2024-02-13 04:42:04
On the outskirts of the Slovak town of Dubnica nad Váhom, near the gardening settlement, there is a small cemetery guarded by massive linden trees. The place has a special atmosphere, some graves are preserved and maintained. However, one detail shows that something is wrong. Dates of death on gravestones end in the 1970s. That’s when the last residents of Lieskovec were evicted.
Lieskovec was a village in the immediate vicinity of Dubnice nad Váhom, not far from the current border with the Czech Republic. Its history dates back to the 12th century. The inhabitants were mostly peasants, in the 20th century Škoda factory workers, because they were given the preferential right to work in the factory. Their creation at the turn of the 20s and 30s of the 20th century was the first stage of the liquidation of the village. At that time, contracts for the transfer of local land began to be concluded, writes the Slovak daily SME.
The history of Lieskovec, especially the 20th century, was compiled in 2012 by Richard Benech. Thanks to the book Lieskovec – a lost village, the public learns detailed information about the sad fate of the village.
Only the cemetery remained after the village of Lieskovec. | Photo: Stanislava Heššová
“The space was strategically located in the center of Czechoslovakia in an industrially underdeveloped part. It offered energy resources, transport accessibility and workforce,” explained Benech. That is why he was interesting to the political leaders of the time.
According to the author, the decisive moment that dealt a severe blow to the village was the approval of the construction of the secret enterprise “DS” in 1951. The abbreviation denoted an artillery range that they wanted to build in close proximity to Lieskovka. Its construction was decided by political contexts, the boom in arms production was beginning in the world at this time.
“These decisions were made without the knowledge of the local residents and regardless of their opinion. The village was functioning properly, the locals cultivated the fields, used the surrounding forests and many worked in the plant,” said Benech.
In 1960, the village was erased from the map
Events then took a rapid turn. In 1952, the communist authorities began expropriation, which resulted in the eviction of the inhabitants and in 1960 in the “erasing” of the village from the map of Czechoslovakia. The landowners were moved to nearby Prejta and the workers’ families to Dubnice nad Váhom. The factory built houses for them, the so-called Liesko houses. The eviction was an extremely painful time for the residents. They left their farms and homes.
Lieskovec, 1950s. | Photo: Richard Benech Archive
Benech described that at first the locals were persuaded, coaxed and later intimidated at municipal meetings. “Eviction orders and police assistance were a common part of leaving the village, even if the house they were supposed to move into was unfinished or another family lived in it. Resistance to the state and litigation in the 1950s were futile ,” the author explained, adding that the feeling of injustice has carried over to the present, as the land of the original inhabitants was expropriated and later occupied by private entrepreneurs.
In 1976, only 28 people lived in the now-erased village. “The artillery range was a classified project, so the area around it had to be depopulated and camouflaged,” Benech said. According to him, the garbage dump should also have contributed to the camouflage. It was also used to store industrial waste from nearby factories. The decision increased the pressure to evict the last residents. They, even if they don’t like it, had to leave the village.
People from Lieskovec in costumes. A picture from the period between the First and Second World Wars. | Photo: Richard Benech Archive
Today, only two houses from the 1960s, a stone cross and a cemetery remain here. And behind him, as a memento of time, a large fenced mountain overgrown with weeds and trees with garbage.
In the minds of posterity
The original inhabitants of Lieskovec still carry the village in their memories, and their descendants are also interested in its history. Thanks to them, the well-preserved cemetery is still a frequented place of worship.
The last feast in Lieskovec, 1960s. | Photo: Richard Benech Archive
Oľga Kebísková’s mother’s family also came from Lieskovec. “They endured the eviction very hard, but they were simply ordered to leave, so they had to leave,” she said, adding that part of the family moved to Prejta.
He remembers the village of his ancestors well, he remembers the original chapel, which was later demolished in the 1980s. He cannot explain why a garbage dump filled this particular place.
However, young people from Dubnice do not know much about the village’s past. Ľubomíra Bobíková also came across the cemetery only recently, even by chance while walking. “I’ve known the village for years, my grandparents had a cottage there, but I had no idea about the cemetery.” She first learned about its history from a nearby information board.