Published in vol. 5 /1993 of Annals of World Lemko Federation,
by The Lemko Research Foundation, New York.

MEMORANDUM
TO THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL OF THE
UNITED NATIONS

From the
Organization for the Defense of Lemkivshchyna

October 1961, Brooklyn, New York

I. The Ukrainian Minority in Poland

Upon the close of World War II, the Soviet Union and its satellite, Poland, agreed upon certain national boundary lines, which in no sense are in accordance with basic principles of ethnography. The boundary line, well known as the Curzon Line, which separates Poland from the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, was drawn up in a fashion whereby a part of Ukrainian ethnographic territory, namely Lemkivshchyna, Kholmschyna and Pidlasya, found themselves as part of the Polish state. According to pre-World War II statistics, these three areas are inhabited by some one million and five hundred thousand Ukrainians. As a result of agreements reached concerning the exchange of population, that is between the Soviet Union and Germany in 1939, and between the Soviet Union and Poland in 1945, and, in accordance with Soviet census statistics, some 490,000 Ukrainians were resettled in Soviet Ukraine. Thus, some one million Ukrainians were left under Polish domination.

II. Forced Resettlement of Ukrainians in Poland
All of the Ukrainian populace in these Ukrainian areas, the one million of them or so, were forced by the Polish Government to leave their native territories and settle in Polish ruled regions. This definitely savage act on the part of the Polish authorities in forcibly resettling the Ukrainians was done purposely by these authorities on account of the fact that during World War II the Ukrainians created the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainska Povstancha Armiya) the well-known UPA, which fought for the establishment of an independent Ukrainian state. That army was organized by Ukrainian patriots in 1941. During the time when the Hitler-led German armies occupied Ukraine, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army fought these forces; later, when the Soviet forces occupied Ukraine, this heroic army conducted military operations against them. And when finally the Soviet Union assigned the above mentioned territories to its satellite Poland, the UPA fought also against the Polish occupants of native Ukrainian land.
The Polish Communist authorities, being unable to cope with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army forces, and in order to revenge themselves upon the Ukrainian populace in Poland, during the years 1946 -- 1947 took measure to evacuate out of the Ukrainian areas all of their Ukrainian inhabitants and settle them in Polish areas.
By punishing all of the Ukrainian populace for the military activities of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the Polish Government became prima facie responsible for the infringement of rights and liberties of the Ukrainian people, which rights and liberties are presumed to be controlled and safe-guarded by the international law. What the Polish Government should have done was to fight the Ukrainian armed forces, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, with Polish armed forces on fields of battle, and not take it out on innocent civilians. The Polish Government certainly did not have even the slightest moral right to take punitive actions against all of the Ukrainian populace because of the military actions of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
We know from history that when the Polish nation was destroyed during the 18th century and partitioned among Russia, Prussia and Austria, Polish patriots arose in rebellion on several occasions to resurrect Polish national independence. After the suppression of these abortive rebellions, the occupant powers of Poland did not take any punitive action against the Polish populace as a whole by resettling this or that portion of it. Why then, in this case, did the Polish authorities act in such an atrocious fashion against the Ukrainians?
As it became clear later on, the Polish Government by forcing out Ukrainian people from their native territories to the Polish regions, did not act according to military dictates but out of imperialistic ambitions and desires. What the Polish Government actually had as its purpose in this resettlement was to have the Ukrainians mix in with the Poles in the territory of the latter, become intermingled with them, gradually absorbed, assimilated, denationalized, so that in time they would be regarded as Poles. This is an old and well-known process in such matters, well-known in history. Actually this business of resettlement is a form of genocide.

III. Discrimination Against Resettled Ukrainians

The fact that the Polish Government deliberately planned to destroy the Ukrainian minority in Poland as a national entity can be easily shown by the way Poles treated the forcibly resettled Ukrainians. After having resettled the Ukrainians, the Polish authorities did not allow them to live together in one or more compact groups, that is Ukrainian, in the Polish territories, but scattered them about, two or three families, or so, in one Polish village, and dispersed all over the nine Polish administrative districts.
This was obviously for the purpose of preventing the resettled Ukrainians from living together as a national group. All that the Polish authorities had in mind was to denationalize these unfortunate people and to exterminate their national identity. It is a well-known fact that people of a certain race or nationality who live together and commune with one another, cannot become assimilated or denationalized, and cannot lose their identity. If that right is denied to them, however, gradually they will become denationalized.

IV. Ukrainians in Poland Cannot Worship According to Their Rite and Liturgy.

According to their faith, Ukrainians within Polish borders are of two different categories: Greek Catholic and Orthodox. The Catholics and the Orthodox among them differ very much from the Poles who are of the Roman Catholic faith. That is why the Ukrainian Greek Catholics and the Ukrainian Orthodox always had their own churches and church organizations in their native land.
After having evacuated the Ukrainian populace out of its native habitat and resettled it in Polish ethnographic territories, the Polish authorities purposely deprived the Ukrainians, of their right to worship in the manner of their faiths. Ukrainians do not attend the Polish Roman Catholic churches since there are not their churches and the services are not comprehensible to them. They are unable to establish their own Ukrainian Catholic or Orthodox churches and church organizations, because the Polish Government decree they are widely scattered about, two or three families in this village or town and two or three families elsewhere. It has to be born in mind, too that even ten families cannot, by any means whatsoever, set up a parish and church of their own; financially this is impossible.
That is why about a million Ukrainians in Poland (outside of the few churches which have been permitted to remain in the Ukrainian ethnographic territories) have been deprived of their right to worship in accordance to their faith and liturgy. The Ukrainian people are a very religious people and to forbid them to pray is the harshest punishment which can be imposed upon them.

V. Ukrainian in Poland Are Not Allowed to Teach Ukrainian to their Children

Now, Ukrainian in Poland are so scattered about because of the Government decree, that they are unable to have their children taught Ukrainian in schools. In all of the Polish schools which the children of the forcibly resettled Ukrainians attend, there is schooling and education only in the Polish language. The Polish authorities are not in the least concerned that the children of the new settlers want to learn to speak, read and write in their native tongue.
To be sure, the Polish Government passed a parliamentary measure to the effect that all non-Polish minorities in Poland do have the right to have their children taught in the Polish schools their own native tongue. This law is admirable, but it cannot be effective in cases of the children whose parents have been resettled. How, as recounted previously, is it possible for two or three Ukrainian families in a Polish community to accomplish this? How can anyone have a Ukrainian school system with proper facilities and Ukrainian teachers where there are four or five children? Before us is a situation wherein children of these forcibly resettled people are deprived of their inalienable right to learn their native tongue, and also, in the tongue, to learn about their Ukrainian background, history, culture, and national aspirations for a free and independent Ukraine. These children are being deprived of that right, and, naturally, denationalized; learning nothing of their Ukrainian heritage they become Polonized. That is the aim and purpose of the Polish Government and of its forced resettlement policy.

VI. Ukrainian in Poland Are Being Deprived of their National Life

Being scattered about, to the extent that they are, Ukrainians in Poland are deprived of all right of normal life, of a national entity. They have no means of organizing their religious groups, they cannot gather in various civil societies of their own making, they are unable to establish their own cultural associations, and, at the same time arrange for Ukrainian theatrical enterprises: concerts, plays, dramas, and exhibits.

VII. Ukrainians Under Polish Domination Have No Rights in Law-Making Bodies

On account of this dispersal and resettlement of Ukrainians, numbering some one million persons, they do not have any voice at all in the Polish and to forbid them to pray is the harshest punishment which can be imposed upon them.

V. Ukrainian in Poland Are Not Allowed to Teach Ukrainian to their Children

Now, Ukrainian in Poland are so scattered about because of the Government decree, that they are unable to have their children taught Ukrainian in schools. In all of the Polish schools which the children of the forcibly resettled Ukrainians attend, there is schooling and education only in the Polish language. The Polish authorities are not in the least concerned that the children of the new settlers want to learn to speak, read and write in their native tongue.
To be sure, the Polish Government passed a parliamentary measure to the effect that all non-Polish minorities in Poland do have the right to have their children taught in the Polish schools their own native tongue. This law is admirable, but it cannot be effective in cases of the children whose parents have been resettled. How, as recounted previously, is it possible for two or three Ukrainian families in a Polish community to accomplish this? How can anyone have a Ukrainian school system with proper facilities and Ukrainian teachers where there are four or five children'? Before us is a situation wherein children of these forcibly resettled people are deprived of their inalienable right to learn their native tongue, and also, in the tongue, to learn about their Ukrainian background, history, culture, and national aspirations for a free and independent Ukraine. These children are being deprived of that right, and, naturally, denationalized; learning nothing of their Ukrainian heritage they become Polonized. That is the aim and purpose of the Polish Government and of its forced resettlement policy.

VI. Ukrainian in Poland Are Being Deprived of their National Life

Being scattered about, to the extent that they are, Ukrainians in Poland are deprived of all right of normal life, of a national entity. They have no means of organizing their religious groups, they cannot gather in various civil societies of their own making, they are unable to establish their own cultural associations, and, at the same time arrange for Ukrainian theatrical enterprises: concerts, plays, dramas, and exhibits.

VII. Ukrainians Under Polish Domination Have No Rights in Law-Making Bodies

On account of this dispersal and resettlement of Ukrainians, numbering some one million persons, they do not have any voice at all in the Polish Government, that is the Parliament (Sejm) and the Senate. It is the duty of these supposedly august bodies to protect the interests of the Ukrainians: - that duty they have failed to perform.

VIII. They Do Not Want Ukrainians to Return to their Native Habitat

In resettling the Ukrainian people from their native land the Polish authorities used as their excuse an alleged statement that they were doing it to stop the activities of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the purpose of which was the establishing of an independent Ukraine. They told Ukrainians that if they were resettled and evacuated out of these mountainous areas the Ukrainian Insurgent Army would be deprived of any help in form of food and materials, and thereby these insurgents would bring to a stop their military action against Poland. Therefore, it would appear that once action on the part of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army ceased, all of these Ukrainians resettled by the Polish regime would be able to return home again. In the meantime, since the end of the last war, 16 years ago, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army is no longer in operation, yet the Polish Government still does not allow the resettled Ukrainians to return home.

IX. Ukrainian Areas Are Being Settled by Poles

That the Polish Government ordered the resettlement of Ukrainians from their native habitat purposely in order to kill their national consciousness and unity is well testified by the fact that it does not allow these resettled persons to get back home. What is even worse is that the Polish Government is settling these areas from which it evacuated Ukrainians with Poles!
Thus, what the Polish Government has planned for the Ukrainian minority in Poland is quite clear:
1. By having resettled the Ukrainians and transferring them to non-Ukrainian areas in the Polish ethnographic territories it seeks to denationalize and Polonize them.
2. By settling Polish colonists in Ukrainian areas left barren after the evacuation, the Polish Government very cleverly wants to make these areas Polish.

X. A Plea to Investigate the Ukrainian Situation Under Poland

All of the above-cited facts definitely prove that the Ukrainian minority under Polish domination is being faced with extermination as a national group. We, Ukrainians of the United States of America and Canada, organized in the ranks of the Organization for the Defense of Lemkivshchyna, and who by birth or descent are from that particular Ukrainian area which is now under Polish misrule, appeal to you to make the proper intercessions with the Polish Government to have it halt its genocidal practices and policies aimed against our kinsmen in Poland.
We demand of the Polish Government that it:
1. Allow the Ukrainian people in Poland to return to their native terrain out of which they were forcibly and unlawfully removed.
2. Give back to them their inalienable right to worship God according to their rite and liturgy.
3. Allow them a similar right to have their children taught in Ukrainian in the schools they have to attend.
4. Grant all of the rights and privileges in order to which the Ukrainian people under Polish rule, as citizens, are entitled, so that they may be able to live their national life as Ukrainians, and as part of the whole Ukrainian nation.

Organization for the Defense of Lemkivshchyna

President Secretary

Iwan Skwirtniansky Wasyl Skomsky

Sincerely yours,

Dr. John Hvosda,
President Organization for Defense of LEMKIVSHCHYNA

JH:ag

24 October, 1970

Ambassador Edvard Hambro, President
General Assembly of the United Nations
United Nations Plaza
New York, N. Y.

Dear Ambassador Hambro:

As you remember, I have sponsored your address to the students of the Central and Northern part of New York State who participated in our Auburn Community College Model United Nations, May 2, 3 and 4, 1969.
It was our honor to have you here, and my personal honor to be acquainted with you at that time. I personally, and the whole college community, as well as some 800 students throughout this region, are very proud of the fact that you have been elected the President of the General Assembly of the United
Nations. Please accept our sincerest congratulations.
I am the President of the Organization for the Defense of Lemkivshchyna. This organization represents some two million people throughout the Western World. The bulk of them, however, live in the United States and Canada. The purpose of this organization is mainly to give aid to the people of the westernmost Ukrainian territories, which since the Second World War have remained under the control of Poland.
Immediately at the end of the war all of the people of the territory (Lemkos) were deported by the Polish Government to the newly acquired regions of the defeated Germany.
For twenty-five years, the Lemkos, as well as the Ukrainians from other Ukrainian territories, have lived in Poland as a second-class citizens, without right to organize effectively as a national minority, and without right to return to their native land.
On this 25th anniversary of the United Nations, the Organization for Defense of Lemkivshchyna feels that it behooves the United Nations to be informed about the misfortune of the Lemkos, as well as other Ukrainians under Poland. Furthermore, we hope that the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations will make an effort to appraise itself of the unfortunate situation in which these people have lived already too long, and take an appropriate action.
In order to bring this problem to the attention of the United Nation at this time, this Organization has collected over 8,000 signatures on a petition to the United Nations which, I as the President, would like to submit them to you, as the President of the General Assembly, the Secretary General U Thant and Ambassador Glenn A. Olds.
I would like to bring the signatures to the United Nations as soon as possible. Therefore, I would appreciate it very much if you could give me any advise or assistance to realize this.
In order to make ourselves available for any advise or for further information, the Organization for Defense of Lemkivshchyna would like to be included on the list of the Non-Governmental Organizations, of the United Nations.

Thank you very much in advance for your help.

Sincerely yours,
Dr. John Hvosda, President
Organization for Defense
of Lemkivshchyna

Nov. 27 1970
Commission on Human Rights
Economic and Social Council
of the United Nations
New York, New York

Gentlemen:

Attached herewith are petitions with 8,000 signatures of the citizens of the United States of America, whose families have been in the Polish exile for almost twenty five years. These petitions have been prepared and hereby submitted to this Commission by the Organization for Defense of Lemkivshchyna in behalf of the petitioners. The main mission of this organization is to aid and assist the Lemkos (the population of Lemkivshchyna), as well as all other Ukrainians in the Polish People's Republic.
The Polish Academy of Sciences claims that the "... Action 'W' (the code name for the Polish military deportation campaign against the Ukrainian Lemkos and other Ukrainians, whom they deported from their native land in 1947-48) embraced persons suspected of collaboration with the Ukrainian nationalist bands.* Thus, on merely a suspicion the government of the Polish People's Republic out of war-political motives, by means of military force had forcefully** banished approximately one million Ukrainians and has for almost twenty five years deprived them of full citizenship rights, including the return to their native villages and cities.
The attitude of the Polish People's Republic toward the exiled Ukrainians in Poland is clearly contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as it is in violation of the Polish Constitution, especially articles: 59 Sec. 3, 61 Sec. 1, 62 Sec. 1 & 2, 69, 70, 71 Sec. 1, 72 Sec. 1 and 74. Article 74 of the Constitution of the Polish People's Republic emphasizes that "A citizen may be deprived of his freedom only in cases determined by law. A detained person must be set free unless, within forty eight hours from the moment of his detention a warrant for arrest has been served on him "(Sec. 1).
According to the statement of the Polish Academy of Sciences (above cited), the deportation detention of the Ukrainian minority in Poland was effectuated in 1947-1948. Thus, this minority has been in detention for 25 years without proper court or Public Prosecutor authorization. Therefore, Ukrainian Lemkos and other Ukrainians should be freed, and their property-lands, schools, churches, etc., should be returned to them. Especially since the Polish Constitution specifies that "Property may be seized only in cases determined by law on the ground of final judgment "(Art. 74, Sec. 3).
The detention of the Polish citizens of the Ukrainian nationality in the Polish People's Republic is also illegal because it prevents them from enjoying equal...rights in all spheres of public, political, economic, social and cultural life. Infringement of this...is punishable by law (Art. 69, Sec. 1).
Moreover, the detention of the Ukrainian minority contributes to the spreading of "humiliation of man on account of national, racial or religious differences...," which is also forbidden by the Polish Constitution.
Finally, the detention of the Ukrainians by the government of the Polish People's Republic violates the pledge of "...The people...", who promised in their own Constitution that they "...shall be guided in order:...to strengthen friendship and cooperation between nations, based on the alliance and brotherhood which links today the Polish nation with the peace-loving nations of the world for the attainment of their common aim: to make aggression impossible and to consolidate world peace" (the Preamble of the Constitution).
The Ukrainian minority in the Polish People's Republic faces extermination as a national and religious group. Therefore, we, the citizens of the United States of America, who by birth or descent are from that particular Ukrainian area which is now under Poland, hereby petition you to make the proper intercessions with the Polish Government to have it halt its genocidal practices and policies aimed against our kinsmen in Poland.
We specifically demand of the Polish Government that it:

A. 1. Allow the Ukrainian people in Poland to return to their native cities, towns and villages, out of which they were forcibly and unlawfully removed.
2. Allow the Ukrainians to settle down in any part of the Polish People's Republic, according to their own choosing.
3. Restore to the Ukrainian Lemkos, as well as to all other Ukrainians, or as groups. Where this is impossible, they should be properly compensated for the sustained losses.
4. Restore to the Ukrainians in Poland the right to have their own church hierarchy, as well as to worship in their churches, according to their rite and liturgy.
5. Allow the Ukrainians the right to teach their children their own Ukrainian in the schools they have to attend, as well as to have their own schools and cultural centers.
6. Grant all of the rights and privileges the Polish Constitution bestows upon its citizens, so that Ukrainians in Poland may live life as full citizens of the Polish state, and as the Ukrainian minority may cultivate its long and beautiful cultural traditions.
We further petition the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations that it:

B. 1. includes the Organization for Defense of Lemkivshchyna on its list of the Non-Governmental Organizations for consultations.
2. includes the question of the Ukrainian Lemkos, and all other Ukrainians in Poland, on the earliest agenda of the Commission of Human Rights, and other appropriate agencies of the United Nations.

Dr. John Hvosda Nicholas Duplak
President Secretary

*Edward Strzelecki (Ed.), Ludnosc Polski Wspolczesnej (Population of
the Contemporary Poland), Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe,
Warszawa 1967, p. 82.

**2 Andrzej Kwilecki, "Sociological Problems of Lemkos at the Western
Lands" (Problemy Socjologiczne Lemkow na Ziemiach Zachodnich),
Kultura i Spoleczenstwo, Vol. X, #3, July-September 1966. p. 91.

December 7, 1970

Dr. John Hvosda, President
Organization for Defense of Lemkivshchyna
P. O. Box 202
Camillus, New York 13031

Dear Doctor Hvosda:
Please excuse my delay in responding to your recent letter regarding your interest in presenting Secretary of State Rogers with your petition in behalf of the Ukrainian people living in Poland.
I have written the enclosed letter to the Secretary. When I have his response I will contact you again. Please be assured of my interest and my desire to be of assistance.
With best wishes, I remain

Sincerely yours,

JMH:asl James M. Hanley
Enclosure Member of Congress

DECEMBER 29, 1970

Honorable James M. Hanley
House of Representatives
Washington, D. C. 20515

Dear Congressman Hanley:

The Secretary has asked me to reply to your letter of December 7 concerning the views of Dr. John Hvosda on the situation of the Ukrainian minority residing in Poland.
The United States Government was not a party to the Polish-Soviet treaty which established the eastern border of Poland or to the recent treaty between Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany concerning the western border of Poland. The United States Government did at Yalta and Potsdam agree to the placing of the Western Territories under Polish administration, to the transfer to the Soviet Union of the territory east of the present Polish-Soviet border, and to the transfer of the German population from the Western Territories. The United States Government did not, however, have any connection with internal transfers of population within he new borders of Poland.

We have every sympathy with persons who are victims of violations of human rights wherever such violations may occur. We are not in a position to undertake to corroborate the complaints of Dr. Hvosda. In these circumstances, it would not be appropriate for the United States to transmit these complaints to the United Nations through its representatives on the Economic and Social Council. It is open to Dr. Hvosda, of course, to transmit his views and his petition directly to that body.
The Secretary's schedule will not permit him to receive Dr. Hvosda personally. However, if Dr. Hvosda still wishes an appointment with an officer of the Department, the Director for Relations with Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland will be glad to receive him at a mutually convenient time. Dr. Hvosda may arrange such an appointment by calling (202) 632- 2673 in Washington. Hope the foregoing comments will be helpful to you in replying to your constituent.

Sincerely yours,

David M. Abshire
Enclosure: Assistant Secretary for
Correspondence Returned. Congressional Relations

TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

As concerned citizens of this nation, we petition you to present our request to the General Assembly of the United Nations (in particular, its Commission on Human Rights) for consideration and implementation.
We stand together in our affirmation that the time is now to restore justice to some 1,000,000 Ukrainians of Lemkivshchyna. Nadsiannia and Kholmshchyna (Westernmost Ukraine), against whom the Government of the Polish People's Republic has committed an act of genocide: between 1945 and 1948 burning their houses, churches, schools, etc.. indiscriminatingly slaughtering them. The Ukrainians that survived were exiled to the Baltic regions (which Poland obtained from the Germans) and resettled largely among the Polish population when, a climate of terror has been maintained for the purpose of further destroying these human beings, as a national, ethnical and religious group.
We wish to see the year 1970 -- the 25th Anniversary of the United Nations - as the year of an end of genocide and the beginning of justice for the Ukrainian people who for 25 years have been in the Polish exile, contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (specifically. Arts. 5, 9, 13, 15, 17, 18), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Arts. 12/1/, 18/1/ and 27). We request immediate establishment of an UN Special Committee to affect the release of the Ukrainian People from the Polish banishment, and to help them, with just compensation, to settle in their native lands, which up to this day have been laying vacant. This, we believe, would be, for mankind, the most meaningful way to commemorate the UN's 25th Anniversary.

NAME

SIGNATURE City COUNTRY

SO 215/1 POLAND 30 December 1970

Dear Sir,
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of 27 November 1970, addressed to the Commission on Human Rights.
I wish to inform you that your communication will be dealt with under the relevant resolutions of the Economic and Social Council, copies of which are enclosed for your information.

Yours sincerely,

G. N. Ceccatto
Chief
Communications Unit
Division of Human Rights

Organization for Defense
of Lemkivshchyna
P. O. Box 202
Camillus, N. Y. 13031

January 9, 1971
Dr. John Hvosda, President
Organization for Defense of
Lemkivshchyna
P. O. Box 202
Camillus, New York 13031

Dear Dr. Hvosda:

Reference is made to our recent correspondence regarding your interest in presenting a petition on Secretary of State Rogers. I am enclosing for your consideration the Department's response to my inquiry in your behalf. I will be pleased to follow up on the matter in any way you wish.
If I can be of further assistance, please let me know.
With best wishes, I remain

Sincerely yours,
Enclosure James M. Hanley
JMH:jdc Member of Congress

March 18, 1971

Mr. John Hvosda
President, Organizations for
Defense of Lemkivshchyna
P. O. Box 202
Camillus, New York 13031

Dear Mr. Hvosda:
I wish to refer to your visit with me on February 3 and to the letter and petitions you left with me for transmission on the Secretary of State.
I have pursued both with our United Nations experts and our Embassy in Warsaw the questions raised by you during your call on me February 3.
At present, I can pass on the following advice:
In the near future, our Embassy will make an inquiry as to what the policy of the Polish Government is on the question you raised, stating that United States citizens with relatives affected by this policy have requested this information of us and we will like to inform them accurately. I will inform you regarding the results of this inquiry.
With regard to determining for yourselves the welfare of relatives in Poland, our Embassy believes that there should be no problem for individual American citizens who have no record of activity against the current government in Poland, making trips to Poland to visit their relatives. They advise, however, against an effort by such persons to make a wider survey.
The Embassy tends to support my advice to you that persons from your organization intending to make a wider survey of conditions with a view to instituting channels for some organized assistance, should make this intention clear at the time of application for a visa. We feel it would be unwise to attempt such a survey in another way. One must recognize that there is no guarantee the Polish Government will issue a visa to persons with this purpose, particularly if the eventual assistance is seen as an effort to facilitate resettlement.
I shall have to write you in April regarding the United Nations aspect of the matter. Our best expert on this type of problem is out of the country and will return at the end of the month. Hopefully 1 can give you, in my April letter, the results of our Embassy's inquiry in Warsaw.

Yours sincerely,
John A. Baker, Jr.
Country Director
for Czechoslovakia,
Hungary and Poland

April 19, 1971
Mr. John Hvosda
President, Organization for
Defense of Lemkivshchyna
P. O. Box 202
Camillus, New York, 13031

Dear Mr. Hvosda:

I can now report further on the two matters mentioned in the penultimate paragraph of my letter to you of March 18.
Regarding the question of resettlement, a Polish official has indicated in a preliminary way that there are now no official barriers to resettlement of individual Lemkos in southeastern Poland. He did note that other Poles now hold properties formerly owned by Lemkos and they could not be moved away. His remarks, therefore, did not seem to preclude the possibility of repurchase by Lemkos of their original properties. Whether or not local authorities will facilitate such transactions is, of course, difficult to say.
It is possible that the problem may now be of reduced concern as a matter of official policy because of the fact that Polish government officials do not believe the number of Lemkos now residing in Poland to be very high. Official estimates as well as those of one unofficial source familiar with the problem are considerably lower than those you gave to us. These estimates, if accurate, would, of course, have a bearing on the amount of interest there might be in focusing international attention on the Lemkos as a minority.
With respect to that problem, we have now been able to consult the Department of State's most knowledgeable experts on the UN Commission for Human Rights. These note that the Human Rights Commission meets only once a year, in February, and that it would therefore not be possible to bring this matter to the attention of that Commission before 1972. Additionally, we would not now have proper grounds to raise the issue in the Commission, because it is not clear from the information we have that the Lemkos are unable to obtain redress of their grievances through normal Polish administrative and judicial channels.
The Polish official referred to earlier in this letter has undertaken to do what he could to find out more about the situation of the Lemkos in Poland.
However, unless we receive more information which confirms the existence of arbitrary discrimination against the Lemkos for which they are unable to obtain redress, we would not be able to make a case on their behalf before the Commission.
Should members of your organization who travel to Poland wish to consult our Embassy in Warsaw on this matter, I would suggest they ask there for Mr. N. Andrews, First Secretary, or Mr. D. Boster, Counselor.

Sincerely yours,
John A. Baker, Jr.
Director for Relations
with Czechoslovakia,
Hungary and Poland

President Richard M. Nixon
The White House
Washington, D. C. 2000

Dear Mr. President:
Relative to your forthcoming trip to Moscow where you shall meet face to face with Communist rulers, we Lemkos in America representing several hundred thousand citizens, both native and naturalized, believe an opportunity may reveal itself to review the injustices perpetrated against our brother Lemkos in Communist Poland.
Our fatherland is Lemkovshchina, situated in Western Galicia, a territory formerly under Austro-Hungarian rule, but since World War II, it is within the boundaries of Poland. The peoples of Lemkovshchina are known as Lemkos.
During May 1947, the Polish Communist government forcibly expelled several hundred thousand Lemkos from their Lemkovshchina homeland inhabited by them for centuries. Threatened with bayonets of the Polish Communist militia, the Lemkos were expelled en masse on cattle trains from their ethnic homesteads to unfertile territories appropriated from Germany.
Thusly, the Lemkos were stripped of their homes and possessions accumulated by them over the centuries without compensation therefor.
In order to better understanding the misery, injustice and grief of these Lemkos, we cite a verbatim excerpt from the work of I. F. Lemkin, a contemporary Lemko historian, translated from the original:
"The terrible night came upon Lemkovshchina. With that night nothing could be compared in the history of mankind, neither the Night of St. Bartholomew, nor the Night of Huguenots. That night might be compared only with the Last Judgment. People fell into despair. Some showed signs of insanity; some struck their heads against the walls; some fainted. This terrible scene that lasted until morning no pen could describe. For what do Poles punish us so bitterly when we were faithful to Poland like dogs? Thusly do they remunerate us that our sons fought and died for democratic Poland. "
As an answer to the cry of our European brothers, Lemkos in America have organized the "World Lemko Federation", its President is Dr. John Hwozda of Camillus, New York. As one of the participating organizations in the Federation, the undersigned publish a Lemko newspaper, Lemkovina, Stephen Kitchura is its editor and Teodor Dokla is co-editor. The publication's motto is "God, America, Lemkos, Lemkovina." The aim the Lemkovina newspaper is to deter and offset attempts of Communist propaganda and influence from abroad or domestically among Lemkos residing in the United States. Its further aim is to build and strengthen Americanism based upon principles of freedom, justice and dignity of man.
We know, Mr. President, your difficulties in dealing with ruthless Communism in Vietnam and at the Paris Conference Table. We know the consequences of atheistic Communism throughout the world.
We do not seek vengeance for the injustices and atrocities committed against our brother Lemkos in Communist Poland. But we seek rectification of such injustices, that is, permission for the free return of all Lemkos to their homeland -- those who desire -- and indemnification by the Polish Government to all Lemkos for their sustained loses. Heretofore, we felt that such an international crime should have been heard and should have aroused indignity in all corners of the free world. Since seemingly such atrocities go unrectified, the Lemko organizations lodged a formal complaint with our State Department and the United Nations two years ago.
Therefore, the undersigned editors of Lemkovina, on behalf of hundreds of thousands of American citizens of Lemko extraction, both native and naturalized, beg you, Mr. President, as the Protector of freedom and justice in the world, to intervene in Lemko's behalf.

Respectfully yours,
Lemkovina
Rt. Rev. Mitrate Damian
Krehel
Correspondent
Stephen M Kitchura, Editor
Theodore Dokla, Co-editor.

August 3, 1971

Dr. John Hvosda, LL. D
President, ODL
P. O. Box 202
Camillius, New York 13031

Dear Dr. Hvosda:

I am pleased to inform you that your letter was submitted to the Honorable Albert Brunois of France, the Secretary of the World Peace Through Law Conference, and same admitted. Also, I wish to say that Hen. Edward Hambro, President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, suggested that this matter be presented to the United Nations. A few of the judges thought the matter should be submitted to the World Court at Hague.
My resolution pertaining to the issues was approved by the resolution committee and Section I, without a dissenting vote. Due to the large number of resolutions from the three sections the resolution was incorporated within the final plenary session. I am enclosing copy of the resolution, together, with paper I submitted on International Peace.
With every good wish.

Yours, truly,

JOHN S. GONAS

JSG:lh
enclosures (2)

CC: Mr. Zenon Snylyk, Editor
The Ukrainian Weekly
81-83 Grand Street
Jersey City, N. J. 07303

MEMORANDUM
World Federation of Lemkos
P. O. Box 202
Camillus, N. Y. 13031
U. S. A.

President
Conference on World Peace Through law
Belgrade, Yugoslavia

Dear Mr. President:

The Polish People's Republic out of the war-political motives, by means of military force, had forcefully* banished approximately half a million of Lemkos ( and about as many of other Ukrainians), and has for almost twenty-five years deprived them of the full citizenship rights, including to return to their native land -- Lemkivshchyna in the northwestern Carpathian mountains. These people have been scattered throughout the north-western part of Poland (largely throughout the lands this country acquired as a result of the Second World War). The Polish Academy of Sciences claims that the "...Action 'W' /the code-name for the Polish military deportation campaign aimed at the Lemkos, and other Ukrainians, 1947-1948/ embraced persons suspected of collaboration with the Ukrainian Nationalist bands."** Thus, on merely a suspicion the government of the Polish People's Republic has kept in exile a compact national minority, which is violating both the international law, and the law of Poland.
The attitude of the Polish People's Republic toward the Lemkos in exile (and other Ukrainians) is clearly contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well of the Polish Constitution, especially articles: 59 Sec. 3, 61 Sec. 1, 62 Sec. 1 & 2, 69, 70, 71 Sec. 1, 72 Sec. I and 74.
Article 74 of the Constitution of the Polish People's Republic emphasizes that "A citizen may be deprived of his freedom only in cases determined by law. A detained person must be set free unless, within forty
eight hours from the moment of his detention a warrant for arrest has been served on him" (Sec. 1).
According to the statement of the Polish Academy of Sciences (above cited), the deportation -- detention of the Lemko minority in Poland was effectuated in 1947-1948. Thus, this minority has been in detention for 25 years without proper court or public prosecutor authorization. Therefore, the Lemkos, and other Ukrainians, should be freed, and their property -- lands, schools, churches, etc., should be returned to them. Especially, since the Polish Constitution specifies that "Property may be seized only in cases determined by law on the ground of final judgment" (Art. 74, Sec. 3). The detention of the Polish citizens of the non-Polish nationality in the Polish People's Republic is also illegal on the ground that it prevents them from enjoying equal "...rights in all spheres of public, political, economic, social and cultural life. Infringement of this...is punishable by law" (Art. 69, Sec. I). Moreover, the detention of the Lemko minority contributes to the spreading of "humiliation of man on account of national, racial or religious differences...," which is forbidden by the Polish Constitution. Finally, the detention of the Lemkos by the government of the Polish People's Republic violates the pledge of"...the Polish nation and all organs of Government of the Polish working people...," who promised in their own Constitution that they "...shall be guided in order:... to strengthen friendship and co-operation between nations, based on the alliance and brotherhood which links today the Polish nation with the peace-loving nations of the world for the attainment of their common aim: to make aggression impossible and to consolidate world peace" (the Preamble of the Constitution).
The Lemkos in the Polish People's Republic are facing an extermination, as a national and religious group. Therefore, we, the citizens of Canada and the United States of America, as well as for the countries throughout the world, who by birth or descent are from that particular area (Lemkivshchyna), which at present time is under Poland, hereby petition you to make an appropriate intercessions with the Polish Government, to have it halt its genocidal practices and policies, aimed against our kinsmen in Poland.
Specifically, we demand that the Polish Government:
1. Allows the Lemko people in Poland to return to their native cities, towns and villages, out of which they were forcibly and unlawfully removed.
2. Allows the Lemko to settle down in any part of the Polish People's Republic, according to their own choosing.
3. Restores to the Lemkos, as well as to all other Ukrainians in Poland, their confiscated property (including their cultural and religious objects), as individuals, or as groups. (Where this is impossible, they should be properly compensated for the sustained losses.)
4. Restores to the Lemkos in Poland the right to have their own church hierarchy, as well as to worship in their churches, according to their rite and liturgy.
5. Allows the Lemkos the right to teach their children the native language in the schools they have to attend, as well as to have their own schools and cultural centers.
6. Grants al of the rights and privileges the Polish Constitution bestows upon its all citizens, so that Lemkos in Poland may live their life as full citizens of the Polish state, and as the minority, may cultivate their long and beautiful cultural traditions
7. Recognizes the autonomous rights of the Ukrainian minority in Poland at least as much as these are recognized in the appropriate cases by the Soviet Union, as well as other socialist countries.
We further petition you that you do everything possible along the line of including the question of the Lemkos in Poland, and that of all other Ukrainians in Poland, on the earliest agenda of the Commission of Human Rights, and all other appropriate international agencies. Also, we would appreciate very much your helping the World Federation of Lemkos (of which the Organization for Defense of Lemkivshchyna is a constituent part) to be included on the list of the Non-Governmental Organizations of the United Nations for possible consultations.

For the World Federation of Lemkos:

Dr. John Hvozda
Stephen M. Kitchura
Nicholas Duplak
Teodor Dokla
Julian Kotlar
John Czerhoniak, Jr.

*Andrzej Kwilecki, "Problemy Socjologiczne Lemkow na Ziemiach Zachodnich" (Sociological Problems of Lemkos at the Western Territories), Kultura i Spoleczenstwo, Vol. X #3, July-September, 1966, p. 91.
** Edward Strzelecki (Ed.), Ludnosc Polski Wspolczesnej /Population of the Contemporary Poland/, Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Warszawa 1967, p. 82.

August 28, 1972

Rt. Rev. Damian Krehel
16 Skyline Drive
R. D. 2
Martinsville, New Jersey 08836

Dear Reverend Krehel:

Because Mr. Davies is absent from Washington for the next two weeks, I have been asked to reply to your letter of August 17 concerning the question of forcible expulsion of Lemkos from their traditional homes in Poland.
Some time ago, a Polish official in Warsaw, in response to an inquiry on this matter, stated that, regarding the question of resettlement, there are no official barriers to resettlement of individual Lemkos in Southeastern Poland. The Polish official noted, however, that other Poles now hold properties formerly owned by Lemkos and they cannot, of course, be moved away. These remarks, although informal in nature, did not seem to preclude the possibility of re-purchase by Lemkos of their original properties.
Whether or not the local authorities would cooperate by facilitating such transactions is impossible to say.
Polish Government officials apparently do not believe the number of Lemkos still residing in Poland is very significant. It may be therefore that the problem is one of reduced concern as a matter of official policy.
Our careful review of this matter in connection with your letter of April 5 to the President has led us to the conclusion that we have little leverage with regard to the opportunities of movement within Poland by Lemkos who reside in Poland and who are Polish citizens. However, we are quite prepared to offer advice to and make inquiries on behalf of American citizens of Lemko origin who are seeking means, within the existing possibilities, of contributing to the welfare of their relatives in Poland.

Sincerely,
John A Baker, Jr.
Director
Office of Eastern European Affairs

Hen. Witold Trampczynski
Ambassador of Polish People's Republic
Polish Embassy
2640 -- 16th St. NW,
Washington, D. C. 20009

Dear Ambassador Trampczynski:

The main purpose of this organization is to provide a relief to all of the Ukrainians of Lemko origin, regardless of the country in which they live, and to furnish them with any assistance they may need in order to be able to cultivate their cultural, and, therefore, national identity. This should enable them to make an important contribution to the common culture of the country of which they are citizens, which, in turn, should make them proud of belonging to it.
Among other countries, Poland is one in which Ukrainian Lemkos, especially since World War II, have found themselves in a position which has been of our great concern, which adds even more frustration to the already precarious historical experiences of the two great nations, the Poles and the Ukrainians, in their mutual relationships.
According to our view, the geographical reality has made the two nations live side by side, but it is up to the people, especially to the modern generations, to make the relationship between these two nations mutually beneficial, happy and productive.
As it might be known to you, this organization has taken initial steps in behalf of our brothers and sisters in Poland, by contacting, among others, the proper authorities of the governments of the United States, Canada, the United Nations, and others, with the view of exploring the possibilities for initiating a proper action. We have also held a conference in regard to this subject with a representative of the Polish Mission to the United Nations (Mr. Maciej Lubik, II Secretary of the Polish People's Republic to the U. N.), who, as a matter of fact, encouraged us to write to you this communication. Before this organization makes the next move, it thought it would be more beneficial to all concern to contact first the representation of the Polish People's Republic in this country, hoping that it shares with us the concern for the kind of relationships that have developed between our two nations, as the result of the situation in which the Ukrainian minority in Poland, but especially the Ukrainian Lemkos, has found itself, particularly since 1947. We are concerned about a possibility that, unless the both sides take an immediate action, the historical chasm between our two nations may become wider. On the other hand, a dialogue between the representatives of this organization and the representatives of the Polish government could well prove to be an important starting point on the way of possible improved, therefore mutually beneficial, relationship between our two great peoples.
We would like to request, Mr. Ambassador, an appointment with you, or your representative, at the time most convenient to you. Our representatives would be glad to come to Washington.
We would like to suggest the following agenda items:
1. Establishing an on-going contact with the representative of the Polish government in regard to the situation of the Ukrainian minority in Poland, especially the Ukrainians of Lemko origin.
2. Aiding and assisting the Ukrainian Lemkos in Poland, in full harmony with the authorities of the Polish government.
3. Cultural, religious and educational relationship between the Lemkos abroad and those in Poland.
4. Making it possible for the Ukrainian Lemkos to return, if they so desire, from the areas of Poland to which they had been deported in 1947, back to their native land, the south-eastern part of Poland -- Lemkivshchyna.
The above items are to be treated merely as suggestions, for mutual convenience.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. I Hvozda J. Kotlar
President Secretary

10 September, 1974

World Lemkos' Federation
P. O. Box 202
Camillus, N. Y. 13031, U. S. A.
and
Boykiwshchyna Association
2222 Brandywine St.
Philadelphia, Pa. 19130, U. S. A.
Honorable Kurt Waldheim
Secretary-General
United Nations, New York 10017

Dear Secretary-General:

The nations of the world will be commemorating the 30th anniversary of the United Nations, an organization of which an important part of its goals has been dedicated to the realization of human rights, proclaimed in the Charter (Preamble and Articles 1, 13, 55, 56, 62, 76) and some 34 International Instruments of the United Nations.
During the time of its existence, the United Nations has served as a forum where many-sided problems of human rights have been considered of many nations, or their groups or individuals, of the world. However, contrary to the above mentioned documents of the United Nations, no action has been taken in regard to the violations by the governments of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Polish People's Republic of the United Nations Charter, and its International Instruments, complained about, or reported to the United Nations and/or its organs concerned with human rights, by the Ukrainian organizations and/or the individuals, the members of the Ukrainian nation, one of the several largest nations of Europe.
We, the citizens of the United States of America, are extremely disturbed by the lack of concern on the part of the United Nations, but especially by the U. N. organs concerned with human rights, with the patent violations of human rights of the members of the Ukrainian nation in Ukraine by the government of the Soviet Union, and, indeed, with the genocidal policies designed by the USSR and Poland, and applied by the Polish government against the Ukrainian minority in Poland, -- the peoples of the regions of Lemkivshchyna and Boykivshchyna, Nadsyannya, Kholmshchyna and Pidlyasha.
By the end of the Second World War, contrary to the international law, including the Charter of the United Nations in which the right of self-determination of people" is proclaimed (Article 1,2), a historical Ukrainian territory of 12,000 sq. kms, with the population of over one million of Ukrainians, was arbitrarily, and illegally, severed from Ukraine and attached to the territory of the Polish state. At the same time, it was decided by the Soviet-Polish agreements (9 September, 1944, 21 April, 1945 and 16 August, 1945) that the Ukrainian population, living here from the time immemorial in some 700 communities, will be deported to the USSR, exchanging it for the Polish population which was to be sent from the Soviet Union to Poland. According to a Soviet source, some 482,880 Ukrainians were deported to the USSR from the Ukrainian territories in Poland. Most of the Ukrainians who survived the deportation, as a punishment for refusing to abandon their native land, were banished by means of Polish armed forces into exile in 1947-1948 to the territories in the northern and western parts of Poland, which were formerly owned by Germany. More than 400,000 Ukrainians have been forced to live for 27 years in exile, thinly
spread (on average about 3 Ukrainian families per a Polish community) throughout the Polish compact settlements for the purpose of destroying them as a national, religious, cultural, and biological group.
The Ukrainians, as a compact group, are in fact deprived of the Polish full citizenship rights, because all of what they owned in their native lands have been confiscated by the state, they are not entitled legally to it, nor are the conditions in Poland created by the Polish authorities such that would
encourage the Ukrainian to return to their native land.
In the process of deporting of the Ukrainians into the USSR, and subsequently exiling by the Polish authorities of those Ukrainians who were left behind, many Ukrainians were murdered. Some 200 Ukrainian villages which were close to the Polish-Soviet border, were destroyed, as were ruined some 250 Ukrainian churches, which are artistically irreplaceable. The rest of the wooden churches in that Carpathian mountain region have succumbed to the elements, since the Polish government refused to provide for their repair and maintenance. Some 500 of the former Ukrainian villages have been settled by the Polish settlers, encouraged and financially subsidized by the Polish governmental authorities.
Many monumental articles of the church and folk art of the Ukrainian people in Poland have been destroyed, carried away by the thieves and/or private collectors, and confiscated by the state and placed into the newly created museums in Sanok and Nowy Sacz, where they are being presented to the tourists as the samples of the Polish artistic creativity.

The position of the Polish People's Republic toward the Ukrainians in Poland is clearly in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as it:
1. FAILED to "act towards" Ukrainians "in a spirit of brotherhood"
2. DENIED the Ukrainian minority in Poland "all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such
as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national
or social origin, property..." (Art. 2),
3. VIOLATED "the right to life, liberty and the security of person" of the Ukrainian minority in Poland (Art. 3),
4. SUBJECTED the Ukrainian minority to torture or to cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment" (Art. 4),
5. HAS HELD the Ukrainians in Poland in servitude (Art. 4),
6. DENIED the Ukrainians in Poland "the right to recognition... as a person before the law" (Art. 6),
7. DENIED the Ukrainians in Poland the equality before the law and denied them the equal protection of the law. It has incited the Polish masses to such discrimination against the Ukrainian minority (Art. 7),
8. SUBJECTED the Ukrainians in Poland "to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile" (Art. 9),
9. DENIED the Ukrainian minority the "full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal," to determine their "rights and obligation and of any criminal charge against.../them/, which resulted in their exile (Art. 10),
10. DENIED the Ukrainian minority "the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which..." they should had had "all the guarantees necessary for.../their/ defense."
11. HELD guilty the Ukrainian minority of "penal offense on account of.../an/...act of omission which did not constitute a penal offense, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed"(Art. 11),
12. DENIED the Ukrainian minority "the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of..." the Polish State(Art. 13),
13. HAS BEEN DENYING the Ukrainian minority "the right to the
Ukrainian nationality, as it has arbitrarily deprived the Ukrainians of their nationality or denied the right to change their nationality (Art. 15),
14. ARBITRARILY DEPRIVED the Ukrainian minority of its property (Art. 17),
15. DENIED the Ukrainian minority "the right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion..." including "freedom, either alone or in community
with others and in public or private, to manifest.../ its/...religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance" (Art. 18),
16. DENIED the Ukrainians the right to take part in the government of Poland, directly or through freely chosen representatives as a compact national group (Art. 21),
17. HAS PREVENTED the Ukrainian minority from realization "of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for.../its/..." dignity and the free development (Art. 22),
18. HAS DENIED the Ukrainian minority "the right to education.../,/...directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms...i promoting/ ...understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups... Has been denying parents...a prior right to choose the kind of education that.../they wished to/...be given to their children" (Art. 26),
19. DENIED the Ukrainian minority the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community "and the right to the protection of the moral and material interest resulting from...scientific, literary or artistic production of which..." the Ukrainians have been the creators (Art. 27),
20. DENIED the Ukrainian minority "a social... order in which the
rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized"(Art.28).
The government of the Polish People's Republic having been committed for the past twenty-seven years to the destruction, in whole or in part, of the national, ethnical, racial or religious /Ukrainian/ group, has committed the following punishable acts: a. Genocide, b. Conspiracy to commit genocide, c. Direct and public incitement to commit genocide, d. Attempt to commit genocide, e. Complicity in genocide (Art. 111, Genocide Convention).
As the citizens of the United States of America, a country which has been carrying the largest financial burden of the United Nations, we feel that we have legal rights, as well as a moral obligation, to demand an immediate action on the part of the proper authorities of the United Nations along the line of securing the compliance of the Polish government with the provisions of the U. N. Charter, and the International Instruments of the United Nations, allowing the Ukrainian minority in Poland to avail itself of the benefits of human rights to the fullest possible extent.
Specifically, we petition the United Nations organs concerned with Human Rights to present the government of the Polish People's Republic with the following demands:
1. TO ALLOW all of the Ukrainians in Poland, according to their wishes, to return to their native land, from which they were forcibly and unlawfully removed.
2. TO ALLOW the Ukrainians in Poland to settle down in any part of the Republic, including in their native regions, according to their own choosing.
3. TO RESTORE to the Ukrainians in Poland their confiscated property, as individuals, or as groups. Where this is impossible, the government should adequately compensate the former owners of the property for the sustained losses.
4. TO RESTORE to the Ukrainians in Poland the right to their own church and the church hierarchy, as well as to worship in their churches according to their rite and liturgy.
5. TO ALLOW the Ukrainians the right to teach their children Ukrainian in the schools of all levels, and to freely participate in their national high cultural and social activities.
6. TO GRANT all of the rights and privileges the Polish Constitution bestows upon its citizens to the Ukrainian minority in Poland, so that it may freely participate in the political process of the country.
We request that a special commission be created by the proper U. N. organs concerned with human rights to deal with the question of the Ukrainian minority in Poland. The petitioners are ready to assist the U. N. authorities in regard to this petition in any way possible upon request.

John Hvosda, LL. D., President Myron Utrysko, President
World Lemkos' Federation Boykiwshchyna Association

Warsaw, Poland
March 10, 1975
The Honorable John S. Gonas
417418 I. O. O. F. Bldg.
South Bend, Indiana 46601

Dear Judge Gonas:

Please accept my apology for the delay in responding to your most recent inquiry. Since my letter to you of September 9, 1974, I have raised the subject of your request on two occasions with officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here in Warsaw. I have been told, in each instance, that y our request is under consideration, but that they are not yet in position to provide a specific reply. In view of the apparent Polish reluctance to respond on this matter, it would be helpful if you could let me have a few more details concerning the specific nature of the petition you intend to deliver and whether you or officers of the Lemko Federation would be coming to Warsaw for the purpose of presenting your case. In the meantime, I will continue to remind the Polish officials of their promise to give us an answer to your request.

Sincerely yours,

John R. Davis, Jr.
Minister-Counselor

cc:Mr. Brainard, State Department
Warsaw, Poland

March 27, 1975
The Honorable
Birch Bayh
United States Senate
Washington, D. C. 20510

Dear senator Bayh:

Assistant Secretary McCloskey has asked me to write you concerning the interest of your constituent, Judge John S. Gonas of South Bend, in petitioning the Government of Poland to arrange a meeting between the American Federation of Lemkos and Ukrainians and the Polish Minister of Agriculture. I am enclosing a copy of the Embassy's most recent letter to Judge Gonas on the subject, in which we report on our effort to obtain a response from the Polish government to his request. As you will see, we have asked Judge Gonas to provide us with additional details concerning the proposed time and place of such a meeting. We shall continue to press the Polish Government for a response on this matter and will advise you promptly when one has been received.
If I can be of further service in this or any other matter, please do not hesitate to call on me.

Sincerely,
R.T. Davies
Ambassador

Enclosure:
Copy of letter to Judge Gonas,
March 10, 1975

April 7, 1975
Dr. John Hvosda
111 Fireside Lane
Camillus, New York, 13031

Dear Dr. Hvosda:

I hand you a copy of a letter which I received from the United States Embassy in Warsaw, Poland.
Will you kindly give me the necessary information.
With kindest regards,

Yours truly,

JOHN S. GONAS

JBG: ja

April 15, 1975

Dr. John Hvosda
111 Fireside Lane
Camillus, New York, 13031

Dear Dr. Hvosda:

I hand you a copy of the petition which is filed with the Polish Administration of Agriculture, and also a copy of the letter by the Ambassador to Senator Bayh.
I doubt if we can get permission to meet with the Poles in the latter part of May or near future.
I will try calling you on Saturday, April 19, at 10:00 your time.
Kindest regards.

Yours truly,
JOHN S. GONAS

JSG:bq

December 27, 1976

Dr. John Hvosda
111 Fireside Lane
Cammillus, New York 13031

Dear Dr. Hvosda:

Judge Gonas has just called from Florida, and he asked me to inform you that you have a meeting with the Polish Embassy on January 17 at 11 a.m.
Please arrange to have the conference there.
Judge Gonas will call you later by telephone.

Yours truly,

JOHN S. GONAS
Kathryn L. Hartley

JSG: klh

29 December, 1976
Hen. William F. Walsh, U. S. Congressman
206 Cannon House Office Bldg.
Washington, D. C. 20515

Dear Congressman Walsh:

I have been just informed that on 17 January, 1977 1 have an appointment with the Polish Embassy in Washington. This appointment is made by Senator Birch Bayh through Mr. Kempton B. Jenkins, Acting Assistant Sec. for Congressional Relations, and Judge John S. Gonas, our Legal Counselor, Indiana.
This Organization (World Lemkos Federation) has attempted for many years to obtain such an appointment with Polish authorities in order to develop a channel through which we could communicate with the Polish government concerning the long-standing violations of human rights of the Ukrainian minority in Poland.
I will be heading the delegation which will visit the Polish Embassy at 11:00 a. m. Either prior to this time, or after, we would like to have an appointment with the Head of Polish Desk at the Department of State (on 17 January, 1977), or a comparable official. I would appreciate it very much if you could arrange for us such an appointment.

Sincerely yours,

John Hvozda, LL. D.
President

January 4, 1977
Dr. John Hvozda, LL. D.
President
World Lemkos Federation
P. O. Box 202
Camillus, New York 13031

Dear Dr. Hvozda:

This will have reference to your letter of December 29 relative to your meeting in Washington on January 17 with the Polish Embassy.
I have been able to arrange the appointment you desire with the Polish Desk at the State Department. You are to go to the Diplomatic Entrance (on C Street) of the State Department and ask to see Mr. Thompson in 5223. I advised him that you will be there between 1:00 and 2:00 in the afternoon of the 17th.
I was pleased to make this arrangement for you, and hope that the meetings will be fruitful. Please let me know if there is any other way that I
can be helpful to your organization.
With kind regards, I am

Sincerely,
William F. Walsh
Member of Congress

WFW:th

17 January, 1977
World Lemkos Federation
P. O. Box 202
Camillus, N. Y. 13031
U. S. A.
Embassy of the Polish People's Republic
2640 -- 16th St. NW
Washington, D. C. 20009

MEMORANDUM

The delegation of the World Lemkos Federation is pleased to have an opportunity to present its position to the representatives of the Government of Poland concerning the situation of the Ukrainian national minority in Poland.
This delegation is thankful to Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana and Mr. Kempton B. Jenkins, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations, who have arranged this meeting with the Polish Embassy.
The main purpose of this organization is to provide a relief to all Ukrainians of the Lemko origin, regardless of the country in which they live, and to furnish them with any assistance they may need in order to be able to cultivate their cultural, and, therefore, national identity, in order to make an important contribution to the culture of the country of which they are citizens, and to the cultural treasury of the world.
According to the VII Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the United Workers' Party (KC PZPR), July, 1956, "the Party must with a doubled effort defeat all kinds of manifestations of (Polish) nationalism and discrimination towards the citizens of the non-Polish nationality, to guarantee them a true equality in all aspects of life, it must ascertain the compensation for all wrongs which in this field can be redressed, in order that the national minorities can be convinced that the policy of the Party is just and correct, that it could regain the trust of the national minorities."
The VI Congress of the PZPR stressed that "Among all of the national minorities, the most neglected are the Ukrainians (in Poland), in so far as the possibilities for their cultivating of their culture are concerned. Especially, it is denied an opportunity to utilize its native language and the national traditions."
After the VIII Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Poland, Apr. 1957, the Central Committee issued a position in regard to the Ukrainian minority in Poland, which, among other matters, was supposed to regulate the individual and group re-emigration of the Ukrainians back to the regions of Lublin Rzeszow and Krakow, from which they were deported in 1947 to the territories formerly controlled by the Germans, the Northwest.
Twenty years ago the Polish Communist Party correctly identified at least four basic problems of the Polish national minority policy:
1. There are the national minorities in Poland, and among them the Ukrainian national minority.
2. The Ukrainian national minority in Poland has been discriminated against, mared.
3. There is the need to compensate the Ukrainian national minority in Poland for the injuries (physical, economic, socio-cultural, political) inflicted upon it by the Polish authorities.
4. There is a need to struggle with the Polish chauvinism and discrimination against the citizens of the non-Polish nationality, especially against the Ukrainian minority.
The Ukrainians in Poland are the autochthonous people, for centuries living on the eastern and southeastern territories of the country of the present Polish state. They have ethnically constituted an integral part of the Ukrainian nation. These facts cannot be changed by the contemptible decree of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the Polish People's Republic, 17 April, 1947, and the order of the Chief Commander of the Polish Armed Forces, concerning the execution of the special deportation action "Wisla," ("W"), deporting over 300.000 of Ukrainians from their native Ukrainian territories.
Although that action deprived the Ukrainian minority in Poland of its human and civil rights, it did not deprive it of the Ukrainian nationality, or, for that matter, of the Polish citizenship. According to the Polish Constitution, Art. 69, citizens of the PRL regardless of their nationality, race and religion have equal rights in all aspects of life, state, political, economic, social, cultural. Violation of these rights directly or indirectly, or limiting them, by anyone on the basis of nationality, race or religion is violating the law (this Constitution).
The "W" deportation action embraced the whole Ukrainian population in Poland, including Lemkos, Boykos, Dolinians and Szlachtowski Rusyns. It included the communists, members of UB (Department of Security), veterans. The deportees were to be resettled within a specific distance from the borders (20 km. from land, sea and district city borders. Also, about as many kilometers from the borders of a district), not allowing them to constitute more than 10% of the total population of a locale. It was a barbaric ten-month pacification organized and executed by the chauvinistic elements, patterned according to the method used by the nazis.
Ukrainians have been always oppressed in Poland, humiliated, exploited and mared. The historical persecution and exploitation of the Ukrainians in Poland has contributed to a mass exodus of the Ukrainians to the American continent.
We, the Ukrainians in America, as the descendants of those millions of the persecuted Ukrainians in Poland, have a special feeling for, and the knowledge of, the meaning and the results of the Polish persecutions. We will never consent to the present discriminatory status quo of our brothers and sisters in Poland. and will do everything possible in our power to help them in their resistance to the genocidal policies, practiced against them by the Polish People's Republic.
The following is the list of the complaints which the leaders of the Ukrainian national minority in Poland have been attempting for the past thirty years to bring to the attention of the Polish Government, by writing it hundreds of petitions, and to which they have not received any meaningful response:
1. From 1930-1956 175 Ukrainian churches in Poland have been destroyed. In September, 1956, the Communist Party for the Rzeszow region published an order to stop the demolitions of the Ukrainian churches. Between 1947-1965 even more Ukrainian churches were destroyed. Many more churches were "remodeled" for a "new type of use."
2. There are c. 500.000 Ukrainians in Poland who need:
a. Professional traveling theater
b. Professional and representative group of songs and dances
c. Professional Ukrainian music group
d. Several professional groups which would represent the Ukrainian songs and dances, patterned on the "Zespol Piesni i Tanca Ziemi Cieszynskiej"
e. Cadres to teach the national songs and dances teams
3. There is a desperate need to increase the number of publications, especially for the needs of Ukrainian children and the youths.
4. To organize an Ukrainian Folklore Commission which would collect and preserve the national Ukrainian cultural objects, which would be studied, indexed, etc.
5. Organize an Ukrainian Institute in Poland, connected with either the Ministry of Sciences and Arts, or the Polish Academy of Science. It could help to save the regional cultures of: Podliasia, Wlodawskiego, Chelmszczyzny, Tomaszewskiego, Nadsania, Zachodniej Bojkowszczyzny, Lemkowszczyzny, etc.
6. Prepare and publish a catalogue of the objects of the Ukrainian culture, including the archival materials in Poland for the purpose of preserving them. Especially, there is a need to organize a Museum of Ukrainian Culture, employing Ukrainian professional personnel.
7. To organize a central Ukrainian radio and television station for developing and the daily showing Ukrainian programs.
8. To organize a "traveling" movie, showing original Ukrainian films.
9. To develop cultural relations between the Ukrainian Socio-Cultural Association and the Ukrainians abroad, -- Ukrainian SSR, CSRS, Ukrainians in Yugoslavia, etc. (in 1971 when UTSK invited KUST from CSRS to help it commemorate the 15th Anniversary by its participation in the 4th Annual Festival of the Ukrainian Songs and Music, the Ministry of Internal Affairs prevented it from such a participation).
10. To allow a representative Lemko group from PRL to participate in the Annual Festival of Music and Songs in Swidnik, CSRS.
11. To allow the Ukrainian community in PRL to develop a close cultural relations with the cultural centers of the Ukraine. Also, to facilitate mass visits, excursions to the Ukraine, especially by the school youths. (Ukrainian youths in Poland is deprived of studying in its own language, of the books in Ukrainian which would be written on the level of the different youths groups; is denied the newspapers in Ukrainian which would help it to serve as a source of information about its spiritual mother country Ukraine. Every year during the vacation period the children of the "Poland Abroad" -- "Polonija Zagraniczna" -- have been coming to Poland).
12. To invite through the Ministry of Culture and Arts the various artistic groups from Ukraine. Also, to arrange for cultural TV programs from Ukraine for the Ukrainian public in Poland, which would also familiarize the Poles with the Ukrainian culture..(It is the fact that the radio and TV programs in Poland avoid all programs which would in any way contribute to the popularization of the Ukrainian culture).
13. Ukrainians in Poland have no material basis for creating and developing their creative cultural abilities, and the culture itself, and for satisfying their cultural needs. In 1970, c. 1.552,2 millions of zlotys were spent for cultural endeavors in Poland. Since the number of Ukrainians in Poland constitutes almost two per cent of the total Polish Population, the proportional amount to be appropriated for their cultural needs should be about 28 -- 36 million zlotys.
14. In cooperation with state educational authorities, the Ukrainian courses should be introduced both in the elementary and secondary schools in Poland. Also, the Ukrainian courses should be organized for the Ukrainian young people, as well as for the adults.
15. Organize the publication and distribution of the Ukrainian literature throughout Poland, especially it should be introduced into the schools and libraries.
16. There should be a general-educational "Liceum" with Ukrainian studies in Legnica, and the Ukrainian Language Department at the Studium Nauczycielskie, Legnica.
17. Official investigation should be initiated of the harmful activities of some representatives of the Roman-Catholic clergy in the region of Rzeszow (Lemkivshchyna), who after the deportation of the Ukrainians in 1947 took over the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic and Orthodox churches and have been preventing the Ukrainian population from attending, or organizing, the church services (Polany, Komancza, Kulaszne, etc.), and have been spreading hate towards all that is Ukrainian (Polany). They have almost succeeded to bring about a religious war between the Ukrainians and Poles in the district of Gorlice -- Zdynia, Konieczna, Gladyszow; Polany, Tylawa -- the district of Krosno, etc.
18. It is wrong that the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MSW) has jurisdiction over the Ukrainian Socio-Cultural Association (USKT). This is further impeding the activities and the development of the USKT. It is ominous that the budget of the USKT constitutes a part of the MSW budget. The MSW officials who direct the USKT are not qualified to direct such an organization; or to facilitate the realization of its goals. The MSW seems to be determined to compromise the Ukrainian language and culture in the eyes of the public in Poland by preventing it from achieving any degree of development. At the same time, the Polish government has been
sponsoring various Polish regional cultural groups (Association of Kaszubo Pomorze, Warminsko-Mazurskie Socio-Cultural Organization, etc.
19. Ukrainian socio-cultural efforts in Poland are being sabotaged. Especially, are singled out Lemkos in Lemkivshchyna, who are constantly attacked for an alleged separation.
20. Folk festivals (when held) are centered in such localities where there is small number of Ukrainians, or far away from the Ukrainian rural population (Warsaw, Krakow, but not in Sanok, etc.). The Ukrainians in Poland demand, and we join them, that:
21. A National Commission be organized to study, with a view of resolving, the following problems:
a. Compensation for moral injuries resulting from imposing upon the Ukrainian population to collective responsibility by the Polish government at the time of the execution of the "W" campaign in 1947.
b. Compensation of the material injuries.
c. According the Ukrainian national minority in Poland a real guarantee of the Constitutional rights.
22. The Ukrainian minority should have a proportional representation in the People's Councils and in the Sejm.
23. The decree of 12 March 1958 and that of 12 July, 1949 should be annulled.
24. Ukrainian minority in Poland must be assured of a full development along the line of the Ukrainian culture, and of its protection by allowing it to organize a scientific-research institutions, which would also include the Ukrainian Museum, with the professional Ukrainian personnel. It should be further assured that it will receive a necessary material base (it pays the taxes, too!) for the development of the amateur cultural and artistic endeavors, with a view of developing a professional and representative Ukrainian group of songs and dances.
25. The policy of the educational authorities should be reviewed with a view of security:
a. Teaching of the Ukrainian children in Poland the Ukrainian language as an obligatory subject in the elementary schools, utilizing the Ukrainian teachers.
b. Universalizing the education of the Ukrainian, including offering courses for the adults, through organizing cultural rooms, libraries, clubs, publishing institutions.

Further, this delegation is hereby proposing that a joint American- Polish Committee be formed for the purpose of reviewing the outstanding problems of the Ukrainian national minority in Poland, and to develop practical means for helping solving them.

Members of the Delegation:
John Hvozda, President
Nicholas Duplak, Secretary
Catherine Mycio
John S. Gonas, (Ret.) Judge

Copies to: The state Department, U. S. A.; Minority Rights Group,
Benjamin Franklin House, 36 Craven Street, London WC2N
5NG; Human Rights Commission, United Nations, New
York, N. Y.

17 January, 1977

Secretary of State of the United States
Department of State
Washington, D. C. 20520

Dear Mr. Secretary:

This year is the 30th Anniversary of the Polish deportation of the Ukrainians from their native territory in 1947, and resettled throughout the northwestern part of Poland. The circumstances under which the Polish government exiled those people have become a matter of historical record.
The conditions under which these people have been formed to live for thirty years are outlined in the Memorandum herewith enclosed, based on the Petitions which the leaders of the Ukrainian community in Poland have been submitting for many years to the Polish Communist Party and the Government. The persecutions to which the Ukrainians have been subjected in Poland are contrary to all of the international documents written on the subject, as well as to the Polish Constitution itself.
The Lemkos Organization has for some time attempted to develop through the Department of State a possibility of improving the living conditions of our brothers and sisters in Poland, at least as much as have the Polish Americans through their Organization here in the United States. After all, we, too, had been once the Polish citizens. We would like to proceed along the line of helping the Ukrainian minority in Poland along, if at all possible, three routes:

1. Through the Department of State
2. American-Polish Committee (which is to be organized)
3. Through the Polish Government

We would appreciate a suppoort, and technical advise, the Department of State might give us in regard to our endeavor to assist the Ukrainian minority in Poland. We would like to develop the following lines of action:

1. A direct dialogue with the Polish authorities in order to cultivate their interest in the improvement of the situation of the Ukrainian minority in Poland.
2. A possible visit of our delegation to Poland sometimes in the spring of this year for the purpose of assesing the range of possibilities in our relationships with the Polish authorities.
3. A possibility of developing of some kind of understanding(at least a semi-formal one) concerning an improved status of the Ukrainian minority in Poland.

One of the most active Ukrainian immigration into the United States has been from Poland. Consequently, there are many families in this country who have hoped for some time to be re-united with their immediate relatives left behind in Poland. Many of them would like to extend a more active assistance to their family members (and their friends) in Poland.
There are also those who have children born in Poland (or in the United States) who would like to go back to Poland for formal (or informal) studies. Many of them speak several languages of the East European countries. This kind of students should be entitled to the same type of financial arrangements as have been benefiting for some time the children of the Polish immigrants, scholarships, exchange programs, etc.
Other possible areas for negotiation with the Polish authorities could be some of the complaints points outlined in the Memorandum, or Appendix II.

John Hvozda, LL, D
Nicholas Duplak
President Secretary

February 3, 1977

Honorable John S. Gonas
President, American Ethnic Foundation
417-418 1. 0. O. F. Building
South Bend, Indiana 46601

Dear Judge Gonas:
The Department has received your letter of January 26, 1977, concerning your desire to assist the Lemko family obtain compensation for the taking of property by the Government of Poland several years prior to 1960.
All claims of nationals of the United States for the taking of property by the Government of Poland prior to July 16, 1960, have been settled by an agreement of July 6, 1960, between the Governments of the United States and Poland. Under the agreement, the Government of Poland agreed to pay $40 million in 20 annual installments to the Government of the United States in settlement of all outstanding claims of nationals of the United States. The claims were adjudicated by the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States (1111 20th Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. 20579) under the provisions of Title I of the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949, and certified to the Department of the Treasury for payment. It is now too late to file a claim as the Commission completed its functions under the Act on March 31, 1966. The Commission considered principal amount of $100.7 million. As each annual installment is received from the Government of Poland, it is paid in pro rata amounts to the award holders. Should you desire further information about the payment of claims under the agreement, it is suggested that you address an appropriate inquiry to:
Mrs. Teruko Arima
Manager, Claims Review and Settlement Branch
Division of Financial and Management Information
Bureau of Government Financial Operations
Department of the Treasury
Washington, D. C. 20226

Claims of persons who were not nationals of the United States on the date their claims arose were excluded by the Act and the agreement. Such exclusion was based upon the well established principle of international law that a state does not have any responsibility for claims presented by another state if the claim was not owned by a national of the presenting state from the date it arose to the date of settlement.
The Department is not in a position to state whether the Lemko family may be entitled to compensation under the laws of Poland. Should you desire to pursue the matter further on their behalf, it is suggested that you consult with an attorney in Poland. In this connection, there is enclosed a list of attorneys and legal offices in Poland prepared by the American Embassy at Warsaw.
I regret that since the Lemkos did not file a claim with the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States within the time specified, the Department cannot assist you regarding the claim.
If I can furnish you with additional information about the matter, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Sincerely yours,

Fabian A. Kwiatek
Assistant Legal Adviser

Enclosure:
List of Attorneys
and Legal Offices

4 February, 1977
Hen. William F. Walsh, Congressman
206 Cannon House Office Bldg.
Washington, D. C. 20515

Dear Congressman Walsh:

Thank you very much for your help in arranging an appointment for the delegates of this Organization with the Director of the Polish Desk at the Department of State on 17 January, 1977. The meeting was quite meaningful. Mr. Thompson, the Desk Director, was willing to listen to us, as he was also generous with an advice for our future action along the line of helping the national Ukrainian minority in Poland.
As we had stated in our letter of transmittal of the Memorandum to the Department of State (see the attached copy), this year is the 30th anniversary of the wholesale deportation of the Ukrainian national minority in Poland from its native lands to the territories Poland received from Germany. The deportation was executed by the armed forces of the People's Republic of Poland in 1947.
We are wondering if it would be possible for you, Mr. Congressman, to include the herewith attached material on the discrimination of the Ukrainian national minority in the Communist Poland into the Congressional Record inclusion of such a material in this important publication would help those people to survive their persecutions by the Polish communist regime, and would demonstrate our concern for human rights in practical terms.
Should it be possible to arrange for including of this material in the Record. We would like to be advised about the procedure to be followed in order to obtain a number of abstracts.
Again, many thanks for a great assistance you have rendered us.

Sincerely yours,

John Hvozda, LL. D.
President

February 9, 1977

Dr. John Hvosda
111 Fireside Lane
Camillus, New York 13031

Dear Dr. Hvosda:

I am pleased to send you a copy of a letter, which I received from the Secretary of State's legal department.
I want you to know that I was pleased with your presentation, and appreciate your cooperation in behalf of the Lemkos.
If there is any further action which you would like for me to take, please advise.

Sincerely yours,

JOHN S. GONAS

JSG:klh
enclosure

14 February, 1977

Minority Right Group
Benjamin Franklin House
36 Craven Street
London WC2N SNG

Gentlemen:

Herewith are transmitted certain documents which pertain the thirty-year exile, and persecutions, of the Ukrainian national minority in Poland by the government of the Polish People's Republic.
The original copies of these documents have been submitted to the Polish Embassy in Washington, the State Department, and other pertinent organizations.
We would like to hope that your Organization will become convinced that the rights of the Ukrainian national minority in Poland have been constantly violated because that government has been applying to it the genecidal methods and policies. Those People need help, and we hope that you are generous enough to give it to them.
We would be extremely happy to cooperate with you in this matter upon your request.

Thank You.

Sincerely yours,

John Hvozda, LL. D.
President

LEMKOS AID POLAND'S UKRAINIAN MINORITY

HON. WILLIAM F. WALSH
OF NEW YORK
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Wednesday, February 16, 1977

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 30th anniversary of the deportation of the Ukrainian national minority in Poland from its native lands to the territories Poland received from Germany. The deportation was executed by the armed forces of the People's Republic of Poland in 1947.
The following letter by John Hvozda of Camillus, N.Y., was sent to the Department of State regarding the plight of Poland's Ukrainian minority and the efforts of the World Lemkos Federation to aid it.

This year is the 30th anniversary of the Polish deportation of the Ukrainians from their native territories in 1947 and their resettlement in the northeastern areas of Poland. The circumstances under which the Polish Government have exiled these people is a matter of historical record. The conditions under which these people live and the persecutions they are subjected to are contrary even to the Polish Constitution itself.
The Lemkos Federation has for some time, through the Department of State, attempted to establish a program to improve the living conditions of our brothers and sisters living in Poland. We would like to help the Ukrainian minority through three possible routes:
One. The Department of State;
Two. The American-Polish Committee - which is to be organized; and
Three. The Polish Government.
We would appreciate the support and technical advice of the Department of State in regards to our endeavor to assist the Ukrainian minority in Poland. We would like to develop the following lines of action:
One. A direct dialog with the Polish authorities in order to cultivate their interest in the improvement of the situation of the Ukrainian minority;
Two. A possible visit by our delegation to Poland for the purpose of assessing the range of possibilities in our relationship with Polish authorities; and
Three. The possibility of developing some kind of understanding -- at least an informal one concerning an improved status of the Ukrainian minority.
Many Ukrainians have immigrated into the United States from Poland. Consequently, there are many families in this country who have hoped for some time to be reunited with their immediate relatives left behind in Poland. Many of them would like to extend a more active assistance to their family members and friends in Poland. There are also those who have children born in the United States -- or in Poland -- who would like to go to Poland for formal -- or informal -- studies. It is hoped that through the combined efforts of the Department of State and the World Lemkos Federation these goals can be obtained.

Congressional Record, 95th Congress, Vol. 123, No. 27

March 8, 1977

Dr. John Hvozda, President
Mr. Nicholas Duplak, Secretary
World Lemkos Federation
P. O. Box 202
Camillus, New York 13031

Dear Mr. Hvozda and Mr. Duplak:

I have been asked to respond to your letter of January 17 to the Secretary and the memorandum you enclosed concerning your organization's representation of the rights of the Ukrainian minority in Poland and of U.S. citizens and residents who are former members of that group.
It was useful for me to have had the meeting with you, Mrs. Mycio and Judge Gonas on January 17 in the State Department. I welcome opening up an exchange of views with you on your valid concerns for the Ukrainian minority in Poland. In connection with the action the Department can take relating to the claims of former Lemkos who are now U. S. citizens, there is enclosed a self-explanatory letter of February 3, 1977 from Mr. Fabian A. Kwiatek, Assistant Legal Adviser, to the Honorable John S. Gonas.
There is no reason why, with time and patience, you should not be able to develop a useful dialogue with representatives of the Polish Government on the wide range of your concerns. For our part, we will do what we can in working informally with officials of the Polish Embassy in Washington as well as with the Polish Government through our Embassy in Warsaw to support your request for meetings with the Polish authorities here in the United States and in Poland. We have no Government-sponsored exchange program for children of Polish-Americans to study in Poland. I am sure that students who are members of the American Lemko community will be considered purely on their merits along with other applicants for exchange scholarships with Polish Universities such as those offered by the University of Florida, Lockhaven State College (Pa.), Yale University and Kent State University.
I am sending a copy of this exchange of correspondence to our Embassy in Warsaw.
Sincerely,

Alan R. Thompson
Country Officer for Poland

Enclosure:
Letter of 2/3/77 to
the Honorable John S. Gonas.

UKRAINIANS IN POLAND PROTEST PERSECUTION BY COMMUNIST REGIME*

Warsaw, Poland On February 11, 1980 Mr. Nicholas Siwicky, a Ukrainian journalist, submitted a memorandum to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, accusing the government of the Polish People's Republic (PPR) of conducting a deliberate policy of genocide against the Ukrainian minority in present-day Poland.
It is estimated that some 350,000 to 500,000 Ukrainians live at present in Poland.
The complaint charged that in 1947 the Polish government forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians from their ancestral homes to the so-called "recovered territories" in the west after the expulsion of the Germans. The alleged reason for this drastic and inhuman action was the warfare of some 5,000 UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) fighters, who were overwhelmingly supported by the local Ukrainian population.
The memorandum charged, however, that the real reason for up- rooting the Ukrainian population was the intent of the Warsaw government to transplant the Ukrainians from the territory of the former Ukrainian Galician-Volhynian Principality, and thus to effect forcible denationalization of Ukrainians.
Ukrainian schools were the first target of the denationalization of Ukrainians. In 1958-59 there were in Poland nine Ukrainian high schools with 441 students, in 1979-80 there were only four left (no number of students given): of 152 points of teaching in the Ukrainian language in 1958-59, with 2,602 students, only 29 were left in the years 1979-80 with but 545 students.
Although there exists the Ukrainian Social-Cultural Association (USKT), established by the Warsaw government in 1956, its activities are hampered by the lack of funds, and the chicanery and persecution of its members by local police and party authorities. The only Ukrainian studies chair at the Warsaw University, to which only 10 candidates can be accepted annually, may be abolished soon.
The complaint list 10 outstanding examples of national persecution of the Ukrainian minority, including the art, music and choral art.
A copy of the memorandum was also sent by M. Siwicky to the Department of Internal Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw.

* America, November 20, 1980.

The Minority Rights Group
Registered Charitable Trust T 31668 Z/1
Consultative Status with the United Nations /E.C.O.S.O.C./
Benjamin Franklin House
36 Craven Street
London WC 2N 5NG
Telephone: 01-930 6659
3rd May, 1977

Dr. John Hvozda
World Lemkos Federation
P. O. Box 202,
Camillus, New York 13031

Dear Dr. Hvozda,
Thank you for your letter of 14th February I regret that I appear to have overlooked it. We have taken note of your observations, but wondered whether you, or a research assistant, might wish to encapsulate the problem (with any further dimensions it may have) for publication in our directory of minorities. I enclose fuller details, but add that we should be most interested to cover some groups in Eastern Europe in the second volume.
I look forward to hearing from you,

Yours sincerely,
Ceorgina Ashworth
Research Officer