Podbiel belongs among the towns which originated with the herdsmen's colonization in the period when in Orava, the feudal lords, the Thurzos, reigned. The name of the town is connected with the white rock Biela which is on the land of the town. (pod meaning "under", the name translates to "Under the White Rock"). The name Podbiel occurs in many variations from writings of various sources. Some of them are Podbyly in 1564, Podbielie in 1615, Podbilia in 1626, Podbiela in 1677, Podbiel in 1701, and Podbel in 1785. It is possible to say that the name Podbiel was definitely fixed by the 18th century.

The herdsmen shepherds, of whom Katarina Zrinka, widow of Francis Thurzo, wrote "Ruthenes are herdsmen", had settled the town that is today's Podbiel between the years 1556 and 1564, probably about 1560. In the charter document of Ferdinand I from January 18, 1550, the herdsmen's towns that are mentioned are only Knazia, Medzibrod, Ustie nad Oravou, and Bziny. The first written event about Podbiel is in the request of the Orava herdsmen in the year 1564 to King Ferdinand I in which they complain that in spite of their privileges, they were expected to pay taxes. In this request, besides the towns mentioned above, Zazriva, Pucov, Podbiel, Slanica and Chlebnice are mentioned as newly built herdsmen villages. The borders of the community of Podbiel which Francis Thurzo defined, take form from Studena (Studeny Potok) to the meadow called Kriva which extends to Cerveny Kamen, and then all the way up to the town called Uplzen opposite the Cickov mountains.

Orava Castle

The settlements of the Orava shepherds were anchored in a document of King Matej Korvina [Mátyás Corvinus, to you Hungarians] issued in Ruzomberok on March 6, 1474. According to it, the herdsmen were free of any taxes, and free of work for Orava castle; they could present their requests and complaints directly to the king; they were able to freely sell off their products at market, and freely purchase commodities brought home. The herdsmen could graze their herds in the woods on the pasturelands of the Orava castle. Matej's document states just these obligations for the Orava herdsmen: From each 100 sheep to deliver 5 for the needs of the castle; and instead of taxes and labor for the castle, they were to guard the roads against those who threatened the safety of travel. These privileges were confirmed in 1526 by Ludovit II. This continuation of the privileges to the herdsmen caused them to look for a higher status in the country, [closer] to the hub of the feudal state.

Katarina Zrinka wrote in a document in 1576 to King Maximilian that in spite of their liberty from taxes, the herdsmen were being asked to pay them. She demands from the King that he should forgive any taxes from the Orava herdsmen on the basis of the evidence that her husband, Francis Thurzo, freed them of all fees for a period of 12 years, beginning with their arrival and settlement there. If the taxes were insisted upon, she further writes in the document, that the herdsmen would leave and go to Poland. Instead of asking them for taxes, she suggested it might be possible to ask them to look after the trade routes to Poland.

The document of Katarina Zrinka regarding Thurzo's law concerning the Orava herdsmen (established in Matej's document of 1474), resulted in a definite period of 12 tax-free years under normal conditions, 14 years under special circumstances, and at the most, 20 years. Their politics toward the herdsmen shepherds were directed by the desire that their settled communities should remain permanent, and that they be drawn to agriculture (the soil). They wanted the herdsmen to dedicate themselves not only to shepherding but also to the cultivation of the soil, such as the majority of the serfs did in the Thurzo's realm. The expression of this effort is [to be found] in a document of Juraj Thurzo of 1615 about the division of the pasturelands and the defined numbers of livestock as well as the different types of livestock, sheep, or goats, for example, which they were allowed to have. According to this document, the residents of Podbiel still had, in the Rohace mountains, 16 plateau-like pastures, and therefore were able to have 325 heads of livestock.

In the urbar of the royalty of Orava, in 1619 the name Andrew Podbielansky is listed as a Soltys ( something like a rychtar), as well as 9 shepherd settlements, and two tenants. From the urbar of 1626, 3 justices of the peace (soltysi) Adam, Peter and Juraj Podbielansky, 10 serf settlements and 4 tenants were already noted. Soltysi had these obligations: The transportation of wine, or instead of that, 10 Gulden; the transportation of salt, or 7 Gulden and 50 dinar; the wintering of one royal mare or 1 Gulden; the giving of one pig or 5 Gulden. Aside from that, they were also obliged to position themselves, if the need arose, to defend the castle with arms in hand, and to participate in the labor of the castle. They could sow on 20 pieces of meadowland for the entire group of soltysi. The urbar of 1626 speaks of these 9 farming settlements or fields, and those who used them:

1. Cicovska	Adam, Jan and Michal Cic, Michal Krsik ml., Adam and Stefan Janovic
2. Lukacikovska	Juraj Kozelec, Matej Lukacik, Pavol and Michal Kostik
3. Bubrovska	Andrej Bubrik, Adam a Kristof Chovanec, Stefan Knezik
4. Benusovska	Pavol and Stefan Lackovic and Gaspar Benus
5. Muzikovska	Andrej Muzik, Juraj Duda, Babusa Kajanka
6. Stanislavska	Peter Janikov, Stefan Peterka, Simon Kundrat
7. Kmetovska	Andrej Kmet, Jan Pinkal, Juraj Vajcik, Michal Zvolencik and Martin Poliak
8. Janovicka	Jan Facko, Anna, widow Adamova, Juraj Krecmon and Danco.
9. Fackovska	Jakub Janec, Jakub Peterka, widow Anna Kepenkova, Juraj Misko.

The users were allowed to sow grain on 28 plots in every settlement and take 5 wagons of hay. From every settlement they had to give away annually 4 rams from the sheep, and from the wooden shingles a tenth. Together with the village of Biely Potok they had to give every year these "natural taxes": 1 ox, 27 chickens, 9 geese, 100 eggs, 9 grouse, 9 (some sort of other bird) or instead of this, 9 Gulden and for the castle constables, 8 Gulden. Apart from this, every serf had to send 10 large pieces of wood for the two royal sawmills which were located on the Studena stream.

In the urbar of 1619 Stefan Kmet is mentioned as the mountain overseer who annually had to give to the Orava royalty 6 (birds of some type), 24 brown trout, 3 foxes or 1 wolf and 1 rabbit. The fishermen of Podbiel, according to this urbar, had to give the Orava royalty 600 "large white fish" annually. If he gave perch instead, one small one would be accepted for 6 white fish; a medium one for 20, and a large one for 30. The fisherman had to bring the fish directly to Bytca to the main residence of the Thurzos. Only when the Thurzos were in Orava could he bring them to the castle.

The urbar of the Orava royalty in 1677 alludes to the fact that the obligations of the serfs in Podbiel would increase with additional burdens if in the future they would farm on the 9 settlements. These additional burdens were taxes on beer, on herring, on bryndza cheese, for farming a hillside field, on mining, on bees, and also on any money paid in lieu of work on the estates. The sum of contributions of the community to the royalty were assessed at 236 Gulden and 87 and 1/2 dinar yearly. In addition, they were to pay "natural taxes," such as one-tenth of the sheep, grouse, other birds, and eggs. Further, the urbar of 1677 allowed the substitution of money for the livestock/foodstuffs. The taxes on the relatives of the soltysi, which in this year already numbered 7, were 32 Gulden, 88 dinar, and in place of transporting wine and salt, they could pay in money.

The devastation in 1683 caused great damage even in Podbiel. The urbar of 1686 found Podbiel in an ungodly state. According to the population census of 1695, there were only 6 inhabited settlements, 3 abandoned ones, and tenants were not mentioned. There were only 2 taxed units here then.

The figures of the obligations of the serfs, as also the sum of the taxes had a tendency to grow over the course of time. The tax census for 1781-82 for 11 settlements in Podbiel cites the community's domestic tax at 225 Gulden and 44 dinar, and the state military tax at 450 Gulden and 88 dinar. On the royal lands/estates, they had to work 2234 days in the year with draught animals, or 4468 days without it (on foot). The tenants in the figures, 6 families which didn't even have any land or livestock except a house, worked 18 days annually, paid 1 Gulden individually as one-ninth, and had to chop and provide 1/2 of a cord of wood. Those without cottages, of which there were 3, worked 12 days a year.

With the passing of time the pieces of land became smaller. While in 1626 in one settlement an average of 3 or 4 serf families farmed, according to the census of 1774, there were already 8-12 families and 103 farming families living on 11 settlements.

The population census from 1787 shows 126 families in Podbiel, of which 16 were craftsmen/tradesmen. The rest were farmers. The toal count of living persons in the community was 714, of that 359 were men and 355 were women.

The growth of the population of the community after feudalism unfavorably affected living conditions which resulted in the permanent emigration of the population to the warmer and more fertile areas of Hungary. Because of poor harvests and the cold temperatures, 31 families left Podbiel just in 1716-1720. Of these, 1 family, settled in Banska Bystrica, 1 in Jelsave by Hlobovici, one family in the town of Gyöngyös in Hungary, and the rest of the families in the vicinity of Budapest. These families were Bendis, Dikacka, Hruby, Hablo, Kikiras, Kovac, Klobucny, Kurtek, Malina, Paniak, Pazurik, Ryl, Uhrancik, and others.

The population occupied itself mostly with farming. According to sources from 1770 on the borders of the communities millet, rye, barley and peas were cultivated. Instead of shepherding, as in the past, the raising and growing of different things prevailed. The community tax census in 1772 shows that in Podbiel this was the status of the livestock: 326 oxen, 204 cows, 89 heifers, 61 calves, 55 horses, 14 foals, 64 pigs, 63 goats and just 55 sheep. The census shows also 19 bee keepers. The people of Podbiel visited fairs and markets in Trstena, Nemeckej Lupci (now Partizanska Lupca) , and in Litptovskom Mikulasi, where they sold a variety of livestock. Some of them had become engaged in rafting and in the winter season they transported salt from Smizian and from Liptovskeho Hradku to Tvrdossin's warehouses. They also undertook the making of shingles and fabric. In 1828 there were 20,000 wooden shingles made in the community. The town had one flour mill, a brewery built in 1786, and two saw mills belonging to the royalty. In Podbiel there is a tradition also of foundries and mining, the beginnings of which go back to the 17th century. In the beginning of the 19th century a large furnace was built on the borders of the community , in which iron ore was melted. They hauled it from Zuberec, from the Juranovej valley and from Malatina. This large furnace disappeared in the 19th century for inability to deliver goods because the iron was not of sufficiently good quality.

As to the situation of the serfs, namely a larger population in the community, they sailed unfavorably through rough climatic conditions which more than once caused disaster. For example, the serfs cite in their grievances from August 3, 1795 to the Orava royalty, that because of the barrenness of their fodder, they had to sell off their livestock which often also perished because of contagious diseases.

To what degree hunger was a factor is illustrated in this grievance: "What else is going to touch us miserable people....in this year if we didn't have all sorts of herbs, stalks and leaves of growing things, we would perish from hunger, about which the glorious royalty knows nothing." In the grievance they cite as well that because of insufficient subsistence, they are hardly able to perform heavy labor in the forests. They complain also about the fact that their nightly work in the royal brewery doesn't count toward their urbar labor.The leading cause of the barrenness was the cold weather and epidemics. Sometimes it went so far, that even the feudal lords looked for ways of moderating the famine. This effort, which of course could not avert hunger, is illustrated, for example, in the recipe for the baking of bread with flour obtained from dried and ground roots of lichen. With the availability of this, 2/3 of it was added to 1/3 of oat or barley flour.

The cholera epidemic in 1831 in Podbiel claimed about 80 victims. It began in August and ended in September, when more than 50 people died. The number of those who died in October was only 6. It's noteworthy that in nearby Nizna the greatest number of people died in October.

Podbiel, from an ecclesiastic point of view, belonged to the Nizna parish . According to a Bishop's Visit report of 1833, a small chapel in Podbiel had been built from stone in 1780 through the generosity of a farmer, Jan Benusek. The steeple was, of course, built of wood.

A school was built in 1833. It was built of wood and consisted of two grades and one teacher. The teacher in 1833 was named as Jan Vavrecan, who had 26 Gulden as annual pay aside from natural goods, which the village residents provided. School could accommodate 80 boys, but in the winter they had only 30 children attending.

After the abolition of serfdom in 1848, the inhabitants of Podbiel were liberated from feudal dependence. The relationship between the former serfs and the Orava joint owners was made equal by a contract of 21 of August, 1871. According to this contract, the Orava joint owners, as former landlords, cancelled all their connections with the use of the woods and gave them as property of the community with the condition that the village supply wood. The Orava joint owners were not going to demand from the residents any fees or taxes on forestry. All laws regarding the rights to the selling of liquor, such as in saloons, distilled whisky, brewed beer, and the laws regarding mills, hunting, fishing and hunting of birds remained vested with the Orava joint owners.

According to the enumeration of the joint owners' engineer Cancriny, the extent of the estate regarding the boundaries and the property measurements in the community after the provisions of the division and adjustment of the land in 1869 were these:

This status also codified the mentioned contract of August 21, 1871, in which the point is made that the community would not last under the new division of land.

Later, of course, the Podbiel inhabitants weren't satisfied with the fact that the royal joint owners had kept for themselves all of the rights regarding the sale of liquor, from which arose a court struggle before the Ruzomberok district court. But the Ruzomberok court in 1912 swept away the requests of the residents of Podbiel as being non-essential and not important because the liquor laws belonged, of course, to the Orava joint owners who made the claims for these rights and applied in 1890 to the second officer in rank in the county. This resolution of the Ruzomberok court might be perceived as one-sided, defending the interests of the joint owners. The thinking of the joint owners was that if these rights are acquired by the village of Podbiel, then the rest of the Orava towns will also try to get them for themselves. With that argument it was possible to paralyze Podbiel's requests in every way.

After 1848: Martin Pazurik, Jan Scheling, Jozef Pazurik Fur, Ondrej Krafsky, Jozef Pazurik, Ondrej Krafsky, Jozef Pazurik, Jan Mores Faktor, Marek Lukacik-Kochut, Peter Scheling, Ondrej Lukacik, Peter Scheling, Jozef Kanderka and Peter Mikulasik.

On October 24, 1885, a fire befell the village in which 38 homes burned. The Orava joint owners provided only 380 Gulden after the fire as aid.

Extensive farming, a small amount of fertile land in Orava, a growing population and mostly, social questions, urged the people of Orava to go out into the world to look for work. Immigration fever unfavorably affected even Podbiel, mainly in the beginning of the 20th century. From 1869 the population census, taken every 10 years, gives us this overview: In 1869 there were 955 people in Podbiel; in 1880, 951, but in 1890 it went up to 1051. In 1900 there are 938 people in Podbiel, and in 1910 only 858. With the approach of the 19th century, many people of Orava migrated to the more fertile "lower land". At the end of the 19th century immigrants focused almost exclusively on America. Podbiel, along with other villages, such as Kriva, Dlha, Horna Lehota and Nizna, belonged among the communities in Orava with the largest immigration. From these communities the largest number of people left to go to America, even after 1918.

In 1902 there were 204 homes in Podbiel, and of those 195 were wood and 9 were brick. All were roofed with shingles. In that same year, there were 425 men and 513 women in the village. The preponderance of women characterizes the measure of immigration, because of 938 individuals, 146 people were in foreign countries on the day of the census.

In 1895 "The Podbiel Farming Consumer and Trust Association" was formed, the first in Orava. Accordingly, it bought goods which were for farming and household needs. It sold to its own members cheaper ("in an open store"). Further, it bought and sold homemade goods and bought agricultural products. The first president was Peter Schelling, and his members were Peter Turcak, Pavel Krafsky, Lukas Svitek and others. It lasted until 1951, when it parted with the Union.

In 1899 a segment of the railroad track was built from Oravsky Podzamok to Tvrdossin in the north. In this way Podbiel was connected by rail to the rest of the world.

In closing the heraldic crest of the village must be mentioned, which according to heraldic procedure, was received by the citizens for military service. It consists of two lions turned toward each other, standing on their rear legs. Between them hangs a sword and over it a crown. Under this sign the village was considered to be protected, together with the village seal, which was used up to the first world war.

The first world war also affected the destiny of Podbiel. As everywhere in the villages, here also was evidence of the shortage of provisions, and the means by which to get daily needs filled. The Hungarian government took the bells away from the church as well as the bell with which the teacher called the children to school. A certain number of men of Podbiel fell on the battlefields and those who returned, like those of other communities, supported unrest and opposition to the former regime. In 1918 pogroms were carried out on the Hungarians, or the Hungarian notaries, and mostly against the Jewish saloonkeepers, who had been regarded as the main protectors of the stiffening regime. This pressure on the Jews was also evident in Podbiel, although not as heavily as in other townships in Orava.

In 1920 various communities of the former Trstena district were ceded to Poland. The Tvrdossin district, to which Podbiel belonged, was abolished at that time. Later, a district was established in Namestove. Podbiel belonged to the Trstena district until 1960, at which time all of Orava became one district.

In 1918 the idea of freedom was greeted everywhere in Orava with enthusiasm.. They were expecting above all an agricultural-social improvement with the birth of liberty. But what soon happened was the sobriety that came after the first intoxication. The period of the first republic was characteristic of the multitudes of various political sides which did not support a national and state unity. Disfavor manifested itself in Podbiel, as in the majority of the townships of Orava. Nevertheless, the strongest side was also here, the Hlinka popular side, such as was shown in the election of 1935 when it got 210 votes. The Agrarian side in Podbiel received 79 votes, the socialist democrats got 23, the national socialists 2, the communists 31, and the Micur populist party got 28. Comparatively, the commuist side was strong, and which at that time in comparison to Dolny Kubin and Zaskov, had the strongest position here. The organization KSC in Podbiel originated in 1935 and its founders were laborers, who did not conceal their convictions even for the Slovak state, when the KSC was forbidden. Its officials, with the leadership of F. Sitek, got themselves on a document to be deported. The communist movement concentrated itself mainly among the laborers of the sawmill firm of OFA. That was a sawmill which belonged to the federal woodworking stock company. It employed 70-80 workers. Their daily wages were 15-16 crowns. The sawmill was known as a belligerant and organizational center for the increase of socialistic and wage purposes. In 1920 the strike movement was culminated on May 17, 1920 with a strike. The head district magistrate came personally to the sawmill and because of his demonstration of power and purpose to the workers, the firm raised the daily wage by 2 crowns.

In Slovakia in that year there were more strikes undertaken for wage demands. On July 24, 1920, a new strike broke out among the workers of the Podbiel sawmill. Work resumed on August 12, 1920, when the demands were worked out by Dr. Vl. Pivko. A further strike at the sawmill occurred on September 24-25 in which the entire settlement took part. The demands were focused on wage inequities.

Work continued at the sawmill from 1919 to 1931. When the mill closed, unemployment rose in Podbiel and a general crisis came over the entire village. The residents, in a significant way, then began to focus on the work of conveyance/transportation of goods.

In 1930 there were 837 people in Podbiel , in 1940 there were 771 people counted, while the count of homes was less than before. In 1938 there were 85 horses in the town, 523 pieces of different livestock, 174 pigs, 251 sheep, 53 goats. The custom of independent family living also began. It had been usual for two or more families to live in one house.

A definite source of income for Podbiel occurred with the growth of tourist activity which was focused on the Rohac mountains. Podbiel, in 1933, had regular bus transportation from the railroad station to Zuberec, and not only there, but all the way to Zverov, even though at that time people most often went to the Rohac mountains on foot.

The community got electricity in 1940, although in some isolated cases, electricity was being manufactured and used before then.

Residents of Podbiel were also drafted into the army by the SNP. From these, a number had fallen on the front, others were captured as prisoners of war. The scattered shelling which took place in September 1944 near Podbiel felled the partisan Elizabeth Csillagh who was from Dolny Kubin. Podbiel was liberated by the Soviet army on May 3, 1945. The president of the First National Committee in Podbiel was the technical teacher Peter Nabocik, secretary to Jozef Vasek.

The structure of life in Podbiel favorably influenced and changed the industrialization of Orava. The foundation of industrial competition in Nizna found many residents of Podbiel well employed, and with this came a higher standard of living. An important effect of this movement resulted in the organization of JRD, which in 1958 was in all of the communities. Some of the residents of Podbiel found employment outside of Orava.

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This page last changed on 3 Aug 2002