Ancestors from Galicia - does this mean you are Polish?

If you have ancestors from Galicia, would you consider yourself Polish? There was a mix of Ukrainian, Ruthenian, Lemko, and Polish. Would you consider religion between Catholicism and Greek Catholicism to be the answer. Also, I read that many last names that were of Lemko or Ukrainian were Polonized when it was under Polish rule.

my mother was from Stanisławów.
she considered herself 100% Polish

generally yes, particularly (and rather ironically) the Greek Catholic Church is widely accredited with having preserved the Ruthenian (Ukrainian) culture.

Austro-Hungarian Galizien (Galicja) was a temporary and ahistoric zone established by Habsbourgs for their needs. It consisted of Ruthenian Halitia (Haliczyna/Red Ruthenia) and small, south part of Małopolska Province. Galizien has nothing to do with national or ethnic commiunities or divisions. Małopolska was populated by Poles, Vlachs, Germans and Jews while Haliczyna by Ruthenians, Poles, Vlachs, and Jews mostly.

That is why all descendants of huge Sas coat of arm family from east Carpathians (like Baczyński, Dobrzański, Kulczycki, Jaworski, etc.) now living both on Polish and Ukrainian side have mixed Polish/Ruthenian/Vlach bacground.

So on.

My ancestors were from that area and called themselves "Polish". however there were many ethnicities and minorities in the area. Politically, at different times the region belonged to Ukrain, Austro-Hungary, and Germany. I have read that some Poles in other parts of the country refer to many of them as "Ukrainian". I have researched a family word "Pedahea" which is what my grandparents called what most people refer to as "pierogi" and it turns out that it is a regional pronunciation that Poles use that sounds like the Ukrainian word for that food.

My father's side of my family was from Galicia, in what is now Poland(very near the crossing at Medyka). They were very definitely Ukrainian. That being said, my relatives that still live there have been intermarried over the last couple of generations with (ethnic)Poles. I only converse with them in Polish and I would imagine the younger generation only think of themselves as Polish.

Re: Paul Waletko born in Galicia about 1884

"looking for any information on my grandfather paul waletko born in galicia about 1884"

Waletko is probably Ukrainian. Maybe your relatives were Lemko like some of mine. Do you have any immigration records? It may show Paul's native village.

Merged: Debowa Galicy Clarification

My great-grandmother's entrance into Ellis Island reads, Debowa Galicy. Is that the same thing as Debowa Lodz Poland?

I don't think so. Galicy - Galicia is a historical and geographic region, and Lodz never was in Galicia if I'm not mistaken.


It's might be rather that Dębowa (once in West Galicia area) -


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C4%99bowa,_Podkarpackie_Voivodeship

Merged:

Citizenship Status of person emigrated from Austrian Galicia

My Polish grandmother emigrated from from Austrian Galicia to USA but never became citizen. I recall my father registering her as an alien. What would her country of origin be, Poland?

Austria-Hungary

According to two different treaties coming from the Versailles Peace Conference, if she was born on the territory of the Second Republic or had citizenship rights in Galicia, she became a citizen of the Second Republic. Galicia was a crown land in the Austrian part of Austro-Hungarian Empire, but modern Austria is a republic, and something quite different. Do note that Krakow and Hapsburg Silesia were technically not part of Galicia, but separate provinces of the empire.

How do you know that she emigrated after WW1? According to Bernie she came from Austrian Galicia, so the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. She was a citizen of that country, even though she might have had Polish ethnicity.

Before WWI, Galicia and the other Hapsburg lands from the partitions were sometimes known as "Austrian-Poland" in official documents such as immigration and census records. In the official language of treaty from the Versailles Peace Conference, the French text condescendingly implies that Austria had colonized the lands of its empire, and it was illegitimate.

Legally, that's still Austria and not Poland. You have to distinguish between nationality and ethnicity - something that US immigration officers before WW1 didn't do occasionally.

No, legally Galicia was Galicia. Emperor Joseph II had claimed it as part of Hungary, but for political reasons it was not administered in the Hungarian half of the Empire. The other half, which included Galicia, consisted of 17 different crown lands, known as Cisleithania, which mostly shared the same laws. The Grand Duchy of Austria was but one part of what became the Republic of Austria after WWI when they banished the Habsburgs.

De facto autonomous or not, Galicia was still only crownland and it's people were considered citizens of Austria-Hungary when they immigrated to the USA. "Cisleithania" was an unofficial denotion. These crownlands were not states, but provinces in the modern sense. Had to read up on it though since I've never heard that term before. So thanks for pointing it out.

Galicia was an integral part of Austria-Hungary. The official language remained German until 1918, after all.

TheOther, remember that this is our old friend known by some as "Roggers", a guy with a pathological obsession with the modern Polish state not awarding him citizenship.

Yes, that's right.
After all, Lemberg was called by her German name long before she was "re-named" Lwow, later L'viv!