Lemko Republic

Lemko Rusyn Republic of Florynka
Ruska Narodna Respublika Lemkiv
←
 1918–1920 →

Flag
Capital Florynka
Language(s) Lemko dialect
Government Republic
President Jaroslav Kacmarcyk
Historical era World War I
 - Established 5 December 1918
 - Disestablished March 1920
Today part of  Poland

The Ruthenian National Republic of the Lemko People (Ruska Narodna Respublika Lemkiv), often known as the Lemko Republic or the Lemko-Rusyn Republic, was founded in Florynka (a village in the south-east of present-day Poland) on 5 December 1918, in the aftermath of World War I, after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.[1] As a Russophile organization, it originally had the intent of unification with a democratic Russia, and opposed a union with the West Ukrainian National Republic. As the union with Russia was not possible, it attempted to join with Carpathian Ruthenia on the southern slopes of the Carpathians as an autonomous province of Czechoslovakia. This strategy was opposed by Gregory Zatkovich, the governor of Carpathian Ruthenia. The republic was headed by the President of the Central National Council, Doctor Jaroslav Kacmarcyk. It was ended by the Polish government in March 1920. Its fate was sealed by the Treaty of Saint Germain, which gave Galicia west of the San to Poland[2], and by the Peace of Riga in 1920.

This state should be distinguished from the short-lived Komancza Republic of eastern Lemkivshchyna. This was a smaller, Ukrainiophile organization, lasting from November 1918 to 23 January 1919.

Contents

Territory

On 5 December 1918, the members of the republic stated: “We, the Rusyn nation, living in a compact settlement in the southern parts of the Galician administrative units of Nowy Targ, Nowy Sącz, Grybów, Gorlice, Jasło, Krosno, and Sanok do not wish to be incorporated into the Polish state, and wish to share the fate of our Rusyn brothers [living] in Spiš, Šariš, and Zemplín counties as one indivisible geographic and ethnographic unit.”[3]

The map on the right shows the mentioned administrative divisions in southern Poland highlighted in yellow.

See also

References

  1. ^ Magocsi, Paul Robert (Fall). "The Ukrainian question between Poland and Czechoslovakia: The Lemko Rusyn republic (1918-1920) and political thought in western Rus'-Ukraine". Nationalities Papers 21 (2): 95–103. doi:10.1080/00905999308408278. 
  2. ^ Magocsi, Paul Robert (1993, 2002). "Central Europe 1918-1923". Historical Atlas of Central Europe. A History of East Central Europe. 1 (revised and expanded ed.). Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 127. ISBN 0-295-98146-6. OCLC 47097699. 
  3. ^ Horbal, Bogdan (1997) (in Polish). Działalność polityczna Łemków na Łemkowszczyźnie 1918-1921 [Political activity of the Lemkos in Lemkivshchyna 1918-1921]. Wrocław: Wydawn Arboretum. p. 45. ISBN 9788386308224. OCLC 37645527. 

External links