Other villages of interest in Pluzhanskoy included Boroisov, Bolotin, Balyary, Dertka, Miakoty,
Pivneva Gora, Mala (small) Radohosch, Storoniche (and Fuerstental/Kustarna), Gnoynitsa,
and Syvir.
Boroisov (Russian:
Борисов; Ukrainian: Borysiv, Бори́сів; Polish: Borisow; German: Borisoff), was
founded around the year 1520 and had close ties to the noble Ostrog Family
through the 16th and 17th Centuries. In 1618 the village was destroyed by Tatar
raiders. Boroisov was the center for the
local Orthodox Parish and a small green, wooden church with a gold onion dome
was built here. In the 19th
Century, this village had a Polish majority; by 1906 the population of the
village was 2899 people in 550 households.
After the Russian Revolution, Polish underground operations were
headquartered in the village as Boroisov was a center of resistance to Soviet
reforms. Local farmers used largely
passive means to oppose massive taxes.
Many chose to smuggle their goods across the border to sell in Poland
where they could get higher prices. Most
of the Polish population was evicted in the purges of the 1930s.
The village is about a mile or two due east of Pluzhnoe and
in 2001 had a population of about 1491 people.
Today the village administratively is in the Ukrainian Khmelnytsky Oblast or Province (Хмельницька область),
Izyaslav Raion or District (Ізяславському
районі), Borisov Village Rada or Council
(Борисівська сільська рада).
Bolotin (Russian:
Белотин; Ukrainian: Bilotyn, Біло́тин; Polish: Bialotyn; German: Belotin, also
known as Bielotyn), founded around the year 1506, is a village located along
the ancient road from Ostrog to Zaslaw.
For a couple decades in the mid-1800s, Bolotin was a resort town with natural
hydrogen sulfide baths. Bolotin was also
known in the 19th Century for its porcelain production due to nearby
deposits of white clay (kaolin). The
porcelain factory, which employed 89 people in 1867 and produced 23,000 pieces,
was Jewish owned. Red clay was found
later near Pivneva Gora, 3 miles away to the northwest, which enabled
production of flat red tiles. A
water-powered mill was located on the Rotten Horn River (Gnili Rig: Ukr: Гнили́й Ріг, Czarna; Pol: Gnily Row) which
flows through the town. In the late
1800s, a cholera epidemic swept through the village, resulting in many deaths which
effectively ended porcelain production.
By this time, Jews were 30% of the population while the majority was
Polish. In 1906 the village had a
population of 710 persons in 75 households.
The purges of the 1930s saw many Poles who were labeled Kulaks sent to Siberia. Just prior to WWII, the Soviets established a
concrete plant here and a temporary narrow gauge railway was built in 1946
which linked the town to Krivin. This
was dismantled only a year later. By the
mid 1900s, bus routes were established to Slavuta and Izyaslaw (Zaslaw). With the collapse of the USSR, schools, shops
and factories deteriorated. Today the
village is still in undergoing difficult times; most areas are covered with
weeds and the majority of the inhabitants are pensioners. The village is surrounded by the Ostrog
forest and most of the inhabitants (of whom there were 230 in 2001) make their
living from timber related industry.
Berries, mushrooms and herbs grow here, but the soil has never been
suitable for agriculture. By road via
Storoniche, the village lies about 7 miles northeast of Pluzhnoe. Today, the village administratively is in the
Ukrainian Khmelnytsky Oblast or Province
(Хмельницька область), Izyaslav Raion
or District (Ізяславському районі), Bilotinska Village Rada or Council (Білотинська сільська рада).
A firsthand account of a survivor of the Soviet purges of
the 20th century from the daughter of a villager of Bolotin can be
found here: http://sybir.blogspot.com/2005_09_28_archive.html
A mile straight east of Leeleva was the village of Khoten Druhyi or Second (II): (Russian: Хотень Второй or Другой; Ukrainian: Hoten
II, Хоте́нь Другий; Polish: Khoten
Druhyy; Germany Choten 2; also known as Balyary;
Баляри). This village, of unknown
establishment date, was in the 19th Century primarily inhabited by
Poles. The villagers worked in the
woods, toiling at forest-related industry including felling trees, sawing
boards, etc. These villagers established
a barrel-making industry producing staves and barrels in the 19th
and early 20th centuries (balyar
being a derivation of the Polish term for barrel) as the land surrounding
Balyary was not fit for farming. The
special axes that were required to make staves were made by the well-known local
blacksmith, Stephen Kosovo, or by the Germans in Karolswalde and Leeleva. In the 20th Century when demand
for barrels began to diminish, the villagers began to make a living fishing
from the nearby waterways. A small brook
(named Złuze) flowed between Khoten I and Balyary, narrow enough that a man
could jump over it. The water was pure
and clean. A mill was built at some
point in the early 1900s on this stream.
An elementary school was established in the village in the early 20th
Century, while the local secondary school (high school) was in Kunev. The Soviets established a professional agriculture
school here in mid-1930s. As with many
of the nearby villages, many Poles were evicted to the east in the 1930s. The village is in the Ukrainian Khmelnytsky Oblast or Province (Хмельницька область),
Izyaslav Raion or District (Ізяславському
районі), Pluzhnenska Village Rada or Council
(Плужненська сільська рада) and in 2001 had a population of 102 people. Khoten
Pershyi or First (I): (Russian: Хотень Первый; Ukrainian: Hoten
I, Хоте́нь Перший; Polish: Choten; German: Choten), is located ¼ mile east of
Balyary and had a population of 760 in 220 households in 1906. In 2001 this village had a population of 296.
Dertka (Russian:
Дертка; Ukrainian: Dertka, Де́ртка; Polish, German: Dertka), was populated by a
mix of Ukrainian and Polish inhabitants and was established in the 18th
Century. A late 19th Century Polish Gazetteer indicates that an extensive mill and sawmill, located on the pond, was located here, and that the inhabitants of the village busied themselves with sawing trees and producing tar. In 1906
the village had a population of 464 people living in 31 households. The Soviets established a concrete plant in
the village in the 1930s and in the 1960s Dertka was in the same collective as the
formerly German colonies of Novoselka (Jadwinin) and
Mikhaylovka. Residents today produce
vegetables such as corn, potatoes, beets, as well as hay. This village is just about a 1 ½ mile north
of Leeleva. In 2001 the village had a
population of 154 and today is in the Ukrainian Khmelnytsky Oblast or Province (Хмельницька область),
Izyaslav Raion or District (Ізяславському
районі), Dertkivska Village Rada or Council
(Дертківська сільська рада).
Miakoty (Russian:
Мякоты; Ukrainian: M’yakoti, М'яко́ти; Polish: Mjakoty; German: Miakoty) was
the site of a large dairy by the late 19th Century, and in 1906 the
village had a population of 1767 people in 329 households, most of whom were
Poles and Germans. The village neighbors
Leeleva immediately to the south, standing about a mile away. The population in 2001 was 1247 and today
Miakoty is in the Ukrainian Khmelnytsky Oblast
or Province (Хмельницька область), Izyaslav Raion
or District (Ізяславському районі), M’yakotivska Village Rada or Council (М'якотівська сільська рада).
Pivneva Gora (Pivneva
Mount) (Russian: Пивнева Гора; Ukrainian: Pivneva Hora; Пі́внева Го́ра;
Polish: Pivneva Hora) is a village named for a Jewish innkeeper named Pinya,
who established an inn at this location on hills in the Ostrog forest about 3
miles northeast of Mikhaylovka. In the
19th Century, clay was exported from this village to locations
including Ostrog in order to make pottery.
In 1906, the population was only 10 people in 2 households. Today, Pivneva Gora stands on the southern
shores of the cooling reservoir for the nuclear plant in Netishyn. Today the village is a near ghost-town as
people have moved to more urbanized areas.
The population in 2001 was only 7 people. The village administratively is in the Ukrainian
Khmelnytsky Oblast or Province (Хмельницька
область), Izyaslav Raion or District (Ізяславському
районі), Bilotinska Village Rada or Council
(Білотинська сільська рада).
Mala (small) Radogosch
(Russian: Малая Радогощь; Ukrainian: Mala Radohosch, Мала́ Радогощ; Polish:
Mała Radohoszcz; German: Klein Radogoschtsch) was first mentioned in the
village’s charter of 1396, when the village was given to the reigning Ostrohski
prince from the Grand Duke of Lithuania.
By the 19th Century, the population of the village was mostly
Polish and contained Roman Catholic as well as Russian Orthodox
congregations. Some Ukrainian Catholics also
lived in this village. A wooden church,
the Orthodox Pokrovska Tservka
(Intercession Church) was built in the village in the second half of the 19th
Century. In 1906, the population of this
village was 237 people in 43 households.
As with other Polish villages, many inhabitants were
expelled by the Soviets in the 1930s.
Some of these Polish villages tried to retain their Polish culture
during the ‘20s and early ‘30s, but all eventually succumbed to Stalin’s forces
by the mid-1930s. Small Radogosch is the
neighboring village to Leeleva immediately to the west, sitting just 1 mile
away. Only ¼ mile to the west is the
village named Velyka (great) Radogosch.
In 2001 the population was 124 people.
Today the village is in the Ukrainian Khmelnytsky Oblast or Province (Хмельницька область), Izyaslav Raion or District (Ізяславському районі),
M’yakotivska Village Rada or Council (М'якотівська
сільська рада).
Storoniche
(Russian: Сторониче; Ukrainian: Storonyche, Сторони́че; Polish: Storonicze;
German: Storonitsche) is a village which was founded around 1803 on land owned
by the Jablonovsky Family. Storoniche
remained under Jablonovsky possession until the Russian Civil War. The village stands in the middle of the
Ostrog Forest, on the northern edge of a large swamp. In 1906, the population of the village was 323
people in 51 households.
In the 1920s a large percentage of the population of
Storoniche was Polish, and the villagers fought to keep Polish culture intact. Most of the Poles were evicted, however, in
the 1930s. Today there is a woodworking
plant just to the east of the village and a national park is planned to be
built southeast of the town (Small Polesie).
The population of the village in 2010 was just 80 people and it is in
the Ukrainian Khmelnytsky Oblast or Province
(Хмельницька область), Izyaslav Raion
or District (Ізяславському районі), Borisov Village Rada or Council (Борисівська сільська рада).
Storoniche is located about 2 miles southeast of Mikhaylovka
and directly south of the village in the 19th Century stood the
German colony of Kustarna (Russian:
Кустарна; Ukrainian: Кустарне; also known as Kustarnaja; German: Fuerstenthal [Ru, Ukr: Фюрштенталь],
also known as Fuerstental or Fürstenthal).
Extinct today, Fuerstenthal was established at some point before
1874. Initially, the village was predominantly
German Mennonite but later came to be populated largely by German
Lutherans. The Lutheran Church at Fuerstenthal
fell into the Rivne Lutheran Parish. The
site of the village was approximately at 50°13’05.6”N, 26°36’30.8”E, where it
practically adjoined Storoniche. Soviet
maps from the 1940s no longer show this village, but in 1906 the population was
236 people in 42 households.
The village of Syver:
(Russian: Cивер; Ukrainian: Syvir, Си́вір; Polish: Syvir, Siewierz;
German: Ssiwer, also known as Siwerka) was established in 1834 and practically
adjoins Leeleva to the north. The village
sat on the edge of a small lake along the Riska River (Gutiska; Hutyska?). In the 19th Century a mill was located
in this village on the pond which was drained sometime during the 1930s or
1940s. Some accounts indicate that Syver
and Leeleva were actually the same village during the 19th Century
but maps from that time show them to be two separate communities. In 1906 the population of the village was 214
in 21 households. In 2001, the
population was 151. The village today is
in the Ukrainian Khmelnytsky Oblast
or Province (Хмельницька область), Izyaslav Raion
or District (Ізяславському районі), Dertkivska Village Rada or Council (Дертківська сільська рада).
Gnoynitsa (Ru: Гнойница
or Гнийниця or [Velikya] Великая Гнийниця; Ukr: Gniynitsya, Гнойніца, Гнійниця,
or Велика [Velika] Гнійниця; Polish: Wielki Hniynytsya; German: [Bol.]
Gnojnica) is an ancient village founded as early as 1152. In 1906 the population of this village was
1010 in 191 households. The village’s
name was changed by the Soviets in 1944 to Polesskiy (Полесский; Ukr: Poliske,
Полі́ське). This village is practically
due south of Pluzhnoe almost 5 miles. In 2001 the population was 704 people and
it is in Ukrainian Khmelnytsky Oblast
or Province (Хмельницька область), Izyaslav Raion
or District (Ізяславському районі),
Poliska Village Rada
or Council (Поліська сільська рада)
