«ZAKERZONNIA» AS A CONCEPT: THE LINE-THE BORDER-THE TERRITORY-THE LOST REGION?

Abstract

The circumstances and context of creating the concept of «Zakerzonnia», which is used for the generalized definition of the whole region of modern Ukrainian-Polish ethnic borderland, are analyzed. The main approaches to explaining the term «Zakerzonnia» and related with it the notion of Curzon Line in encyclopedic articles are defined. In a brief historiographical review emergence and application of the term Curzon Line to the formation of the Polish-Russian and Polish-Soviet border are observed. The settlement's names through which the demarcation line went, its use's political contexts are given. Both the informational and analytical articles in the press of Ukrainian emigration in Europe and proclamation of the leadership of OUN of «Zakerzon Territory» of the late 1940s are considered. These materials highlight the problem of the Polish-Ukrainian border, the forced displacement of Ukrainians. It is noticed, that generally the first description of «Ukrainians living beyond the Curzon Line» was used in these publications. It is confirmed that this interpretation was later transformed into the term «Zakerzonnia» in periodicals of foreign units of OUN of the late 1940s-early 1950s, that is, the territory of the «Western Ukrainian lands», from which the Ukrainians were deported. It is shown that in the Ukrainian centers of the Lemko community of Canada and the USA in the early 1960s, in particular on the pages of periodicals of the Organization of Defense of the Lemkivschyna, the term «Zakerzonnia» is used less frequently than names of historical and ethnographic regions: Lemkivshchyna (Lemko region), Kholmshchyna (Kholm region), Pidliashia, Nadsiannia (Posiannia, Sian region). It is claimed that the active use of the term «Zakerzonnia» occurred in the 1990-2000s due to the activities of social-cultural organizations of deported Ukrainians from Poland. Keywords: Curzon Line, «Zakerzonnia», concept, Ukrainian-Polish borderland