Finding Jozef

My grandparents moved to the UK after WWII. As I was very young and they only really spoke pidgin English I never really got to know them. I am so interested to find out where they came from but now they have passed away there is not much more to go on. I think my Grandad Jozef Rebuś was born in Horyniec, Eastern Poland but that's all I know. It seems that Rebuś is a very unusual name in Poland. My Grandma was called Anna Krzemien and she came from West Poland but I don't know where. They were both in POW camps in Germany as far as I know and as a result they never talked about the past or their family. Can anyone help me or give me a pointer on where to start looking?

REBUŚ: possibly derived from rebe (rabbi, teacher) to mean the rabbi's kid. or the adjective raby (pockmarked from smallpox) or German Rabe (raven).
Only some 40 people now use this surname and 30 of them live in SE Poland's Przemyśl area along the Ukrainian border. Probably others still live in what was pre-war eastern Poland, now independent Ukraine..

KRZMIEŃ: The Polish word for flint. Possibly a topo tag from Krzemieniec (Flintville) or similar.

Hi Polonius,

How did you find this out? Where can I learn more?

Rebuś

I have been invovled in onamastic (name-origin) research for many years and have amassed a considerable file on Polish surnames.

For more information please contact: polonius3@gazeta.pl.

Rebuś:
moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/rebu%25C5%259B.html
Krzemień:
moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/krzemie%25C5%2584.html