Before the war, the Lemkos were considered to have been in the process of Polish assimilation: Greek Catholic church sermons in the Lemko region were frequently in Polish, and the Lemkos had rejected the Ukrainian ethnicity. Not only had they not wanted to be communist, they clearly didn't want to become Ukrainian, which has proved to be a threat to their unique language and culture. Contrary to communist historiography, Rusyns were not really ethnically unconscience Ukrainians. They were always Rusyns. The recent conflict in Eastern Ukraine has revealed Lemko villages in the middle of the fighting:
yahoo/news/lemkos-abandoned-minority-shattered-ukraine-war-zone-152752266.html
Poland has an obligation to place repatriation of historic Polish minorities such as the Lemkos ahead of other truly foreign economic refugees.
