The Uprooted Ones – Lemkos in Galicia and abroad

Since the Polish state undertook to respect minority rights, the Lemkos were able to continue cultivating their culture during the interwar period. Unlike parts of the Ukrainian minority in Poland, who continued to fight for an independent Ukraine and considered the minority rights granted to them insufficient, the Lemkos became more or less loyal citizens of the Polish Republic. The country came under German and Soviet occupation during World War Two, both of which were very brutal in character. The southeast was additionally shaken by the Polish-Ukrainian civil war, initiated in large part by Ukrainian nationalists. The Lemko community mostly stayed away from this conflict, distancing itself from both the collaboration of some Ukrainians with the Nazis and the extremely brutal methods of fighting among Ukrainian nationalists.1 In the face of terror on the part of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainian: Українська Повстанська Армія / Ukrajinska Powstanska Armija; UPA for short), most Polish politicians agreed that the solution to the conflict would lie only in the forced resettlement of Ukrainians. The Polish Communists, with the support of the , claimed power over the country. In July 1944, they established a provisional government called the Lublin Committee. Defining the border claimed by Stalin and solving the minority issue were among the first decisions made. In the agreement with the Ukrainian Soviet Republic of September 9, 1944, a decision was reached concerning the exchange of the Polish and Ukrainian population. Although the document speaks of voluntary resettlement, there is no doubt that this was a front for forced migrations under international law. On the one hand, no distinction had been made between responsible radical nationalists and Ukrainian civilians, and at the same time other Ruthenian ethnic groups had been sweepingly assigned to the Ukrainian population and expelled.

What occurred in this context in the above-mentioned village of Zyndranowa, we learn from the biography of Teodor Gocz. Officers of the Polish Army came to the village for the first time on October 2, 1945. The Lemko families were instructed to prepare for the journey to the . They were allowed to take only the most important things – quilts, clothes, food, tools for work. Forced to leave their farms, they then had to remain at the train station for several days until the train took them east. Despite the rigor of the measures, a number of Lemkos managed to successfully evade expulsion. Some fled to the surrounding forest and swamp areas, others sought refuge in the already evacuated villages. Some managed to escape from the resettlement transports. Only 32 of the 170 families living in the village remained after the expulsion. As a result of the Polish-Ukrainian agreement of September 9, 1944, a total of 500,000 people had been forced to leave their homes by the end of 1946, including about 100,000 Lemkos.2 

However, this exchange did not entirely resolve the long-standing Polish-Ukrainian conflict. The Ukrainian insurgent army, although significantly weakened, continued the partisan struggle. Raids and killings continued to occur on both sides, and often such incidents involved entire villages. The Polish government decided to solve the problem in a radical way and, in 1947, ordered a mass resettlement operation within a short period of time. It was given the code name "Operation Vistula" (Polish: Akcja Wisła) and was carried out between April and the end of July 1947. In this case, too, no distinction was made between Ukrainians and other Ruthenian ethnic groups. A total of 140,662 people were forcibly resettled (of which about 60,000 were Lemkos) and sent to various localities in the northern and western parts of the country annexed to Poland in 1945.4  With the westward shift of Poland’s borders, forced migrations also took place in this area after the end of the war. The German population was forced to leave their homeland. The Polish resettlement lasted for several years, however, for the latecomers as well as those resettled as part of "Operation Vistula", mostly only plundered farms remained.3

By the end of 1947 there were almost no Lemkos living in Zyndranowa. Ten farms were inhabited by newly arrived Poles. Most of the empty buildings were gutted and left to ruin, but some were also demolished or burned down. Two years later, two families returned to the village, and another eight Lemko families arrived in 1956-1957. The old village scribe Teodor Kukieła remained in the village with his granddaughter and her two children. Her husband had emigrated to Canada before the Second World War; only in 1948 did she get permission to follow her husband. One of the great-grandchildren of the village scribe, Teodor Gocz, was arrested by Polish authorities in June 1947 for allegedly possessing weapons and ammunition and collaborating with Ukrainian partisans. Despite his young age of 17 and unproven guilt, he was sentenced to eight years in prison. When he returned in 1954, he hardly recognized his village, which had been depopulated and ravaged, but he decided to stay there, nonetheless. He started a family and began building a new house. After the death of his great-grandfather in 1955, Gocz continued to work on his collection of preserved artifacts of Lemko culture. When the Gocz family moved to a new house in 1968, there was already a large collection of exhibits in the old house as well as in the stable. In the same year, a museum chamber for Lemko culture was able to be established. 

For a long time, Teodor Gocz remained almost alone in his efforts. The local and regional authorities showed no understanding for his activities. The traces of Ukrainian and Lemko life were, it seemed, to be erased rather than maintained. Millions of migrants had crossed the Polish state at the end of World War II; by the 1950s, most of them had found a place to stay. But the region of the Carpathian foothills, devastated by the war and then severely depopulated, remained almost uninhabited. There was no state plan to bring new settlers to the area. Only the original inhabitants, who had been forcibly resettled in northern and western Poland in 1947, were interested in the area. However, they were strictly forbidden to return to their old homeland, at least until the political thaw of 1956. After that, it became easier to obtain the appropriate permission to move. Nevertheless, the returnees often met with hostility and rejection on the part of the small newly settled population. A very memorable literary picture of what remained of Lemkivshchyna (Lemko country) in the 1990s was painted by Andrzej Stasiuk in his famous book "Tales of Galicia."  

In northern and western Poland, too, the resettled Lemkos were rather hindered in their efforts to establish a new homeland. State assistance was very limited. The new neighbors were mostly hostile and considered them – according to the principle of collective responsibility – as accomplices in the crimes of the Ukrainian nationalists. In most cases, they were also denied the right to practice their religion. At first, the Catholic Church was reluctant to share the church buildings taken over from the Germans. When all religious groups were opposed by Polish communists, the small Greek Catholic community was further weakened and ultimately unable to properly survive.

For many years, the members of the scattered Lemko community maintained contact with each other. In the 1980s they finally managed to establish their first magazine (the Голос Ватры / Galos Watry, published in 1984-1989), and organized the inaugural festival of Lemko culture in 1983. It is called Watra, a name associated with the tradition of the bonfire that the Lemkos have gathered around for generations to celebrate. The name was changed in 1990 to “Lemko Watra Abroad” (also translatable as “Lemko Watra in Foreign Lands”, ЛЕМКІВСКА ВАТРА НА ЧУЖЫНІ / Lemkische Watra na Tschuschini). This emphasizes that most Lemkos do not live in their ancestral homeland, but in a foreign country. The festival takes place every year in Michałów, a village in . In 1989, the Lemko Society (Стоваришыне Лемків) was founded along with a new magazine entitled БЕСІДА (in English “conversation”). Both exist to this day and have been instrumental in the development of a wide range of cultural activities. The society was divided into 13 regional departments and has its headquarters in in Lower Silesia.

In the 1990s, a number of Lemkos moved back to their old homeland, bought an old house or built a new one. Here, too, the first festivals of Lemko culture were organized, starting in 1983. Since 1990, these have become major events and are held annually in the village of Zdynia. Many of the Lemko returnees are involved in numerous civic initiatives, for example restoring the remaining Greek-Catholic churches in Lemkivshchyna. As a result, there is now a large network of over 200 wooden churches, which is proudly presented as a tourist and architectural attraction by local municipalities in southeastern Poland. 

However, most Lemkos have remained in northern and western Poland. In their new homeland, they probably enjoy better living conditions and development opportunities and often only travel to Lemkivshchyna for the Watra Festival. They also maintain close contact with cultural institutions such as the Museum of Lemko Culture in Zyndranowa. In recent years, many such cultural institutions have been established – mostly in the form of private associations or foundations. In addition, in some towns museums with a regional focus devote sections of their exhibitions to Lemko culture. However, the Polish character of the area is always brought to the fore. In recent years, many people from different parts of Poland have been moving to the region, building new houses and establishing businesses and handicraft enterprises. The face of Lemkivshchyna is constantly changing: some traces of Lemko culture are being saved, while others will be lost.

The Lemkos remain a widely dispersed ethnic group in Poland and throughout the world. They have a broad range of views around the question of affiliation. Some Lemkos see themselves as Ukrainians, others as Carpatho-Ruthenians. A number also uphold claims of independence, maintaining that they are a nation with its own identity. In Poland they have the status of an ethnic minority. Ethnologists and historians often classify them as an ethnic minority of the Ukrainian nation.5  But, regardless of self or external attribution, it remains undisputed that the Lemkos have their own place on the cultural map of Europe and contribute to its enrichment. It is remarkable how attached the Lemkos are to their culture and how steadfastly they continue to nurture their identity, despite the fact that, for decades, they were prevented from doing so on all fronts.