Friday, April 19, 2013

The Villages of Mikhaylovka and Stanislavka



The village of Mikhaylovka sat less than a mile southeast of Jadwinin (almost 2 miles by road via Klinowiec).  In the 19th Century, one would have left Jadwinin to the east and gone about ½ mile to Klinowiec (also known as Borisovskoye-Klinovets) which sat at the base of a small hill.  The road went around the hill and turned south through the forest and entered Mikhaylovka in about a mile.  The village was situated in an east-west orientation at an elevation of about 210 meters; rising slightly in the middle and downhill on both ends.

Known as Mikhaylovka in Russian (Михайловка or Михайлівка; Ukrainian: Mykhailivka, Миха́йлівка; Polish: Mykhajlivka; German: Michajlowka, Michailowka), the village was founded at an unknown date after 1874 by Germans, either Mennonites or Lutherans, on a small stream called the Dreloh (now called Synytseva).  The German inhabitants specialized in agriculture and grew rye, potatoes, barley, millet and buckwheat.  During the 19th Century, grain was transported to the mill at Ostrog for harvesting.  After the Polish War in 1921, grain was taken to mill in Slavuta as Ostrog became a Polish town.  Villagers during this time also raised some cows and pigs as well.

By the late 1800s, Mikhaylovka consisted of 35 houses with some 241 inhabitants.  Houses were built with pine boards which were joined at the corners with “fishtail” joints.  Wealthy inhabitants bought cut foundation stones from Kamenka to create a foundation and floor for their homes.  Less wealthy folks had to make due with foundation stones only at the corners or under door jambs of their houses.  Most houses had large stoves, built with raw bricks covered with plaster.  Bricks were made from clay from nearby clay deposits.  A house dating from the late 1880s reportedly still stands in the village today.  Grain was usually threshed with flails, while a few more wealthy farmers could afford a horsedrawn threshing wheel.  Later in the 19th Century, grain was also taken to mills that had been erected nearby in the villages of Nitishin, Bolotin, Kamenka, Dertka, or Balyary.  The villagers in Mikhaylovka attempted to build a mill, but unfortunately were not successful.

In 1906 the population of the village was 264 people living in 48 households.  As with the other nearby villages, Mikhaylovka underwent forced collectivization during the 1920s and in 1936 was placed into a collective with the other remaining German villages of Leeleva (Lesna) and Karolswalde.  Later the collective removed Karolswalde and added Jadwanin and Dertka.  Some Poles and Czechs moved into the village during this time.  During collectivization, the Mikhaylovka wooden church was closed down by the Soviets and many Germans were evicted to Siberia.  In 1939 German villagers from nearby Stanislovka were relocated to Mikhaylovka.  Then in 1942, any remaining Germans were relocated to a village near Yuvkivtsi (about 8.5 miles to the south) forming the village of Zonental (Sun Valley).  The primary school in the village was also closed by the Soviets at some point by the 1960s.

Since Mikhaylovka was originally a German village, the cemetery held only Germans.  Later, as Poles or Czechs moved into the village, they had to be buried elsewhere, such as Jadwinin or Kunev.  After WWII, with the eviction of the Germans, the village was populated predominantly by descendents of Poles.  However, a woman named Tatiana Nightengale, perhaps a descendent of the German Mennonites, was still listed as a school teacher in the village in the mid 1940s.

Today, the results of the collapse of the USSR and the rise of a capitalist economy have almost destroyed the village, leaving it populated mostly by pensioners; the population in 2001 was only 58 people.  The village is presently in the Ukrainian Khmelnytsky Oblast or Province (Хмельницька область), Izyaslav Raion or District (Ізяславському районі), Dertkivska Village Rada or Council (Дертківська сільська рада).





http://istvolyn.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=926&Itemid=5


The German village of Stanislavka (Russian: Станіславка; Ukrainian: Станіславка; Stanislavka; also known as Stanisovka) sat just to the southwest of Mikhaylovka.  The village was situated in a north-south orientation along the road running from Mikhaylovka to Balyary and Khoten.  Leaving Mikhaylovka to the west, one would have turned south after about ¼ mile.  The road gently curved uphill to the east and in slightly less than a mile, one would have reached Stanislavka.

Today the village of Stanislavka no longer exists.  Along with Mikhaylovka, it was established after 1874 by German Mennonites or Lutherans.  Austrian maps from the late 1880s show neither Mikhaylovka nor Stanislavka, but Polish maps from several years later do indeed show both villages.  In 1906 the village had a population of 461 people in 46 households.  However, the village disappeared soon after 1939 when the Soviets moved the German population to nearby Mikhaylovka.  The site of the village was at approximately 50°13’55.4”N, 26°30’22.7”E.



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