Village of Strzebowiska

Welcome to our beautiful village - one of the most attractive places in the Bieszczady Mountains if it comes to landscapes. Strzebowiska is located by the Great Bieszczady Bend, between Wetlina and Cisna.

Strzebowiska Settlement was mentioned for the first time in 1561, as the one still possessing so called wolnizna (the right to use the manorial land without incuring the fees). Its original name is "Zrubowiszcze" - it originates from the Ukrainian word "zrubowaty" - Polish "zrębywać", English "hew". Since the end of 19th century until 1967 it was called Strubowiska, which was changed into Strzebowiska, so that it would sound more Polish. The village was incorporated, based on the Wallachian Law, in the furthest south-eastern part of property belonging to the Bal family from Hoczew.  Until 1945 there was a wooden Ortodox church in the village, close to which there was a cemetery. The village was inhabited by Gypsies, Jews, Poles, and Ukrainians who were the majority. During the interwar period there were two Gypsy families, who made living from metalwork and playing music. There were also three Jewish families. In the colloquial speech they were named as: Dohen, Herszko and Kowa. Herszko, who was a Jew, owned a shop here. In the village there were also a windmill and an inn.

In the years 1900-1904 the narrow-gauge railway was built in the village. The tracks led from Majdan, through Strubowiska, to Kalnica. At present, the only trace of this railway is the forest route (so called "stokówka") in the forests in the southern part of the village. After the 2nd World War a new line of the forest railway was built, it cut the village in the middle.

In 1921 there were 53 houses and 278 inhabitants in the village. People lived in timber, thatched cottages. By the cottages there were stone cellars, roofed with small canopies. Wells were encased with stones, and water was obtained by poles equipped with hooks. Well sweeps were really rare. 

There was a school in the village as well, which at the beginning of was located in a rented house. In autumn of 1935, together with the inhabitants of the nearby village of Przysłup, a new school was built. In the years 1936-37 Zygmunt Bąk, who was a teacher, organized lessons for adults, however, in 1939 there were still many illiterate people. The school made use of the Lemko coursebooks: "Łemkiwśkyj bukwar" - a Lemko reading primer and "Persza łemkiwśka czytanka" - introduced in 1934.

There was an independent parish in Strubowiska until 1785, later the village was joined to the parish in Kalnica, and in the first half of the 19th century both mentioned settlements were joined to the parish in Smerek. The first Orthodox church of Birth of Blessed Virgin Mary was built here about 1700. The second Orthodox church of St. Michael, also wooden, built at the place of the first one, was erected in 1843. Its interior was roofed by log vault. This temple was destroyed after 1945. Until a few years ago, at the Orthodox cemetery it was possible to find three iron crucifixes that used to crown the Orthodox church.

Today in the place of the Orthodox church there is only a clump of spruces growing. The cemetery itself is located on a vast hill densely overgrown with trees. Not a single tombstone has survived. Walking through the Strzebowice cemetery one may only notice a few ground graves overgrown with moss and grass. In 2008 citizens of Ukraine erected a few-meter high crucifix at the place where the Orthodox church used to be. It is meant to commemorate the former inhabitants. Someone always remembers about the abandoned cemetery around the Orthodox church and lit candles are often seen there.

In front of the place where the old Orthodox church used to be, by the main road, there is a brick whitened shrine with a niche, where the statue of Mary, Mother of God is. It was built about 1920, was founded by Wasyl Podolak, who used to live in the village. It was built in the semicircle of old lindens, in the place where in the 19th century was and a wooden crucifix.

During the war, the sotnia (military unit) of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army commanded by "Weseły" stationed in the village. On 21 March 1945 the village was surrounded by two battalions of Soviet NKVD (The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs), supported by a unit of Polish Army and militiamen from Cisna. It was one of the biggest clashes with Ukrainian guerilla warfare in the Bieszczady Mountains. The Ukrainians defended themselves for a few hours in order to have time to evacuate a large number of sick and wounded. Finally, they ran away to the forest losing 13 killed. During the fight almost entire village was burnt, only 3-5 houses were left. According to one of the accounts, it was burnt by the Soviets after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army escaped. After that incident, people who were still alive, started building dug-outs and huts for themselves, and only in summer they started rebuilding houses. Most of the inhabitants of Strubowiska were evacuated under duress to Ukraine in 1946. During the "Vistula" operation between 28 April and 10 May 1947 the next 30 people were evacuated under duress from the settlement. After the evacuation, no one was left here.

Today in Strzebowiska there are several dozens of houses, but no buildings from before the war survived. The present inhabitants arrived here after the war from all over Poland: from Zakopane, Silesia, from the Coast, Rzeszów and Warsaw. From among the old inhabitants, forced to move to Ukraine no one returned, but they visit Strzebowiska every year, during the Lemko Bonfire. By the road-side shrine they light candles.