Poland's Linguistic Heritage

Lemko Rusyn

Name

Endonyms:

the Lemkos themselves call their language лемкiвскiй язык [lemkivskiy yazyk] (Fontański i Chomiak 2000Fontański i Chomiak 2000 / komentarz/comment/r /
Fontański, Henryk & Mirosława Chomiak 2000. Gramatyka języka łemkowskiego. Katowice: Śląsk.

).

Exonyms:

Endoethnonyms:

Similarly to other Ruthenian ethnic groups, Lemkos used to call themselves Руснаки [Rusnaky], Русини [Rusyny] or люди руськой вiры [lyudi rus’koj viry] ('people of Ruthenian faith') (Magocsi 2004: 18Magocsi 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul (red.) 2004. Русыньскый язык. Najnowsze dzieje języków słowiańskich. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
). In the 20th century the name Лемко [Lemko] became widely accepted. It originated on the Lemko-Boyko border and is derived from a Lemko word лем [lem] (’only’), first used as a moniker (Werchratski 1902: 1Werchratski 1902 / komentarz/comment/r /
Верхратський, Іван [Werchratski] 1902. Про говор галицких лемків. Lwów: Наукове товариство імені Шевченка.
). In academic works Лімки can be first found in Lewicki (1834: VLewicki 1834 / komentarz/comment/r /
Lewicki, Joseph 1834. Grammatik der ruthenischen oder kleinrussischen Sprache in Galizien. Przemyśl: Griech. Kath. Bischöflichen Buchdruckerey.
).

Exoethnonyms:

History and geopolitics

Location and range

Up until year 1947 Lemkovina (Лемковина) had the shape of a latitudinal wedge of about 150 km of length and 60 km of width, located between Polish settlements in the north and Slovakian settlements in the south.


Map of Lemkovina - the Lemko ethno-linguistic region (map ed.: Jacek Cieślewicz, based on: Stieber 1982Stieber 1982 / komentarz/comment/r /
Stieber, Zdzisław 1982. Dialekt Łemków: Fonetyka i Fonologia. Wrocław: Polska Akademia Nauk.
).

The eastern border of Lemkovina is established by two rivers: Osława (Poland) and Laborec (Slovakia). The western one, on the other hand, was where the villages of Osturňa (Остурня) in Slovak Zamagurie and Biała Woda (Біла Вода), Czarna Woda (Чорна Вода), Jaworki (Явіркы) i Szlachtowa (Шляхтова) in Poland, in Ruś Szlachtowska (Шляхтовська Русь), were.


The village of Osturňa. Photography by T. Wicherkiewicz.


Map of Ruś Szlachtowska (http://www.jaworki.skpb.lodz.pl/okol_rus.html).

The borders between the Poles and the Rusyn people were quite clearly described by D. Zubrzycki (1837: 19-20):
By crossing the Wisłok stream, the established border between Poland and Red Ruthenia, and turning west, on the area of approximately 50 square miles, up to the Hungarian border in the Carpathian mountains in a long but, as the mountain range narrows or widens, narrow line, in the districts of Sanok, Jasło, and Nowy Sącz, there live the people of the Rusyn tribe of the Greek Catholic rite, in 170 villages, with the population of over 83000 souls, still in possession of 129 Orthodox churches. This line extends not only up to the Poprad river, but farther on, near the Dunajec river, on its right bank, in the outermost corner, near the Szczawnica healing springs, there are Rusyn villages, Szlachtowa, Jaworki, Czarnawoda and (...) Białawoda – Let the reader interested in this subject mark, on Lesganik’s map of Galicia, the following remaining villages inhabited by the Rusyns, lying to the north, in the plains, on the foothills that lie beyond the Wisłok river, as these: Wróblik Królewski, Wróblik Szlachecki, Ładzin, going farther towards Dukla: Zawadka, Trzciana by the Jasiel stream, Chyrowa, Myscowa, Konty by the Wisłoka river, Skalnik, Pielgrzymka, Kłopotnica, Folusz, Wola Cieklińska, Bednarka,Rychwald, Bielanka, Łosie, Klimkówka, Laskowa, Florynka, Binczarowa, Królowa Ruska, Macieiowa, Baranowice, Wierzchomla, and Zubrzyk by the Poprad river, and he will have the borders of Ruthenia beyond the Wisłok river, separating it from the Polish tribe situated in the plains. – Thus, all areas laying to the left of this line towards the Hungarian border are inhabited by the Rusyns who are no different than the Rusyns living in the mountains on this side of the Wisłok river, in the eparchy of Przemyśl, and the last Rusyn village to the north, that is, the Królowa Ruska, lies just miles outside of Sącz, and 13 miles of Cracow.
Southern areas inhabited by the Lemko people include "Lower Beskids, hilly vicinities of Stara Lubownia, Szarysz region along the western bank of Torysa river and partially Spiska Magura south of Pieniny Mountains” (Czajkowski 1999: 5Czajkowski 1999 / komentarz/comment/r /
Czajkowski, Jerzy 1999. Studia nad Łemkowszczyzną. Sanok: Muzeum Budownictwa Ludowego.
) It’s worth noting that the borders of Lemkovina established by the linguists are not exactly the same as the areas inhabited by peoples that their neighbours called the Lemkos. The reason why the locals used the term “Lemko” was the usage of the lem phrase in a dialect of a particular village. Yet, the areas of usage of this word were not identicalto other features characteristic for the ethnolinguistic group called “the Lemkos”, such as a fixed “Polish” stress on the penultimate syllable (Stieber 1982:6-7Stieber 1982 / komentarz/comment/r /
Stieber, Zdzisław 1982. Dialekt Łemków: Fonetyka i Fonologia. Wrocław: Polska Akademia Nauk.
). The border between Rusyn and Polish settlements has not changed much across centuries, meaning that the line separating these two groups was sharp and stable (Reinfuss 1961: 63Reinfuss 1961 / komentarz/comment/r /
Reinfuss, Roman 1961. „Stan i problematyka badań nad kulturą ludową Łemkowszczyzny”, w: Witold Dynowski (red.) Etnografia Polska V. Wrocław: Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN, Instytut Historii Kultury Materialnej PAN, s. 63-70.
; Duć-Fajfer 2001: 7-8Duć-Fajfer 2001 / komentarz/comment/r /
Duć-Fajfer, Helena 2001. Literatura łemkowska w drugiej połowie XIX i na początku XX wieku. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umieje̜tności.
). The situation was different on the southern border, where the areas of usage of the Rusyn language were not the same as where the “Rusyn faith” prevailed (Reinfuss 1961: 63Reinfuss 1961 / komentarz/comment/r /
Reinfuss, Roman 1961. „Stan i problematyka badań nad kulturą ludową Łemkowszczyzny”, w: Witold Dynowski (red.) Etnografia Polska V. Wrocław: Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN, Instytut Historii Kultury Materialnej PAN, s. 63-70.
; Duć-Fajfer 2001: 8Duć-Fajfer 2001 / komentarz/comment/r /
Duć-Fajfer, Helena 2001. Literatura łemkowska w drugiej połowie XIX i na początku XX wieku. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umieje̜tności.
). Lemkovina was inhabited by the indigenous population until 1947. Right after the World War II there was a massive resettlement of the Lemkos to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and after that, as part of Operation Vistula, to other Polish territories, in particular to Lower Silesia (Stegherr http://wwwg.uni-klu.ac.at/eeo/Rusinisch.pdf: 406; http://oboz.w.of.pl/ofiary.html). Since then, the Lemkos have lived in dispersion, and only a small part of the group managed to return to their place of origin. Before the year 1947, the number of the Lemkos in Polish Lemkovina was estimated as at about 150 000 people. According to the information ofthe Central Statistical Office of the Republic of Poland from 1938, the area was altogether inhabited with 130 121 members of the Greek Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church (GUS RP 1938: 32-45GUS RP 1938 / komentarz/comment/r /
Statystyka Polski, z. 68/1938. Warszawa: GUS RP.

; GUS RP 1938a: 26-35GUS RP 1938a / komentarz/comment/r /
Statystyka Polski, z. 88/1938a. Warszawa: GUS RP.
). The local Lemkos inhabited mostly rural areas, while bigger urban centers lying in Lemkovina were definitely Polish in their ethnic character (Duć-Fajfer 2001: 8Duć-Fajfer 2001 / komentarz/comment/r /
Duć-Fajfer, Helena 2001. Literatura łemkowska w drugiej połowie XIX i na początku XX wieku. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umieje̜tności.
). At the beginning of the XXI century, estimates concerning the number of the Lemkos varied greatly. Magocsi (2004: 16Magocsi 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul (red.) 2004. Русыньскый язык. Najnowsze dzieje języków słowiańskich. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
) writes about around 90 000 Lemkos in Ukraine and 60 000 Rusyns (majority of which are Lemkos) in Poland, while, as it is often the case with minorities lacking their own state organization, not everyone readily admits their heritage. The official data collected during the National Census of 2002 revealed that 5863 people declared Lemko nationality and 5627 people used the Lemko language at home (http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/nsp2002_tabl9.xls), including 1444 for whom it was the only language used at home (http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/nsp2002_tabl7.xls). According to data collected durign the National Census of 2011, there are 10 000 people in Poland calling themselves the Lemkos (The Results of the National Census 2011: 18Narodowy Spis Ludności i Mieszkań 2011 / komentarz/comment/r /
Wyniki Narodowego Spisu Powszechnego Ludności i Mieszkań 2011. Podstawowe informacje o sytuacji demograficzno-społecznej ludności Polski oraz zasobach mieszkaniowych. Główny Urząd Statystyczny.
). As Paul Magocsi proposes, and some representatives of the Polish administration agree, the actual number of people who consider themselves Lemkos is at least twice as high (http://komentatoreuropa.pl/page107.html).

History and origin

The Lemkos are a part of an ethnic macro-group – Carpatho-Rusyns – along with Krajniaks (also known as Rusnaks or Spiszaks), Dolinians , Boykos (Rusnaks or Wierchowinians) and Hutsuls (Magocsi 2004: 18Magocsi 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul (red.) 2004. Русыньскый язык. Najnowsze dzieje języków słowiańskich. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
).


Map showing the areas inhabited by Lemkos and neighbouring ethnic groups (map ed.: Jacek Cieślewicz, based on: Reinfuss 1990: 14Reinfuss 1990 / komentarz/comment/r /
Reinfuss, Roman 1990. Śladami Łemków. Warszawa: PTTK „Kraj”.
).

There are two contradictory theories explaining the Lemkos’ origin and their appearing in Lemkovina: the autochthony theory and migration theory. According to the former, the Lemkos are the direct descendants of the White Croatian tribe, described by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos and mentioned in a chronicle Tale of Bygone Years compiled in the 12th century in Kievan Rus. White Croats supposedly lived in the Danube valley as early as the 6th century, in the so-called „Rusyn March”, subordinate to Hungary (Marchia Ruthenorum – Magocsi 2004: 23Magocsi 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul (red.) 2004. Русыньскый язык. Najnowsze dzieje języków słowiańskich. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
). Another version of this theory says that the Rusyns were part of Kievan Rus and after its collapse, in the face of the influx of Polish people, they retreated to more remote areas. (Duć-Fajfer 2001: 8Duć-Fajfer 2001 / komentarz/comment/r /
Duć-Fajfer, Helena 2001. Literatura łemkowska w drugiej połowie XIX i na początku XX wieku. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umieje̜tności.
).


Map showing the territory of White Croats according to the migration theory (map ed.: Jacek Cieślewicz, based on: Rybakow 1983Rybakow 1983 / komentarz/comment/r /
Rybakow, Borys 1983. Pierwsze wieki historii Rusi. Warszawa: PIW.
).

According to the migration theory (Reinfuss 1961: 63Reinfuss 1961 / komentarz/comment/r /
Reinfuss, Roman 1961. „Stan i problematyka badań nad kulturą ludową Łemkowszczyzny”, w: Witold Dynowski (red.) Etnografia Polska V. Wrocław: Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN, Instytut Historii Kultury Materialnej PAN, s. 63-70.
), the Lemkos originated from the population which reached their present-day settlement areas in the 15th century as a result of migration of Vlachs – the nomadic shepherds that came from the Balkan Peninsula. There are no known historical sources that could clearly explain the Lemkos’ origin (Duć-Fajfer 2001: 8Duć-Fajfer 2001 / komentarz/comment/r /
Duć-Fajfer, Helena 2001. Literatura łemkowska w drugiej połowie XIX i na początku XX wieku. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umieje̜tności.
).
As Magocsi writes (2004: 26Magocsi 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul (red.) 2004. Русыньскый язык. Najnowsze dzieje języków słowiańskich. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
), the Lemkos became Polish subjects in the middle of the 14th century. Then, in 1772, Lemkovina passed under Austrian rule. Before that, in the 16th century, the Lemkos lost their original social and economic privileges and were reduced to the role of peasantry, including being bound to the land (Magocsi 2004: 26-27Magocsi 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul (red.) 2004. Русыньскый язык. Najnowsze dzieje języków słowiańskich. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
). During all that time one of the main factors that enabled them to retain their sense of individuality was the Eastern Orthodox Church. Therefore, the event that was to significantly influence their history was the proclamation of the Union of Brest in 1596. According to its resolutions, some Orthodox clergymen in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth acknowledged papal supremacy and the Uniate (Greek Catholic) Church was formed. In the 18th century, after the Orthodox bishops from Przemyśl joined the Uniate Church, the whole Lemko population was forced to follow (Nowakowski 1992: 314Nowakowski 1992 / komentarz/comment/r /
Nowakowski, Krzysztof 1992. „Sytuacja polityczna na Łemkowszczyźnie w latach 1918-1939”, w: J. Czajkowski (red.) Łemkowie w historii i kulturze Karpat. Cz. I. Rzeszów: Editions Spotkania, s. 313-350.
).
The abolition of serfdom in Austria which took place in 1848 caused, in the latter part of the 19th century, a significant fragmentation of the villages and rise of unemployment in Galicia and Lemkovina. It resulted in labour emigration to both Americas (Nowakowski 1992: 314Nowakowski 1992 / komentarz/comment/r /
Nowakowski, Krzysztof 1992. „Sytuacja polityczna na Łemkowszczyźnie w latach 1918-1939”, w: J. Czajkowski (red.) Łemkowie w historii i kulturze Karpat. Cz. I. Rzeszów: Editions Spotkania, s. 313-350.
). The scale of that phenomenon can be described as massive – around 225 000 Rusyns emigrated to the United States before the beginning of World War I (Magocsi 1999a: 98Magocsi 1999a / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul 1999a. “The Rusyn Language Question Revisited (1995)”, w: Paul Magocsi (red.) Of the Making of Nationalities I. New York: Columbia University Press/East European Monographs, s. 86-111.
).
The second half of the 19th century is also the time of awakening of the Lemkos’ and Ukrainians’ national consciousness and the time of rivalry between the Ukrainian orientation, represented by the “Prosvita” society, among others, and the Old Rusyn orientation (Michaił Kaczkowski Society), from which a pro-Russian group also originated (cf. Moklak 1997: 19-27Moklak 1997 / komentarz/comment/r /
Moklak, Jarosław 1997. Łemkowszczyzna w II Rzeczypospolitej. Zagadnienia polityczne i wyznaniowe. Kraków: Historia Jagiellonica.
; Nowakowski 1992: 314-316Nowakowski 1992 / komentarz/comment/r /
Nowakowski, Krzysztof 1992. „Sytuacja polityczna na Łemkowszczyźnie w latach 1918-1939”, w: J. Czajkowski (red.) Łemkowie w historii i kulturze Karpat. Cz. I. Rzeszów: Editions Spotkania, s. 313-350.
; Duć-Fajfer 2001: 17-31Duć-Fajfer 2001 / komentarz/comment/r /
Duć-Fajfer, Helena 2001. Literatura łemkowska w drugiej połowie XIX i na początku XX wieku. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umieje̜tności.
). Individual national orientations are described further.
Ethnographic research which began in the 19th century also confirms the consistency of changes to the national identity. Since the beginning, establishing the border between the Rusyns and the other East Slavic peoples was problematic for the researchers. Still, the number of people living in the northern part of Galicia who declared their identity as Ukrainian rose throughout the 20th century, and by the end of it, practically the whole Eastern Galicia and Northern Bukovina populations considered themselves Ukrainian (Magocsi 2004: 17Magocsi 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul (red.) 2004. Русыньскый язык. Najnowsze dzieje języków słowiańskich. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
), whereas the Lemkos supported the pro-Russian movement in the first two decades of the 20th century (Moklak 1997: 25-27Moklak 1997 / komentarz/comment/r /
Moklak, Jarosław 1997. Łemkowszczyzna w II Rzeczypospolitej. Zagadnienia polityczne i wyznaniowe. Kraków: Historia Jagiellonica.
), and a significant part of them assumed a separate identity later on (Duć-Fajfer 2002: 26Duć-Fajfer 2002 / komentarz/comment/r /
Duć-Fajfer, Helena 2002. Czy to tęsknota czy nadzieja? Antologia powysiedleńczej literatury łemkowskiej w Polsce. Legnica: Stowarzyszenie Łemków.
).


Location of Eastern Galicia on the map of modern Ukraine (http://pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plik:Ukraine-Halychyna.png&filetimestamp=20090407203404).


Main ethnic groups in Bukovina (map ed.: Jacek Cieślewicz, based on: http://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB:Bucovethn.png).

During World War I the Lemkos, accused of pro-Russian tendencies, were repressed by the Austrians. In the Talerhof camp (Талергоф) near Graz, two (Duć-Fajfer 2001: 24Duć-Fajfer 2001 / komentarz/comment/r /
Duć-Fajfer, Helena 2001. Literatura łemkowska w drugiej połowie XIX i na początku XX wieku. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umieje̜tności.
) to five (Reinfuss 1990: 122Reinfuss 1990 / komentarz/comment/r /
Reinfuss, Roman 1990. Śladami Łemków. Warszawa: PTTK „Kraj”.
) thousand Lemkos were imprisoned, mostly peasants, as well as intellectuals – teachers, clerks, and priests (Duć-Fajfer 2001: 23-24Duć-Fajfer 2001 / komentarz/comment/r /
Duć-Fajfer, Helena 2001. Literatura łemkowska w drugiej połowie XIX i na początku XX wieku. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umieje̜tności.
; Nowakowski 1992: 315Nowakowski 1992 / komentarz/comment/r /
Nowakowski, Krzysztof 1992. „Sytuacja polityczna na Łemkowszczyźnie w latach 1918-1939”, w: J. Czajkowski (red.) Łemkowie w historii i kulturze Karpat. Cz. I. Rzeszów: Editions Spotkania, s. 313-350.
). One of the Lemko saints, Maksym Gorlicki (Maksym Sandowycz/Максим Сандович), is associated with these repressions. On 6th September 1914, he was executed for his alleged pro-Russian sympathies by the decision of an Austrian officer, without a court sentence or an investigation (http://www.pravoslavie.ru/orthodoxchurches/40006.htm).


The so-called ‘cross of Talerhof’ in Leszno in Przemyskie poviat.

By the end of 1918, as the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy collapsed, the Lemkos started political activity aiming to create a separate state organisation. Two Lemko republics were formed. The pro-Ukrainian Komancza Republic existed since 5th November 1918 until 27th January 1919 and was based in Komańcza; Andrij Kyr became its president. It declared accession to the West Ukrainian People’s Republic, taking 35 villages in the Sanok district by the end of 1918; it ceased to exist on 27th January, 1919, after the intervention of the Polish army (Nowakowski 1992: 316-318Nowakowski 1992 / komentarz/comment/r /
Nowakowski, Krzysztof 1992. „Sytuacja polityczna na Łemkowszczyźnie w latach 1918-1939”, w: J. Czajkowski (red.) Łemkowie w historii i kulturze Karpat. Cz. I. Rzeszów: Editions Spotkania, s. 313-350.
).
During the creation of the Komańcza Republic, in connection with obtaining guarantee of the autonomy of the Rusyns in Czechoslovakia (Magocsi 2000: 31Magocsi 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul (red.) 2004. Русыньскый язык. Najnowsze dzieje języków słowiańskich. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
), the Lemkos from the districts of Gorlice, Jasło and Krosno proclaimed the establishing of the independent Ruthenian National Republic of the Lemkos with its capital in the village of Florynka (Флоринка) on 5th December 1918. It ceased to exist by the end of March 1920, when the Polish army marched into its territory (Nowakowski 1992: 318-321Nowakowski 1992 / komentarz/comment/r /
Nowakowski, Krzysztof 1992. „Sytuacja polityczna na Łemkowszczyźnie w latach 1918-1939”, w: J. Czajkowski (red.) Łemkowie w historii i kulturze Karpat. Cz. I. Rzeszów: Editions Spotkania, s. 313-350.
).
The 1920s are a time of increased emigrations of the Lemkos to Canada and the United States (Nowakowski 1992: 326Nowakowski 1992 / komentarz/comment/r /
Nowakowski, Krzysztof 1992. „Sytuacja polityczna na Łemkowszczyźnie w latach 1918-1939”, w: J. Czajkowski (red.) Łemkowie w historii i kulturze Karpat. Cz. I. Rzeszów: Editions Spotkania, s. 313-350.
). It is also a period of intensive development of Lemko journalism. Nowakowski (1992: 327Nowakowski 1992 / komentarz/comment/r /
Nowakowski, Krzysztof 1992. „Sytuacja polityczna na Łemkowszczyźnie w latach 1918-1939”, w: J. Czajkowski (red.) Łemkowie w historii i kulturze Karpat. Cz. I. Rzeszów: Editions Spotkania, s. 313-350.
) mentions the following titles: Dilo, Holos, Holos Ukraiński, Holos Narodu, Nedila, Pravda, Selrob, Beskid, Selo, Lemko (published in the United States), Ziemia i Vola, Narodna Vola.
In the 1930s, the Lemko language was introduced to schools; Lemko organizations were also permitted to act (Magocsi 2004: 33Magocsi 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul (red.) 2004. Русыньскый язык. Najnowsze dzieje języków słowiańskich. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
). Furthermore, as a result of the so-called religious war (the conversion of the significant part of the Lemko population to Orthodox Church) the Apostolic Administration of Lemkovina was created, and the Lemkos were no longer under control of the pro-Ukrainian Greek Catholic eparchy (diocese) in Przemyśl (Nowakowski 1992: 339-340Nowakowski 1992 / komentarz/comment/r /
Nowakowski, Krzysztof 1992. „Sytuacja polityczna na Łemkowszczyźnie w latach 1918-1939”, w: J. Czajkowski (red.) Łemkowie w historii i kulturze Karpat. Cz. I. Rzeszów: Editions Spotkania, s. 313-350.
).
After the outbreak of World War II, areas inhabited by the Lemkos were incorporated for the most part into the General Government. During that time, the differences of national attitudes among the Lemkos increased – despite the Ukrainian administration forced on Lemkovina, in the case of education but not only, a part of the local population resisted enforced Ukrainisation even more strongly than before (Duć-Fajfer 2001: 26Duć-Fajfer 2001 / komentarz/comment/r /
Duć-Fajfer, Helena 2001. Literatura łemkowska w drugiej połowie XIX i na początku XX wieku. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umieje̜tności.
).
After the end of the war, around two-thirds of the Lemkos resettled (voluntarily at first; in later periods, the resettlements were enforced by the authorities) to the area of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Later on, beginning with 1974, as part of the Operation Vistula, the rest of the Lemko population was resettled almost entirely to the so-called Recovered Territories, to Lower Silesia in particular. In addition to this, as a result of Operation Vistula and the prohibition of resettlement of people and Uniate priests, the ministry activities of the Greek Catholic Church were made impossible (Orłowska 2012: 110-112Orłowska 2012 / komentarz/comment/r /
Orłowska, Beata 2012. “Sytuacja wyznaniowa wśród Łemków na ziemiach zachodnich w latach 1947-1956”, w: Bogusław Drożdż (red.) Perspectiva: Legnickie Studia Teologiczno-Historyczne XI/20: 106-118.
), and the Lemkos were declared a Ukrainian minority. Some of them managed to return to Lemkovina – by the 1980s there were 10,000 Lemkos in their indigenous areas (Magocsi 2004: 35Magocsi 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul (red.) 2004. Русыньскый язык. Najnowsze dzieje języków słowiańskich. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
). The returning Lemkos could not rely on any kind of help from the state; they usually had to either buy back or rebuild their households. In his autobiographical relation, Chomiak (1995: 93-100Chomiak 1995 / komentarz/comment/r /
Chomiak, Roman 1995. Nasz łemkowski los. Nowy Sącz: Sądecka Oficyna Wydawnicza Wojewódzkiego Ośrodka Kultury.
) shows his correspondence with the Polish state administrative organs from the years 1960 – 1988. In their responses, referring to the current law, institutions in question refused to conduct an investigation aiming at returning of Chomiak’s expropriated household located in Lemkovina.
Moreover, after the year 1945, the Lemko language, similarly to the rest of Ruthenian languages in other countries of the Eastern Block (that is, in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Czechoslovakia, Hungary) was declared a Ukrainian dialect. Despite being consistently used in everyday life, the Lemko language was not taught in schools, and all Lemko publications had to be Ukrainised (Magocsi 2004: 9Magocsi 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul (red.) 2004. Русыньскый язык. Najnowsze dzieje języków słowiańskich. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
). Therefore, changes were introduced to writing so that it resembled the Ukrainian spelling (for instance, letter ы was removed, and letter ї was introduced), the word “Rusyn” was replaced with the word “Ukrainian” (Michna 1995: 50-51Michna 1995 / komentarz/comment/r /
Michna, Ewa 1995. Łemkowie: Grupa etniczna czy naród? Kraków: Nomos.
). Additionally, in 1952, the Lemkos were introduced to the minority education system for a Ukrainian minority; they were, however, reluctant to participate in classes. As Pudło (1987: 123-126Pudło 1987 / komentarz/comment/r /
Pudło, Kazimierz 1987. Łemkowie: Proces wrastania w środowisko Dolnego Śląska 1947-1985. Wrocław: Polskie Towarzystwo Ludoznawcze.
) writes: “The situation of Ukrainian education in Lower Silesia was (...) more difficult than, for example, in the regions of Olsztyn or Szczecin (...) especially because of lack of interest for Ukrainian language on the part of the Lemko population predominant in that area. (...) In some schools of the counties of Góra, Lubin, Oleśnica and Wołów, the youth, at the instigation of their parents, refused to participate in the Ukrainian language classes (...) claiming that they are Lemkos, not Ukrainians”.
Th e 1980s brought some positive changes to the Lemkos’ situation. In 1983, in Czarne village (Чорне), Watra – a folk culture festival taking place in Lemkovina – was organized for the first time (Magocsi 2004: 36Magocsi 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul (red.) 2004. Русыньскый язык. Najnowsze dzieje języków słowiańskich. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
). In 1989 (http://www.stowarzyszenielemkow.pl/new/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=19) , the Lemko Society was established. Its aim was to support the development of the Lemko culture and build a sense of the group’s ethnic individuality. Soon, the society started publishing Бесіда (Besida) magazine. At the same time, the Lemko Union was formed, an organization of pro-Ukrainian orientation (Magocsi 2004: 36Magocsi 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul (red.) 2004. Русыньскый язык. Najnowsze dzieje języków słowiańskich. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
). Today, the Lemkos have the status of an ethnic minority.
In 1991, a National Congress of Rusyns was held in Medzilaborce (Slovakia), initiated, among others, by the Lemko Society (http://www.stowarzyszenielemkow.pl/new/modules/ publisher/item.php?itemid=296).. In 1992, the I Congress of Rusyn Language was held in Bardejovské Kúpele (Бардеёвскы Купелї) in Slovakia, during which it was decided that a common literary language of the Rusyns was to be created. It was to be done by the so-called Rhaeto-Romance rule, meaning that in every country where a variety of Rusyn was spoken (Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, former Yugoslavia), a local literary norm was to be established, and on the basis of those local forms, one literary language was to be created (Magocsi 2004: 9Magocsi 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul (red.) 2004. Русыньскый язык. Najnowsze dzieje języków słowiańskich. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
). In July 2011, the 11th World Congress of Rusyns took place in Budapest. (www.stowarzyszenielemkow.pl/new/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=297).
ISO Code
the Rusyn language-complex:
ISO 639-3rue
SILRUE
Annotations, attachments, bibliography