This year we, riy “Chempiony,” together with starshe and molodshe yunatstvo learned about Lemkivshchyna and Aktsiya Visla. It is 70 years from the sad day of the tragedy of the lemkos, when they were taken from their native homes. As a result, Mark Howansky and his sisters Lena Howansky and Diana Howansky-Reilly, who wrote the book “Scattered!” The book is great including the words of her father and family members who endured difficult times from the Poles. He talked about how people had only a few hours to prepare for departure, how people were taken to the Jaworzno concentration camp, how the Polish army tried to destroy everything dear to these people – their language, culture, schools, and churches. We were able to see many photos from this tragic event and at the end of the presentation we watched a short video clip of first-hand observers and survivors of this act. These people experienced hardships in their lives and always wished to one day return to their native homes, to their Lemkivshchyna.
– Riy Chempiony (15-16)
On April 4th our riy, Lebedi, had the opportunity to listen to a presentation on Lemkivshchyna and Aktsiya Visla. This is a very painful topic because almost all of us have lemko roots. Almost all of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers experienced this awful tragedy. They lived through Aktsiya Visla. For this, we are very proud to be honoring this memory, the memory of our roots. We are very thankful to the Howansky family for their wonderful presentation!
– Riy Lebedi (13-14)