Ukrainian Cultural-Educational life in Lemkovina from the End of the 19th Centuries to the 1930s

Abstract

Thus, national self-awareness of the Lemkos was combined with the cultural- national elation of the whole Ukrainian nation. The destructive political influences could not destroy the Lemkos and their national originality. Some communities in the Diasporas and in cultural associations (founded in the independenct Ukraine) still cherish historical memory, art, and cultural values of Lemkovina. The biggest west ethnographic group of the Ukrainian was the Lemkos, which played an important role in the history of the formation of the Ukrainian ethnos. In spite of unfavorable social-political conditions form the end of 19th to the beginning of 20th centurie, there were numerous processes of national revival. Public associations and famous figures became the guides of national awareness and the initiators of cultural-educational work. The most active in the sphere of revival in Lemkovina were the following associations: ‘Prosvita’, ‘Native School’, ‘Rural Master’, ‘Ukrainian revisionary union’, ‘commission of Lemkos’, etc. Thanks to their active work, educational institutions of different levels, help funds, educational nucleua, museums and art centers were founded; periodicals were published and expanded, ‘strolling libraries’ were set up. Difficult historical and socio-cultural conditions and in particular the purposeful destructive political influences in 1940s could not destroy the Lemkos and their national originality.