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Editor in Chief:

Sofiya Fedyna

Editorial Staff:

Taras Rad’

Vitaliy Levchenko

Design: Viktor Dudiak

Translation: Lidiya Kalantyrenko

Copy Editing: Michael Hnatyshyn

Herald of SFULO (c) Official edition of the World Federation of Ukrainian

Lemko Organizations.

Published once a month.

The main goal of the magazine is to dynamically illuminate the activities of

all the subjects of SFULO.

You can download issues of the Herald from the SFULO site:

www.sfulo.com/biblioteka

Editor’s E-mail: visnyk.sfulo@gmail.com

Please send us your materials. The Editorial Council, however, reserves the

final decision as to what to publish.

The World Federation of Ukrainian Lemko Unions (SFULO) is a nongovernmental international public organization, which unites the

Ukrainian Lemko Unions of Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia, Canada and the USA.

The main goal of its activity is to secure and protect the legitimate social, economical, creative, ethnic, national-cultural and other interests of Lemkos;

to develop and popularize Lemko cultural heritage and spirituality according to the principles of legality, democracy, voluntarism and self-

government.

Official website:

www.sfulo.com.

CONTENTS

Opening remarks……………………………………………….3

Our affairs

The Ukrainians who were deported from Poland in the 1940s did not receive financial compensation.................4

“Deportees do not legally exist”.......................................7

The Lemkos of Poland have had their rights of ownership

restored in the lands which were taken away by the

Communists..................................................................10

Our people

Restoring the memorial site for the deported Ukrainians in Lviv...............................................................................14

Honoring the 69th anniversary of Operation “Vistula”….15

Culture

Thanks to bats, the largest stone church of Lemkivshchyna was repaired.........................................18

From the history of Lemko pysanka...............................19

In the club “Gart” a master class of “Lemko Pysanka” occurred........................................................................21

In the open air “Lemko Village” museum a monument to the Lemko man and Lemko woman was dedicated.........22

The “Feast of Lemko Pysanka” was held in Ternopil oblast...............…………………………………………………..23

Residents of Luts’k painted pysanky in the Lemko style..............................................................................25

Ukrainian Catholic University holds the “Lemko Pysanka” festival……………........................................………………25

Lemko pysanky in Uzhhorod..........................................27

The first cartoon in the Lemko dialect appeared on the internet.........................................................................28

The FBI is looking for the missing paintings of Andy Warhol…....................................................................…29

The life of a Lemko photographer was continued in photos …………………………………........………...........................30

In Kalush an investigation of Lemko history was initiated ………………........………..............................…................31

Events. History. Life

Unique photos: Lemkos and Boykos 80 years ago……..32

Lemkos in Diaspora. Part 5. Migration to the USA……..35

German documents about Lemkivshchyna from the period of the Second World War...............................................38

Featured personality

The “father” of multiculturalism...............................42

Advertisements and announcements..................46

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Opening remarks…

A few days ago we commemorated a sad date – the 69th anniversary of the tragic

Operation “Vistula,” during which more than 150,000 Ukrainians, especially Lemkos,

lost their native land. It is symbolic that this year the date of the tragedy and the time

of the Resurrection of the Lord are so close on the calendar. Somehow, it seems that

God reminds us once again that the time of the revival of our community and the

triumph of truth over injustice will come. We must only strive a little harder in our

cooperative efforts so that the deportees will gain official status and that such

tragedies will not recur.

Therefore, I greet all of you with the bright holiday of Easter and wish you God's

blessings, so that His Resurrection, love and joy will penetrate into all our hearts,

multiplying peace and harmony, strengthening our faith and hope, and giving us

strength to fight for truth and justice!

I wish unity for our Lemko community and for all of the Ukrainian community,

so that not only our native Ukraine will revive but our LEMKIVSHCHYNA will get a

chance to rise again!

Sincerely,

The head of SFULO, Sofiya Fedyna

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OUR AFFAIRS

THE UKRAINIANS WHO WERE DEPORTED FROM POLAND IN THE 1940’S

DID NOT RECEIVE FINANCIAL COMPENSATION

In 1944-1946 a voluntary-forced population exchange between the Ukrainian SSR and

Poland took place.

On September 9, 1944 an

interstate agreement was signed

between the Ukrainian SSR and the

Polish Committee of National

Liberation regarding the evacuation

of the Ukrainian population from

Polish territory and Polish citizens

from the territory of the Ukrainian

Soviet Socialist Republic. According

to this document, all the Ukrainians

who lived in the districts of Kholmshchyna in Poland had to resettle to the territory of

Ukraine, moreover, all of the Poles and Jews who had Polish citizenship before

September 17, 1939, that is, those were living in Ukraine, had to resettle to the

neighboring country. The resettlement was voluntary at the beginning, under the

pressure of propaganda, and then – forced. The Polish government was interested in a

stable mono-national state and the Kremlin, by means of the forced deportation of

Ukrainians, wanted to be done with the Ukrainian question in Poland and to eliminate

the biggest center of the Ukrainian liberation movement. The deportation of the

Ukrainians from Lemkivshchyna, Kholmshchyna, Nadsiannia, and Pidsiannia lasted

from 1944 to June, 1946; as a result of this action, over 500,000 Ukrainians were

resettled, according to the official data.

In 1946, during the second wave of resettlement, the Maykovych family from the

Lemko village of Rzepedź was deported to Ukraine. At that time Stepan Maykovych

was seven years old, but he remembers very well this terrible resettlement and the

difficult emotional state of his parents.

Stepan Maykovych

"Dad harnessed a horse and a cow, and took two

sheep and two beehives. We were waiting and

waiting. They provided two wagons for four families.

Half a wagon was for one family, the other half – for

another family. The animals occupied the other

wagon. I remember that my mother, my sister and

another woman went to the village, for what reason –

I found out later. They went to take the Gospel, cross,

chalice and icon of St. Nicholas from our church. They

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hid them and in 1956 already, after Stalin’s death, they told about it,” tells Stepan

Maykovych.

The family gave these items to the church in the village of Komarno, which is in

Lviv oblast, where they settled. They remain there to this day. First, the Maykovyches

found themselves in Ternopil’ oblast, but then they managed to get to Lviv oblast. The

deported families endeavored to settle close to the Polish border, hoping to return to

their homeland.

“My father worked at the sawmill. We obtained a house with a thatched roof and

half-clay. Gradually, Dad did everything, and covered the house with roof tiles which he

made by himself. We were given four hectares of land; in Poland we had had eight. We

always compared it with what we had at home. Then the collective farms began to

appear; here, in western Ukraine, from 1947 we had a two-year deferral,” says Stepan

Maykovych.

Yaroslav Kozak with his parents was resettled to Sambir region from the village

of Besko. Here, Ukrainian families owned 400 houses out of 700, while Polish families

owned the rest. The Ukrainians were informed that Poles from Ukraine would settle on

their homesteads, so they had to leave their homes and move. In 1945, 354 families

from the village were deported. Over a week and a half period three trains left from the

station. On the way, Polish gangs attacked the people and robbed them.

Yaroslav Kozak

“We were evicted just when it was necessary to

harvest the crops. Everything was left behind. We

had old stock, and put it on the cart. We had a

church, and we took everything from it, even the

iconostasis. We shot down the mailboxes. We

moved to Sambir region. These 120 kilometers from

Besko to Sambir region were covered in three

weeks. When we arrived there, destitute and

without food, we asked for them to unload us

because we had to find a place to live. There was no village where we all could settle, so

the people settled in neighboring villages. First, we were treated badly; the villagers

asked us why we came, because nobody sent for us. Our language was different, but

then they saw our thrift and everything went right, they even helped us,” recalls

Yaroslav Kozak.

No legal status

According to the documents of the Office for the Evacuation of the Ukrainian,

Polish, Czech, and Slovak population of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR,

which are stored in the Lviv oblast archive, Ukrainians from Poland were mostly

resettled to L’viv oblast, Ternopil’ oblast, Volynska oblast, Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, and

also to Luhansk oblast, Donetsk oblast, Poltava oblast, Kherson oblast and Odesa

oblast. The deportees were supposed to receive money for their property from the

Ukrainian SSR, but nobody received anything. The people came with evacuation lists,

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in which the Poles described their property and its value. On average, it was valued

from 1,000 to 25,000 karbovantsi. Their land was not included in total value of their

property. Each deported family left on average seven hectares of land in Poland. And it

is impossible to evaluate the psychological trauma in the minds of those people.

Researchers say that in consequence of the deportation of the Ukrainians, not

only were the people’s rights violated but a lot of people perished or were robbed; there

were attempts to destroy their culture and traditions. To this day, the relocated

Ukrainians still do not have the legal status of deportees. The settlers, deported from

Zakerzonia, speak about the fact that the Ukrainian authorities still have not

apologized for the actions of their predecessors in the last century. Recently, the

Ukrainian Association “Lemkivshchyna” approved another appeal to the leadership of

the country.

“Since 1996 or 1997 we all gained the status of war participants, we had utility

and transportation subsidies, but all of this was cancelled with the arrival of the new

government. We have written to various authorities, beginning with the President, so

that they would recognize our status as deportees, but this question is not even on the

agenda. They do not even respond to us,” says Stepan Maykovych.

As of today, all that the deported Ukrainians and members of their families have

is only a simplified procedure for obtaining a long-term Schengen Visa at the Polish

Consulate. However, it costs 35 euro.

Lost pages of history

There is no exact count of those people exchanged between the USSR and

Communist Poland. Researchers cite different numbers. In 1940, Soviet authorities

conducted a mass eviction of those it considered to be “socially dangerous elements”

from western Ukraine to Siberia and Central Asia. These were actually the Polish elite

– administrative, political and military figures, businessmen, officers of the Polish

army, the police gendarmerie, and refugees from the territory of Poland. During one

year, almost 30,000 Poles were taken to special settlements. When in 1945 the

population exchange between Poland and Ukraine began, in Halychyna people were

waiting for their relatives to return from exile. However, the Poles were at first settled

throughout Ukraine and were not allowed to return to their homes in western Ukraine.

Accordingly, they, as a Polish populace, were waiting for resettlement to Poland. That

is, the repatriation of the people who were Polish citizens before the war to their ethnic

land was a part of the interstate agreement between the USSR and Poland. According

to the commission for the repatriation, in 1945 there were about 34,000 Poles and

Jews who were relocated to Poland. In general, in 1944-1946, according to the

estimation of Polish researchers, more than 780,000 people from the Ukrainian SSR

arrived in Poland, among whom were over 740,000 Poles and over 33,000 Jews.

According to the official data, almost half a million Ukrainians were deported from

Poland.

Operation “Vistula,” which started in April, 1947, was the final resettlement of

the Ukrainians from the ethnic Ukrainian lands in Zakerzonia. During this operation,

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approximately 150,000 Ukrainians were forcibly evicted to the western and northern

lands of Poland which had belonged to Germany until 1945.

“During the relocation actions, not only Ukrainians became victims, but also Poles

and Jews, who were evicted and forced to perform certain kinds of work. Their fates

diverged. People were evicted to create mono-national states. It happened that the

population of the border area was completely exchanged, because most Ukrainians

moved to Ukraine or to the western and northern lands of Poland. However, a certain

number of people who tried to preserve their culture and traditions remained on these

territories, but this is a piece of lost history. Based on our research, we have to be

encouraged to find the lost pages,” said Ihor Kuts’, a student of the Ukrainian Catholic

University, who is writing his master's thesis about the deportation from Poland.

Ihor Kuts’ participated in a student expedition which since 2013 has taken place

in Poland in the former ethnic Ukrainian lands. During these expeditions the youth

restores the resting places of the Ukrainians, studies the architectural and art

heritage of the Ukrainian-Polish border region, and looks for traces of the Ukrainian

presence. In the village of Gorajec the students restored 300 graves of Greek Catholics

dating from 1807 to 1947. In 1944 the Security Department of the Polish Army burned

this village while searching for a UPA kryivka (bunker).

“On April 6, 1944, almost 200 civilians from the village were killed. During

operation 'Vistula' the Ukrainians were taken to the western lands. This village still has

not revived, and only about 50 families live there. Our task was to preserve this place of

memory. This is a unique place; here the well-known “stone school of Brusno” spread.

We also recover the artistic heritage of Ukrainian culture in Poland,” emphasized Ihor

Skochylias, a History Professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University.

Today it is important that the descendants of the deported Ukrainians will

remember their history and transmit their identity. At the same time, it is important to

look not only for our own roots but also to commemorate the common places of

memory of Poles and Ukrainians, says Ihor Skochylias.

Аuthor: Halyna Теreshchuk

Source: http://www.radiosvoboda.org/content/article/27653787.html

“DEPORTED UKRAINIANS” DO NOT LEGALLY EXIST

“If there had been no war, the

Crimean Tatar question would not

have been on the agenda. As for

the deported Ukrainians, there

was no such circumstance.”

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Over half a million Ukrainians who were deported from Poland in the mid-1940s

still do not have proper legal status, political representation, or even official

recognition by the present Ukrainian state of the wrongs committed against them.

Work on these issues is only in the initial stages, and “The Ukrainians of Zakerzonia”

can use as a model the already-completed work of the Crimean Tatars, who also

demanded the recognition of their status from Ukraine for years, - says Taras Rad’, a

descendant of the deportees, researcher of the deportation of the Ukrainians of Poland

and activist of the Organization “Young Lemkivshchyna.”

- The current status of the Ukrainians deported from the territory of Poland, the

so-called “Zakerzonia,” is a vivid illustration of how the Ukrainian state treats and

perceives these people today. That is, once we gained independence, we lost the

excuse that we do not have a state which could protect these people or at least

evaluate their status.

For 25 years we have constantly returned to this question; the socio-cultural

associations which unite the deported Ukrainians into associations of the deportees of

“Zakerzonia” are also engaged in this work. Year in and year out this question has

arisen, and resolutions have been sent to appropriate authorities and appeals made to

People’s Deputies and the government to give at least some legal status to these

people.

These people do not exist in a modern legal sense, that is, no normative

document mentions "deported Ukrainians" as a category of Ukrainians. The only

thing which they did get, but which no longer exists, was the financial compensation

which was provided for them as well as for other socially vulnerable groups of people

such as veterans and pensioners who obtained a small compensation, a subsidy, but

it does not exist today.

- Each country has such a position towards its citizens. In Ukraine the

Crimean Tatars obtained the status of deported people. But Ukraine was not only

the country from which people were evicted but also to which they were evicted.

- In Ukrainian society the identity of these people does not sufficiently resonate,

nor is it well understood. We can look for several reasons for this, beginning with the

material one which entails various compensations, but even for the deportees

themselves the issue of material compensation is not prioritized. They expect an

answer for themselves from the state as to how it views them and how it treats them.

Since about 520,000 deportees from “Zakerzonia” are Ukrainians by nationality, they

rightly demand that the state should not ignore them.

The best comparison is the Crimean Tatars. It is good that Ukraine as a

multicultural state cares about them but we have to understand that this recognition

was caused by geopolitical factors. That is, I think that if there had been no war, the

Crimean Tatar question would not have been on the agenda. As for the deported

Ukrainians, there was no such circumstance.

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- In your opinion, would it be worth it to combine the efforts of the

Crimean Tatars and the deported Ukrainians as two categories of people who

were resettled, the first from Ukraine, the second to Ukraine?

- The Crimean Tatars at this stage could drive such efforts as a group who

already endured this phase. But I do not believe in it and, at least, do not see any

opportunity for such cooperation because when we speak of the Crimean Tatars, we

clearly talk about deportation. But when we turn to the question of the deportation of

the Ukrainians of “Zakerzonia” we immediately meet with many other formulations:

resettlement, voluntary resettlement, evacuation…

- I think there are a sufficient number of experts with common sense who

can call a spade a spade. If we are talking about a forced eviction, it cannot be

called a voluntary eviction or evacuation or any other term. So, here it was

necessary to make some literate legal analysis. At what stage is it happening?

- The deportation of the Ukrainians has, at first, three different phases: the

years of 1944-1946, which have four sub-stages, then there is Operation “Vistula”

which does not apply to Ukraine (this is a separate question regarding the status of

Ukrainians in Poland), and the third stage is the year of 1951: 32,000 people were

resettled from western Boykivshchyna to the southern parts of Ukraine – Kherson

oblast and Mykolaiv oblast. Obviously, we need a clear, legally competent

interpretation of these events so that conclusions could be normatively and properly

implemented, but this process never began here. The state institutions have never

been involved in this issue, that is, there was an appeal to them with a request to

consider it, but at that point our dialogue ended as a monologue.

- We know that in Poland the so-called “Kresy organizations” (associations

of Poles who (or whose ancestors) were forced to resettle from western Ukraine

to Poland – ed.) are very influential in a political sense. Why cannot the

Ukrainians resettled from Poland create the same pressure, because they possess

approximately the same numbers, that is, half a million citizens on both sides?

- This is a very good question. Let us start with the fact that the “kresy” efforts

are more mobilized and as a lobbying pressure group are more efficient than the

Ukrainians of “Zakerzonia.” The first motive is again political. We have to understand

that the “kresy” efforts are not forces which combine just Poles from the “kresy,” that

is, the eastern parts of the Polish Republic. The policy of these “kresynes” is also

actively exploited and used by the right-leaning conservative forces of Poland and not

only in Poland; that is, there is an international factor there which uses them for its

political purposes.

In Ukraine there is no political force which is interested in the question of the

Ukrainians of “Zakerzonia.” This is strange because there is a very serious potential

for mobilization– more than half a million people. The second nuance which must be

recognized in Ukraine is that these forces are not coordinated. There are a large

number of organizations of different kinds which do not coordinate their work in any

way and periodically declare appeals for a need for everything except individual

projects with specific People's Deputies, although there are some with whom these

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people periodically cooperate. This is not enough to influence political decisions. And

because of the lack of coordination of the state's interest in them, this potential is not

used in any way.

Author: Maria Shchur

Source: http://www.radiosvoboda.org/content/article/27658612.html

THE LEMKOS OF POLAND HAVE HAD THEIR RIGHTS OF

OWNERSHIP RESTORED IN THE LANDS WHICH WERE TAKEN AWAY

BY THE COMMUNISTS

In the postwar years Communist Poland deprived its citizens of their property.

There were many Ukrainians among the offended people

Seven hundred thousand Ukrainians were evicted in the postwar years from

their native lands in southeastern Poland. The eviction and deportations organized by

the Communist authorities lasted for several years. The vast majority of these people

found themselves in Soviet Ukraine and 150,000 were driven out to the north and

west of Poland. Petro Tyma and Stepan Hladyk, Ukrainian social activists, told Radio

Liberty about the status that those deported from the native lands of the Ukrainians

in Poland have today and about their fight for the restoration of justice.

According to the last Polish census (2011), 51,000 indigenous Ukrainians live in

Poland. This is only a third of the number of those who remained in the Communist

Polish state after the Second World War. The descendants of most deportees

assimilated during the postwar decades. In spring, 1947, as part of the framework of

the notorious operation “Vistula,” 150,000 Ukrainians from Nadsiannia,

Kholmshchyna, Pidliashshia, Boykivshchyna and Lemkivshchyna were scattered far

away from their native

lands. Property, land plots,

fields and forests were

illegally confiscated from the

deportees.

Stepan Hladyk, an

activist of the Lemko

Association, says that some

deportees started to return

to their native lands right

after the end of Stalinism in

Poland. However, he adds,

the Communist authorities

strongly attempted to

impede this, as they wanted the Ukrainians to stay in those regions to which they

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were deported in 1947. “Yet, we were constantly trying to return to our native lands. A

part of these people returned – 2,000 or 2,500 – in 1956-1958; this was the most

turbulent period of return, but returns continue to this day,” says S. Hladyk.

Why do Lemkos manage to recover their property?

Among all Ukrainian ethnographic groups in Poland the Lemkos specifically

managed to achieve the most results in the fight for the return of the property which

was once taken away from them. Petro Tyma, the head of the Association of

Ukrainians in Poland, tells about this. According to him, for many years Lemkos

persistently demanded that the Polish state return to them their land plots and forests

which were confiscated in 1947. They did this in a decisive and legally competent way

and that is why they succeeded, explains Tyma.

In his turn, Stepan Hladyk says that almost a hundred Lemko families managed

to recover their Carpathian forest plots. Hladyk said that in the 1990s he engaged in

studying the history of the deportation and the laws of the Stalinist era. It turned out

that two years after Operation “Vistula,” the Communists tried to legitimize, so to

speak, the confiscation of the deportees' property. However, explains Hladyk, they

formulated this law in such a way that it does not address the nationalization of the

property of the deportees, but rather the “possibility to transfer it to the state.” Thus,

the Lemkos recovered their forests not judicially but through administrative procedure

– in consequence of the decisions of those local authorities who at one time

appropriated the Lemkos' property.

In 2002, Stepan Hladyk managed to recover a few hectares of forest which

belonged to his ancestors. The public activist explains: “We worked and worked on

that and we figured out how the so-called legal experts violated the law during the

nationalization of property and then, after twelve years, I, Stepan Hladyk, managed to

recover my native land though it was not possible to obtain everything because a part

of this land has already been transferred into the wrong hands.”

After the success of Stepan Hladyk the Association of Ukrainians in Poland

hired a lawyer for six months who explained to Lemko families how they could recover

their property which was confiscated long ago. With this help the dreams of many

Lemkos about the restoration of justice came true. They were given back the

confiscated land where possible or they were given monetary compensation.

The Ukrainian minority in Poland does not have the status of deportees

Petro Tyma emphasizes the peculiarities of the legal status of Ukrainians who

were evicted from Poland to Ukraine and those who were deported inside the Polish

state. He reminds us that the eviction to Ukraine occurred on the basis of the

agreement on the so-called population exchange between two quasi-state formations –

Communist Poland and the Ukrainian SSR. Thus the current Ukrainian state, as the

successor of the Ukrainian SSR, should solve the issue of those people deported

beyond the Polish border. Similarly, those Poles who after the war were removed from

Ukrainian lands to Poland resolve their questions about their property left in Ukraine

12

with the Polish state. They received from their country compensation for material

losses sustained as a result of their relocation.

The Ukrainian minority in Poland found itself in a different situation. They do

not have the status of deportees so many property questions are still not resolved.

Tyma explains what happened with the confiscated property of the people deported

during operation “Vistula”: “Then all the private individuals, community organizations

and religious structures were deprived of their property and some people, but not all,

received replacement property, some people fell into the state collective farms, and the

question of the property of the victims of Operation “Vistula” is still unresolved. In

fact, it is partly unresolved because while the religious structures received their

property or were compensated for it, private individuals did not receive their property.

As of today, the matter is not being solved because in Poland there is no law on the

restitution of property. Indeed, the only people as of now who have recovered their

property are about 80 Lemkos who proved that their property was taken in violation of

the law.”

Not only Ukrainians suffered from deportations

When the borders of the post-war Polish state were moved westward, not only

Ukrainians and Poles became victims of the Communist deportations, but also Germans and

the indigenous population of such regions as Masuria and Silesia. Petro Tyma said: “This

mass phenomenon especially affected Germans; even in point of numbers they were much

more affected than Ukrainians, in that this happened in many waves: the first was the so-

called wild deportation when Poland had not yet consolidated its grip on these territories, the

second was the period of post-war deportations and there were also those of the 1970s-1980s

when Poland, pursuant to an agreement with Germany, contributed to the removal of

Germans, inhabitants of Masuria or Silesia, to Germany.”

The Communist authorities were not concerned about the legal status of the property

which the Germans left behind in Poland in 1970-1980s. Long after these people moved to

Germany, they continue to appear as owners of their abandoned homes in the Real Property

Register. That is why litigation still persists over some former German houses.

However, Petro Tyma emphasizes that unresolved property issues are not only a

problem for deportees. In the postwar years the Communist Polish authorities nationalized

private property in the cities. Many descendants of the people who were robbed by the state

have continued to try to recover that which was taken away.

Today it is not always possible to solve the issue of those who were offended by the

Communist authorities without offending others. Often in the houses which were nationalized

in the postwar years, people now live who have nowhere else to go. The political elite has a

lack of will and the state budget – a lack of money to fix these problems.

Stepan Hladyk, a Lemko activist in Poland, reminds us that next year will be a sad date

– the 70th anniversary of Operation “Vistula.” He hopes that the Polish Sejm will condemn the

deportation of the Ukrainian population. Such a statement would be moral compensation for

the deportees and their descendants, says Hladyk.

Author: Juriy Savyts’ky

Source: http://www.radiosvoboda.org/content/article/27660531.html

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OUR PEOPLE

RESTORING THE MEMORIAL SITE FOR THE DEPORTED

UKRAINIANS IN LVIV

Within the framework of the all-Lviv Cleanup, on

the 16th of April, at the initiative of the head of SFULO,

Sofiya Fedyna, concerned people gathered together to

put in good order the memorial marker for the

Ukrainians deported

from their ethnic

lands in Poland. Both

Lemkos and other

concerned citizens

who could not stand

aside joined the work:

Taras Rad, Oles

Kuybida, Andriy

Rozhniatovsky,

Mykhaylo Veselovsky, Viktor Horbach, Lemkos from

Luhansk oblast who are presently serving as

paratroopers, Oleksiy and Mykola Stafiniak, students

of the Department of International Affairs, Inna

Korolenko and Volodymyr Korol, Volodymyr Trach,

Deputies of the Lviv Oblast Council from the Party

Civil Position, Uliana Dorosh and Tetiana Bey with

their assistants (special thanks to them for helping to

procure tiles and flowers). During five hours, working

jointly we managed to restore the inscription on the

stone, line the path with tiles, concrete it, make the

ground level with a shovel, plant flowers, cut dead branches from the trees, clean the

access area, and take away the garbage.

14

15

HONORING THE 69TH ANNIVERSARY OF OPERATION “VISTULA”

Photos by Valentyna Yevtushok

On April 28, at 4:00 p.m., in Lviv at the Memorial Marker to the Ukrainians

deported in 1944-1951 from the territory of modern Poland, flowers were laid with the

participation of Oleh Syniutka, the head of the Lviv Oblast State Administration,

Sofiya Fedyna, the head of the World Federation of Ukrainian Lemko Organizations,

Volodymyr Sereda, the head of the Zakerzonia Association of Deported Ukrainians,

heads and members of the Associations “Kholmshchyna,” “Lemkivshchyna,”

“Liubachivshchyna,” “Young Lemkivshchyna,” public activists and concerned citizens.

In a brief speech Volodymyr Sereda described the tragedy of the deportation called

“Operation Vistula” and told the story of the establishment of the memorial marker;

the head of SFULO Sofiya Fedyna, emphasized the need for united efforts to preserve

historic memory, the education of new generations and restoring and renovating

places of Ukrainian memory in Ukraine and abroad; the head of the Lviv Oblast State

Administration, Oleh Syniutka, confirmed his readiness to assist in the building of a

full-fledged monument to the deportees for the 70th anniversary of Operation “Vistula.”

It is planned to install the monument on the site of the memorial stone and to arrange

a cozy square with benches around.

16

17

18

CULTURE

THANKS TO BATS, THE LARGEST STONE CHURCH OF

LEMKIVSHCHYNA WAS REPAIRED

The repair of the attic of the largest

brick church of Lemkivshchyna (modern

Poland) has been completed; this is the

place of baptism of Nykyfor Drovniak, the

church of Sts. Peter and Paul in the town

of Krynica-Zdrój. The repair was possible

because of money allocated by the EU for

the protection of … bats which inhabit the

church. If the priest, Ivan Pipka, had not

solicited co-financing from the European

Union, the restoration of the church attic

would have been impossible. The bats

helped because European project money

was allocated for their protection. The

longstanding cooperation of the

organization “Pro Natura,” whose main goal

is the protection of bats, also helped to

secure the financial aid, which amounted

to 1,200,000 zlotys. “In our church we

have two parishes. One consists of people,

the other one – of bats,” jokes Fr. Ivan

Pipka. According to the priest, the parish

in Krynica-Zdrój includes about 300 people and the same number of bats. “At first,

the people were a little scared by the presence of the bats but with time it became the

norm,” continues the priest. Due to the fact that these mammals lived in the attic of

the church for several months, the church was enrolled in the network of protected

areas, “Natura 2000,” which is a central element in the protection of biodiversity on

the territory of the member countries of the European Union. We can say that thanks

directly to the bats the Greek Catholic Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in

Krynica-Zdrój will be preserved, and thus the priest hopes that the bats will return to

the church after the repairs, reports Our Word. In addition to the repairs, in

summertime the number of mosquitoes, the main “delicacy” of the mammals, will

probably decrease near the church. As a part of the repair work which began in

October 2015 and lasted until January of this year, the boards on the vaulting were

replaced and almost the entire roof of the church was covered with new brass roofing.

The facility is adapted in such a way so that the bats will not hinder the parishioners

in their comfortable use of the church. Due to the “Pro Natura” Alliance and the bats,

last year the roof was repaired in the parish church in the village of Jazowsko (Gmina

19

Łącko). This autumn a similar investment will be realized in the church in Małastów

(Gmina Sękowa). This is the former Greek Catholic church under the protection of Sts.

Cosmas and Damian, built in 1806. The local Lemkos prayed in it every Sunday before

the evictions of 1947. The residents of many areas of Małopolskie province, with help

from EU funding secured by the Organization "Pro Natura," have repeatedly taken

advantage of these programs to protect the environment. Due to the bats which spend

their nights in the buildings, since 1996 European funds have allocated money to

repair more than 20 churches and secular objects in southern Poland. The project

“Natura 2000” must be completed in 2018.

Source: http://expres.ua/ukrsvit/2016/04/11/181947-zavdyaky-kazhanam-

vidremontovano-naybilshu-murovanu-cerkvu-lemkivshchyny

FROM THE HISTORY OF LEMKO PYSANKA

Before Easter, it was the

custom of the Lemkos to paint eggs.

First, they chose good, white

eggs which had a rough and sandy

shell, because a smooth shell

absorbs paint poorly.

They took the eggs in both

palms and rubbed their thumb on

their surface; the feel indicated the

correct eggs to use. The size and

shape of an egg were equally

important.

A pysanka is a miniature artwork, and that is why pysanky of small or medium

size are the best.

In Ukraine it is said that one should paint pysanky on the first egg of a young

chicken (there was a belief that such pysanky had power). In painting such small eggs,

one should not choose elaborate, but rather good ornamentation; it is necessary to

remember that miniature art has to have a good shape, and it shouldn't be

overwhelmed by its ornamentation.

Wash the eggs in water at room temperature and add one spoon of soda (to

soften the water); do not scratch them, just wipe the dirt away gently with a paper

towel, then put the eggs into the water with two or three spoons of white vinegar for

two to three minutes. Take them out and put them on a clean cloth; when the eggs are

dry put them in paper boxes.

To paint a pysanka Lemkos used a very thin nail, a pin, a sharpened wooden

match or a stem of straw. These are the oldest primitive devices with which Lemkos

could paint very beautiful ornamentation on the shell of an egg. Over time, some

people learned to make a stylus for themselves.

20

There are symbols of the sun: big round

circles and in the middle is a smaller sun

which is called “Double Rose.” All rays are

equal and go straight, creating a circular

symbol.

The “Moon” belongs to the sun symbols. It

is written in the middle of a pysanka with

circles. There are “Spirals” with white thin

marks.

Among the most successful and truly

difficult ornaments are birds in flight and

also the “Cuckoo.” The birds are painted

carefully and they have beaks, heads, wings

and tails. They are in flight, flying stretched

out; they are so nimble and smart; they

know when they need to fly, where to land

and how to return to Lemkivshchyna. These

are our dear “Storks.”

Among the most exceptional symbols which

have survived, the oldest design is probably

the “Palisade.” Palisades were in use in

Lemkivshchyna long ago, but now only

enclosures made with logs sharpened at

the top have remained as a memory. This

says: “Here is my house and my life, go

through the wicket but do not go along the

hill, because you will encounter the

palisade and tear your clothing.”

The wedding “Wreath” symbolizes a girl’s

faithfulness. The pysanka “Wreath” shows

an image of a round wreath with white

ornamentation around the pysanka on a

red background.

Source literature:

1.Onyshchuk, Odarka. “Symbolism of

Ukrainian Pysanka.” Toronto – 1985.

2.Eliyev, Zenon. “20 Shocks of Pysanky”

Source: http://ivanna-site.in.ua/fotogalereya/2016-rik/405-lemkivska-pisanka-

chastina-3

21

IN THE CLUB “GART” A MASTER CLASS OF “LEMKO

PYSANKA” OCCURRED

In the "Gart" Children and Youth Club in

Ivano-Frankivs’k a master class of “Lemko

Pysanka” was held. Olha Tsinyk shared her

knowledge and skills in painting “Lemko

Pysanka.” Ms. Tsinyk explained the

principle of painting pysanky and revealed

the peculiarities of painting a Lemko

pysanka. All the participants of the master

class chose individual patterns. Each

painted his or her own pysanka, putting in

it not only imagination but also soul.

The pupils of the "Gart"

Children and Youth Club,

together with the

teachers-organizers of the

clubs “Orion,” “Dream,”

“Boy” and “Mongoose”

took part in the master

class. The master class

brought a lot of positive

emotions and enriched

the general development

of each participant.

All the participants of the event were

awarded with diplomas from the All-

Ukrainian Association

“Lemkivshchyna” and sweet prizes

from the City Center of Leisure for

Children and Youth at their place of

residence.

Source: http://pravda.if.ua/news-

95953.html

22

IN THE OPEN AIR “LEMKO VILLAGE” MUSEUM A MONUMENT TO

THE LEMKO MAN AND LEMKO WOMAN WAS DEDICATED

Henceforth two-meter tall linden giants will greet visitors

As of April 23, 2016,

two-meter tall Lemko

hosts will greet the

guests who plan to

attend the “Lemko

Village” museum

complex located near the

town of Monastyryska.

The man and woman are

made from linden wood.

Bohdan Koval, the

author of the sculpture,

carved his project in

March during a plein air painting session which

took place in the “Lemko Village.” He came from

the town of Kalush to work on the sculptures.

The dedication of the sculptures was solemn:

songs about our native Carpathian Mountains,

a consecration by Father Anatoliy Duda, and

brief speeches by the guests at the event

and the director of the Museum, Mykhaylo

Tukhans’ky.

The tough Lemkos did not hold back their

emotions. Their eyes glistened with tears.

After the consecration of the sculptures the

whole community led by children from the group

“Hrechni Frayirky” proceeded to the village

where they held the Second Regional Easter

Seminar-Competition of Children’s Pysanka.

This year the Lemko community plans to

conduct interesting events every quarter aimed

at preserving Lemko culture.

Author: Olena Moroz

Source:

http://tenews.te.ua/news_all.php?id=17410

23

THE “FEAST OF LEMKO PYSANKA” WAS HELD IN TERNOPIL OBLAST

On April 23, in the town of Monastyryska, in the “Lemko Village” museum complex the

Regional Easter Seminar-Competition of Children’s Pysanka occurred.

Ivanna Skliarova reports about it thus on Facebook: “On Saturday, April 23, in the town of

Monastyryska, in the “Lemko Village” museum complex the Regional Easter Seminar-

Competition of Children’s Pysanka occurred. The well-known masters Maria Yanko, Tetiana

Semenets’, Anna Kyrpan, Olha Pakizh, Aniza Shtel’ma, Tetiana Tykhanska and Zenoviy

Penionzhyk conducted master classes about painting a Lemko pysanka. The best works by the

children were determined according to three age categories (younger than ten years old, 10-14

years old and 14-17 years old). The ensemble “Hrechni Frayirky” (director Vira Kuryliak)

entertained everybody with Easter songs.”

24

Source: http://teren.in.ua/article/na

_ternopilshchyni_vidbulosya_svyato_

lemkivskoyi_pysankyfoto

25

RESIDENTS OF LUTS’K PAINTED PYSANKY IN THE LEMKO STYLE

Children learned how

to paint with wax on

eggshells more than a

month before Easter to

create their small

collections of pysanky.

The “Hogwarts” studio

of development on Sunday,

April 3rd “opened the Easter

season” and conducted a

master class on painting

Lemko pysanky – writes

“Public Volyn.”

Children aged five

and over were invited to the

master class. The participants learned how to paint with wax on an eggshell.

The Lemko pysanky differ from traditional ones because of the predominance of

bright colors. That is why the first layer of color of each future pysanka is yellow, and

then other colors are imposed.

When we asked why they started to paint the pysanky so early (almost a month

before the holiday), the master, Yulia Mamchur, organizer of the events, replies:

“Usually people begin to paint just before Easter. And then you realize that you want

to try a lot of things but you do not have enough time. That is why we began

beforehand so that the children could learn how to do this and could paint at home

and have enough time to make themselves a small collection.”

Source: http://lutsk.rayon.in.ua/news/7104-luchani-rozmalovuvali-pisanki-po-

lemkivski

IN THE UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY THE FESTIVAL

“LEMKO PYSANKA” WAS HELD

“You know, that land is crying even today and waiting for those who moved

away, and remains a wilderness," - said Fr. Rector Bohdan Prakh at the opening of the

festival. – “You can drive 30-40 kilometers - there is not one house, there are only old

pear and apple trees and abandoned wells. That is why I encourage supporting the

heritage and traditions which today are enriched with new creativity. At the same

time, everyone should go and see where your parents' and grandparents' roots are

from and that culture which was formed there, and which was inspired by beauty

which cannot be found anywhere else.”

26

With these words Fr. Bohdan Prakh, Rector of the UCU, addressed the

participants of the 8th All-Ukrainian festival-contest “Lemko Pysanka.”

Fr. Bohdan Prakh wished the participants good inspiration and joy from their

creative work. In the long term, this event is important not only for the Lemko culture

which is being revived but, more importantly, it glorifies not only the Lemko

community but it also glorifies Ukraine all over the world.

Throughout the day Petro Danyliuk, Ol’ha Sova, Kateryna Podniezhna (from

Kremenets), Zenoviy Penionzhek (from Buchach), Maria Ponizovska (from Horodok

raion), Maria Khomyk (from Lviv), Solomia Senchak, Ol’ha Pentsko and Sophia Kanas

(Folk Art Children’s School of the Lviv City Council) conducted master classes on

painting pysanky.

“I am very glad to greet you all at this festival and in this hospitable house,”

stated Sofiya Fedyna, the head of the World Federation of Ukrainian Lemko

Organizations, as she welcomed the participants of the festival in the Lemko dialect. “I

am very happy because I came here not only to greet you but because I will paint the

pysanky together with you. Painting a pysanka is something very special to me,”

added Sofiya. “Why? Because I think that when others paint pysanky, they paint there

straight lines, flowers, birds or something like that. A Lemko pysanka is painted

otherwise. A Lemko pysanka looks simple, but in reality it is very hard to paint it. But

what do we see on a Lemko pysanka? All that we paint is a symbol of the sun. It

seems to me that the sun on the Lemko pysanka is a symbol of our revival, not only

for Lemkos but for all of Ukraine. If we learn how to paint this special pysanka, we will

bring more sunshine to the world. As older, wise people say, as long as we paint

pysanky, evil cannot overcome good in our land.”

27

The festival lasted from the 8th to the 10th of April on the premises of the

Department of Philosophy and Theology of the UCU. The festival ended in the Lemko

Church of Sts. Volodymyr and Ol’ha where the participants took part in a joint

worship service, followed by the opening of the exhibition “Colors of Pysanky” in the

Folk Architecture and Life Museum.

Festival organizers: the Ukrainian Catholic University, the Lviv Oblast

Organization of the All-Ukrainian Association “Lemkivshchyna,” the Lemko Research

Foundation and the Folk Art Children’s School of the Lviv City Council of Sykhiv

region of the city.

Source: http://ucu.edu.ua/news/32368/

ANOTHER LESSON OF THE “PYSANKY PAINTING SCHOOL” IN

UZHHOROD WAS DEDICATED TO LEMKO PYSANKY

In addition, during the third lesson of the Sunday “Pysanky Painting School,” all those

present made a candle for their Easter basket.

On April 3rd, in Uzhhorod, the “Warmth of Hands”

initiative group conducted the third lesson of their

“Pysanky Painting School.” Participants in the event

made a candle for their Easter basket and also became

acquainted with the peculiarity and symbolism of

Lemko pysanky.

“A nail, a pin or a match, wax and a candle – that is

all you need to paint Lemko pysanky. The drawing is

28

created with dots and commas. A point on a Lemko pysanka means drops of rain by

which nature comes to life. The main symbol of the pysanka is the sun which is the

symbol of life and light. An important symbol – a star – is the daughter of the sun. If

the star has an even number of rays, it was believed that this star is a predictor of

happiness. Wreaths are also widespread; they are a symbol of virginity. The symbol of

a tree and a swallow, the predictor of spring, is often used,” the organizers of the

pysanky project briefly informed us as they spoke about the pysanky which they will

paint this week within the framework of the “School.”

While earlier pysanky were mostly monochrome, these days, to introduce something

new to the ornamentation, two, three, and more colors are combined. Red, cherry,

yellow, orange, green, blue and white colors are typical of the color scheme of Lemko

pysanky.

The symbolism of the candle was known in the myths of the peoples of the world and

was identified as a symbol of fire, sun, fate and spiritual energy. For Slavs, the candle

as a personification of the heavenly fire played a significant role not only in everyday

life but also in ritual life. It served as an analogue of the human life and soul, and

thus it was a mandatory ritual attribute and one of the most important talismans. In

Christianity the candle also has its spiritual and symbolic significance.

In addition, the “Warm Hands” creative studio raffled off a “Set for Painting Pysanky”

(a stylus, paint, wax, an egg, a ribbon and pysanky designs.)

Source: http://zakarpattya.net.ua/News/153939-Cherhove-zaniattia-Shkoly-

pysankarstva-v-Uzhhorodi-bude-prysviachene-lemkivskym-pysankam

THE FIRST CARTOON IN THE LEMKO DIALECT APPEARED ON THE

INTERNET

The first cartoon from

the Beskyds, “Hunger,” has

appeared, freely accessible on

the Internet. Its creator was

the children's portal

“lemkoland.com” which

promotes Lemko culture

among our youth. The film for

children was based on the

story “Hunger” from the book

“How the July sun was caught

in a bag: Lemko fables and stories.”

The book was edited in 2010 by Yuriy Staryns’ky and Anna Rydzanych from

Legnica. The cartoon tells the story of two Lemko travelers who saved their village from

starvation and death. You can watch the cartoon on YouTube and on the website

29

lemkoland.com which created it, reports Our Word. The site itself has existed for three

years already and, as its authors say, it should not only entertain the children but

teach the Lemko culture to the youngest among us.

“The idea arose quite long ago and grew up together with our children. They

actually helped us create Lemkoland. The children laughed while we, their parents,

were able to travel back to our childhood. Although it was quite different - there was

no computer and no Internet - we remember that studying was easier when we had

good entertainment,” state the authors of lemkoland.com about the idea for its

creation.

The website itself is a project of the “Old Road” Fund, the main goal of which is

to promote the culture, language and art and also to protect the cultural heritage and

nature of the regions of Central and Eastern Europe, including Lemkivshchyna.

Source: www.volynnews.com/news/society/u-merezhi-ziavyvsia-pershyy-

multfilmna-lemkivskiy-hovirtsi-video/

THE FBI IS LOOKING FOR THE MISSING PAINTINGS BY THE

ARTIST OF LEMKO ORIGIN, ANDY WARHOL

The FBI announced a reward of

$25,000 for information about seven

paintings by Andy Warhol which were

stolen from an art museum in

Missouri. UNN reports about it with

reference to Reuters.

It is reported that the paintings

with the image of Campbell's Soup

cans were stolen last week in

Springfield after a break-in at the

Museum.

The Museum of Springfield

reported that they did not conduct a planned exhibition of paintings of Andy Warhol

for security reasons.

We recall that last year nine paintings of Andy Warhol were stolen from the

office of a cinema company in Los Angeles and replaced with forgeries. The theft

remained undetected for several years.

The crime was detected only when one of the paintings was sent to change the

frame. The experts found that the image was blurred and the artist's signature was

not on it. The police assume that at least one of the works was sold at auction.

30

Andy Warhol is a world-famous American painter of Lemko origin, who became

famous in the 1960s. He became one of the key figures in the history of the pop-art

movement in modern art. Read more here:

Source:

http://zik.ua/news/2016/04/12/fbr_rozshukuie_znykli_kartyny_hudozhnyka_lem

kivskogo_pohodzhennya_e_vorgola_689618

THE LIFE OF A LEMKO PHOTOGRAPHER WAS CONTINUED IN

PHOTOS

The opening of a photo exhibition dedicated to the anniversary of the death of

Hryhoriy Pan’kiv, the famous

photographer, photojournalist, and

public activist took place in the

Oblast Art Museum on Tuesday, 15

March.

“I knew him very well,” said

Ihor Duda, director of the Ternopil’

Oblast Art Museum. “Through his

photographs, he was a chronicler of

all Ukrainian events of the Lemko

community. But not only this, he

always illuminated various festivals,

events, concerts, congresses etc. – it

was almost impossible to meet him

without his camera. Not only will his

family remember him, but also

present and future generations. He

continues to “live” in his

photographs, and that is why we

called this exhibition “Life Continued

in Photos.”

Hryhoriy Pan’kiv died on March

22, 2015, but it was decided to

conduct the exhibition a little before the one-year anniversary of his death. His wife

Halyna and daughter Uliana attended the event. “We have been working on the

selection for several months,” says Halyna Pan’kiv. “There are four albums of his

works and each of them contains almost 200 photos. We chose 205 photos, all from

the home archive.” You can see the photo exhibition “Life Continued in Photos” in the

Ternopil’ Oblast Art Museum on 1 Krushel’nytska Street for two weeks.

Source : http://te.20minut.ua/kul-tura/zhittya-lemkivskogo-fotografa-

prodovzhili-v-svitlinah-10486873.html

31

IN KALUSH AN INVESTIGATION OF LEMKO HISTORY WAS

INITIATED

On Palm Sunday in Kalush two creative

workshops were organized which

acquainted a lot of young visitors with

the Museum of Kalush Region and its

Art Gallery and helped all those present

sense the approach of Easter in a

special way.

The creative workshops took place

thanks to Uliana Romaniv and Halyna

Turchyk, reports “Windows.”

The Museum-Exhibition Center of

Kalush also reports that the serious and “sophisticated program” of the Lemko

community initiated an investigation of history of the Lemkos in Kalush and the

formation of an appropriate museum fund. “Special thanks to Liudmyla Kokhan, the

methodologist of the “Mineral” Palace of Culture for help moderating the presentation.

The presentation of the Lemko community in the documents is the first step to

creating expositions of the ethnic communities of Kalush and the Kalush region,” the

message said.

32

EVENTS. HISTORY. LIFE

UNIQUE PHOTOS: LEMKOS AND BOYKOS 80 YEARS AGO

An ethnographer, Roman Reinfuss, took unique

photos while he was travelling in the Ukrainian

Carpathians in 1929-1938, writes

Depo.Zakarpattia with reference to gazeta.ua.

33

34

35

Source: http://zaknews.in.ua/novini/zakarpattya/7006-unkaln-kadri-lemki-ta-

boyki-80-rokv-tomu.html

LEMKOS IN DIASPORA. PART 5. MIGRATION TO THE USA

(BEGINNING)

During the 1870s a mass migration of Ruthenians-Lemkos to the United States

of America began. The migration of Ruthenians-Lemkos from Halychyna,

Priashivshchyna and Transcarpathian Ukraine to the USA was the largest that came

from the Ukrainian lands. However, it is hard to determine its quantity because the

vast majority of Ruthenians-Lemkos migrated here illegally, without the consent of the

government of their countries and, in the first phase (1877-1898), neither steamship

companies nor the state organs of the USA were interested in the nationality of the

migrants. Later the Lemkos were considered to be Hungarians, Poles, Slovaks or

Russians. Here they worked mainly in the mines of Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh

steel mills; a smaller number worked on farms. The vast majority of the Lemkos, upon

earning a certain amount of money, returned to their native land. A considerable

proportion of Lemkos went to America and back for many times. According to

Volodymyr Kubiyovych, the best expert on this issue, after the Second World War

100,000 to 150,000 Lemkos lived in North America (the USA and Canada), that is,

from a quarter to one-third of all Lemkos in the world.

36

From the very beginning, Ruthenians-Lemkos from the both sides of the

Beskyds in the USA united around the Greek Catholic Church. The first Greek

Catholic parishes were founded in the 1880s in eastern Pennsylvania and they were

served mainly by the priests sent there from the Priashiv Greek Catholic Eparchy.

Before the First World War, the American Greek Catholic (Byzantine) Ruthenian Church

(the oldest in the USA) with its center in Pittsburgh, consisted of 152 parishes with

approximately 500,000 parishioners. This church, raised to the status of a Metropolis,

passed through numerous reforms and exists to this day. In 2005 its four eparchies

consisted of 252 parishes with approximately 100,000 parishioners.

The Greek Catholics of the United States were subordinated to the Roman

Catholic Church hierarchy who did not understand their rite and even the name

“Greek Catholics” for a long time. They were asked: “How can you call yourself Greeks

if none of you, even the priests, can speak Greek? What Catholics are you if your

priests do not adhere to celibacy?” The misunderstanding between the Ruthenian

Greek Catholics and the Roman Catholic hierarchy led to the fact that 25,000 Greek

Catholics, led by the native of Priashivshchyna, Father Alexis Toth (1854-1909),

passed to the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church in Northern America. Three

quarters of them came from Galician Lemkivshchyna.

In 1936 a considerable portion of the priests and laity, in protest of the Vatican

decree prohibiting the ordination of married candidates to the priesthood, left the

American Greek Catholic (Byzantine) Ruthenian Church and founded the American

Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Eparchy headed by Bishop Orestes

Chornock (1883-1977), a Ruthenian-Lemko from Priashivshchyna (from the village of

Ortuťová). The new church belonged to the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of

Constantinople. It has its seminary in Johnstown and since 1946 has published the

newspaper “Church Herald.” Today this church has about 15,000 members

concentrated in 82 parishes in the northeastern part of the USA.

In almost every parish a so-called “Brotherhood” existed, that is, a union of

workers of the same religion, the members of which were guided by a pre-approved

statute, contributed a certain part of their earnings to a common fund and if one of

them was ill, disabled or died, he or his family received financial assistance from the

brotherhood. If a member violated the rules of the statute (for example, lived an

immoral life, abused alcohol or stopped paying dues), he was excluded from the

brotherhood without refunding his membership dues. The first such organization was

St. Nicholas Brotherhood founded by Fr. Ivan Wolansky in Shenandoah in 1885,

which also included Lemkos.

Gradually, these brotherhoods united in larger organizations. The oldest is The

Greek Catholic Union of Ruthenian Brotherhoods in North America founded in 1892 in

the town of Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) which exists to this day. In the period of its

biggest fame (1929) the Association numbered some 133,000 members in its 1328

centers. It published “American Russian Herald” (1892-1952), youth journals “Falcon

of the Union” (1914-1936) and “Children's World” and textbooks, financed an

orphanage in the town of Elmhurst and the building of many churches. In 1918-1919

the Association supported the idea of joining Pidkarpatska Rus’ to Czechoslovakia,

37

though later it sharply criticized the government of the Czechoslovak Republic for its

violation of the terms of its agreement - for not providing Ruthenian autonomy.

In 1894 some members of the Greek Catholic Union of Ruthenian Brotherhoods in

North America who did not agree with the conservative pro-Hungarian policy and

Russophile tendencies of this organization, founded in Shamokin the Ruthenian

National Association (which spread its activity also to Canada) with the printed organ

“Freedom” (which is published to this day; as a daily until the 1980s and now – as a

weekly). In 1914 the organization changed its name to the Ukrainian National

Association (UNA). Now it is not only the oldest but the largest Ukrainian public

organization outside of Ukraine. From the very beginning the organization included

Ruthenians-Lemkos of Ukrainian orientation. By the way, its first three heads (T.

Talpash, I. Hlova and Y. Khyliak) were Lemkos. A few Lemkos (D. Kapitula, S.

Yadlovs’ky and others) headed the Ukrainian National Association in the next

generations. And now they are represented in all its organs. In 1980 the UNA had 388

branches in the USA and 66 in Canada. At its headquarters, Jersey City, the UNA

owns a 14-story building which contains all of its chancelleries and editorial offices.

In 1910 the Lemkos Yuriy Khyliak, Semen Dmytrenko, Vasyl’ Hryshko and

Stepan Sylak became co-founders of a security-aid Ukrainian National Association in

Scranton which soon grew into an all-Ukrainian organization which in 1918 changed

its name to the Ukrainian Workers Association and in 1978 – to the Ukrainian Fraternal

Association. In 1920 the organization had 110 branches with 6,750 members and in

1988 – 248 branches with 22,450 members and assets of $10.3 million. In 1913 the

Ukrainian Fraternal Association published the weekly “People’s Will” (the first editor

was Ivan Ardan).

In 1912, in the town of Mayfield, Pennsylvania, the Lemko Oleksiy Shlianta

founded a society of mutual assistance for those of pro-Russian orientation, Russian

Orthodox Love, which gradually achieved quite a strong position among Lemkos and

owned considerable capital. The organization published the magazine “Love”; Stepan

Telep (1882-1965), a native of Pielgrzymka, was its editor for many years. The

magazine was published in the “Iazychie” grammar.

The Orthodox Ruthenians, mainly from Priashivshchyna, in 1915, in the town of

Monessen, founded the Organization of Russian Orthodox Brotherhoods in America with

a pro-Russian orientation. The initiator of its founding was a native of

Priashivshchyna, Nykola Pachuta. The printed organ of the organization, “Russian

Herald,” was published under his editorship (1922-1935). Before the Second World

War, the Organization consisted of about 20,000 members.

In 1917, at the initiative of Yosyf Fedorenko (1884-1971), a native of the village

of Czerteż, a pro-Russian political organization was founded in the USA called The

Union for the Liberation of Prykarpatska Rus’ with the aim of a post-war union of

eastern Halychyna, northern Bukovyna and the Ruthenian provinces of Hungary to

Russia, and if this was not possible, then a separate state Carpathian Rus’ should be

created (which would combine the lands of Pidkarpattia (Zakarpattia), Lemkivshchyna,

Priashivshchyna and Maramureshchyna). For the implementation of this plan The

38

Union for the Liberation of Prykarpatska Rus’ sent a delegation consisting of four

people (V. Hladyk, D. Markov, P. Hataliak and I. Dzvonchyk) with a memorandum,

statistical data and maps of the future state to the Peace Conference in Paris. This

mission was unsuccessful because the more powerful participants at the Peace

Conference had their own plans regarding this territory – to divide it between Poland

and the newly established Czechoslovakia. The printed organ of the Union was

“Prykarpatska Rus’” (1917-1925). The Union organized three big congresses. At the

third one, in New York (December, 1919), a “Carpathian-Ruthenian Council” was

elected consisting of 25 people, almost half of which were Lemkos. In the 1920-1930s

the Union for the Liberation of Prykarpats’ka Rus’ ceased to operate, but in 1942 it

resumed its activity organizing aid to the Soviet Union. After the war, it ceased its

activity.

Author Mykola Mushynka

Source: Mushynka M. Lemkos in Diaspora // Scientific Digest of the Museum of

Ukrainian Culture in Svidnik, Issue No. 27. History and culture of Lemkivshchyna,

editor in chief and compiler M. Sopolyha. – Svidnik, 2013. – p. 424-431

GERMAN DOCUMENTS ABOUT LEMKIVSHCHYNA FROM THE PERIOD

OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

In the archive of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw is stored a

series of little-known documents which may be of interest to researchers of Lemko

history. These are statistical and ethnographical descriptions of some Lemko villages

from the gminas (townships) of Ropa and Sękowa in Jasło district. These descriptions

of the villages were compiled in summer, 1942, by the employees of the Kraków

Institute for German Eastern Work (Institut für Deutsche Ostarbeit) within the

framework of the program of researching German-ness (Deutschtum) on the territory

of Ukrainian Lemkivshchyna, Polish Pidhallia (Podhale) and some counties which were

adjacent to these areas on the northern side. As the sequence numbers of the

questionnaires show, the descriptions of 17 villages which I found, are just a small

part of a full description of the territory, so there is a need for further archival study.

The descriptions of the following villages are found there: Łosie, Szymbark,

Bielanka, Gródek, Ropa, Dominikowice, Siary, Bartne, Sękowa, Męcina Mała,

Małastów (together with Pętna), Bodaki, Ropica Górna (together with Dragaszew),

Rychwałd and Męcina Wielka. Among them Bartne (987 Ukrainians) and Bodaki (793

Ukrainians) were entirely Lemko villages, and Gródek (1220 Poles), Dominikovice

(1660 Poles), Siary (1113), Sękowa (1113) and Męcina Mała (313) were entirely Polish.

Most villages had mixed populations, among which were Łosie (1185 Ukrainians, 21

Poles and 26 “others”), Szymbark (279 Ukrainians and 2539 Poles), Bielanka (489

Ukrainians and 33 Poles), Ropa (134 Ukrainians and 3577 Poles), Małastów (together

with Pętna - 1135 Ukrainians and 11 Poles), Ropica Górna (together with Dragaszew –

698 Ukrainians and 102 Poles), Rychwałd (1229 Ukrainians, 30 Poles and 26 Roma)

39

and Męcina Wielka (618 Ukrainians (among which 317 were recorded as “Ruthenians”)

and 172 Poles).

We call the above-mentioned villages Lemko villages on a territorial basis

because in the documents no Lemko nationality is enumerated and the respondents

had a choice among German, Polish, Ukrainian, Jewish and “other” nationalities. The

Germans considered the Lemko population as Ukrainians, though they did not mind

when some Lemkos openly demanded to register under other names. So it happened

in the village of Męcina Wielka which was divided in two parts concerning its

ethnonym – 301 people called themselves Ukrainians and 317 – Ruthenians (in the

document – Rutene). The latter were enumerated at the bottom of the column for

“Ukrainians.” It is valuable to note the fact that in the description of this village two

Polish teachers are marked “Poles” and two other teachers are marked “Russians”

(Russe).

The standard questionnaire for all the villages consisted of eight printed pages

and had 34 questions. Such a great number of questions made it possible to

document an image of the village quite accurately as of the time of its description. The

questions dealt with the population structure and land ownership, health, education,

social and public activity, religiosity, religious rites and migration processes. The

known chronicles and history of a particular village were also added to its

ethnographic description. So it happened with the village of Rychwałd, where the basic

description is supplemented with a 16-page handwritten history of the village. The

samples of official stamps which were used in the village, for example, in the village

Councils or schools also were supplemented to the record.

To give the reader an idea of the type of the information which can be obtained

from these German documents, I will present a more detailed description of the

villages of Małastów and Pętna (they are described together as one administrative unit)

in gmina Ropa in Jasło district.

40

The survey of Małastów (together with Pętna) was conducted on July 23, 1942.

At that time 1135 Ukrainians (Lemkos) and 11 Poles lived in the village. There were no

other nationalities. Fr. Pavlo Shukhliad was the priest, Mykhaylo Varyan was the head

of the Małastów Village Council and Stefan Rotko was the head of the Pętna Village

Council. Ivan Hornyk was the teacher in Małastów and Mykhaylo Koloshkivs’ky was

the teacher in Pętna. The village numbered 209 households but had 238 families.

Most of the population was engaged in agriculture because in both villages there were

only three artisans and two merchants.

An analysis of the question regarding the organization of local property leads

one to interesting observations. The reported structure contradicts the popular notion

of the poverty of Lemko villages and that the households owned too little land. In these

two villages 26 households had less than two hectares of land, but 59 households had

more than eight hectares. If we consider as poor the households up to four hectares,

there were 46 of them, while there were 136 households of medium and large size

(considered in the context of mountainous areas). Thus, the structure of property

ownership in these villages obviously did not have a pyramidal character with many

small households and few large households; rather, it had a layered character with the

largest number of households being of medium size, also a large number of large

households, with the smallest number being small households. The fact that there

were more forests (145 ha) in the area of the village than meadows (97 ha) also draws

our attention.

The education section provides a good understanding of academic conditions

during the difficulties of wartime. Thus we see that in both schools there were 214

students, divided into three classes with two teachers. On average, students went to

school for seven years. The students’ favorite literature was books on historical

subjects, traveling and the homeland. The greatest abilities and interests of the

students involved songs, singing and music (70%), but those who were interested in

crafts made up only 5%. The favorite dances were the “Hutsulka,” the “Cossack,”

“Kateryna” and “Thieves.” Attention is drawn to the relatively large number of people,

compared with other villages, who had secondary and higher education. There were

ten such people in the village and all of them are named, along with the personal data

of each one.

One of the questions concerned the health and the causes of death of the

population. Unfortunately, the answers show that the whole area was not covered by

any professional medical care and that visits of doctors were expensive and

consequently very rare. As a result, in the questionnaire there are no answers to

questions about the incidence of internal diseases such as heart disease or diseases of

the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Instead, there are answers about visible

diseases, for example, dwarfism (abnormally low growth), disability, deafness and

blindness. The most widespread illnesses among the population were rheumatism (15

people), trachoma (eye disease – 15 people) and tuberculosis (4 people). Not one

person was sick with alcoholism.

Questions 27 and 28 concerned marital relations. In response to a question

about the frequency of marriage between relatives, it was stated that such cases were

41

rare. The response to a question about the frequency of marital relations between

people of different financial or social statuses was the same. Instead, it was responded

in the affirmative that a difference in the amount of property was an obstacle to such

matchmaking. When searching for a bride or groom the residents of Małastów

appeared to be quite conservative and often looked for a spouse in their own village,

while the youth of Pętna got married to people from other villages. Regarding division

of inheritance, it was not shared equally; the oldest son became the heir (question

#15).

Answers to questions about social and public life show that the population was

active and organized. Here they had a public library, an educational society, a

spinning wheel society, public entertainment (theater), a fire brigade, an agricultural

society and a singing society (Gesangverein).

As for migration, it was on a low level. On average, about 15 people a year left

both villages intending to permanently migrate, there was no seasonal migration, and

since the fall of 1939 no outsiders had settled in the village.

Can we notice some common features among the mentioned villages and generalize

from them? I think that the small amount of material available for analysis does not let us

draw such conclusions. Instead, we can note a few observations which are conspicuous even

with a cursory review of the material. First of all, there was a big difference in the structural

distribution of real estate in certain villages. In all of the Lemko villages the structural

distribution of land was more egalitarian than in purely Polish villages. For example, in the

purely Lemko village of Bartne the proportion of small households to large households was 5

to 103, in Bodaki – 13 to 31, but in purely Polish Dominikowice the ratio of small landholders

to large ones was 194 to 3, in Sękowa – 101 to 8 and in mostly Polish Ropa – 297 to 13.

More people with education lived in the Lemko villages. For example, in purely

Ukrainian Łosie were 15 persons with secondary or higher education while in Polish Gródek –

2, in Ropa – 2 and in Szymbark – 3 people with education. On the other hand, in the Polish

villages there was an increased enrollment in school, and Polish schools had more salaried

teachers.

The residents of the Lemko villages were also more active in the public and social life

than the inhabitants of the Polish villages.

Summing up the results, we can say that the German surveys are very valuable for

reproducing the lifestyle of the Lemko villages of southern Horlychchyna before the

deportation disaster. The description of the Lemko villages here is more comprehensive than

the one given by the Polish general population census of 1921, or the description of Galicia by

V. Kubiyovych from 1939, or the German census of March, 1943. The collected material is

valuable also because it is an objective counterpoint to attempts to rebuild the long-lost

Lemko Atlantis in the subjective world of memories.

Author: Myroslav Ivanyk

Reference:

Myroslav Ivanyk (Toronto), historian, filmmaker,

employee of the Ukrainian-Canadian Research and

Documentation Center (Toronto, Canada).

42

FEATURED PERSONALITY

THE “FATHER” OF MULTICULTURALISM

The life history of an ordinary Lemko who was one of the first to formulate the

concept of western multiculturalism.

During his lifetime, especially

in the 1950-1960s, people often

picked on him and laughed behind

his back, saying, “There he goes with

his ideas, crazy…” But years passed,

the laughter subsided, and his ideas

remained. Moreover, now these ideas

are the basis of public policy and

national thought in many western

countries. Of course, he was not

alone. There were tens and even

hundreds of activists who shared his

idea. And each contributed to the achievement of a common goal. For eight years they

knocked on the doors of government offices. At first they were not taken seriously, but

year in and year out they built up muscle and influence. And the realities around

them only reaffirmed the need for change. And one day their dream came true. The

name of this dream is multiculturalism. The name of the man is Volodymyr Bosy. He

was neither a philosopher nor a theorist. On the contrary, he was a practical man with

experience. And this experience at first became the basis of his worldview, formed in

numerous discussions with his associates, which later was implemented at the level of

government and society. But other events preceded these…

On May 21, 1899, in the town of Jasło (Lemkivshchyna, now part of Polish

territory) Volodymyr Bosy was born. From his childhood he was a member of the

society “Falcon-Father” which promoted a healthy way of life among Ukrainian youth.

With the outbreak of the First World War Volodymyr increased his age by two years

and enlisted in a legion of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (USS) as a volunteer. He was a

shooter of the Fifth Hundred of the 1st Regiment of the USS.

Later Volodymyr Bosy worked in the government of Hetman Pavlo Skoropads’ky.

With the advent of the Directory he was a participant in the war against the

Bolsheviks and later – a forced ally of the Ukrainian Galician Army. After the liberation

struggle he was in internment camps in Poland but later was released. In 1921

Volodymyr and his wife, Maria, had a new-born son, Bohdan. Bohdan was the eldest

son of the couple who went on to have ten children. In 1924 the Bosys moved to

43

Canada. Volodymyr became Walter and Bohdan – Borden and their surname

transformed to Bossy.

Orientation toward Lypynsky

First the family settled in Yorkton where Volodymyr was a teacher in the

Ukrainian St. Joseph’s College. He conducted classes on the Ukrainian language,

literature and history. Here he created the Ukrainian Plast (Scout) Organization and

also Sport Association “Sich” which had baseball and hockey sections.

Then, in the mid-1920s Volodymyr Bosy founded the pro-hetmanate

organization “Sich” (which soon changed its name to “The Union of the Hetman's

Followers – Statesmen of America and Canada”) which supported Pavlo Skoropads’ky

and promoted the monarchical governmental system in Ukraine (headed by a hetman)

based on the ideas of Viacheslav Lypynsky. It was one of the most influential

Ukrainian national organizations of that time in Canada.

“Sich” had thousands of supporters and even its own plane which was called

“Ukraine” and which was bought at the expense of its members. According to the plan,

this plane and several others were ready at the right moment to fly over the Atlantic

and to be of service for the air force of an independent Ukraine…

In 1931 the Bosy family moved to Montreal where Volodymyr found a job. Here

he worked as a teacher and an officer in the system to care for “difficult” children. At

the same time, for many years he edited magazines and newspapers, “The Canadian

Ruthenian” (later – “The Canadian Ukrainian”), “The Ukrainian Worker,” “Breakdown,”

and others. Also in different years he published journalistic works in the Ukrainian,

German, English and French languages; these were “Collapse of Europe and Ukraine,”

“Collapse of Western Civilization and Christianity,” “Call to Socially Minded Canadian

Christians,” “Struggle between Christian Thought (Ideology) and Materialistic

Socialism,” “Viacheslav Lypyns’ky – an Ideologist of a Ukrainian Labor Monarchy” and

others.

Practitioner of multiculturalism

Years passed. The enthusiasm and orientation toward a quick return to Ukraine

which were inherent in the 1920s-1930s passed away with time. The fourth and the

fifth decade of the 20th century flew away. The planes were turned into scrap metal,

the archives gathered a thick layer of dust, the political outlook changed, the

Skoropads’ky family, in the name of whom Mr. Bosy worked, were decreased and

scattered all over the planet and the ideas of Lypynsky were of interest only to a bunch

of theorists. So he came to the realization that there was no turning back…

In the 1950s Volodymyr Bosy spent the lion’s share of his time on work in social

services in Montreal. And soon he founded the Institute of the Canadian Ethnic

Mosaic Confederation. This was a public organization which was aimed at promoting

the idea of multiculturalism as the basis of society to the officially bicultural (English-

Canada and French-Canada).

By the early 1960s these questions were not too relevant in Canada. There were

a majority and a minority. We cannot say that the majority at the state level did not

44

care for the rights of the national minorities. Schools and religious buildings were

constructed, but not systematically. Local ethnic communities were responsible for

these issues and the state only “observed.” In general, the society was tolerant

(according to the standards of the era) of the need for coexistence of different national

and linguistic groups. In Canada international and inter-ethnic issues were not so

acute as, for example, the struggle of African-Americans for their rights in the USA.

But sometimes, even in the early 1960s, Canadian Ukrainians faced, if not

discrimination on ethnic grounds, then certain public prejudices about their origin…

Nevertheless, there were activists, including Volodymyr Bosy, who, while at his

practice in the Montreal immigration office was faced with diverse social phenomena

which complicated the equal development of different ethnic groups. Consciously or

unconsciously, these people promoted the ideas of multiculturalism though this term

did not yet exist.

The Canadian Ethnic Mosaic Confederation united representatives of 17

nationalities. This organization was supposed to protect the rights of minorities at the

governmental level. And they did all they could do on their level.

In August 1963

Bosy sent a letter

addressed to

André Laurendeau, the

head of the Royal

Commission on

Bilingualism and

Biculturalism, in which he

expressed doubts

concerning the expediency

of the existence of this

Commission in such a “bi”

context. He referred to the

fact that for almost 40

years he worked with

national minorities,

helping them to integrate into Canadian society, and virtually before his eyes “a third

force” appeared in society which could not now be ignored. These discussions started

at the national level. And Bosy himself thus provided an impetus for all further events

and changes… Eight years passed and the Canadian government officially abandoned

the idea of “biculturalism” and instead officially set its course on a path of

multiculturalism.

Mike Bossy

On January 22, 1957 Volodymyr’s son Bohdan (Borden) Bosy had a new-born

son, named Mike, who is known today in the hockey world as Mike Bossy (he was the

sixth child of Borden and his wife, Dorothy, who in total had ten children).

45

A four-time Stanley Cup winner, he holds many records in the National Hockey

League; he received many personal awards – Rookie of the Year – 1979, Best

Sportsman and Gentlemanly Conduct (three times), etc. In 752 matches in which he

played in the National Hockey League he scored 573 goals. Unfortunately, Mike

prematurely ended his career due to his injuries. There are dozens of players who

played more games and scored more goals but Mike set a record which the

megagrands of the past and present could not surpass. Bossy scored on average 0.762

goals per game. This is the highest performance indicator in the National Hockey

League. Mario Lemieux, for example, had an average of 0.754 goals per game and

Wayne Gretzky – 0.601.

Anti Bolshevik

Volodymyr Bosy died in 1973. He was not a witness to the hockey victories of

his grandson but he was happy that all his children and grandchildren were athletes

and led an active lifestyle.

The personal archive of Volodymyr Bosy covering the years of 1880-1973 is now

stored in the State Archives of Canada and has thousands of units of letters, photos,

books, art installations and so on. In the 1960s he came to Jasło, his native village.

He did not receive permission to visit the USSR, where his brother lived: “Are you that

desperate anti Bolshevik who on numerous conferences spoke about his experience of

armed struggle against the Bolsheviks? Have not you changed your views on the

matter of an independent Ukraine? Then we are sorry…”

About the Antichrist

In his book “Collapse of Europe and Ukraine” published in 1933, Bosy predicted

that the Second World War would begin with a German campaign in Poland and the

formal cause of this would be the free city of Danzig (Gdańsk). And soon, according to

Bosy, it would come to a terrible collision between Germany and the USSR and they

would bleed each other dry. Bosy introduced several scenarios regarding the further

development of such events. According to the first one, the brown and red empires

would be destroyed by Christians. According to the second one, the Soviet Union

would capture all of Europe and then Antichrist would spread throughout the Old

World. But in this case only an army of Christians could confront him. Many of his

predictions about this confrontation did not come true. Today they look naïve…

The great idealist, Bosy, called the Soviet Union the empire of Antichrist. He saw

a role for Ukraine in that it, represented by the peasantry, would be able to present

Christ as an antipode to Antichrist. For these purposes specifically – military-technical

aid - those planes were bought so that at the right moment they would serve the cause

of strengthening Ukraine…

Author: Andriy Sek, for VIDIA

Source: http://vidia.org/2016/55571

46

ADVERTISEMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

1.

1. Dear inhabitants of the village of Czystogarb!

We invite you on July 25,

2016, at 17:00 for the

consecration ceremony of the

cemetery. It will be at the same

time as the Vatra in Zdynia.

Father Andriy from Komancza

will preside at this ceremony.

A new fence around the

cemetery has already been

erected and we also cleaned up

the monuments.

We also plan to install a new

monument or memorial plate

with the names of deportees and

their families. Finally, it has become possible to install crosses on the graves of your

relatives.

We hope to see you at the ceremony in July.

Committee for saving the cemetery in Czystogarb: Orysia Sopinka and Dianne

Galatowsky

2.

THE PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE OF LEMKO VATRAS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF

UKRAINE AND THE WORLD:

- June 17-19 – Festival of Culture of Ruthenians-Ukrainians in Slovakia;

- June 25-26 – the 16th Annual Lemko Vatra in the USA, at the headquarters of

the Ukrainian Youth Association in Ellenville, NY;

- July 22-24 – Lemko Vatra in Zdynia (modern Poland);

- July 30-31 – Festival “Od Rusal do Jana” in the village of Zyndranowa;

- August 6-7 – The Second Lviv Lemko Vatra in the village of Zymna Voda.

We still wait for information from the organizers of the Lemko Vatras in Ługi

Krajeńskie, Kostryno, Poltava oblast, Ivano-Frankivsk oblast and Canada.