Polish heroes killed in The First World War
and burried in
Berbeşti cemetery, Maramureş county, Romania
Berbeşti village is
documentarily certified since 1387, under the name Barfalwa, but some
historical documents prove the existence of some nobles around the year 1361.
The great historian Ioan Mihaly de Apşa,
mentions this establishment, for the first time in 71 Diploma from 7th
April 1402, when the sons of wayvoed Balc and those of magistrate Drag receive
several estates, including that of
Berbeşti.
Berbeşti village
is situated in Maramureş county, Romania,
down the interflow of the Mara and Cosău valleys, only 10 km distance from Sighetu Marmaţiei.
From the Sighet entrance, the
village is watched over by „Troiţa Rednicenilor’’ erected on the
expense of the noble family Rednic in Berbeşti, in the first part of the 18th
century and which belongs to the gothic style due to its elements and their
sculptural treatment. This unique monument represents one of the three
essential elements of the wood civilization together with the Maramureş Church
and Gate.
Following the words of the
great historian Nicolae Iorga, who
visited our village in 1906, ‘’ Troiţa
Rednicenilor’’, was ‘’ built by a salt miner once upon a
time’’, and situated in such a way that, through it, God should watch over and
bless the entire village.
On 8th June 2013,
in Berbeşti village the monograph of the village entitled ‘’Berbeşti-Credinţă, oameni şi tradiţii’’, written by Laurenţiu
Batin, one of the sons of this establishment, was launched.
In the chapter dedicated to
the participation of the Berbeşti people in the First World War, after a lot of
research, a graveyard (the uncared – for common hole) where several Polish heroes were buried was identified in the old
cemetery of the village.
As a result of the research
done regarding the history of this event, there was established that in
Berbeşti village a fight between the Ukrainian Bolsheviks who evaded the Historical
Maramureş at the end of December 1918 and the beginning of January 1919,
and an armed group of Polish soldiers took
place. Following the conflict, five
young Polish people were killed and buried in a common hole in the old
cemetery of Berbesti village. In order
to remember these people and all the Berbeşti people killed in the Great War,
the graveyard was set up and a beautiful wooden Maramureş cross ( the
inscription on the monument is written both in Polish and Romanian) was
erected.
To support the facts
regarding the Polish heroes buried in this graveyard, there are the testimonies
of some old people of this village, who tell the stories heard from their
parents who were present at that funeral. They also told us that around the
year 1945, the above mentioned graveyard was visited by Polish citizens from Krakow( these people brought huge oak
burial crowns).
The most interesting and
exact details are related by priest and
teacher Ion Bârlea, born in Berbeşti, Maramureş county on 11th
January 1883), son of the protopope in Berbeşti.
From Ion Bârlea’s
autobiography recorded by the literary
historian and ethnologist Iordan Datcu, we found out the following: ‘’ in
the Călineşti parish another event took place, when an Ukrainian patrol entered
Cosăului valley passing through Călineşti and because parishioners were
frightened, they asked me to receive them ahead a delegation with a white flag,
which I did, and thus I saved my believers any mischief. The patrol went on but
on its return, at the bridge over the Mara river when entering Berbeşti, a regiment of young Polish people who were coming from Baia Mare,
waited for them and here a violent fight
took place; as a result an Ukrainian rider fell together with his horse and
they were buried there together and five
of the Polish young people were also killed and the protopope Petru Bârlea buried them in cemetery of the village in a
common hole. After a while, the parents of a young hero killed in that
fight, came from Krakow and they
asked them to unearth him as they were buried in a common hole.’’
In
order to feel closer to their country, right next to the wooden cross, a Polish
landmark was erected, which in 1927 marked the border line between Maramureş
and Poland in the Maramureş mountains, near Stogu Peak.
Regarding the presence of the
Polish soldiers in the Historical Maramureş, in the above- mentioned monograph,
there are documents, maps, badges, the identity of some Polish officers
arrested in Sighetu Marmaţiei prison who later became well- known personalities
of the Polish state- for example: general
Roman Gorecki who later became the Polish minister of Industry and Commerce and
governor of the National Bank; priest Jozef Panas- politician and writer, later
killed by the soviets at Katyn; the pilot general Wlodzimiers Zagorski who
became chief of the Major State of the Polish Legion etc.
At the event organized on
8th June 2013, in Berbeşti- Maramureş county, on the occasion of the
sanctification of the Wooden Cross at the graveyard of the Polish heroes,
accompanied by a memorial meal, and the launch of the monograph of the village,
there participated 500 people, inhabitants of our village and the nearby
villages. Among the personalities
present there, there were academic professors, well-known hierarchs, the
beloved actors of the Romanian theatre and cinema, historians, university
professors and representatives of local and county authorities.
We would like to invite you
to visit our village and the two touristic sights and we will be expecting you
open arms.
Contact
person: Laurenţiu Batin
Email
adress: batin.laurentiu@yahoo.com
