Cultural and educational activities of the Lemko emigration in the coverage of the Ruthenian periodicals of the Second Polish Republic

Abstract

Formulation of the problem. During the second half of the XIX - first third of the XX century Ukrainians experienced several powerful waves of emigration. At the same time, the emigration flow from the Lemko lands was marked by the greatest intensity due to severe natural economic conditions and the problem of land scarcity. Having faced a new socio-economic and cultural-mental situation, having adapted to completely unusual natural and economic circumstances, the Lemkos did not give up their own national identity. They launched an active cultural and educational work aimed at cultivating a sense of their own national and cultural identity among the settlers. This important and diverse cultural and educational activity of Lemko activists abroad has not become the object of independent scientific reflection, which makes it impossible to create a holistic image of the national service of diaspora Ukrainians.

The purpose of the article is to clarify the forms, manifestations and content of the cultural and educational work of the Ruthenian emigration on the basis of the newspapers «Our Lemko» and «Lemko».

The main results of the study. Lemko newspapers mainly wrote  about numerous American and Canadian communities. The newspapers published independent thematic sections that specifically covered the life of Ruthenians in North America. It is important to note that these columns were edited by the Lemko correspondents in emigration, so that the contributors could recreate a fairly complete picture of the rich cultural and social life of the Lemkos in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Winnipeg, Montreal, Toronto, and others.

Along with the articles about the life of Lemkos in the North American countries, quite a few Lemko newspapers wrote about the cultural life of Lemko communities in South American countries, such as Brazil, Peru and Paraguay. The newspapers published columns «To the Lemko Brothers from Uruguay» and «Ukrainians in Argentina» that provide information about the cultural achievements of the Lemkos in these countries. The newspapers published articles about the life of Ruthenians in France, Germany, Britain, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, and Yugoslavia as well. They inform about various cultural and educational events and considerable achievements of Lemko emigration in these countries. Finally, there were a few publications from Manchuria (Green Wedge) that give an idea of the scale of Lemko’s emigration.

Conclusions. The study suggests that the cultural and educational movement of Lemko emigrants was extremely active, especially given the modest financial resources of the migrants, who mostly worked in the least prestigious and therefore low-paid jobs. The diversity of Ruthenian cultural life is also striking, it includes various projects such as creation of educational institutions, establishment of museums and Sunday schools, organisation of folklore festivals, publication of periodicals and implementation of translation projects. As a result, this work, mostly conducted in the spirit of unity, became an important and organic component of the cultural life of foreign Ukrainians in the interwar period. This allowed to preserve Lemko cultural diversity and ethnic identity and pass them on to the post-war generation of Ruthenians, who were deprived of the right to live on their native land by totalitarian regimes.