Languages Lemko dialect Historical era World War I Disestablished March 1920 Capital Florynka Government Republic | President Jaroslav Kacmarcyk Established 5 December 1918 Preceded by Succeeded by Founded 1918 Date dissolved March 12, 1920 | |
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The Ruthenian National Republic of the Lemkos (Lemko: Ruska Narodna Respublika Lemkiv), often known as the Lemko Republic or the Lemko-Rusyn Republic, was founded on 5 December 1918 in the aftermath of World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was centered on Florynka, a village in the south-east of present-day Poland (on the border with Slovakia, south and south-east of Nowy Targ - Florynka, Krynica-Zdrój, Świetnica, Gładyszów, Sanok). Being Russophile, its intent was unification with a democratic Russia and was opposed to a union with the West Ukrainian People's Republic. A union with Russia proved impossible, so the Republic then attempted to join Carpathian Ruthenia as an autonomous province of Czechoslovakia. This, however, was opposed by the then governor of Carpathian Ruthenia, Gregory Zatkovich.
The Republic was headed by Jaroslav Kacmarcyk as President of the Central National Council. It was ended by the Polish government in March 1920. Its fate was sealed by the September 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain, which gave Galicia west of the San to Poland and by the Peace of Riga in March 1921 whereby the fait accompli was recognized by Moscow.
This state should not be confused with the Komancza Republic of eastern Lemkivshchyna, another short-lived republic. This was a smaller pro-Ukrainian state that existed between November 1918 and 23 January 1919.
Territory
On 5 December 1918, the Republic's delegates issued the statement: "We, the Rusyn nation, living in a compact settlement in the southern parts of the Galician administrative units of Nowy Targ and in Sanok. Do not wish to be incorporated into the Polish state, and wish to share the fate of our Rusyn brothers [living] in Spiš, Šariš, and Zemplín counties as one indivisible geographic and ethnographic unit."