Vershina is a village in the Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, within the

Bokhansky District Bokhansky District (russian: Боханский райо́н; bua, Боохоной аймаг, ''Bookhonoi aimag'') is an administrative district of Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the thirty-three in the oblast.Charter o ...

, Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug, in the municipality of Sharalday. In 2012 it was inhabited by 329 people, most of whom were of Polish descent.

History

The village was established in 1910 by

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

immigrants from

Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...

, mostly originating from the regions of the Lesser Poland and Dąbrowa Basin. The settlers were encouraged to move there by the promise of receiving 15 dessiatins of land and 100 rubles. The area was inhabited by the native population of

Buryats The Buryats ( bua, Буряад, Buryaad; mn, Буриад, Buriad) are a Mongolic peoples, Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia who speak the Buryat language. They are one of the two largest indigenous groups in Siberia, the oth ...

, who helped settlers in the first years. Both populations kept good relations with each other. In 1915 in the village was opened the St. Stanislaus Church. It functioned until 1928 or 1929, when the Soviet administration decided to demolish it. Thanks to the protest of local population, it never happened, however the church still remained closed, and its interiors were devastated. In 1938, during the Great Purge, 30 inhabitants of the village were executed by the NKVD officers. During the Soviet era, population was also forced into the

russification Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...

, having to hide speaking

and practicing their Catholic religion. Despite that, the population kept their language and religion, still practicing both to this day. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the local church reopened in 1992. Currently, the village is a tourist attraction among tourists from Poland, fascinated by the presence of Polish population in Siberia. In 2019, in the village was placed the memorial plaque with the names of the original settlers of the village, to commemorate their memory. In 2021, the village was visited by

Krzysztof Krajewski Krzysztof Adam Krajewski (born 3 August 1963, in Warsaw) is a Polish diplomat; ambassador to Azerbaijan (2005–2010), Bulgaria (2014–2018), and Russia (since 2021). Life Krajewski has graduated from international relations at the University ...

, the ambassador of Poland to Russia.

Demographics

Population

Ethnicity

The village is inhabited by people of

, Buryat, and Russian identity, with majority being Polish.

Language

The local languages spoken by the population are Russian,

, and Buryat. The local Polish dialect is characterized by influences from Russian and archaic elements, surviving from the dialect spoken by the original settlers. It differs from the language spoken in Poland, however is still understandable by the speakers from there. In the village operates school teaching in Polish language. Historically, locally Polish language was written down with Cyrillic alphabet, as opposed to commonly used Latin script, however, in modern day, it is used instead.Paśko, Dorota. ''Powiązania między językiem polskim a wyznaniem katolickim'', In: Ewa Golachowska, Anna Zielińska (editors): ''Wokół religii i jej języka''. 2011, Warsaw: Slawistyczny Ośrodek Wydawniczy, p. 115.

Citations

Notes

References

{{reflist Rural localities in Irkutsk Oblast Polish diaspora in Siberia 1910 establishments in the Russian Empire Populated places established in 1910