Beskidzka epopeja. Dzieje Hellerów z Huty – górali z Brennej na Śląsku Cieszyńskim
The Beskidian Epic. The History of the Heller family from Huta – the Highlanders from Brenna in Cieszyn Silesia

Summary/Abstract: The Heller family, who originated most likely from Moravian Germans, were glassworkers by profession. They resided in Brenna, a village located in the Silesian Beskids. While adopting the lifestyle of the local highlanders, they took their Wallachian culture, Slavic language and Catholic religion. After the liquidation of the glass factory, the Heller family became peasants and started to farm on a small piece of land, due to which they were classified as a local middle class, the so-called. “Free farmers”. In the course of time the representatives of this family divided into several distinct branches, settled among others on the land No. 44, ie. na Hucie (Eng. glass factory; at factory) and No. 73 – u Filipa. (Eng. at Philip’s) They performed a key role in formation of the modern society of this mountain village. Standing out against the general culture and having strong national awareness that predestined them to perform public and social functions, during the war the Heller family organized a grassroots resistance movement against the occupier. The article attempts to present the life and work of six generations of the Heller family from Huta (No. 44) while studying various aspects of existence of the local highlanders. Dramatic events of World War II, when the ninth generation of the Heller family by their actions sealed the ideological choices concerning the Polish and Catholic character of the family, were the last stage of evolution and the formation of the new face of the family. The article describes, among others, the fate of Karol Heller, who formed a guerilla troop called “Wędrowiec” (Eng. “Wanderer”) that operated within the Home Army, his brothers – Stanisław and Wincent, who died in the fight with Germans, and their sister – Maria Kawik – nicknamed: “Beskids Antigone” or “Mother of Guerillas”, whose poems and diaries are an extraordinary witness of history crowning three centuries of the residence of the Heller family at the foot of the Beskids.

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