Oľšavica is a village and

obec (, ; plural ) is the Czech and Slovak word for a municipality (in the Czech Republic, in Slovakia and abroad). The literal meaning of the word is " commune" or " community". It is the smallest administrative unit that is governed by elected ...

Levoča District Levoča District (''okres Levoča'') is a district in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, H ...

in the

Prešov Region The Prešov Region (, ; ), also Priashiv Region (, ), is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 13 districts (okresy) and 666 municipalities, 23 of which have town status. The region was established in 1996 and is the mos ...

of central-eastern

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

History

The village was first mentioned in 1300 or 1308. From its establishment, villagers have followed the

Greek Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Ea ...

faith; in 1700 there were 348 Greek Catholics out of 351 people living in the village. It is located in the Greek Catholic Metropolitan Archeparchy of Prešov. Two natives of the village, brothers Šimon Štefan and Michal Manuel Olšavský, made their hometown famous as bishops of the

Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo The Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo is an eparchy of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church that was erected by Pope Clement XIV in 1771. The geographic remit of the eparchy includes the south-western parts of Ukraine that are roughly within Zak ...

in the eighteenth century. In the late nineteenth century, many villagers emigrated to the United States. In 1944, the village was the site of a mass rescue of some 50 refugees, including 35 Jews who escaped

the Holocaust in Slovakia The Holocaust in Slovakia was the systematic dispossession, deportation, and murder of Jews in the Slovak Republic, a client state of Nazi Germany, during World War II. Out of 89,000 Jews in the country in 1940, an estimated 69,000 were murde ...

, due to the exhortations of local Greek Catholic priest Michal Mašlej, who was held in high esteem by the farmers. Preaching that it was their Christian duty to help refugees, Mašlej arranged for persecuted families to hide with various parishioners, and hid the Hartmann family in his personal residence. When German troops had to be quartered in the village, he made sure that they were not placed with any of the families involved in the rescue effort. Mašlej's efforts were supported by his bishop,

Pavel Peter Gojdič Pavel Peter Gojdič (also known as Pavol Gojdič or Peter Gojdič; 17 July 1888 — 17 July 1960), was a Rusyns, Rusyn Order of Saint Basil the Great, Basilian monk and the eparch of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church, Slovak Greek Catholic Archepa ...

. When Mašlej was concerned about the danger to his congregants, Gojdič told him: "The support to the persecuted results of charity and it is your duty according to your capacity to help and to provide shelter to the threatened by deportation". Researcher Nina Paulovičová compared Oľšavica to

Nieuwlande Nieuwlande (Dutch Low Saxon: ''Neilaande'') is a Dutch village located in the north-eastern province of Drenthe situated in the municipality of Hoogeveen. The population, as of 2023 is 1419. Nieuwlande is one of only two villages in the world tha ...

and

Le Chambon-sur-Lignon Le Chambon-sur-Lignon (, literally "Le Chambon on Lignon"; ) is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France. Residents have been primarily Huguenot or Protestant since the 17th century. During World War II these Huguenot ...

—other villages where the population banded together to hide Jews—adding that it was "remarkable" that no one informed on the fugitives and none of them were arrested. Mašlej was recognized as

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

by the Israeli official Holocaust memorial,

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

, in 1997.

Geography

Oľšavica lies at an altitude of and covers an area of . Geographically, it is dominated by the nearby Spišská hill, at . It is bordered by

Brutovce Brutovce is a village and municipality in Levoča District in the Prešov Region of central-eastern Slovakia. History In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1319. Geography The municipality lies at an altitude of 863 metres and ...

to the east,

Tichý Potok Tichý Potok ( until 1948; ; , ) is a village and municipality in Sabinov District in the Prešov Region of north-eastern Slovakia. History In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1427. Geography The municipality lies at an alt ...

to the north,

Nižné Repaše Nižné Repaše () is a village and municipality in Levoča District in the Prešov Region of central-eastern Slovakia. History In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1270. Geography The municipality lies at an altitude of 74 ...

to the west, Pavľany to the south, and Poproč to the southeast.

Population

Its population decreased from 808 in 1910 to 291 on the 2011 census.

Landmarks and tourist attraction

The church in the village was built in 1861 and is consecrated to Our Lady of Protection.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsavica Villages and municipalities in Levoča District The Holocaust in Slovakia Rescue of Jews during the Holocaust