History of Hołynka and Vicinity...

  
     
 

The Jewish Kehilla or shtetl was just northwest of the village of Hołynka. The map location is marked by six points on a blue circle.

Today, the site is located somewhere in the area of the Hołynka reservoir and the Belarus-Poland border.

The Hołynka reservoir is just north of the old road to Kopczany, Poland which is now closed to any traffic following the WWII border changes that separate the two villages.

  

 

Above: Holinka shtetl near the village of Hołynka on a 1928 map.

  

 


Use map controls above to move, zoom, etc. Click for larger map.

According to the 1897 census of Hołynka, the community population consisted of 687 persons, of which 500 were Jews according to  JewAge.org. Seventy-two percent (72%) of the population was Jewish.

Hołynka is mentioned in the Pinkas Hakehillot, Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Poland - vol. 8 published by Yad Vashem.
In 1869, Russian became the official language in all provinces of the Russian Empire. Polish and Lithuanian languages were replaced by Russian until after WWI. 

The geography of the area is almost flat with an elevation of 425-435 ft (129-133 m) above sea level. The countryside around Hołynka is slightly higher in elevation. View a photo of countryside near present village of Hołynka.

 

  
 


The "1893 Geographical Dictionary of Kingdom of Poland" gazetteer includes facts about Hołynka. Below is a translation of the Polish page found in vol. 3, pg. 116, middle left column. Definitions are in parenthesis.

  

 


Hołynka - village and folwark (a manor farm that existed since the 12th-14th century for the mass production of grain destined for disposal, using the work of peasants and serfs). District was Augustów and Hołynka municipality record-keeping was within parish Teolin, Poland. The village lies on the way from Lipsk, Poland to Sopoćkiń, Belarus about 62 versts (a Russian measure about 1070 meters or .6 US miles), or 104 miles, from Suwalki and about 47 versts, or 78 miles, from Augustów.

In 1827 there were 57 houses and 367 inhabitants, and in 1893 there were 72 houses and 898 inhabitants. There was a Uniate Christian parish founded in 1714.

The entire municipality of Hołynka had 4,280 inhabitants, the extent of 15,695 morgs (a historical unit of area used in agriculture that a man could plow or mow with one horse per working day - about 1.4 US acres). There was a municipal court for district III and a post station settlement in  Sopoćkinie about 8 versts. There were also two mills, a windmill, 2 smolarnias (a plant where wood waste is processed and tar, turpentine, and wood alcohol is extracted), 3 distilleries, brickworks, sawmill and folusz (building in which a medieval machine is  used in the manufacture fulling of cloth), and two primary schools.
 

1893 Geographical Dictionary - Kingdom of Poland

 
 

The Hołynka municipality consisted of the villages of: Andzin, Bartniki, Bojary, Bubcin, Dolinczany, Dorgun, Ginowicze, Hołynka village and farm, Kopczany, Komisarowo, Kulikowszczyzna, Kułakowszczyzna, Lichosielce, Lipszczany village and farm, Markowce, Perstuń village and farm, Prolejki village and farm, Puciatowszczyzna, Racicze, Rakowice, Zofijewo, Słomkowszczyzna, Straż-Wygoda, Witkowszczyzna, and Wnukowszczyzna.
Assets of Hołynka consist of farm Hołynka, Rubcowo, awuls (farm or land without peasants) Bubcin, attencya (individual contiguous settlements), borek (conifer trees) forest, and villages: Hołynka, Bortniki, Kopczany, Bubcin and Rubcowo. Area is morgs 3346; farmlands Rubcowo and gardens morgs 171, 71 morgs of meadows, pastures morgs 12, 1084 morgs of forests, wastelands and squares morgs 10, together morgs 1348, wooden buildings 5, Hołynka farm, with arable lands awuls Bubcin and gardens morgs 859, 616 morgs meadows, pastures morgs 23, 241 morgs of forest, wastelands and squares morgs 52, together morgs 1792, 11 brick buildings, timber buildings 19, 4-field crop rotation; attencya borek forest, more forest of morgs 200, wastelands and squares morgs 2; inn settlements 206 morgs. Also a distillery, a sawmill, fullery, water mill, layers of peat, limestone and iron ore.

Village Hołynka contained 66 settlements and 41 ground morgs; village Bartniki  39 settlements and 875 ground morgs; village Bubcin had 3 settlements and 4 ground morgs; village Rubcowo had 8 settlements and 6 ground morgs.

 
     

  Copyright © Ralph Remick