Paniowce, Burak and Political History

[jkla]

This post could equally be in the history forum, but I am trying to understand my husband's grandfather's "story". Per my husband's aunts and uncles, he didn't say much at all about his past....but here is what I've gathered from baptismal, census and immigration records as well as stories from the oldest of the aunts.

Maksym Burak was born in Paniowce ( I believe this is modern day Panivtsi in Ternopil) in 1892 and was baptized a Greek Catholic at St. Nicolai...his parents were Daniel Burak and Eudoxia Kurlan. He came to Canada in July, 1911. Four other teenage boys from Paniowce were also on the passenger list (Wasyl Kowcz, Wasyl Liszka, Dmytro Derhak and Iwan Forostian). They were all listed as Ruthenians from Austria (as it was part of the Austrian Hungarian empire at that time, I assume). It said on the immigration record he was coming to work on the railroads, but I am assuming that didn't go so well because my aunt said when he first came over he worked in the logging camps in Saskatchewan. By 1924 he was in Michigan, where he got married and raised his family. He was a farmer. On the 1930 census report....he listed the language he spoke before coming to the US as Hungarian. Supposedly his wife spoke High German (my aunt said for some reason she seemed rather proud of it). His wife (Regina Beutler) was originally from Storozjnetz in Bukowina. Both their homelands are now modern day Ukraine.

Per my aunt, Max was the first (and as it ends up only) of his family to come over, with the idea he would work, send money home, and the rest of the family would come over. Sometime after he came, the money stopped getting to them, and he did not hear from anyone in his family, and he assumed they were all dead. Now here is an interesting part that I don't know if it is fact or fiction. Max told the kids he was a Baron and as they were of such "fine" people he expected them to conduct themselves accordingly. Could that be true? Or is it more likely a tale made up by an oppressed man who lost his family? There is not a big Ruthenian population in Michigan, so I thought it odd he ended up here....but my aunt said he came to get work at the Rouge Plant (automotive) which given what I've read about the hard life of Ruthenians in Canada working on RR's and logging camps....that certainly might have been reason enough.

From what I've read on Ukrainian/Austria/Hungary/Russian/Ruthenian history ....and trust me I am still a novice here as it gets a little confusing...it seems remotely possible that he could have been some sort of Ruthenian "elite" and depending on whether his family aligned with Austria or Russia, his family could have been persecuted in that timeframe when the area changed hands back and forth between Austria and Russia (1914-1915)...though I have no idea which side he would have been aligned with. Or he could be a Ruthenian "peasant" who lost everything and why not tell his children a better story than one of poverty and oppression? What would being a Ruthenian, Hungarian speaking Baron, if it were true, even mean in reality? Anyone that might have insight into the politics of this area at that time (or know of anyway to verify or refute his story)...I would appreciate your insight! Does that story even make sense?

[Hannia]

Why Immigrant Ancestors emigrated from villages in the Borszczow district > Tarnopol region > Historic Galicia/Halyczyna Province > Austro-Hungarian Empire, which existed from late 18th century to 1919?

Excerpt from Encyclopedia of Ukraine

Peasant strikes in Galicia and Bukovyna. In the first years of the 20th century Ukrainian peasants in Galicia and Bukovyna who hired themselves out as agricultural laborers on landlords' estates participated in a series of mass strikes accompanied by other forms of agrarian unrest. Members of the Ukrainian Radical party, particularly Ivan Franko and Viacheslav Budzynovsky, had begun to propagate the idea of agrarian strikes, which they took from the example of Irish populists in the mid-1890s. Sporadic strikes of agricultural laborers broke out in Bukovyna and Galicia in 1897 and 1898, but the first large-scale strike occurred in Borshchiv county, in Galicia, in 1900. In 1902 a wave of agrarian strikes of unprecedented magnitude encompassed some 400 villages in eastern Galicia. In Husiatyn and Terebovlia counties over two-thirds of the landlords' estates faced work stoppages. Another strike wave of roughly equal magnitude broke out in eastern Galicia in 1906; in 1905–7 over 20 agrarian strikes took place in Bukovyna. The outbreak of the Revolution of 1905 across the border in the Russian Empire helped to motivate the latter wave of strikes, especially since neighboring Right-Bank Ukraine was also the scene of massive agrarian unrest.

The strikes were precipitated by low wages, the maltreatment of laborers, and disputes over access to forests and pastures. In the course of the strikes the peasants sometimes engaged in violent confrontations with strikebreakers and occupied seignorial land, especially pastures. County authorities called in the military to quell strikes and related unrest and made the village communities quarter the soldiers at their own expense. Hundreds of peasants were arrested in 1902, and dozens in 1906. The backbone of the strike movement tended to be small-holding peasants; landless agricultural laborers, who were traditionally excluded from collective decision-making in the village, and who were also much more dependent on their daily wages, tended to stay in the background. As a result of the strikes agricultural wages rose throughout almost all of Ukrainian Galicia and Bukovyna.

Although the strikes arose primarily in response to socioeconomic conditions, they were not without political and national dimensions. The majorstrike waves broke out spontaneously, without prior organization. But once under way the strikes were supported by activists of the major Ukrainian political parties. Among the most prominent activists in the strike movement was the social democrat Semen Vityk. Members of the Ukrainian Radical party and the Ukrainian Social Democratic party emphasized the social aspects of the strikes, but the National Democratic party pointed out that they had a strong national component as well, since, in the main, Ukrainian peasants were using the strikes against Polish landlords. Most Polish political parties in Galicia, with the prominent exception of the Polish Social Democratic party, condemned the strikes as a threat to Polish hegemony in the region. The strikes contributed to the exacerbation of Polish-Ukrainian tension in Galicia. They also demonstrated that the Ukrainian village was capable of coordinating effective actions in pursuit of its interests.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Najdus, Walentyna. Szkice z historii Galicji, 2 vols (Warsaw 1958–60)
Franko, Ivan. ‘Bauernstreiks in Ostgalizien,’ in Beiträge zur Geschichte und Kultur der Ukraine: Ausgewählte deutsche Schriften des revolutionären Demokraten, 1882–1915 (Berlin 1963)
Botushans’kyi, Vasyl’. ‘Pidnesennia straikovoï borot’by selian Pivnichnoï Bukovyny na pochatku XX st. (1900–1907 rr.),’ Mynule i suchasne Pivnichnoï Bukovyny, no. 1 (1972)

John-Paul Himka

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]

[Hannia]

Some Clarifications
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Daniel Burak and Eudoxia Kurlan

Danylo Burak and Evdokhia Kurlan
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Geopolitical History

From late 18th century to 1919 wies/village Paniowce (means BELONGING TO THE PAN/POLISH LORD) was predominantly a Ruthenian/Ukrainian villlage w/its own GC Church. The filial RC Church was in Dzwiniaczka. Borsszczow was the POWIAT (adm district-county) and Mielnica was the GMINA (judicial-tax district) > Tarnapolskie region > Historic Galicia/Halyczyna Province administered by ethnic Poles for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the Interwar Period (1919-1938), this region came under Reconstituted Poland's domain. Technically The Kingdom of Poland had not existed as a geopolitical entity for the previous 125+ yrs. Post WW2 Ternopil region became a part of SSR Ukraine, under Soviet domain until 1991, when Ukraine became independent.
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High German - Educated German
Low German - Peasant/Agrarian German
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Max told the kids he was a Baron and as they were of such "fine" people he expected them to conduct themselves accordingly.

Maxym could have been SCHLACHTA/Ruthenian nobility w/heraldry under Kingdom of Poland? Can be confirmed thru expensive research in Warsaw (Poland) and Lviv (Ukraine) Archives, or not.
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[jkla]

Thanks for the reply....but this is what gets confusing. Based on this, it would seem he would more ikely be a striking Ruthenian (and his story about being a baron a tale). What confuses me is his language listed...he spoke Hungarian. I haven't seen much about Hungarian speaking Ruthenians (though I know Hungarians elitists were viewed as oppressive as Poles at that time). The Hungarian speaking aspect could put him in the landlord (baron) category, but I don't get the sense that the landlords were Ruthenians as well. And this article points to Polish elitism more than Hungarian in this region. But...very insightful article. Thanks!

[Hannia]

BURAK (means BEETS) is not a Hungarian surname !!! The suffix AK on surname indicates that it was very likely not Hungarian. I might suggest that he could have learned Hungarian, when he was in Austro-Hungarian military, but that is not very likely since he immigrated to Canada as teen.

Most people from Eastern Europe were multiligual.

The geopolitics of the region created the prerequisite for multilingualism. However, this multilingualism did not necessarily mean multilingual literacy.

[jkla]

You have been of great help.

I always thought Burak (as well as the names of his travelling companions - Kowcz, Liszka, Derhak and Forostian(k?) "sounded" Polish....but I am still learning, so who knows.

So IF, big IF, he were a Schlacta....maybe landlord of a sugar beet farm, who knows,.....he would have been doubly disliked at that time (for being an oppressive landlord possibly and also for having Polish ties). Might explain why they were looking to get out in the first place. It is possible that the strikes affected them adversely from a financial standpoint???....thus Max coming over first to work and send them money, rather than them coming over together??? And, correct me if I am wrong, but I believe Russia occupied this area in 1914-1915 (Lviv, Ternopil and Chenivtsi) and I am sure his family would have been viewed as sympathetic to the Austrian empire/Poles, which would not have bode well for them and might explain their sudden disappearance.......

Or....he was a Ruthenian "peasant" and made up a story for his kids.

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge...it at least gives me some avenues to explore.