~ Town History ~
Bukowsko is located about 12 km southwest of Sanok. In 1880 advanced subscribers to a book titled Arye Debi Eilai were Eliezer Lipa Broner, Eli’ Pinter, David Verner, and Shabatai Yitzchak Miller
(Source: Chester G. Cohen, "Shtetl Finder," Heritage Books, Inc., 1989, ISBN 1-0555613-248-4)
The township of Bukowsko, as officially designated, is situated southwest of the city of Sanok or Sunik in Yiddish, at the foothills of the Baskid, on the border between Austrian Galicia and Hungarian Slovakia, until WWI. Since then, until WWII, it was the border between Polish Galicia and Slovakia. The origins of Bukowsko and its development are hardly known, since there are few written records. The same applies to the Jewish settlement in the township.
We know that the entire trade and commercial life of the township and the surrounding area was in Jewish hands. The workshops and even the transport system to and from Bukowsko to Sanok was in Jewish hands. The only exceptions were: the sale of pork and its derivatives; Christian religious needs; the postal system and government services, which were provided by non-Jews
(Source: “Sefer Zikaron le-Kehilat Sanok ve-ha-Siviva”[1970] (translated by William Leibner)
(New addition) BUKOWSKO (Yiddish – Bikavsk) Lwow district, Poland. Jews settled in the 18th century, much of their livelihood revolving around the town’s annual trade fair and later bolstered by the establishment of a dominant Hasidic court connected with the Dynow dynasty. The Jewish population stood at 748 (total 991) in 1900, but dropped to 494 in 1921 after emigration and the tribulations of WWI took their toll, with many on the verge of starvation. The advance of the Germans in 1939 brought a stream of refugees and subsequently a regime of forced labor and extortion. Those Jews not sent to labor camps were deported to the Belzec death camp in the summer of 1942, probably via Zaslawie.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust Shmuel Spector (editor) & Geoffrey Wigoder (Consulting Editor), Yad Vashem, Jerusalem [2001] 0-8147-9356-8
(New addition)A small town in Sanok county, with a Roman Catholic parish church and a post office in the town, in the foothills of the Beskid mountains, in the San River basin. It has a county court, a one-classroom school, and markets for pigs, corn, cattle, and horses. The Roman Catholic parish, of Sanok deanery, has 1,280 faithful; at one time Bukowsko belonged to the parish of Nowotaniec. A parish church was built here in 1648; the current one was erected in 1710. [Volume 1, p. 471]
(Source: Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego - Warsaw 1880 - Translated by William F. Hoffman, PGSA Fall 2001 Rodziny)
In the early 1940’s, Bukowsko(miasto/town) in the region of Lwów had between 494-700 Jewish inhabitants. In Bukowsko Wies (village) there were approximately 129 Jewish inhabitants.An article on Bukowsko(miasto/town) appears in Volume III, pages 69-70 of the Pinkas HaKehillot.
(Source: List of Polish TownsTranslation from Jewish Communities Destroyed in the Holocaust. Avraham Klevan, Preliminary Edition, Yad Vashem Martyrs' And Heroes' Remembrance Authority, Jerusalem, 1982, Poland.)
Bukowsko is a village and also is the location for
the local government (gmina) overseeing several other villages. The county seat
(powiat) is in Sanok. Sanok is also the seat of the county (powiat)
court. 2,473 inhabitants in Bukowsko. Railroad station is 14 km away in
NowosielceGniewosz (Gniewosz has since been dropped from the name of this
village).
Post
Office and Telegraph are located in Bukowsko. Telephone is in Sanok.
Bukowsko, the gmina, has records of land owners. There is one Catholic church.
There is an association of craftsmen and manufacturers. Also, an association of
manufacturers, traders, and bar owners. Bukowsko has a country market (farmer's
market) on Thursdays. A country fair is held twice a year. Volunteer firemen
(department). Head fireman: K. Stobnik
(Source: 1929 Polish Business Directory translated by Debbie Greenlee)
At the end of 1941 the County of Cracau was divided in the Town of Cracau (Kreisfreie Stadt Krakau) and twelve districts.(The number in the parentheses would be the number of Jewish inhabitants in the major towns within a district.) The major towns in the Sanok District included: Sanok (4770), Baligród (abt. 880), Bukowsko (750), Lesko (abt. 2750), Lutowiska (1420), Mrzyglód (more than 520), and Ustrzyki Dolne (in July, 1942: abt. 3000).
In the first half of September, 1942 the Jews of the Sanok District were exterminated. In order to concentrate the population of this district, a special camp was established in Plonna (Szczawne). Because the occupiers thought it too difficult to take people from remote villages like Olsznica, Stefkowa, Wankowa, Ropienka, Czarna, etc. to Plonna, entire families were shot on the spot. Others were taken to the working camp in Zaslawie, [Note: Today Zaslawie is known as Zaslaw. Zaslaw is located 8.5 miles ENE of Bukowsko.] where about 11,000 people were packed together in barracks meant for 500. After a few days 4,000 of them were deported to Belzec, the old people were shot in the woods. Not much later two transports with about 9,000 people left Zaslawie for Belzec. (97)
(Source: Summary of E. Podhorizer-Sandel's article in ZIH-Biuletyn 1959 No. 30, p. 87-109)
(Bukowsko) Labor camp. Established on Aug. 15, 1942, liquidated on Oct. 15, 1942. It was located in a house with two stories (ground floor and 1st floor). Imprisoned were Jewish citizens, 60 on average. They carried out road construction. During the liquidation of the camp, the prisoners were taken to Zaslawie. [Note: Today Zaslawie is known as Zaslaw. Zaslaw is located 8.5 miles ENE of Bukowsko.]
(Source: Glówna Komisja Zbrodni Hitlerowskich w Polsce - Rada Ochrony Pomników Walki i Meczenstwa - Obozy hitlerowskie na ziemiach polskich 1939-1945 Warsaw[1979] (translated by Petje Schröder)