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Lemkos View Poland and Poles*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
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From May to August, 1991, the author distributed 250 questionnaires among Poland's Lemko minority. The questionnaire is part of a dissertation being written on the long-term impact on the Polish Lemko community of the 1947 “Vistula” Operation population resettlement. To date, 52 questionnaires have been returned.
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- Copyright © 1997 Association for the Study of Nationalities
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* Research for this article was supported in part by a grant from the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), with funds provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S. Information Agency, and the US Department of State, which administers the Soviet and East European Training Act of 1983 (Title VIII). The author also wishes to express gratitude to her anonymous respondents, members of a shy, gentle, reticent people, who went against habit to answer a stranger's difficult questions.Google Scholar
1. In 1991, when the survey was begun, this group would have been 45-years-old or older.Google Scholar
2. In 1991, this group would have been between the ages of 20–44.Google Scholar
3. In 1991, this group would have been 19-years-old or younger.Google Scholar
4. The results are reported under the term “Greek Catholic,” because this term was preferred by the respondents to describe themselves. Three respondents who defined themselves as “Byzantine Catholic” or “Ukrainian Catholic” are also included in this category.Google Scholar
5. Breakdown by province is as follows: Nowy Sa̧cz: 40%; Tarnów: 6%; Krosno: 4%.Google Scholar
6. Breakdown by province is as follows: Legnica: 21%; Zielona Góra: 10%; Gorzów: 6%; Wroclaw: 6%; Koszalin: 2%.Google Scholar
7. Breakdown by province is as follows: Bielsko-Biała: 2%; Cracow: 2%; Toruń: 2%.Google Scholar
8. The ethnonational “orientations” presently viable in the Lemko region are the Ukrainian and Rusyn. Determining whether a particular respondent is of Ukrainian or Rusyn orientation is an art rather than a science. Lemkos traditionally shy away from “political talk” in general, and discussions of ethnogenesis in particular. Therefore, many respondents were likely to be reticent. Others were uncertain.Google Scholar
Where a respondent's orientation is certain and relevant to the discussion, it will be identified. Where not identifiable with certainty, or where not relevant to the discussion, a respondent's orientation will not be noted.Google Scholar
How was a respondent's orientation determined? Respondents were asked questions attempting to identify orientation, as well as to acquire information on these orientations’ ideological world views. Question #29 asked if there is a difference between Lemkos and Ukrainians and question #30 if there is a difference between Lemkos and Rusyns. It was assumed that the two orientations were likely to have two different response patterns. A respondent of Ukrainian orientation would likely respond to question #29 that there is “no difference” between Lemkos and Ukrainians, whereas a respondent of Rusyn orientation, is likely to state that there “is a difference” between Lemkos and Ukrainians. In response to question #30, a respondent of Ukrainian orientation will likely respond that Rusyn is the historical name for Ukrainian and Lemko a regional name. On the other hand, a respondent of Rusyn orientation is likely to respond to this same question that there is no difference between Lemkos and Rusyns, that these ethnonyms are synonyms for the same people. Of course, determining a respondents’ orientation in this manner is not perfect, but is helpful in many cases.Google Scholar
9. This is a reference to the 1947 forced resettlement of Ukrainians and Lemkos out of their homeland in the southeast corner of Poland and their subsequent scattering throughout the northern and western territories gained by Poland after the Second World War. The so-called “Vistula” Operation resettlement was carried out as the first phase of a two-phase military campaign to firstly deprive the Ukrainian Partisan Army of material and moral support and finally, to liquidate it. Most Lemkos, however, regard the resettlement as deliberate attempt to denationalize and assimilate the resettled populations.Google Scholar
10. The respondent's comment on the Roman Catholic clergy illustrates another way in which ethnonational orientation may affect a Lemko's perceptions of Poland and Poles. The author encountered among Lemko Rusyns (who are most often Orthodox) a belief that the Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic church cooperate to the detriment of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church. The key notion in this perception is that their common recognition of papal authority unites Roman Catholic Polish and Greek Catholic Ukrainian interests. In contrast, some Lemko Ukrainians (who are most often Greek Catholic) regard not religion but nationality to be the determining factor. The Roman Catholic church cooperates with the Orthodox church to the detriment of the Greek Catholic Church because of Polish “ukrainophobia.” Thus, a Lemko Ukrainian would be less likely to make such a statement as this respondent did.Google Scholar
11. The Democratic Union apparently continues to enjoy support among Lemkos (as well as among Poles). In the September, 1993 elections to the Parliament, Mr. Mirosław Czech, a UD candidate, became only the second openly self-described Ukrainian in post-war history to gain a seat in Parliament.Google Scholar
12. Deputies to the Polish Parliament from the Partia Pracy (Labor Party).Google Scholar