Ukrainian President opens festival in Poland

President Victor Yushchenko and First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko on Saturday attended a ceremony to open the 25th festival Lemkiwska Watra (Lemko Bonfire) in the Polish city of Gdynia . “I am very happy to be firing this twenty-fifth bonfire together with you,” he said in a speech to the Lemkos from Poland , Ukraine ,…

ByAndriy KhomykJuly 21, 20070Comments

Deportations 1944-1951

Akcja Wisla: the event, its origins and context

“Purpose: To finally solve the Ukrainian problem in Poland towards the following end: a) … to evacuate from the southern and eastern border region all individuals of Ukrainian nationality and resettle them on the northwestern lands … b) The evacuation must include all elements of the Ukrainian nationality, including Lemkos and those of mixed Ukrainian-Polish…

ByAndriy KhomykApril 29, 20070Comments

Our People

Peter Rusynko. Lemko-Ukrainian Organization Members Commemorate 70th Anniversary

Peter RusynkoHeading the 27th National Conference of the Organization for the Defense of Lemko Western Ukraine (OOL) on September 23, 2006 in Yonkers, NY, Mrs. Marie Duplak highlighted in her opening remarks that the organization is celebrating its 70 th anniversary this year. In October 1933, a committee to help individuals in the Lemko region…

ByAndriy KhomykDecember 10, 20060Comments

Photos & Videos

VI Lemko Vatra USA 2006

ByAndriy KhomykAugust 2, 20060Comments

Past LRF Events

Members of the Organization for Defense of Lemkivshchyna and Lemko Research Foundation meet with his Excellency Bishop Paul P. Chomnycky

On April 8, 2006, representatives from the Organization for Defense of Lemkivshchyna (OOL) and the Lemko Research Foundation, Inc. (LRF) visited St. Basil's Ukrainian Catholic College Seminary to meet with his Excellency Bishop Paul Patrick Chomnycky, OSBM, who was recently installed as the fourth bishop and Eparch of the Stamford Eparchy. The purpose of this…

ByAndriy KhomykApril 8, 20060Comments

Past LRF Events

Lemko Organization Boosts Ukrainian Studies at Columbia Libraries

Representatives from the Lemko Research Foundation, Inc. visited the campus of Columbia University in February 2006 and donated an important collection of books on Ukrainian-Lemko issues, which will help develop the Ukrainian library collection at Columbia. “We have chosen to donate these books to Columbia University because we support the mission of Columbia’s Ukrainian Studies…

ByAndriy KhomykFebruary 26, 20060Comments

Photos & Videos

V Lemko Vatra USA 2005

ByAndriy KhomykAugust 1, 20050Comments

Past OOL Events

Newly-constructed Lemko Chapel Blessed during 5th Annual Lemko Vatra

The annual “Lemko Vatra” in the U.S.A. blazed for the fifth year in a row from June 24-26, 2005 at the resort of the Ukrainian Youth Organization, Inc. (CYM) in Ellenville, NY. Each year, this Vatra blazes with bright rays amid a constellation of others around the world -- in Lemkivshchyna, Ukraine, Slovakia, Serbia and…

ByAndriy KhomykJune 26, 20050Comments

Photos & Videos

IV Lemko Vatra USA 2004

ByAndriy KhomykAugust 1, 20040Comments

Past OOL Events

What is the OOL?

What is the Organization for the Defense of Lemko Western Ukraine Inc.? We are an organization of Ukrainian Lemkos who came to America in the early 1900s and settled in Western Pennsylvania and the tri-state area.

ByAndriy KhomykJune 13, 20040Comments