Defining Terms – Nova Lemkovyna

Nova Lemkovyna or New Lemkovyna is a concept relating to the repopulation of Lemkovyna and western Bojkovyna by ethnic Rusyns with the intent of achieving autonomy within the state of Poland. Following the Lemko ethnocide of 1947 and the ensuing years known as the Decades of Silence, the Lemko population was dispersed throughout Poland and Ukraine, with only a few thousand returning at the end of the 1950s. The idea would involve the repatriation of ethnic Lemkos to their homeland, mandatory Rusyn language classes in schools, and the diplomatic or forced takeover of previously Orthodox churches that were converted into Catholic ones after the region’s depopulation.

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