Thursday, April 4, 2013

Other Villages of Kunevskoy


In addition to the Mennonite villages, Kunevskoy included several villages with interesting stories.  For instance, the village of Mezhirich (Russian: Межирич; Ukrainian: Mezhyrich, Межирі́ч; Polish: Międzyrzecz; German: Mredzyrzec.  Also known as Miedzyrzecz) is located just about a mile north of Karolswalde.  Mezhirich was established around the year 1396 as a village owned by the Ostrohski (Ostrog) Family (the same family who owned Ostrog).  Trinity Church was established here by the 15th Century and by the late 16th Century the monastery had been built.  In 1612, the monastery was rebuilt as a Franciscan (Catholic) abbey.  In 1866 it was again reorganized, this time as a Russian Orthodox monastery.  The icon held in the church is called the Lady of Mezhirich and many miracles have been attributed to it.  Through the 19th Century the monastery owned land around the village and employed local peasants to cultivate crops.  During the 1950s, the Soviets built three hydro-electric plants along the Vilia River just outside the village of Mezhirich, bringing some of the first electricity to the area.  Many of the residents at that time were scared of electricity and did not want the plants in their village.  By 1965, however, the area was connected to the larger Soviet power grid and the three hydro-electric plants were taken off line.  The village stands 1 mile southwest of Ostrog; the church and monastery occupying the eastern portion of the old village.  Remnants of the wall which surrounded the old village and fortress can still be seen today southeast of the main road running to Ostrog.  The population of the village in 2001 was 1,490. 






The village of Novomalin (Russian: Новомалин; Ukrainian: Novomalyn, Новома́лин; Polish, German: Nowomalin; also known as Novomalyn), about 3 miles north of Antonovka, was established around the year 1396, and was the site of the Novomalinsky Castle which was built in 14th Century and was home to the Malinski Family by the 15th Century.  By the late 1800s, the castle was still a splendid private residence but fell to ruins after World War II, ruins which still stand today.  Located along the northern banks of the Zhybenko River, Novomalin is located at the eastern foot of the Pasmo Pelczansko-Mizockie, a geographic portion of the Volyn/Podolian Upland area in western Ukraine/eastern Poland.  In 2001, the village had a population of 677 people. 





The village of Kamenka (Russian: Каменка; Ukrainian: Kamenka, Ка́м'янка; Polish: Kamjanka; German: Kamenka.  Also known as Kaminka or Kamionka) was an important local village because of stonework produced there.  The village was established in 1462 and the residents soon took advantage of nearby sandstone deposits.  Stone masons in the village began producing carvings in the 16th Century, primarily as headstones and sculture work for the churches in Ostrog as well as the Mezhirich Monastery.  The stone carving factory which was established in the 19th Century continued the production of headstones and church carvings as well as making millstones for grain mills.  Peak production was reached in the late 19th Century.  Stone masons produced chimney tops, stairs, benches, troughs, obelisks and other monuments.  Raw stone was sold to the Jews of Ostrog for their own monument production as well as to other locals producing roads, foundations and wells.  For instance, many local peasants endeavored to purchase stone foundation blocks from Kamenka masons to use in building the foundations for their houses.  People from as far away as Rivne bought headstones from the skilled masons in Kamenka.  Specialized chisels and crowbars were made for stonework by the village blacksmiths.  In the 1960s, the art of masonry began dying out as concrete factories came online and since working in concrete was so much less labor intensive.  The word kamionka translates roughly to “stoneware” in Polish, which was the predominant nationality in the village.  By the late 19th Century, the village was populated by 206 people, living in 27 houses.  An alcohol distillery was also located in this village and there may have been a saw-mill either here or in nearby Stoylo (Ru: Стойло; Ukr: Cтійло) which stood immediately across the Vilia River.  Many of the Poles were evicted in the 1930s and the name of the village was changed to Viytovyna (Ru: Війтовина; Ukr: Війтовіна) by the Soviets in order to distance the village from its Polish heritage.  In 1946 the name Kamenka was restored.  Kamenka lies about 2 miles southwest of Karolswalde and neighbors Antonovka immediately to the east.  The population in 2001 was 241 people.



Finally, The Church of the Intercession, a beautiful blue wooden church built in 1877, stood in Lyuchin (Ru: Лючинъ; Ukr: Лючін'), immediately across the Vilia River, to the north of Mezhirich.  The Catholic church was home to the 17th Century icon, Christ Emmanuel, until perhaps as late as the 1980s.  (Note that many Volhynian wooden churches are painted a beautiful shade of blue, a color traditionally associated with the Virgin Mary).

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