DYLĄGÓWKA IN GMINA HYŻNE
My father's ancestral village is Dylągówka, which is located in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains of southeastern Poland. Nowadays around a thousand people live there. It isn't a remote village; it's only ten miles from the regional capital, Rzeszów, and sits on a good secondary paved road.
Dylągówka (Di-lon GOOF-ka) is located in the rural gmina (administrative district) of Hyżne (HIZH-neh), which covers 20 square miles and has a population of some 7,000.
HYZNE'S CLAIMS TO FAME
There are around 2,500 gminas in Poland. Most are pretty ordinary places, but Hyzne has at least a couple claims to fame. One of them, a 13th century victory over Turkic-speaking Mongol invaders known as Tatars, is symbolized in the coat of arms on its flag (at left). On either side of the cross are parts of a broken buńczuk, or horsetail ensign, a symbol carried into battle that was made of horsetail hair set on a wooden staff and topped, in this case, with a crescent moon.
Hyzne's second claim to fame is that it was the childhood home of Władysław Sikorski (1881-1943), a Polish soldier and statesman who led Poland’s government in exile during World War II. The school he attended is now the General Władysław Sikorski Primary School. Quotations:
- "One experienced minute sometimes teaches us more than a lifetime."
- "Today it is time for strong and courageous people because only they can achieve victory and rid the world of tyranny."
Sikorski