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TATRA AREA RESEARCH GROUP
_______________________________© TARG All rights reserved.
May 2004 Newsletter
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Greetings TARG members on this Memorial Day weekend here in the USA. I am
mindful that some of our TARG members serve presently in the military or
have since retired from service to our country. Our prayers for the troops
now in harm's way and our deep gratitude for all of those who have given
freely of life and limb for the freedoms we now enjoy.
We have just said good-bye to a happy couple, our newly-wed cousin Lucjan
and his bride Maria who visited us here in San Diego on one leg of their
honeymoon in the USA. (For a few pictures, go to the TARG homepage.) They
had a wonderful time here at the beach, celebrating Cinco De Mayo and
visiting with us in Southern California. It was hard to see them go. They
returned home just in time for a late Spisz snow storm, too! Our best to
them and wishes for a bright future.
-- Paul K. Bingham
TARG FounderWEBSITES____________
1. TARG's website is: http://mytarg.net (or also www.mytarg.net).
2. Image Viewers (as discussed in VIEWING CDs below):
http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/gmm/fwviewers.htmlYOUR LETTERS_________
---Paul, The TARG site is wonderful! I posted the surnames I'm researching
there. The data I do have spans 1815-1930 and comes from US church records,
ship's lists, family oral history, and Slovak church and civil records. I'll
gladly share. In 2003 I did visit Ruskinovce, Slovenska Ves, Spisska Bela,
and Vrbov and would go back to Slovakia in a heartbeat. Of special interest
to me is the history of the village of Ruskinovce. My grandmother Maria
Klimek Suga was forced to leave Ruskinovce by the Russians (WWII) before
they leveled it. I found a picture of the village before the war. It is now
a Slovak military installation, which we got permission to go see. There's a
small chapel where the village stood, and I understand there are plans to
rebuild it. A few wildflowers is all I have from the grounds my father
walked as a child. Now a question: what kind of town was Obiza, Galicia in
1860-1885, and how would a man become a "mercenary" and leave for Slovenska
Ves, SK as it appears in church records one ancestor did? Knowing the
environment our ancestors lived in is as interesting as the names and dates.
I look forward to the newsletter, sharing information, and asking more
questions. Your answers in the newsletter are really informative and make
for a great newsletter. With appreciation for the work you do. - June Luecke
***Hi June, Thanks for your comments, story of your visit to Ruskinovce and
questions, too. I, too, have ancestors from a village which no longer
exists. But you are right: being near the place you can sense and feel the
history and the hallowedness of the ground your ancestors once walked. I
can't explain it, but I know it's true because I've experienced it for
myself. As for "Obiza, Galicia", I am pretty sure this is present-day
Obidza, Poland, one of our TARG villages. I looked for KLIMEKs in the
phonebook, but then Obidza is small and has only a dozen phones even listed.
The next nearest village is Jazowsko and there are two KLIMEKs listed there.
I don't know about "mercenaries", but many Gorals living in Galicia did not
want to serve in the Austrian army and headed for points south where they
avoided service altogether or found Hungarian army life much less
aggressive. Slovenska Ves during 1860-1885 was known as "Slowenska Wes" but
also "Windschendorf" -- clearly a German name in an area with a very high
concentration of German settlers. Why he would pick this as a place to move,
I'm not sure. Looks like you have another fun mystery to solve. -- Paul
---Hi Paul, The village video you took came yesterday afternoon and I've
been wearing it out watching it! It's so wonderful to be able to see the
area. The paintings inside the church are beautiful. We are having a family
reunion in July and I am preparing a booklet for this. I require photos that
I would be able to reproduce in these booklets. Would love to have pictures
of the church, the cemetery, village scenes and the pastures around the
village. Would this be possible? -- Joann Eisner
***Hi Joann, so glad you are enjoying the video. Actually, because it is
digital, I am able to "lift" individual frames off the video as pictures. It
takes a little doing as the frame must be de-interlaced to make it sharp
again once it's lifted. I have software now that will do just that. Look
through the video and tell me which scenes would be what you want for your
booklet. -- Paul
(Note: See more on this in the LIFTING FRAMES article below.)
---Dear Paul, So glad and happy as usual to read the newsletter. It
brightens my day and makes me feel somewhat closer to family and ancestors!
I wanted to ask you, did you ever get those directories with telephone
numbers and addresses of the area of Piekielnik, Poland? How can I get
addresses? You had mentioned before you left to go to Poland last fall that
you'd get them. Were you able to? Please let me know. And I'm very glad your
great-uncle is doing much better! My Very Best Wishes, Donnamarie
***Hi Donnamarie, and thank you! Well, I did photograph the latest phone
directory (including Piekielnik) when I was there, but like the one online,
it no longer gives addresses -- only names and phone numbers. I guess
telemarketers are driving the Poles crazy, too! Anyway, I still have a copy
of an earlier phonebook (1998) which does list addresses as well. If you
only have a couple of names to look up, I could do that for you and e-mail
you the addresses -- or better still, send me a legal-sized self-addressed
stamped envelope and I'll photocopy the page and mail it to you. -- Paul
---Hi Paul, Thanks for sending me the lutier's (violin maker's) name and
address - appreciate it. He's such a nice man and so interesting. Wonderful
about the family wedding! Thrilled that the man with roots in Piekielnik is
in such close contact with family. I helped him locate little Piekelnik so
many years ago - hope he goes to visit one day. Enjoyed the TARG newsletter
as always! -- Helene
***Hi Helene, so nice to hear from you! I know you are busy getting ready to
go to Slovakia and Poland again soon. Wish I could come this year -- but the
family seems to all be coming to us this year! Maybe we'll go again in
2005 -- am hoping anyway. Have a lovely and safe trip. And say hello to all
of your TARG travelers for me -- and your lovely mother, too! I know you'll
all have a grand time. -- PaulVIEWING CD IMAGES_________
Some of you who purchased the Polish phonebook or TARG village church
record CD sets from me have written asking how best to view the hundreds of
images on each CD. The images are all "Jpeg" type image files and can be
viewed by almost any of today's imaging programs. If you're running
Microsoft Windows you probably already have free copies of Kodak's "Imaging
for Windows" and Microsoft's "Photo Editor" on your machine (and perhaps
others). Both will let you open jpeg images and view them just fine. I have
also gotten several copies of Adobe's "Photo Deluxe" free on disks with
other software I purchased. I love it and use it extensively.
But you might also consider a couple of other good image viewers -- and
they are both free! My favorite is "IrfanView" which has lots of nice
features. (Here are some specs: v3.91, 803 kb, 98/ME/NT/2000/XP, updated
5/3/04.) Another is "Vallen Jpegger". I really like the handy file-listing
feature along the left side of its viewing window -- it's great for parish
record pages! (Some Vallen stats: v4.48, 2014 kb, 98/ME/NT/2000/XP, updated
5/22/04.) To download either of these great image viewers free just go to:
http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/gmm/fwviewers.htmlTRANSLATION OF PODHALE BOOK__________
On my last trip to the old country, I found an old dusty book about the
Podhale region in a second-hand shop and could not resist bringing it home.
It was written in Polish with many dialect words and phrases thrown in.
While difficult, a local friend, Margaret Radycz from southern Poland, has
been translating it for me. I will share the first installment here for your
reading pleasure:
PART I: "We define Podhale, or the Tatra Highlands, as the grazing land at the
foot of the Tatra Mountains. The Tatras are high craggy mountains with steep
foothill slopes covered almost entirely with spruce. The Podhale climate is
hard and often bitter. It can be warm with green grass springing up in the
distant lowlands, but in Podhale it is still winter.
"But the harsh climate is not the only definition of Podhale. When we
approach from Zywiec, Myslenie or Nowy Sacz immediately we are aware of a
different architectural style, different peasant dress and a different
language. We notice the native male residents, the "Highlanders", dressed up
in light-colored wool pants with "parzenice" (decorative embroidery). We
notice cottages with steep roofs, characteristically stylized ridges, and
decorations on the ends called "sloneczkiem" (beams of the sun). No longer
is wheat cultivated in the fields here, only a small type of oats and
"grule" (small potatoes, or "mountain spuds"). The people speak a different
form of language here. It is immediately recognizable when heard by any
other Pole -- although not always understood. The Podhale region is unique
and stands apart from any other in Poland.
"In the early Dark Ages (7th to 10th centuries) the first humans
appeared in Podhale. From the peat bogs between Nowy Targ and Czarny Dunajec
they gradually conquered the forest and pushed closer with their settlements
toward the Tatras. Later shepherds from Romania and the Balkans called
"Woloscy" (Walachians) arrived having migrated with their herds along the
Carpathians. Evidence of their arrival is still everywhere: from many local
town names to common words in the Highlander dialect.
"Next came the miners from the west and from Slask searching for
precious ore in the mountains. During this time some of the region belonged
to the monastery in Szczyrzyce, but mostly came under ownership of the king
and his subprefects. In the 16th and 17th centuries the sale of wheat began
to generate easy profits for the nobles, who placed heavier demands on the
peasants to cultivate more and more of the king's land. The ever-increasing
responsibility for labor was difficult on the serfs. In the 17th century
Baron Komorowski became famous in the region for his oppression of the
peasantry. But they organized themselves and soon a revolt was brewing."
(Part 2 of 12 in our next issue.)LIFTING FRAMES____________
As follow-up to a discussion above, I received the following letter:
"Hi Paul, Received all the pictures and I just love them. So glad you sent
them!! They are really great - love the shot of the church on the hill! I
won't be able to wait until the reunion. My family is going to be so
surprised! Thanks a million. -- Joann"
TARG Members, this worked out so well, I would like to offer to do it
for you, too. If you can't find any images of your tiny TARG village, maybe
I have just the frame you're looking for in the 30+ hours of digital video
I've taken over the years. Let me know what you're looking for and I'll
contact you. These images can then be sent via e-mail or on CD if you like.
Check out the revised Piekielnik or Nowy Targ pages on the website at:
http://www.mytarg.net/Village%20Info/Piekielnik%20PL.html and
http://www.mytarg.net/Village%20Info/Nowy%20Targ%20PL.html.
All of these images were lifted off my digital videos. The images you see on
the webpages were then reduced to 10 to 15% of their actual resolution --
the originals are much bigger and sharper! -- PaulCONTACTING TARG_____________________
To contact the TARG Editor, the new e-mail address is: editor-AT-mytarg-DOT-net (in spam-resistive form (minus "@" and "."). Our "snail" mailing address is still TARG, P.O. Box 3533, Escondido, CA 92033. use it for sending in orders or photos and anything else you want to share with the group. (If for some reason you are unable to contact us at the new editor-AT-mytarg-DOT-net e-mail address (in spam-resistive form (minus "@" and "."), go ahead and use the old address. It is still: TARG_NET-AT-hotmail-DOT-net (in spam-resistive form (minus "@" and ".").
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