Haczów is a village in Brzozów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Haczów.
In 1975–1998, Haczów was located in the Krosno Voivodeship.
The village is the site of Assumption of Mary and St. Michael's Archangel church, built in the end of the 14th century. In 1624, it was severely damaged by Tatar attacks.
The site is one of the six with Wooden Churches of Southern Little Poland, on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites since 2003. Inside a valuable figural wall paintings dating from 1494 can be seen. The church has recently been renovated. It is believed that the Haczów church is the biggest Gothic wooden church in Europe.
Etymology The origin of the name of the village comes from combination of the name Hans and Hoff, which when translated means "John's Farm". This probably refers to the founder/investor of the village. In documents dating from 1388, the village is referenced as Haczów. This changes in 1400 to Hoczew, and finally back to Haczów in 1425.
Surnames of the inhabitants In the parish censuses from 1432 to 1440, there are many German names in Haczów: Benner (now Bonar), Dressler (Dreslar), Weiss (Weys, Weisz), Nickel (Nikiel), Scholz (Szulc), Gerlach (now Gierlach, Gierloch), Glockenbrecht, Hansel, Sauhaar, Zöckler, Grob, Niebel, Keller (Kyellar, now Kielar/Kielur), Springler (Szprynglar), Krauss (Krausz), Meierth, Haechsler, Ross, Strampe, Paetzhold, Kolb, Rosenberg (Rozenbark, Rozembark, now Rozenbajgier), Rautenkranz, Schindler (now Szyndlar), Struner, Polnar (Pojnar), Kassner, Regel, Heckerth (Ekiert), Matthorn, Rothbart, Szmyd, Scheiner, Reichel (Rajchel), Vlamann, Fakenday, Rumpel, Reiss (Riss, now Rysz), Schwarz, Tasz, Schmidt, Büttner (now Butnar/Bytnar).
The origin of the population caused Haczów much controversy and discussion. Political activists associated with the national democrats along with other researchers pointed towards the cultural changes associated with early colonization. Currently, residents of the names of German origin represent 70% of the population, while the remaining residents have the names of native Polish or Ukrainian-Lemko origin .
Geography The village lies west of Brzozów and east of Krosno. The village is extended along the Wisłok river for and the entire village covers an area approximately .
History
1388-1772 The first mention of Haczów from 1352, when Casimir III the Great issued a foundation charter for the colony of "Haczów". The village was founded in 1378 by the Walddeutsche on Magdeburg Law as a German Settlement village named Hanshoff, Hanshau."Villa, colonia teutonica. Hatshof, vel Hanshoff a Casimiro Magnus Reg. Pol. huc deducta. E previlegio nimirum Vladislai Jagiellonis ex anno 1388 locationem villae confirmate, patet, eam praedicto Casimiro Regni deberi." op.cit. [in:] Schematismus Universi Venerabilis Cleri.
On February 7, 1388, king Wladyslaw Jagiello confirmed the foundation document and he created the Roman Catholic parish in Haczów during his stay in Sandomierz. Archaeologists have discovered church burials from the late 14th or early 15th century, which show the size of the city in those times. From this time period the Pietà originates, which was later crowned by Pope John Paul II in 1997 in Krosno.
In 1402, the parish was bought by Schindeler Mathias, a cechmistrz from Krosno. In the year 1426 the village was sold for 300 parish fines. The proof of the kingship of these sites are provided by a document from 1504 in which King Aleksander Jagiellończyk gave Sanok, Haczów, Besko, and Wróblik Jan of Tarnow to a Ruthenian palatine in exchange for the loan of 2,300 zł. In 1520, king Zygmunt II August allowed a steward of Queen Jadwiga' court to purchase for 1200 zł the sołectwo of Haczów, and again in 1533 the king allowed the treasurer of the royal court, Marcin Wolski, to purchase the parish and sołectwo from the heirs of the deceased Nicholas Piotrowski . According to church documents,Akta biskupie diecezji przemyskiej, tomy XVI-XVII, Archiwum Archidiecezjalne w Przemyślu, 1604 in 1604 the local population still spoke German (see Walddeutsche ), thus explaining the origin of the polonised German names which the villagers have today. In 1624 the village was mostly destroyed by the Tatars, among the things that survived was the church. During this period, a number of cholera epidemics swept the village and in 1698 a large fire destroyed the majority of the village.
The owners of the Haczów sołectwo are:
1426 - Mathias Schindeler, the cechmistrz from Krosno 1520 - Mikołaj Piotrowski, the court chamberlain of Queen Jadwiga 1533 - Marcin Wolski, the treasurer and standard-bearer of the royal court of Sigismund I the Old 1698 - Marcin Jerzy Wybranowski
1772-1914 After the partition of Poland in 1772, Haczów was under Austrian rule . That same year a new statute went in which forbade the burial of the dead near churches which was to reduce the chances of epidemics. On March 15, 1775, the German language became the official language in schools.
In the period preceding to the outbreak of the Uprising of Krakow, operating in Haczów from 1845 to 1846 was an emissary of the National Government, Julian Goslar, who proclaimed among the peasants the National Government's decision to abolish serfdom and to spread its "new gospel to the Polish people." Austrian agents sensing danger, pinned the serfs against count Felix Urbanski and Julian Goslar in order to prevent the chances of an uprising in the region. On January 22, 1846, the serfs disarmed the count in the marketplace and handed him over to Austrian authorities in Sanok along with the priest, Walenty Zgrzebnym.
In 1869 the region was visited by geographer Wincenty Pol who was amazed that Walddeutsche settles who settled in the region along the Wisłok, spoke with such a fluent lesser Poland accent that it is almost impossible to recognize the settlers' German origin.Wincenty Pol. Historyczny obszar Polski;rzecz o dijalektach mowy polskiej. Kraków 1869.
In the year 1900, Haczów had 2,689 inhabitants; of which 2,150 were Roman Catholics, 486 were Greek-Catholic, and 50 were Jews. Until 1914, the village was one of the richest municipalities in the province of Galicia.
World War I When World War I started on the fourth of August 1914 it had an immediate impact on the lives of the Haczowian. A general mobilization order was sent out and all of the eligible men were sent off to serve in the Austro-Hungarian Army. The front eventually moved closer to Haczów and in September of that year, the sound of the artillery was heard, signaled the approach of the Russian army. The first Russian patrols appeared in Haczów on September 26, 1914. On October 4, 1914, a Cossack patrol raided the village only to be pushed back by the Austro-Hungarian Army. In November, the Austro-Hungarian army started a general retreat towards the Carpathian mountains and the last troops left Haczów on November 10. Shortly after a Russian patrol consisting of around 100 cossacks came into the village and started to pillage it. In December 1914, in particularly from December 10 to 12, large columns of the Russian army passed through the village in the direction of the Carpathian Mountains. However three days later, on December 15 the Russians started to retreat and fighting occurred between the two opposing armies which resulted in the destruction of a few houses as well as the death of three civilians. On December 16, 1914, the first units of the Austro-Hungarian army started to advance through the village. However, on December 22, 1914, the Austro-Hungarian army started to withdraw and once again the Russian army quartered in Haczów. The commander of Russian army, Radko Dymitrjew as well as Nikolai Mikolajewicz were quartered in the village.Zygmunt Jaślar: Haczów, niezwykła osada szwedzko-niemiecka. Jasło 1938 (Hanshau, eine eigenartige schwedisch-dt. Siedlung, Jessel 1938)
In the spring of 1915, the Russian army started to retreat from the region of Dukla and this resulted in a tremendous battle that began on May 8, 1915. During the course of this battle, 42 houses were burned and a number of civilians were killed including Maria Szuber who was hacked to death by the retreating Russian troops. The church also was slightly damaged after a grenade started a small fire which was eventually put out. After the battle, the front never again swept through Haczów. The German and Austro-Hungarians maintained up until the conclusion of the Eastern front a makeshift field hospital that was located at the local school.
Interwar Period (1918-1939)
Immediately following the conclusion of World War I, Haczów once again faced a new threat which this time were the Ukrainian nationalists as well as the Bolsheviks. In 1918, 250 locals volunteered in order to defend the sovereignty of the Second Polish Republic, they formed a company and were sent to Chyrów to fight against Ukrainian nationalists. During the Polish–Soviet War, the men from Haczów served bravery primary in artillery units and a number of soldiers returned to Haczów with the highest military order, the Virtuti Militari. The generosity of the Haczowian showed in 1919 when State Treasury made an appeal to raise money for the war effort, the locals responded by collecting a total of around a million koruna.
After the Polish-Soviet War, the village started to rebuild itself. In 1934 Haczów became the gmina (an administrative district) under which the following villages were contained in the gmina: Jabłonica Polska, Malinówka, Zmiennica, Trześniów, Buków, Jasionów, and Wzdów. In 1935 a monument was built in the memory of the Haczowian who died in the World War I as well as in the defense of the Second Polish Republic, initially there were 88 names of locals who died in the two conflicts.
World War II (1939–1944)
On September 9, 1939, Haczów came under German occupation when the elements of the German 1. Gebirgs Division marched into the village. Beginning from 1939 to 1940, the German authorities had tried, like Goralenvolk, to create a separate nation in Haczów. They created a new term for a Haczowian: Hatschower. However this turned out to be unsuccessful even after the threats of Nazi concentration camps as well as the promised benefits did not affect the residents of Haczów to admit to being Germans.Łukasz Grzywacz -Świtalski w książce: Z walk na Podkarpaciu. s.114 Many, in order to avoid being conscripted into the German army, admitted to a Swedish nationality. (Sweden was a neutral country.) After the failing attempt of Germanisation, the first arrests started on June 19, 1940. The Haczowian pastor Fr. Marcin Tomaka was arrested on June 19, 1940, for keeping an illegal radio. He was first sent to a prison in Sanok and then was transported to Auschwitz. On December 12, 1940, he was sent to Dachau (his camp number was 22242) where he died on July 8, 1942. A total of 25 Haczowians died in concentration camps and 3 died as the result of being overworked on forced labor projects.Adamski, Jerzy F. Haczów Gmina Na Podkarpaciu. Krosno: Zespół PUW "Roksana", 1997. Print. The years of 1939–1940 were the hardest for the locals who suffered under the new requisitions, quotas and taxes. Many suffered from hunger as well as the ever-present fear of arrests. The Jewish population was taken to Rymanów, where they were massacred in the forest.Zespół P.U.W. "Roksana" W Gminie Haczów. 1st ed. Krosno: Zespół P.U.W. "Roksana", 2009. Print.