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This project seeks to collect all of the Jewish families from Cisna, Poland.
[http://www.geshergalicia.org/towns/cisna/ Gesher Galicia-Cisna]
Background
Cisna [%CB%88t%CD%A1%C9%95isna] (Ukrainian: Тісна, Tisna) is the main village of the Gmina Cisna in the Lesko County, in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (province) of south-eastern Poland. It lies in the Solinka valley in between the Bieszczady mountains.
History
The village has been founded in 1552 by the Bals family.
Jacek Fredro founded a blacksmith company here, that provided the area with agricultural instruments, pots and stoves. His son Aleksander Fredro, a famous Polish poet, playwright and writer, was born in the town.
In the years between 1890 and 1895, a narrow gauge railroad was built to Nowy Łupków and in 1904 extended to Kalnica. In the interbellum, Cisna was one of the principal villages in the Bieszczady and was well-known place to spend a holiday, growing to 60.000 inhabitants.
The Second World War destroyed almost all of the village. Afterwards, between 1945 and 1947, fighting continued in the area between Polish and Soviet armies and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The village was burned by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in 1946 and all villagers were moved out. Some people left Cisna on 29 April 1947 (Operation Vistula) and moved to the Gdańsk area of Poland. Some people went to the Ukrainian SSR in 1946.
Population: 1921 - 166 Poles, 132 Rusyns, 118 Jews: 2006 - 410 Poles
Article translated by Paweł Rosa
Jews probably settled in Cisna at the beginning of the 19th century. It can be stated with a high degree of probability that a few families of Jewish lessees lived here at that time. In 1870, a Fredro's local farm was purchased by Jew Hersch Grossinger, who resold it, making a large profit through the deal.
Towards the end of the 19th century (from 1895) the village was connected by a narrow-gauge railway with a standard gauge railway station in Nowy Łupków. The last stop of the narrow-gauge line was located in Majdan. There was a large timber storehouse and a steam sawmill there. Probably at that time the number of Jewish settlers in Cisna increased.
In 1921, the village was inhabited by 118 Jews (and all of them declared their nationality as Polish), whereas in the villages surrounding Cisna – more than 200. A quite impressive synagogue stood here in the interwar period. It was situated on a property where today a motel stands, but it was built slightly behind. It was destroyed in World War Two.
A Jewish cemetery was probably established at the end of the 19th century. In 1939, the village was inhabited by 150 Jews.[1.3] The Jews of Cisna, belonging to the Baligród Jewish religious community, shared the same fate as their fellow brothers from Baligród. On June 20, 1942, they were shipped to a transit ghetto in Lesko, then to a forced labor camp (which, in the end, turned out to be a death camp for Jews) in Zasław (Zwangsarbeitslager Zaslaw). There, some of them were shot to death and others were sent to the Bełżec death camp.
On July 15, 1942, 7 Jews were murdered by shooting in Cisna. Also, in July, 7 Jews from the neighboring village of Żubracze and 2 Jewesses from the Wołowski family in Strzebowiska were murdered.
During World War II, the Germans destroyed the Jewish cemetery. Tombstones were used to reinforce the road near Habkowice. The wooden synagogue was also was destroyed.