Lemkivshchyna in the policy of the Polish central authorities in the 1930s

Abstract

The article is concerned with the actions of the Polish authorities towards the Lemko community in the 1930s. The author shows the many currents in the policies of the Polish Government circles (on the cultural, religious, economic and administrative levels) aiming at uniting Lemkos with the Polish state and nation. The Government considered the Ukrainian nationalists as its main rival in its struggle for influence over that population. Hence actions, like support given by Warsaw to the idea of establishing a separate Apostolic Administration of Lemkivshchyna, that was supposed to protect the Lemko population from the pro-Ukrainian propaganda spread by Greek-Catholic clergy. The authorities’ actions conceived on a wide scale had practical effects at the end of the 1930s, however, they were frustrated as a result of the outbreak of the Second World War.