Wielopole see: Zagórz

See also: Sanok (cemetery)

 

Historical background

 

Based on the census of Wielopole, today’s district of Zagórz, carried out in 1932, it is known that fourteen Gypsies lived there at that time (their names are in archival documents). They were settled Gypsies.

In 1941, the Gestapo shot 3 Gypsies from Wielopole (Antoni, Feliks and Henryk Huczko) in Zagórz. In May of the following year, as a result of a report about the theft of potatoes from the field, another 5 people who lived in the Wielopoleforest (na Długim) were shot. Only two of them were identified: Grzegorz Siwak Hrynio and his mother, who herself volunteered for execution. The remaining Roma from Wielopole were thrown out of the village by the Banderites in 1946. Their homes were burnt down.

The exhumation of the bodies of the murdered took place in 1961. Their remains were transferred to the mass grave of war victims at the Central Cemetery in Sanok, at Rymanowska Street.

The Gypsies from Wielopole who managed to survive (but their fate is unknown) include: Andrzej Dymytrak – born 1891, Stanisław Dymytrak – born 1927, Ewa Huczko-Siwa – born 1906, Antonina Kujbida – born 1913, Józef Petela – born 1909 (probably non-Roma), Ewa Siwak – born 1935, Maria Huczko – born in 1939.

It is also known about other executions by Schutzpolizei, gendarmes and Gestapo men, e.g. 20 unidentified Gypsies shot in 1941 in Zagórze. In total, at least 28 Gypsies are buried in the mass grave of the victims of fascism in Sanok. On the grave, there are names of the murdered (Poles), but there are no names of Gypsies among them. Also on the information board there is no annotation about the remains of Gypsies that were moved there.

Names of identified victims:

Maria Dymytrak-Huczko-Siwak – born 1882

Feliks Siwak – born 1909

Grzegorz Hrynio Siwak – born 1917

Antoni Huczko – born in 1898

Teodor Siwak – born in 1909

Bazyli Siwak – born in 1919

 

Materials

J.T., Nie masz już Cyganów [There are no more Gypsies], „Verbum. Miesięcznik parafii pw. Wniebowzięcia N.M.P. w Zagórzu” [Verbum. Monthly bulletin of the Assumption of Holy Virgin Mary Parish in Zagórz], May 28, 2006, No. 5(30)/2006, pp. 10-11; on-line: http://www.parafia-zagorz.pl/verbum/30verbum-preview-pages.pdf

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