Tanyava

Taniava is a village in the Bolekhiv City Council of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. It is located in the very east of Ivano-Frankivsk region within the Carpathian region and in the lower reaches of the river stream Zhyzhava. The village was known for its firewood harvesting for the cities of Stryi and Bolekhiv. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the village has become known throughout Galicia for the discovered oil deposits, which were pumped out here (later, an entire oil and gas field of hundreds of kilometers was named after the village). During World War II and years later, the village became notorious: first, in the forest near the village, the German invaders killed the Hebrews, residents of the cities of Bolekhiv and Stryi, and after the war, soon after, most of the villagers of Taniava were deported to Siberia by Soviet party members (for their cooperation with the UPA).

The village of Taniava is located on the border of Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, in the foothills of the Carpathian Beskydy near the Hrabnyk mountain range (662 m). The village lies in the lower reaches of the Zhyzhava stream, which originates 4 kilometers up the mountain ridge. Taniava is located not far from the town of Bolekhiv (5 kilometers northeast of the town center), and borders on villages in Lviv oblast: Verkhnia Lukovytsia and Horishne (to the north), Rozgirche (to the west), Smolyany (to the east), and Tysove, in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, across the mountain range (to the southeast). Living in a foothill area, most of the villagers work on their farms and in the forestry, and also have the opportunity to work at the enterprises of Bolekhiv.

Throughout its long existence, the village of Taniava has left a defining mark on the history of the region. Years, decades, and centuries pass, and Mrs. History continues to pull out forgotten and unknown events of the past from her kufryk. One of these events for the villagers of Taniava (and the whole region) was the airborne reconnaissance operation of 1950, when 4 fighters for a free Ukraine sacrificed themselves for the sake of future generations. And despite the fact that the airborne raid near Taniava was exposed, its echo was reflected in the subsequent historical events of the village of Taniava and was imprinted in the memory of its inhabitants with its sacrifice and historical foresight.

Taniava is a village that had, and still has, a significant economic and resource potential. For the first centuries after the village was founded, its inhabitants were engaged only in agriculture, having reclaimed their patches of fields from the forest - they grew wheat, rye, and vegetables. The wealthier villagers were also engaged in animal husbandry (keeping cows, oxen, pigs, and sheep).

From the middle of the 19th century, Taniv residents had a new source of income, which was associated with the first economic sprouts of that time. There was a great demand in the region for wood, which was plentiful around the village: a considerable amount of timber was used in the sweatshops near Stryi, in the saltworks of Bolekhiv, and in the homes of the residents of Stryi and Bolekhiv. Thus, local peasants were able to earn extra money by harvesting timber for the lords and delivering it to different parts of the region, and partially improved their situation. Thus, before the First World War, the small-land peasantry, where the richest owner had only 12 morgues of field, was well developed and began to revive: the basis of this wealth was income from the formed artels, from work at Bolekhiv industrial enterprises, and from the transportation of fuel from Taniava to Stryi (the average earnings from the transportation of one wagonload of fuel from Taniava to Stryi was 15 crowns).

The 20th century was marked by greater economic growth in Taniava. Due to its geographical location and the availability of certain natural resources, the village received a boost in its economic development. Unfortunately, the villagers were not able to fully benefit from the dividends of the wealth of the environment and mineral resources: first, the ruling Poles and the Hebrew moneylenders exploited them and left them with almost nothing in the early 20th century, and then the Soviet commissars exploited the villagers and mineral resources of Taniava even more, leaving future generations with oil slicks, deforested forests, and depleted meadows and fields.

Before the 2nd World War, people started talking about Tanyava again, and the reason was the discovery of "black gold" - oil. However, the exploitation of Tanyava's subsoil began years later and the village became known throughout Galicia, and the name of an entire oil and gas field with an area of hundreds of kilometers was given to the village (Tanyava oil and gas field). And after almost half a century of ruthless exploitation of the earth's subsoil, the people of Tanyava are left with dilapidated pumping wells and contaminated areas of forest and fields.