Introduction

Summary

As a result of the displacements of 1944-1946, and in particular Operation Vistula in 1947, the demographic structure of the previously existing Lemko Region was destroyed, and the repressed population found itself in a difficult social and moral situation. Stalinist propaganda disseminated in socialist Poland took away the Ukrainian sense of dignity, conferring an inferior status on them. This culminated in their feeling ashamed of their origins and avoiding national self-definition. The power of family traditions was not always able to overcome this barrier. For a part of the population this gave rise to certain forms of behavior which included a preference for a particular ethnographic designation. In other words, it was easier to be a Lemko than a Ukrainian. On the other hand, there were political traditions from before the war which also ruled against the use of the name “Ukrainian”; for some, there was no need to avoid the term, since they had never used it.

Political changes which took place in Poland during the “Solidarity” era awakened the political engagement of national minorities, long hidden from the realms of culture and education. Gradually this led to the rebuilding in the Lemko community of the two ideologically opposed camps which had put roots down in the Lemko region in the 19^th and first half of the 20^th century: the Union of Lemkos with headquarters in Gorlice, one of the Ukrainian minority organizations, and the Association of Lemkos, headquartered in Legnica, which declared the Lemkos’ affinity with the modern Rusyn nation (neo-Rusyn/Carpatho-Rusyn).