Wisłok Wielki

Wisłok Wielki [ˈviswɔk ˈvjɛlki] is a village in the Bukowsko Upland mountains. Since 1999 it is situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodship (province) of south-eastern Poland; previously in Krosno Voivodship (1975-1998) and Sanok district, Bukowsko subdistrict, located near the towns of Medzilaborce and Palota (in northeastern Slovakia). It was formerly officially divided into two parts: Wisłok Górny ("upper Wisłok") and Wisłok Dolny ("lower Wisłok"). The name "Wisłok Wielki" means "great Wisłok".

History

In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1361. The wooden church replaced an older church from at least 1785. The church was destroyed in 1946. The village was burned down on 24 January 1946 by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. In 1785 the village lands comprised 6.14 km² (2.37 sq mi). There were 711 Catholics.

Peter and Paul "from Hungary" owned Wisłok Wielki at one time (1361). These are the same brothers who owned Bukowsko and several other area villages (see Nowotaniec, Zboiska, Humniska etc.).

Particularly after 1930, there was still little or no antagonism at the local level between Rusnaks and the Poles in the Sanok County. After World War I, Lemkos founded two short-lived republics, the Lemko-Rusyn Republic in the west of Galicia, which had a russophile orientation, and the Komancza Republic, with an Ukrainophilic orientation. This was a smaller, Ukrainiophile organization, lasting from 2 November 1918 to 23 January 1919. Wisłok Wielki remained an isolated village, bounded on all sides by smaller, equally homogeneous, Rus villages; yet marriages with Poles were still quite common (Poles were outnumbered only by Jews at the market centre of Bukowsko). The rules applied were the same as in Austrian times - both partners adhered to the language and religion of the community in which they resided, and their children were raised accordingly.

In 1939, Wisłok Wielki was occupied by German forces (the Soviet-German demarcation line followed the line of the San River a short distance to the east). A short time later many of her able-bodied men were transferred to Germany as slave labour. The Poles at the police station were replaced by a Ukrainian staff. Throughout the war the Germans were astute in exploiting the accumulated grievances and aspirations of the nationally conscious Ukrainians, though they never showed themselves to be genuinely interested in satisfying the desire for independence. In the course of the war the Rusnaks were more exposed to Ukrainian influence than ever before; even the priests sent to Wislok were from lowland regions of the Ukraine proper, with no knowledge of the Lemkian dialect.

In Wislok Wielki large investments in the State Farms (communal farms DG) were made in the mid-1950s, some time before major improvements in local communications and in the community infrastructure. A major complex was constructed at each end of the long valley of the Wislok Wielki.

Geography

The municipality lies at an altitude of 482 m (1,581 ft) and covers an area of 6.3 km² (2.4 sq mi). It has a population of about 250 people.

Hiking trails

• European walking route E8

Literature

• Prof. Adam Fastnacht. Slownik Historyczno-Geograficzny Ziemi Sanockiej w Średniowieczu (Historic-Geographic Dictionary of the Sanok District in the Middle Ages), Kraków, 2002, ISBN 83-88385-14-3.
• C.M. Hann. A Village Without Solidarity: Polish Peasantry in Years of Crisis. 1985.

External links

• The latin church parish of Saint Onuphrius in Wisłok Wielki