Przesiedlenie ludności łemkowskiej z powiatu nowosądeckiego do Ukraińskiej Socjalistycznej Republiki Radzieckiej w latach 1945–1946
Repatriation of the Lemkos from the Nowy Sącz Poviat to the Ukrainian Social Soviet Republic in the years 1945−1946

Summary/Abstract: In the years 1944–1946, as a result of the agreement reached on 9 September 1944 between the Polish National Liberation Committee and the Government of the Ukrainian Social Soviet Republic, the mass repatriations of Ukrainians from Poland to Soviet Ukraine were carried out. This process also encompassed the Lemkos, who had been classed as Ukrainians by the authorities on the basis of the reports from Lemkivshchina (Lemko’s homeland). In March 1945, the repatriation campaign embraced also the Nowy Sącz Poviat, where the poviat office and the Poviat National Council wanted to solve the issue of the Lemkos once andfor all, as they considered it politically sensitive and believed it could be a source of ethnic conflicts in the future. On 16 March 1945, the PNC determined that 24,755 people should be repatriated. In Nowy Sącz, offices of the Regional Representative Office of the Republic of Poland and the Representative of the USSR government for Evacuation were opened. Until mid-July, 13,100 persons (59 %) had been repatriated. The initial reaction to the opportunity to travel to Soviet Ukraine was enthusiastic, however, as information about the conditions was received, the Lemkos withdrew the submitted declarations of intent to repatriate. As a result, the poviat authorities ignored the principle of voluntariness, and the Lemkos made desperate attempts to avoid repatriation: 800 persons converted from Greek to Roman Catholicism and justified it by referring to their awareness of Polish ethnicity. The poviatdecided to conduct the campaign with the support of armed forces. The speeches of, among others, Władysław Gomułka on leaving the ethnic group in the territory of the Republic of Poland, were to no avail. Due to the determined approach of poviat authorities and the opinion of the Skills Academy on the affiliation of the Lemkos to the Ukrainian nation, the forced repatriation was continued. On 17 May 1946 at 4:00 a.m., the armed forces entered Lemko villages. The commune administrators, PPR members and commune councils stood up for the forcefully repatriated Lemkos, which brought the operation to a deadlock. The armed forces managed to repatriate only 60 out of the planned 2,200 persons. The repatriation campaign was brought to an end on 25 May 1946 to prevent any negative effects on the economic situation and security in the poviat. In total, 17,740 persons (89 %) were repatriated.

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