Alternate names: Cisna, Tisna [Pol, Ger], ציסנה-Hebrew. 49°13' N, 22°20' E, 16 miles S of Lesko (Linsk), in SE Poland, near the borders with Slovakia and Ukraine. 1921 Jewish population: 118. łownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), I, p. 705: "Cisna". Cisna village is the seat of the Gmina Cisna in Lesko County in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship and in the Solinka valley between the Bieszczady mountains. A narrow gauge railroad was built between 1890 and 1895 to Nowy Łupków and in 1904 to Kalnicy. Cisna was in Bieszczady and was well-known holiday resort, growing to 60.000, during the inter-war years. WWII destroyed almost all of the village. The village was burned by Ukrainian soldiers in 1946. map and listing of villagers prior to WWII. cemetery photos. Holocaust: "Jews being made to clean out latrines with their hands (at Cisna, Kalisz and other localities); to collect horse-droppings in the market-place with their hands and to put them into their caps and pockets (at Cisna)" Source [April 2009]
First mentioned in 1552, at the beginning of the 19th century, Cisna had a smelter for iron. Aleksander Fredro Cisna, son of the owner, visited and wrote in his memoirs: "Cisna is somewhat broader in the valley. A grange, church, inn, followed by the mill and the sawmill make a lively mountain village." From 1806 onwards a few Jewish families lived there as arendas. In 1870, Hersch Grossinger bought the land, but soon sold it at great profit. From 1895, the village had a narrow-gauge railway station via Nova Łupkowie to Majdanie. When the station was built a large steam sawmill and wood followed. Perhaps then, the more Jews settled in Cisaj. In 1921, 118 Jews lived there, while in villages over two hundred lived. In the interwar period, there was turned wooden synagogue and an inn just outside town. The synagogue was destroyed during WWII. Jews from Cisna with those from Baligrod were sent to Zasławiu camp in 1942. Some were shot there and some sent to the Belzec death camp. In Cisna on July 15, 1942, seven Jews were shot. (Stefan Borek Prek in "With Pamiętniku Kalnicy" says that 18 Jews were murdered in the neighboring village and two of Wołowskich in Strzebowiskach. [April 2009]
CEMETERY: Partially remaining, the small cemetery was located about one hundred meters west of the road to Majdanu and about half a kilometer from the junction of roads in the center of the village. Built probably in the late 19th century, the Nazis destroyed it during WWII. Matzevot were partially plowed under or were used to construct the road near Habkowiec. The site is above "Perełka with part covered by forest. [April 2009]
US Commission No. POCE000719
Cemetery is about 100 meters W of road to Majdan. 1992 population: less than 1,000 with no Jews.
- Village: Urzad Gminy Cisna, 38-607 Cisna, tel. 38, telex 65209 ug. See Baligrod for regional authority.
1921 Jewish population was 118. The isolated rural, agricultural hillside is reached by turning directly off a public road with no sign. Within the limits of the unlandmarked Orthodox cemetery are no structures or gravestones. The location of removed stones is unknown. No wall, fence or gate surrounds the site. Access is open to all. The local Jewish community owns the cemetery property [sic: Survey stated that no Jews live here.] The site is currently used for agricultural purposes, as is property adjacent.
Piotr Antoniak [see Baligrod] completed the survey on September 11, 1992 with a site visit and interviews on August 8, 1992.