Galician Trails: The Forgotten Story of One Family

by Zalewski, Andrew

  33. S. Dembinski. Rok 1846 Kronika Dworów Szlacheckich. Jaslo 1896; p. 371. The story refers to the village of Wroblowice.

  34. Thecla Traczewska’s parents were Valentinus de Bogusz Traczewski and Anna Borzecka. It is unclear why their domicile address was listed as Janowice, while their land was in the village of Gierowa.

  35. Jerzy Sewer Hr. Dunin-Borkowski. Spisk Nazwisk Szlachty Polskiej. Lwów 1887; p. 464. In addition, Zbigniew Leszczyc; Herby Szlachty Polskiej; Poznan 1908; vol. 1, p. 6; provided a detailed description of the Traczewskis’ coat of arms.

  36. Skorowidz Wszystkich Miejscowosci Polozonych w Krolestwie Galicyi i Lodomeryi; Lwów 1855; pp. 151, 183, and 213; still listed the Jordans as the owners of the neighboring villages of Olszyny, Roztoka, and Sukmanie. Since at least the sixteenth century, the Jordan family had been the main landowners in the area. After the death of Franciscus Jordan in 1841 at the age of 48, parts of the landholding were sold.

  From the late 1840s, Michaël was the head administrator of the Roztoka estate. He was not simply leasing a piece of land for a fee paid to the owner, but was obligated to turn a fixed amount of profit over to the hereditary owners. The rest of the profit belonged to him. He was described as the “owner” of the estate without the right of passing property to his heirs (possesori allodi in Latin). The owners of large estates from neighboring towns would befriend Michaël, later becoming godparents of his children. Among the guests at these celebrations in Roztoka we can find Adolph Jordan, one of the original owners of the Jordan estate.

  37.Based on church records, 1850–1879, from the parish of Olszyny, to which Roztoka belonged.

  38. Angela Traczewska married in 1856, and Catharina Regiec in 1859. They both left Roztoka to join their husbands in neighboring towns.

  39. Dominus means master, owner; whereas Domina means lady, mistress of the family. Other inhabitants of Roztoka are listed with their occupations, such as farmers or servants, without additional titles. The parish of Olszyny (Roztoka) records, 1850–1871.

  40. Catharina Regiec had the out-of-wedlock baby in 1856. It is unclear whether the man who married her three years later was the father of the boy. Valentinus Traczewski, the hereditary owner of property in Gierowa or Janowice, was listed as the main witness during the marriage ceremony. As the wedding took place one year after Thecla’s death and just a few days before Michaël’s second marriage, it suggests an ongoing close relationship between Catharina and the family of her late sister-in-law.

  Surveying church records from several villages and small towns around Roztoka and, further east, in and around Bohorodczany, I found several records of out-of-wedlock births but not in the families of local estate-owners or nobility.

  41. Church records of Olszyny (Roztoka) parish. His name was Michael Babiarz.

  42. Kochanowski family members were godparents to one of the Regiec girls. In 1860, they are listed as the owners of an estate in the neighboring village of Olszyny. By 1888, they become the owners of a large property in Roztoka. Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajow Slowianskich. Editors B. Chlebowski and W. Walewski. Warszawa 1888; vol. IX, p. 802.

  43. The right of citizens to free basic education was established in a decree signed by Franz Joseph on December 21, 1867. In addition, this decree laid out the principle of educational instruction in native languages (articles 17 and 19). This progressive law, however, faced the enormous challenge of financing schools, particularly in small towns and rural areas. In later years, the situation became even more complex with heated budgetary debates, complicated by rising tensions between Poles and Ruthenians. Both groups remained vocal and adversarial.

  44. Josepha and Mary (Marya) Regiec were midwives in the district town of Sanok from 1874 to 1878.

  45. Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajow Slowianskich; Editor B. Chlebowski; Warszawa 1893; vol. XIII, p. 358; provided a contemporary description of Wieloglowy. Wieloglowy and Janowice were only 25 miles from each other.

  Unfortunately, there is no information on where Joseph went to school and who supported him. The nearest teachers’ college was likely in Tarnow; nearby Nowy Sacz still lacked such an institution in the mid-1870s.

  46. Dziennik Polski January 1, 1887, provided a stark picture of educational needs in Galicia. The literacy rates were 58 percent and 52 percent in Cracow and Lvov, respectively. In the remaining parts of the crown land, literacy was estimated at 25 percent or less; particularly appalling rates of under 5 percent were noted in the mountainous areas. In Galicia, containing 27 percent of the Austrian population of Austro-Hungary, there were only 33 high schools. Galicia had two universities and a polytechnic school.

  In the decade between 1875 and 1884, there was an unprecedented rise in the number of Jewish students in high schools, by 81 percent. This signaled a growing emphasis on education in Jewish communities, with the dropping of prior barriers that had limited their access to it, as well as the fact that many Jewish families were embracing assimilation as a new way of life.

  47. A copy of the school Chronicle received courtesy of Mr. Janusz Bielec, principal of the Wieloglowy School Network (2011).

  48. Bronislawa Lösch became a teacher-in-training in a girls’ school in Nowy Sacz in 1879. She was appointed a permanent teacher, together with her lifelong friend Klotylda Kowalska, in 1885 (Kurjer Lwowski July 4, 1885).

  49. The Winkler family had been well-acquainted with the Lösches since Andreas’s career began in Tarnow more than 40 years before. Wilhelm Winkler, the son of Andreas’s friends, would likely help to transfer Joseph Regiec to Nowy Sacz a few years later.

  Vincent Telesnicki Jr. was a stationmaster in Piwniczna, a small town in the region. Employment records from Szematyzm Krolestwa Galicyi i Lodomeryi z Wielkim Ksiestwem Krakowskim na Rok 1886; Lwów 1886; pp. 489 and 491. Vincent Jr. was Stephania’s brother-in-law, having married her older sister Wilhelmina in 1879. His father, Vincent Telesnicki Sr., was a long-serving secretary in the commissioner’s office, working under Andreas Lösch.

  50. Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajow Slowianskich. Editors F. Sulimierski, B. Chlebowski, and W. Walewski. Warszawa 1885; vol. VI, pp. 781–782.

  51. There were other bearers of the Regiec name who showed similar upward mobility: Ludwik Regiec started as an assistant lecturer in Lvov’s Polytechnic School (1886), became district engineer in Tarnobrzeg (1900– 1903), and assumed the position of head engineer in the Commission of Vistula River in Cracow (1907–1913). Jan Regiec was a physician in Cracow (1901–1907). Zygmunt Regiec was a doctor of law in Cracow (1913).

  52. The town census listed separate households under the families of Andreas Lösch (house 270) and Joseph Regiec (house 478) in 1890, whereas Wilhelmina lived in Stary Sacz with her family (house 349).

  53. Wanda Julia Regiec was born in Nowy Sacz on September 9, 1888. The records indicate her father’s employment with the railway. Soon after, Kurjer Lwowski, on January 1, 1889, listed Joseph Regiec among newly appointed railroad employees. The subsequent annual records of civil administration listed Joseph Regiec as clerk (1890 and 1893–1894) or assistant to the stationmaster (1891–1892) in Nowy Sacz.

  54. Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajow Slowianskich. Editors B. Chlebowski and W. Walewski. Warszawa 1889; vol. X, pp. 354–360. Detailed descriptions of the history of Nowy Sacz and an overview of the city center, the school, and recreational areas at the time the Regiec family lived there.

  55. Kurjer Lwowski July 11, 1885.

  56. Toward the end of her life, Bronislawa lived at 39 Jagiellonian Street.

  57. Tadeusz Aleksander. Zycie spoleczne i przemiany kulturalne Nowego Sacza w latach 1870–1990. Oficyna Literacka, Krakow 1993; p. 37. The women’s teachers’ college opened in 1903; the high school for girls began admissions in September of 1907.

  58. The Folk School Association. Minutes of the meeting on November 24, 1905.

  59. Mieszczanin February 1, 1904, descr
ibed festivities during the carnival ball that was organized by Bronislawa’s association in January of that year. Information about Bronislawa’s work with the Folk School Association comes from the minutes of the meeting of April 23, 1908.

  60. The Folk School Association. Bronislawa raised this topic many times but finally succeeded on November 10, 1908, when the executive committee agreed to progress with printing the postcards.

  61. Kurjer Lwowski June 24, 1909, reported on the teachers’ retreat and the Folk School Association: the minutes of the meeting on September 3, 1911, were the last recorded by Bronislawa Lösch. This was also her last public appearance. In November’s minutes, there is a reference to Miss Lösch’s absence due to illness.

  62. Bronislawa Lösch died at the age of 64, in September 1912; the cause was listed as tuberculosis. Her funeral was arranged by her friend Klotylda Kowalska, the principal of St. Elisabeth School for Girls.

  Sprawozdanie z Dzialnosci Towarzystwa Szkoly Ludowej za Rok 1912. Krakow 1913; pp. XXVIII and 55*–56*. Included a tribute to Bronislawa and a mention of the opening of the school bearing her name.

  63. Vincent Telesnicki Jr. married Wilhelmina Lösch on February 2, 1879, in Nowy Sacz. The parents of the groom were Vincent Telesnicki Sr. and Euphrosina Jahl. Based on the records of the civil administration in Galicia, Vincent Telesnicki Jr. worked in the following towns: Tarnow (1884), Stary Sacz (1887–1892), and Jaslo (1892–1893).

  64. Sądzeczanin May 1, 1897, reported on the competition between the only two professional photographers in Nowy Sacz. Mr. Michael Friedman, the Jewish owner of the first photography shop, encouraged the public to use his services by lowering his prices, to the outrage of supporters of the Janina studio, owned by Mr. Alfred Wierosz Silkiewicz. Disingenuous arguments about undermining professional standards were laced with anti-semitic implications in a local newspaper that waged a campaign against the Friedman studio. In spite of strong words, the public seemed to ignore appeals to boycott Friedman.

  65. In these early cameras, when the lens cap was taken off, the subject had to stand still for several minutes, allowing for the long exposure of silver-coated plates. These were wooden, box-like cameras standing on tripods.

  66. The press praised Mr. Winkler for his composure during the tragedy. Although the first name was not cited in the reports, this might have been the same Wilhelm Winkler who had been witness at Joseph’s and Stephania’s wedding and brought Joseph Regiec to his initial post in Nowy Sacz.

  67. Kurjer Lwowski April 19, 20, and 21; special edition of Kurjer Lwowski April 23, 1894; and Pogon April 22, 1894. The fire received wide coverage in the regional and national press. By coincidence, it broke out on the fourth anniversary of a similar but smaller disaster in Nowy Sacz. There was no doubt about the extent of damage; the reports uniformly blamed the city administration for mismanagement, as no action had been taken to make the city better prepared to deal with such easily erupting blazes.

  At the time of the fire, Bronislawa and Eleonora Lösch occupied house 270, just across the street from the royal castle, further away from the central square. Andreas Lösch was not around to see the big fire; he had passed away a year before.

  68. The entries refer to the school year 1898–1899. In 1899, the list of honor students also identified Janina Telesnicka, the youngest daughter of Wilhelmina and the late Vincent Telesnicki Jr.

  69. Kurjer Stanislawowski June 24 and 28, 1894, described the preparations for the opening of the Railway Directorate in Stanislawow, scheduled for July 1 of that year. This new administrative center was responsible for the area from Stanislawow to the Russian border in the east and through Bukovina in the south. Kurjer Stanislawowski January 6, 1895, announced the hiring of Joseph Regiec by the Railway Directorate and his annual pay of 600 guldens. (At the time, Dr. Nimhin, who served as de facto mayor of Stanislawow, was earning 1,200 guldens per year.) This new position explains why subsequent civil administration records listed Joseph Regiec in Buczacz, in eastern Galicia, in 1895; in Nowosielica from 1897 to 1899; and in Czerniowce in 1900.

  70. Kai Struve. “Gentry, Jews, and Peasants” in Creating the Other: Ethnic Conflict and Nationalism in Habsburg Central Europe. Edited by Nancy M. Wingfield. Austrian Studies. Berghahn Books 2003; vol. 5, pp.116–118. For years, the relationships between Galician peasants and Jews had been growing increasingly confrontational. Stanislaw Stojalowski, a former priest, encouraged self-education, financial independence, and abstinence from alcohol among the impoverished peasants. With time, however, his political views became enmeshed with overt and vile anti-Semitic messages, in which Jews were blamed for everything wrong in the countryside. In this climate of constant agitation, not much was needed to trigger unrest.

  Dziennik Polski June 21, 1893, reported on the trial of Stojalowski held in Cracow. The indictment listed several prior verdicts against him by civilian courts and ecclesiastical tribunals for the incitement of violence among peasants and dereliction of duties as a priest.

  Pogon June 18, 1898. The weekly published in Tarnow, in the center of the unrest, condemned violence by Stojalowski and his supporters. The paper blamed the anti-Jewish attacks on false charges that Jews had poisoned the well of a local priest, leading to the deaths of many villagers. Attacks on Jewish-owned businesses had followed.

  71. Kurjer Lwowski June 20, 26, and 30, 1898; and July 2, 1898.

  72. The New York Times September 29, 1898. The article refers to excommunicated Roman Catholic priest Stanislaw Stojalowski.

  73. Kurjer Lwowski February 23, 1893.

  CHAPTER 3

  1. A. Szarlowski. Stanislawow i Powiat Stanislawowski. Stanislawow 1887; pp. 20–27. The original village that gave rise to the future town of Stanislawow was most likely called Zablotow (loosely translated as “behind the marsh”). In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, one part of the modern city was still called the Zablotow district. The town could trace its origin to 1662, when Count Potocki issued the Magdeburg Rights to its population (an example of a document laying out internal rules of a town by its ruler). These were confirmed by King Casmir the Great in the following year. The younger Stanislaw Potocki died while defending Vienna from an Ottoman attack in 1683.

  2. Kurjer Stanislawowski September 17, 1911, described the origin of the name “Stanislawow” in preparation for the 250th anniversary of the city, to be celebrated the following year.

  3. A. Szarlowski. Stanislawow i Powiat Stanislawowski. Stanislawow 1887; pp. 59–62 and 157. By 1704, the Armenian community numbered only 460 in Stanislawow.

  4. Ulrich van Werdum. Das Reisejournal des Ulrich von Werdum, 1670–1677. P. Lang Frankfurt am Mein, New York 1990 (Helicon series).

  5. Haslo March 29, 1874, referred to the attacks on Stanislawow by Tatars aligned with the Ottoman Turks in 1676, a domestic war that engulfed the town in 1712, and the Russian invasion of 1739.

  6. Continuato Edictorum et Mandatorum Universalium in Regnis Galiciae et Lodomeriae. Leopoli 1774; pp. 9–10, 19–22, and 66–69. The laws were issued in 1773 by Maria Theresa, who governed with a co-regent, her son Joseph II. The edicts were implemented by Count Anton Pergen, the first governor of Galicia.

  7. A. Szarlowski. Stanislawow i Powiat Stanislawowski. Stanislawow 1887; pp. 158–159.

  8. Kurjer Stanislawowski May 24, 1896, indicated that Catharina Kossakowska (maiden name Potocka) was the owner of the Stanislawow dominion since 1771. The article described her troubles with civil administration and the feisty language she used after losing her battle to keep Stanislawow. The content of the letter is adapted to the English language.

  9. Kurjer Stanislawowski March 20, 1904; and April 10, 1904; provided details of the devastation.

  10. Kronika September 16 and 19, 1880, described the visits of Franz Joseph in 1880. The first was a 15-minute visit of the imperial train on the way to other cities of eastern Galicia; three days later, the train made a similar stop there before leaving Galicia for Hungary. It seems a strong possibility
that someone from the Sobolewski family from nearby Bohorodczany witnessed the emperor’s visit. Franz Joseph also visited Stanislawow in 1851.

  11. The building was erected on Fish Square, donated by the city of Stanislawow. Planning began in 1893, and the synagogue opened in 1899. The final plans were drawn up by the Viennese architect Wilhelm Stiassny. As reported by Kurjer Stanislawowski on May 26, 1895, the mysterious stone apparently had been placed during construction of an old Orthodox church on the same site in 1670. Across the street from the newly built synagogue was a theater that opened in 1891.

  12. Haslo January 4, 1874, indicated that gas lighting for a few businesses and private homes would be in service later that year. In reality, the service was initiated two years later. Kurjer Stanislawowski February 17, 1901; December 8, 1901; and November 29, 1903; described the expansion of the service, contrasting Stanislawow with other cities of Galicia.

  13. Kurjer Stanislawowski July 24, 1904.

  14. Kurjer Stanislawowski August 2, 1903, reported strikingly low annual mortality rates for Stanislawow, compared to Lvov and Cracow. Similarly, the rates of mortality for tuberculosis were lower in Stanislawow. Kurjer Stanislawowski June 10, 1906, provided a detailed report of hospital activities. Actually, the city had three hospitals: the military hospital serving the local garrison, the city or public hospital, and the Jewish hospital.

  Kurjer Stanislawowski June 23, 1918, announced that Anna Frankel, the town’s first female physician, had opened a practice.

  15. Kurjer Stanislawowski December 4, 1904; and M. Orlowicz, Ilustrowany Przewodnik po Galicyi, Lwów 1919, pp. 134–135.

  16. Kurjer Stanislawowski February 20, 1910, quoted Stanislauer Nachrichten (the Yiddish weekly), which threatened a boycott of high schools using the Polish language if the demands for a separate school for Jewish students were not met. The term Maskilin denotes leaders of the Haskalah movement among European Jews, which advocated secular studies and wider involvement in the secular world.