Daniel J. Matyola wrote: > Mike: > > Nice photos. > > Thank you very much for posting this portfolio and the great > explanation of the Lemko people and their sad fate. > > "Lemko" or "Lemk" is the Polish name for the Rusyn ethnic group. > Rusyns never had a nation of their own, and lived in eastern Slovakia, > Western Ukraine and Southern Poland, in the foothills of the > Carpathian Mountains. They are, therefore, often called > Carpatho-Rusyns or Carpathian Russians. > > My father's parents were Rusyns who fled Hungarian occupied Slovakia > in the 1890s. The area they came from was seized by the Soviet Union > during WW II, and now is the Zakarpakskaya region of western Ukraine. > Poland relocated all of the Rusyns (Lemkos) in Poland out of their > native villages to distant part of Poland, virtually eradicating their > culture. > Rusyns in Ukraine have mostly been forced to assimilate into the > Ukrainian culture. Only in Eastern Slovakia does the Rusyn way of > life survive to some extent.
Recently, the Mayor of Nowy Sacz, a town in Southern Poland identified himself as a Lemk. It apparently caused quite a stir. > > Today, more people who identify themselves a Rusyns life in North > America than in all of Europe. Here, the culture is largely kept > alive by their churches, Eastern Orthodox or Byzantine Rite Roman > Catholic. > > Rusyn-American that you may be familiar with include: Sandra Dee, Tom > Ridge (Rusyn mother), Tom Selleck (Rusyn mother), Sergeant Michael > Strank (the leader of the Iwo Jima flag raisers), Robert Urich, Andy > Warhol, and band leader Peter Wilhousky. > > For information on the Rusyns, the People without a Country, see: > > http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/ > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusyns > > On 10/27/06, mike wilson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>The Lemk (pronounced Wemk in Polish) is an ethnic group from Central >>Europe, specifically south eastern Poland and south western Ukraine. As >>with so many of that ilk, they were hounded from their homes by both the >>Nazis and the Soviets, never to return. > > >>http://www.lemko.org/ >> >>On a recent visit, I stumbled across a Lemko restaurant and spent a >>wonderful evening being regaled with the folk music of the region. At >>first by a trio of musicians then, later in the evening, by a group of >>students that came in to drink and sing along. The friend that was with >>me ended up dancing with the waiter. 8-) >> >>The pictures are not of the best quality (it was much darker than it >>appears) but I hope they give an impression of the enjoyment I had that >>evening. >> >>http://home.fotocommunity.com/mike.a.wilson/index.php?id=529253&g=242560 >> >>DL/2, A50/1.7 mostly >> >>mike >> >>-- >>PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>[email protected] >>http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
