Lemko People – European Minority That Lost Their Homeland And Still Live In Exile

Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com - Life for the Lemko people has always been challenging. Being a small but distinctive minority, they have been under pressure from many European rules.

The Lemko people are one of Europe’s most distinct minorities, and despite many historical problems, they have managed to preserve their culture, traditions, and language.

The Lemkos lost their homeland and still live in exile.

Who Are The Lemko People?

Almost 11,000 Lemkos are currently living in Poland. These people are scattered across the country as a result of postwar resettlement. The Lemkos are East Slavs, and they were once natives of the Beskidy Mountains, a series of mountain ranges in the Carpathians, stretching from the Czech Republic in the west along the border of Poland with Slovakia up to Ukraine in the east.

Monument commemorating the deportation of Lemkos. Peremozhne, Luhansk region (Ukraine). Credit: Qypchak - CC BY-SA 3.0

The historical definition of East Slavs is a rather complex issue. “The Lemko dialect is classified as Ukrainian, although it was formed on the northern side of the Carpathians and is shot through with Polish influences. As a result, it will not speak of “an East Slavic population that has at various times been called Lemkos, Boikos, Hutsuls, Lemaki, Rusnaks, Rusins, Carpatho-Rusins, Carpatho-Ukrainians, and Carpatho-Rusians.

Some of these terms denote historically distinct groups which regarded (and regard) themselves as such. Lemkos, Boikos, and Hutsuls are, whatever else they may be, Lemkos, Boikos, and Hutsuls. None of these terms are synonyms for the “East Slavic population in question.” 1

Most of the Lemko people are today Roman Catholics, but some have remained faithful to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church or Eastern Orthodox Church. Thousands of Lemkos visit Jawor Mountain every year. At this sacred site, they participate in the celebrations of the feast of Peter and Paul.

What Happened To Lemkos’ Komancza Republic?

The Lemko people had the misfortune of constantly dealing with forces greater than themselves. Their beginnings can be traced to the 16th-century settlement of Rusyns and Vlachs in the Lower Beskids, where they mixed with Polish inhabitants. At one time, the Lemkos did have a state of their own.

Lemkos in original goral folk-costumes from Mokre, Poland. Credit: Silar - CC BY-SA 3.0

After World War I, the Lower Beskids and its Lemko population became Polish. The Lemkos used this opportunity to found the Komancza Republic, “an independent Lemko state of pro-Ukrainian orientation, aiming at establishing a union with West Ukraine.

The newborn republic existed for less than two months, suppressed by the Polish army during the Polish-Ukrainian War of 1918-1919. Even though Poland was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the right to self-determination, the Polish authorities were unwilling to accept the self-determination of Polish minorities.” 2

“ The agenda set by the Polish authorities of the 1930-ties left no room for the Lemko community to realize its full potential.” The Polish authorities were unwilling to support “a micro-minority population desperately in a need of such support.” 3

Today, more than 50 % of the Lemko people reside in Lower Silesia and Lesser Poland. A small number of the Lemkos live in Lemkivshchyna. The Lemkos are one of four native ethnic minorities currently inhabiting Poland; the others are the Tatars, the Crimean Karaites, and the Roma.

Being people who can adapt, the Lemkos have managed to resettle, never giving up their cultural heritage, although many still regard the Lower Beskids as their homeland.

Written by Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com Staff Writer

Updated on February 9, 2024

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