File:Zbydniow - Horodynski Manor 02.jpg

English: Zbydniów is a village in Poland located in Podkarpackie province (pl), in the district of Stalowa Wola (pl), in the municipality of Zaleszany. The Zbydniów district includes Zaleszany, Majdan Zbydniowski, Turbia and Kotowa Wola. The old village extended to the left bank of the San River, in the Sandomierz Basin, which for hundreds of years ran next to Zbydniów. A large pine forest known as "Czarną niwą" (The Black Harvest) stretches to the south of the village and the main road ‘Route77’ from Lipnik (pl) to Przemyśl runs through Zbydniów which is also connected by rail line #74 to Tarnobrzeg and Stalowa Wola.

Historically much of the land in and around Zbydniów was owned by the The Horodyński Family (History in Polish) of Korczak Nobility and the splendid ‘Manor House’ (Dwór Horodyński) of the family is currently in the process of being restored to its former ‘glory’. On 25 October 1802 Bogusław Horodyński (pl) was born on the family estate to Kunegunda (née Brochowski) and Dominic Horodyński, who had been a captain in the ‘National Guard’ and an aide on the staff of Tadeusz Kosciuszko during the Kosciuszko Uprising of 1794. Bogusław himself took part in the November Uprising of 1830 and was arrested and imprisoned before being exiled to Ljubljana in 1837 along with the famous Polish political activist Emil Korytko (The Neglected Polish Slavicist: Emil Korytko, 1813-1839, Biography in Slovenian). In 1846 Bogusław was again arrested, this time briefly, for alleged involvement in the preparation of the Kraków Uprising and in 1863 he supported the ‘Polish Insurgents’ in the January Uprising. (Edmund Ślaski, commander of one of the branches of the January Uprising, died on 22 October 1863 in Chwałowice as a result of his wounds after the Battle of Łążki and is buried at Zaleszany Cemetery where the Horodyński Family Chapel is also located.) Bogusław’s son, Zbigniew, later became Marshal (pl) of the Tarnobrzeg region and in addition to his considerable involvement in local community life and in progressing the local area he contributed to the transformation of the Zaleszany Parish Church from a small wooden structure to its current impressive brick form.
Probably the most notable, or rather infamous, event involving the Horodyński Family in the local area, was the ’Midsummer Night Massacre’ when nineteen people were slaughtered by the Nazis on the night of the wedding of Teresa Wankowicz (cousin) and Iwona Mierzejewski, 24 June 1943. Both Zbigniew’s son (also Zbigniew) and his wife Zofia, along with their daughter Anna and other family members and wedding guests, were brutally murdered by machine guns of the SS. Two young boys, Zibigniew’s grandsons, Andrzej and Zibigniew, managed to evade the massacre by hiding under attic floorboards in the Horodyński Manor and went on to fight for the ‘Polish Resistance’ against the Nazis before also meeting their deaths at the hands of Poland’s western invaders ahead of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. In the latter stages of World War II the Red Army comandeered the Horodyński Manor for use as a field hospital and in the grounds of the estate, in an ironic twist of fate, there is a monument to Russian soldiers killed during the eastern invasion of Poland in the shadow of an historic statue of the Virgin Mary which stands close to the mass grave and memorials of those massacred in the grounds earlier in the War by the invading Germans.

Perhaps the words of Zbigniew to his children will live on in tribute to the generations of many Polish families who through the centuries fought and often gave their lives during Poland’s struggles for indpendence from its hostile neighbours: “Remember beloved children that the strength of our nation and our family lies in harmony and in unity”.
The Scotch Mist Gallery contains many photographs of historic buildings, monuments and memorials of Poland.