (woods belonging to the village Zatwarnica). Also there they managed to place those of them who were sick with typhoid fever unit who, until then, had been hiding in villages nearby. Supplied with sufficient food, the fighters could recuperate there. The commander of the new unit was “Jaryczew”.

 Danilo Swistel “Weselyj”, who was wounded in the NKWD attack near Sredni Lutowy stream, together with also wounded rifleman  “Smok”, managed to reach one of the hunters’ cabins close to the border. There they both died of the wounds. After some time their bodies were found and buried in the Wetlina cemetery. At the end of April the NKWD units started leaving the area of Bieszczady Mountains. However, as soon as in May political agitators appeared and tried to persuade the population to move to the Ukraine but there were no candidates.  At the end of June a unit of the Polish People’s Army appeared in the village. The soldiers took lodgings in the last ten huts in Osada. They announced that next day, at nine o’clock in the morning, everybody should stand along the side of the road from where the trucks will transport everybody to the railway station. Amidst the general lamentation the news spread that the relocation was not compulsory. Throughout the night the inhabitants were busy packing all their belongings and burying what they could not take with them. Before dawn they were all in the forest. In the morning the soldiers took only those families in whose houses they stayed. Not having found the owners the soldiers demolished the abandoned houses, broke the windows and doors. Then they went to the neighboring Smerek, which they found completely deserted. There they released the ten families from Osada.

 The Wetlina inhabitants spent the whole summer camping in the woods. On the hill called Szybenycia they established observation center with the bell. From there they could see Smerek and that was the only side from which they could expect the approach of the soldiers. When everything was quiet, young people would leave the forest and work in the fields. In case of danger the person on duty would strike the bell three times. According to the story of Wasyl Dziuba, the son of the pre-war chief officer of the village, Polish soldiers, not having met anybody in the village, wrote vulgar or offensive graffiti against the Ukrainians on the walls of houses. Father of the author of this book went to the village and removed the graffiti, being afraid of the Ukrainian partisans.

 The villagers lived in the woods till the fall. In the middle of October there was the first snowstorm. The village was just then occupied by the soldiers. 18 families who camped close to the border decided to cross to Slovakia. They went to Nova Sedlica where they had relatives. They managed to get permission for 3 day stay from the local border commander. During that time the people in the village took very good care of them and their belongings. After that short rest they returned to the woods where they stayed till the winter.  Another group of Wetlina people took shelter in another village, Zboj. At the beginning of winter, when the soldiers left, people returned to their village and started repairing devastated houses. The army halted the relocation action, but there was no peace. People were being forced by the army to work at the reparations of roads and bridges as well as setting up telephone lines.

 At the end of the winter of 1946 the authorities informed the village elders that there would be no more relocation attempts. The spring arrived and everybody started working in the fields but they tried to stay in their houses as little as possible to be ready to escape in case of being surrounded by the army.  In the middle of May the passing unit of the Polish People’s Army killed a young farmer Fedor Zazwirski who was carrying dinner to his parents who worked in the field.

 In the morning of June 7, 1946, the Polish army surrounded the village and shooting fire grenades set fire to 42 houses in Stare Siolo “for good morning”. Next, running through the village and shooting, they yelled, “Collect your things, you bandits”. Surprised people, seeing that there was no other way out, collected hastily their necessities. They were put on the trucks. Since there was not enough space on trucks for all the people the belongings were thrown out picked up by the people who accompanied the army. The local parson, Wasyl Buczko, was also deported with the rest. They were all taken to Cisna. From there they all went walking north. The first night they spent in Mchawa. On the second day they reached the station Lesko-Lukowica, where thousands displaced people were camping waiting to be transported to the Ukraine. People were picking grass to be able to feed hungry horses and cattle. On the night of June 10, soldiers tried to take away the people’ remaining belongings. In the ensuing turmoil 35 year old Iwan Sycz was killed. On the 15 June 1946 all the people from Wetlina were loaded into the cargo train carriages and transported to the east. In Sambor the Soviets took Iwan Stachurski and Mychal Tytanycz and were sent to Siberia.  According to some reports they also took some other people, among others Teodor Sulypka and Sorokacz. The destination of the transport turned out to be the area of Iwano-Frankowsk (the town of Stanislawow).

 Fourteen families managed to hide in the woods during the army siege and stayed in Wetlina. Also the fully fertile fields remained. In the summer Polish Army conducted the harvest work. Everything got loaded into the trucks and taken away. During the harvest soldiers slept on the hay in the Orthodox Church. They were forcing the inhabitants to work with them, even on Sundays. That summer one of the officers shot Iwan Matwijczyk and his son Pawel for refusing to work on a holiday. His house was burned. Also the abandoned houses were burned, partially by the Polish army and partially by the Ukrainian partisans.

 During the Action “Wisla” (Vistula), on May 10, 1947, 100 people were expelled from Wetlina. They were told that they had 3-4 hours to pack their belongings, but it lasted the whole day. After that nobody remained in the village. Some of the people were arrested and brought to the camp in Jaworzno. One of them was Kimak, who died in the camp. Stanislaw Oleksyszak, who was also arrested then, spent 8 years in prison, and Jan Drychynicz, did not receive any sentence. During the relocation Wasyl Hawryla got so badly beaten by the soldiers that he died.

 In 1958 the first new houses were built in Wetlina, in Stare Siolo. The first settlers came in connection with the newly initiated forest policy. People were coming from all over Poland. Some would eventually go back to where they came from but a number remained and settled for good with their families.  In 1962 the new highway got completed which connected Wetlina with Lesko, and in 1964 the first bus connection with Wetlina started functioning. Also a tourist center and a hotel were built at the same time. In 1967 a hotel was built on Wetlina Mountain Pasture. Also in the sixties a famous bar “Berdo” was built, one of the first in Bieszczady after the war. The old manor house was used as a post office and the buildings of the Forest Division occupied the rest of the buildings that once had belonged to the estate.

 In the place where the Orthodox Church once stood a wooden Catholic church was built. After 1989 there was a great development of tourist centers and facilities, and shops. There are the offices of village administrators. The village’s population is about 300 people now, which is less than 30% of its pre-war population.  

Owners of the Village

 Footnotes: (page 392)

 2          In 1669 they were already married

3          His first wife was Aleksandra Bolowna, and his second was Justyna Fredro

4          Teresa was a daughter of Justyna Fredro and Aleksander Lipski

Population  

List of Families Who Lived in Wetlina Before the Expulsion

 Wetlina-Stare Siolo (Old Village)