Josephine Colonies – Relics of the Past in the Cultural Space of the Beskid Sadecki

Abstract

Settlement of German settlers in the Carpathians was initiated by the Austrian emperor, Joseph II Habsburg. The name of this colonization, referred to as “Josephine” in Poland, originated from his name. It was a planned settlement action conducted at the end of the XVIII century, mainly in Galicia. The official goal of the campaign was to raise the economic quality of the agrarian economy and culture. The colonies in Eastern and Western Galicia differed in their development dynamics. The colonies in the Beskid Sądecki region developed rather poorly and in a short time there was not even a trace of quite a large number of colonies. In the Eastern Carpathians, by the end of the XIX century, there was a clear population growth, however, at the beginning of the XX century, the population has also decreased there. In principle, colonization was to be conducted on the basis of craftsmen and professionals, while in the final effect, relatively poor farmers and settlers, relying on state aid, constituted the vast majority. This settlement did not meet the assumed economic and political expectations, but it left behind the cultural heritage of settlers visible in the tradition and forms of the buildings. Colonist settlements were located next to the existing villages, with a separate urban layout, often in a chain layout or within the existing villages (in groups of no less than 6 families), expanding or extending their development. All buildings were built according to the established regulations, and their dimensions were dependent on the amount of land allocated to the colonist. Houses were built of brick, wood and “Prussian wall”; they were covered with straw or shingles. All residential buildings were located close to the road, and the stable and the house constituted the whole. The wooden or brick construction of the Josephine colonists, so much different from the development of native residents, will disappear from the Beskid landscape in the next decade in connection with the implementation of new technologies in construction and a change in the nature of the work of the owners of the buildings. The buildings of the colonies in Gołkowice Dolne and Stadła are still the only remaining legacy of the German settlement from the XVIII century in the village. Inventory of the remains of spatial structures in connection with the analysis of ownership systems and in relation to iconographic materials is an important contribution to getting to know the multicultural heritage of Beskid Sądecki. These works also have a chance to slow down or at least register the degradation process and capture the disappearing heritage of the German colonists.