Volume 17, Number 1-2, Spring-Summer 2005

Trembita
Volume 17, Number 1-2
Spring—Summer 2005
dam that would have flooded her village and affected five other villages in the area. She was
part of a large international coalition that was
successful in stopping the dam project. In addition, the village of Tichỳ Potok was subjected to a
devastating flood in 1999 that damaged major
portions of the village. Lubica had to supervise
the rebuilding and reconstruction that ended up
costing almost $500,000.
Duchnovich Day 2005
Lubica Dzuganová
Tichỳ Potok, Slovakia
We were honored to have Lubica Dzuganová as our
guest speaker at our 19th Annual Duchnovich Day
celebration on March 5, 2005. Her visit was sponsored by the Rusin Association and arranged by
Larry Goga, Past President.
Ms Dzuganová, was accompanied by Professor John
Biros, of Marshall University in Huntington, West
Virginia who served as her interpreter. Mr. Biros is
of Rusin decent and became friends with Lubica
when he visited his ancestral village.
Lubica is the mayor of the Rusin village of Tichỳ
Potok. Tichỳ Potok is located in the Northeast area
of Slovakia. When she was elected Mayor 11 years
ago, she was one of only a handful of female mayors, and the youngest mayor in all of Slovakia. She
has spent much time and effort preserving the Rusin
traditions.
She has faced several major challenges. When she
took office, the government was planning to build a
From 1990 to 1993, Lubica was an assistant to
the mayor. She was first elected to a four year
term as mayor of Tichỳ Potok from 1994-1997,
then reelected from 1998-2001 and again for
2002 through the end of this year. In addition to
the full time Mayor (Starosta), the city employs 5
Council Members (Poslanci), 1 School Director
(Directorka), 1 Teacher (Ucitelka), and 1 part
time Electrician (Elektrikar). The 2005 budget
for the village is 1.8 million SK or about $60,000.
Dzuganová’s
“Rusin Village Life—
Duchnovich Day
Yesterday and Today”
presentation on
Saturday, March 5
at St. Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral was titled
“Rusin Village Life—Yesterday and Today”.
The picturesque village of Tichỳ Potok, lies at an
elevation of 520 meters in the foothills of eastern
Slovakia’s Levoča Mountains on the upper portion of the Torysa River. The village is believed
to have been founded in the first half of the 14th
century by German nobility living in the nearby
town of Brezovica, who named the riverside settlement Stielback, “Silent Brook”. The name was
subsequently Slavicized into Štelbach, In the 15th
century, Rusin shepherds settled in the village,
although by the 16th century most inhabitants
worked as farmers who supplemented their livelihood with resources from the surrounding forests.
In 1948 the village was renamed Tichỳ Potok.
In 1890, the village reached a population peak of
768 inhabitants. By 1900, the population had declined to 710. Further decline in the population
occurred when in 1954 the government announced
a plan to construct a massive dam just up-river from
the village. Development in the village was effectively halted over the next 40 years as government
officials mulled the project. No houses could be
built. Young married couples could not build a
home of their own so they often left for another village or town. By 2000 when the dam construction
project was finally withdrawn, Tichỳ Potok’s population had dropped to 395.
The village is now undergoing a period of revitalization. Since Lubica Dzuganová’s election in 1994,
the dam has been stopped, a program started to train
400 villagers to produce Rusin handicrafts, and an
elementary school which had been closed for 18
years was reopened.
The school includes a computer room which presently has six PC’s all with internet connection.
During the school day the children use the PC’s,
while in the evening adults are allowed to communicate with relatives in the United States via the
internet.
There is also new construction in the village. In
2004 the village opened
The Rusin language is
a new water treatment
being taught in the
plant, new homes are
schools.
being built, and the
Church has a new
iconostas. The Church school reopened and the
Rusin language is being taught in the schools.
The village is optimistic about their future. Plans
for new construction include an annex in the school
to lodge 20 students for summer camps, a new
kitchen for city hall to cook meals for the village’s
elderly who can no longer cook for themselves or
afford healthy meals, a pension or retirement home
to serve both as a daytime site for seniors to interact
and a permanent home for some, and finally a
Rusin Restaurant.
There is an active agricultural industry going on in
this area of Slovakia. Under communism the farmers worked together in cooperatives. Today families are again farming on their own, although the
European Union (EU) is offering funding for families who go together to form small cooperatives. It
V O LU ME 1 7 , NU M BE R 1 -2
may not be economically feasible for individual
families to make it on their own farming.
Mayor Dzuganová is aggressively applying for
grants available through the Slovak government, the
European Union, and the United States to promote
Rusin language and culture, as well as to help expand her village.
One of her recent
projects saw the
Heinz Foundation of
Pittsburgh, PA fund
the building of a sewage treatment plant in
Tichỳ Potok. And if
you visit St. Cyril and
Methodius CarpathoRussian Orthodox
church at Camp Nazareth in Mercer, PA,
you will see a magnificent example of
the old wooden
St. Cyril & Methodius
churches of Slovakia. Carpatho-Russian Orthodox
The roof of that
church
church is adorned
with 50,000 wooden shingles hand-crafted and
shipped over to the USA from Tichỳ Potok.
Mayor Dzuganová is currently studying for a higher
education degree at the Orthodox seminary college
in Prešov. When asked what her greatest accomplishment in office has been, Mayor Dzuganová
stated, “getting the people of the village off their
couches; away from watching television and becoming involved in cultural activities, namely making of kroje (folk dress) and folk art in the community center.”
Contact address: L’ubica Džugánová
Village Hall
082 74 Tichỳ Potok
Republic of Slovakia
Telephone:
0421-934-4591240
E-Mail:
stelbach@changenet.sk
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PAGE 2
VIII World Congress of Rusyns
Remarks by Professor Paul Robert Magocsi
The Future of Carpatho-Rusyns?
Schools and Young People
June 24, 2005
In contrast to presentations at previous world congresses, my remarks today will be shorter and will
only report on the activity of the Carpatho-Rusyn
community in North America.
During the past two years, the oldest and largest
Rusyn-American institutions achieved important
milestones: the Carpatho-Rusyn Research Center
based in Ocala, Florida celebrated its 25th anniversary; and the Carpatho-Rusyn Society based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania celebrated its 10th anniversary.
In connection with its anniversary, the CarpathoRusyn Research Center published a booklet that related its history and included greetings from over 40
secular and religious leaders of Rusyn and non-Rusyn
background worldwide. During its quarter-century of
existence, the Carpatho-Rusyn Research Center has
fulfilled its primary goal: to promote knowledge about Carpatho-Rusyns through the distribution
of high-quality publications to individuals and institutions in North America and Europe. The center has
sold 48,459 books and maps during this period, and it
has distributed gratis an even larger number of publications. For instance, in 2004 the center published a
third revised edition of its popular brochure on Carpatho-Rusyns. That brochure exists in three variants
of the Rusyn language as well as in English, German,
Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, and Ukrainian.
To date, at least 52,000 copies of the brochure in
these various languages have been distributed to the
public, making it the largest triage of any Rusyn publication to appear in the past several decades.
The Carpatho-Rusyn Research Center has also helped
in publishing the second revised and expanded edition
of the Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture.
This is the first and only encyclopedia that deals
with Carpatho-Rusyns in all countries where they
live. The first edition, published in 2002, sold out
within one year; the second, fully revised
edition, with 50 new entries, appeared in early 2005.
V O LU ME 1 7 , NU M BE R 1 -2
The second of our anniversary organizations is
the Carpatho-Rusyn Society. This is a grass-roots
organization whose purpose is to promote Rusyn
culture and identity through member participation
in lectures, conferences, exhibits, and folk festivals held across the United States, through annual
tours to the European homeland, and through
publication of the bi-monthly magazine, The New
Rusyn Times. The Carpatho-Rusyn Society has
nearly 1,800 members. Aside from its national
center in Pittsburgh, the society has nine branches
spread throughout the United States from New
England to Tucson, Arizona. The Washington,
D.C. branch of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society has a
special role in the national organization, since it
functions as a political lobbying group. Earlier this year its representatives met with Senator
John McCain, one of the most influential politicians in the United States, urging him to take
up with President Viktor Yushchenko the cause
for official recognition of Carpatho-Rusyns as a
distinct nationality in Ukraine. Among the
most important achievements of the CarpathoRusyn Society was its acquisition in 2004 of a
monumental building, the former Greek Catholic
Cathedral Church in Munhall, Pennsylvania,
which is now being transformed into the National
Carpatho-Rusyn Cultural Center.
There are other Rusyn organizations in North
America, whose representatives are members of
our World Congress delegation. These include the
Rusin Association of Minnesota, the Rusyn Association of North America based in Kitchener, Ontario, and two new organizations formed since
2002: the World Academy of Rusyn Culture
based in Toronto, Canada and the Carpathian Institute International based in Connecticut, United
States.
Aside from activity in the United States and Canada, each of the North American organizations
together with a few individuals have continued
to provide assistance to their Carpatho-Rusyn
brethren in Europe. In the last two years alone,
funds from various North American sources
have been given to support the program in Lemko
language and culture at the Pedagogical Academy
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PAGE 3
in Cracow, a web-site for the Rusyn youth organization in Slovakia, and the newspaper, Narodny
Novynky. Also in the last two years the Chepa Fellowship in Rusyn Studies at the University of Toronto has been awarded to individuals from Slovakia, Serbia, and Ukraine.
Then there is the very special situation regarding
medical supplies sent from the United States to the
Regional Hospital in Uzhhorod. These donations are
largely the result of the efforts of Michael Kundrat,
a Rusyn-American patriot and humanitarian from
Binghamton, New York. To date, twelve shipments
of medical supplies worth four million dollars have
been delivered to Uzhhorod's main hospital. As
strange as it may seem, Mr. Kundrat has never been
publicly acknowledged in Transcarpathia for his remarkable humanitarian efforts, and no one knows
that the supplies are being sent to Uzhhorod—and not
elsewhere in Ukraine—precisely because the hospital
in question is located in historic Carpathian Rus' and
serves in large part the local Rusyn population.
North America's Rusyn communities are especially
interested in schools and education. In 2003, Vasylii
Sarkanych, head of the Svaljava branch of the Organization of Subcarpathian Rusyns, proposed the
creation of Rusyn "Sunday schools," that is, classes
in Rusyn language and culture. In the first year of the
program (2003-2004) there were 9 classes; this past
year (2004-2005) there were 16 classes with nearly
400 students participating. All classes are supported
by funds from North America, specifically from the
Carpatho-Rusyn Society in the United States
and from two individuals in Canada, Steven Chepa
and Stepan Moldovan. Mr. Chepa has also paid for
the publication of three Rusyn-language textbooks
used in Subcarpathia's school program, and in early
2005 he arranged to send Rusyn-language publications to all teachers of Rusyn classes not only in
Ukraine but also in Poland and Slovakia. It is
also thanks to Mr. Chepa that we have present here in
Krynica as guests at the VIII World Congress the
best students from each of the 16 classes in the Rusyn
School Program in Subcarpathian Rus'.
witz in 1944. He eventually made his way to Canada and, in remembrance for those who saved his
life he has decided to donate funds to support
the Rusyn School Program in Subcarpathian Rus'.
I should mention that the success of the Rusyn
School Program in Subcarpathian Rus' is in large
measure due to the dedication of Vasylii Sarkanych.
His organizational talent and careful accounting of
all funds sent for Rusyn classes is a model worthy
of imitation by other Rusyn organizations in
Europe. Consequently, we in
… we in North America
North America believe that Rusyn young
will do our best people and, in particular,
to continue fieducation in Rusyn lannancial support
guage and culture are the
for the current
most important factors to
number of
assure the future of Carclasses and,
patho-Rusyns ….
hopefully, be
able to provide
even more for possible new classes. In short, we in
North America believe that Rusyn young people
and, in particular, education in Rusyn language and
culture are the most important factors to assure the
future of Carpatho-Rusyns wherever they may live.
In conclusion, may I interject a personal note. This
will be the last World Congress which I will attend
as head of the North American delegation. It has
been a privilege for me to be part of the
World Congress ever since its establishment back in
1991. I especially remember the success of the
World Congress under the leadership of its
long-term chairman, Vasyl' Turok, and his close
associate and immediate successor, Aleksander
Zozuliak. My best wishes to those of
you, especially of the younger generation, who will
carry on the best traditions of the past while at the
same time undertaking new initiatives as part of the
future work of the World Congress of Rusyns.
Note: The day after he gave this speech, Paul
Robert (Bob) Magosci was elected as Chair of the
World Congress of Rusyns.
The case of the other individual donor, Stepan
Moldovan, is especially interesting. Mr. Moldovan is
a native of Svaljava who, as a young Jewish boy, was
protected by local Rusyns from deportation to Ausch-
V O LU ME 1 7 , NU M BE R 1 -2
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PAGE 4
Poland: Fresh Mountain Breezes
by Grzegorz Demel
16 June 2005—reprinted from an on-line publication
tween allied Polish and Soviet forces and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) fighting for an independent Ukrainian state. Although the Lemkos in general
did not support the Ukrainian nationalist movement,
many, together with Ukrainians, were expelled from
LESKO, Poland | "The Lemkos in Chyrowa are still
reluctant to think about their origins. Often they have no the mountains. In the first wave of deportations, from
interest in cultivating their own culture and language. If 1944 to 1946, most were sent east, into the USSR.
nothing changes, it will soon be too late to preserve the Then the infamous "Operation Vistula" of 1947 saw
multicultural character of the region. It will simply die." most of the remaining Lemkos banished to the western and northern lands gained by Poland as a result of
wartime border shifts. Even after 1989, only a tiny
fraction has ever returned to this scenic, but remote
and impoverished, region.
HISTORIC WOODEN
CHURCHES, LIKE THIS
For many years the Polish authorities treated the culONE IN CHYROWA, ATtural inheritance of the Lemkos as something unconTRACT MANY VISITORS
nected with everyday life. Scholars examined and
TO THE AREA.
tried to preserve this heritage, but no official institution took an interest in stimulating a dialogue between
Tomasz Zatorski owns the youth hostel in Chyrowa, a
present and past.
Low Beskid mountain village with just 100 permanent
residents in southeastern Poland. Since last December,
The idea for a network of Carpathian intercultural
the hostel is also the home of the Center for Interculcenters to help reverse years of neglect was born last
tural Dialogue, dedicated to reviving the traditions of
year in Rzeszow, the capital city of the province of
the Lemkos, a people whose origins are disputed, whose
Podkarpackie (Subcarpathia), as a joint venture of the
identity has been subject to political manipulation for
nonprofit Karpaty Art Association and the Nongovcenturies, and whose homes were lost in the Polish Carernmental Organizations Support Center. A second
pathians six decades ago.
center opened this April in another mountain village,
Mokre, and a third is planned for Mielec, a town in
The crest of the Carpathians forms a natural as well as
the province's lowlands with a sizeable Romani compolitical boundary between Poland, Slovakia, and
munity.
Ukraine. The Lemko homeland, Lemkowszczyzna in
Polish, straddles the Polish-Slovak border for some 120
The centers are meant to be places where all Carpakilometers of uplands. Despite all that unites them,
thian communities, whether Poles, Ukrainians, Lemthough, life in the 20th century for the Lemkos on the
kos, or Roma, can engage in dialogue and common
northern, Polish slope was very different and, in many
projects, says Natalia Tomala, the director of the
ways, more traumatic than for their Slovak brethren.
Nongovernmental Organizations Support Center.
A new effort to boost local people's appreciation for
their intricate cultural heritage begins in two Polish
highland villages.
And yet, even with all the disruption they have lived
through, "You can't maintain that the dilemma of their
origin is very important to the average Lemko. They
don’t think about it every day, because it is not a question connected with any of the problems of everyday
life," says Dariusz Wojakowski, a sociologist at
Rzeszow University and author of many studies of ethnic relations on the Polish borderlands.
Most Polish Lemkos don't even live in the mountains
anymore. For two years after the German surrender in
May 1945, clashes continued in the Carpathians be-
V O LU ME 1 7 , NU M BE R 1 -2
"We believe in this way they will get to know each
other much better and will have a chance to promote
their own culture to the Polish majority in this region
and to visiting tourists as well," she says.
WHO ARE THE LEMKOS?
According to some ethnographers and some Lemkos,
Lemkos belong to the Ukrainian nationality. Others
maintain that they belong to the Rusyn nation. It's an
intellectual dispute rooted in history, language, and
religion. The dominant hypothesis in Polish ethnogra-
T REM BI TA
PAGE 5
phy connects the Lemkos' origins with settlement
of the area by Vlachs, and although a number of
competing hypotheses give radically different
explanations, the "Vlach theory" seems to be the
best documented, and, just as important, is relatively free of political connotations.
Scholars trace the modern history of the Low
Beskids back to the 15th century, when a swelling northbound stream of Vlachs (pastoralists of
non-Slavic origin) and Slavs crested in the Carpathians, encountering and mixing with the settled communities of Slavic Poles living there. A
new culture and identity, Lemko, began to crystallize.
A turning point in Lemko history came at the end
of the 16th century when hierarchs of the Orthodox church in Kyiv, at that time under the sovereignty of the powerful, Catholic-dominated Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, decided to accept
the spiritual authority of the Roman Catholic
pope. Among other Slavs in and around the
mountains, Lemkos gradually turned to the new
Greek Catholic or "Uniate" confession that
emerged from this political gambit, keeping their
Byzantine rite but no longer recognizing the dominion of any Orthodox patriarch.
One jump-cuts to the 19th century, by which time
most of the Rusyns had become subjects of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire as Russia, Prussia, and
Austria killed and dismembered the Polish kingdom. Scientific research into the origins of
Europe's peoples was thriving at the same time as
romantic nationalism fostered the notion of common group identity. Lemkos began to take an
interest in their history and the ideological and
political implications it held. It was not long before the two Lemko streams, Ukrainian and
Rusyn, swelled and carved out separate channels.
As the Habsburg and Russian empires crumbled
and Poland was reborn in the wake of World War
I, some Lemkos tried, vainly, to take advantage
of the political turmoil to establish their own
state in the western Low Beskids, while others
joined the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
When the borders were drawn on the postwar
map, Poland ended up with much of the Rusyn
homeland under its control, yet with a highly un-
V O LU ME 1 7 , NU M BE R 1 -2
stable Ukraine, still in rebellion against the Bolsheviks, on its flank. Warsaw, seeking to rein in
Ukrainian aspirations, eventually backed the
Lemko-Rusyn camp.
The mid-1920s saw the outbreak of the “war for
souls”: Ukrainian-leaning Lemkos espoused
Greek Catholicism, while the adherents of the
Rusyn nation reconverted to Orthodoxy. Polish
authorities took steps to weaken Greek Catholic
ties to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic hierarchy
and bring the church more firmly under Rome's
supervision. These interwar disputes were mild
compared to what was to come under the postwar
communist regimes of Poland and Czechoslovakia, who harshly suppressed Greek Catholicism
as an attribute of Ukrainian nationalism
(although the Slovak Rusyns were at least permitted to remain in their homeland).
All of these rifts threatened to reopen when religious life was released from its communist-era
strictures, but at the same time a real political and
cultural revival flowered among the Lemkos,
although today most live far from the Carpathians. Those who favor a Ukrainian identity have
their own organization, the Lemko Union
(Zjednoczenie Lemkow), which cooperates
closely with Poland's larger Ukrainian community and its main association, the Union of
Ukrainians in Poland. The adherents of a Rusyn
identity have their own organization, the Lemko
Association (Stowarzyszenie Lemkow), which
rarely sees eye to eye with the Lemko Union, nor
with the Union of the Ukrainians in Poland, for
whom the Rusyn faction are “separatists.” Notably, though, nowadays disputes over religion
play little if any part in Lemkos' sense of identity.
Wojakowski of Rzeszow University says that
Lemkos tend to assimilate to the majority Polish
culture, but that the question of Lemko identity
has no simple answers.
"Even when people cultivate their tradition, religions, and language, identity is still not always
clearly defined. So there are no easy distinctions," he says. "Everybody who works in this
field as a scientist or activist engaged in the protection of cultural inheritance should remember
T REM BI TA
PAGE 6
However, the generally neighborly relations between Poles and Ukrainians can't obscure the need
to do much more, Wojakowski says.
this. This awareness will help them avoid many
serious mistakes that could influence their work."
Along with Wojakowski, other scholars who advise
the intercultural center in Chyrowa include historical preservationists Barbara Tondos and the former
chief of the district's heritage-protection office,
Jerzy Tur, both of whom participated in the early
efforts to save the region's many magnificent
wooden churches soon after the mass deportations
in 1947.
DIALOGUE, BUT DIFFERENT
A few dozen kilometers east of Chyrowa, the new
Center for Intercultural Dialogue in Mokre will go
about its work in a different way, reflecting the different levels of non-Polish involvement in the two
villages. This village in the Oslawa River valley
between the Low Beskids and the higher, wilder
Bieszczady range is settled mainly by Ukrainians
who have long nurtured a high level of cultural life
and national awareness. Although the Oslawa valley is historically associated with Lemkos, today its
non-Polish Slavs consider themselves Ukrainians.
The area attracts many visitors to local festivals like
the annual birthday celebration for the revered
Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, and the local
Ukrainian folk ensemble performs throughout Poland and abroad.
"Intercultural dialogue takes place in our village
almost every day, especially in the school," says
Maria Bilas, principal of the Mokre primary school.
"Polish pupils willingly take Ukrainian language
lessons and participate in the choir, singing Ukrainian and Lemko songs. Our relations with the Poles
are really good. Although there are both Orthodox
and Greek Catholic Ukrainians here, this doesn't
influence everyday life and they join together in
celebrating cultural events."
Ukrainian language classes have been offered as a
special subject at the Mokre school since 1957. The
principal's public position as a Ukrainian – she belongs to the local, very active branch of the Union
of the Ukrainians in Poland – underlines the freedom of action enjoyed for many years by Poland's
"national minorities" – Ukrainians, Germans, Belarusians and others.
V OLU ME 1 7 , NU M BE R 1 -2
The term "intercultural relations" is still often understood to mean "reconciliation," he says. "The
traumatic historical experiences, especially the
bloody fighting, the mutual genocide during the
Second World War, the postwar deportations of the
Ukrainian people – from this arises the need for
apologies and for exploring ways toward understanding and forgiveness. Maybe on the local level,
among neighbors in any given village, it was difficult to notice, but as late as the beginning of last
year many surveys done in Poland said that the
Poles in general do not like the Ukrainians," he
says. The attitude toward Ukrainians improved dramatically, he says, when last year's fraudulent presidential elections were overturned after mass demonstrations and political action that saw many Poles
traveling to support democracy in Ukraine.
Dariusz Onyszkanycz, a representative of the local
Ukrainian community, is the newly named director
of Mokre's intercultural center. He believes the example of Mokre with its active community life can
be a source of inspiration for the original center in
Chyrowa, where minority cultures are less thriving.
"The non-Polish residents of Chyrowa need some
encouragement to more openly acknowledge their
origins and nationality," he says.
Not just upland dwellers, but all residents of Poland's southeast can benefit by becoming more
aware of the region's more diverse past, says
Tomala of the Nongovernmental Organizations
Support Center. In May Rzeszow hosted a series of
events and performances featuring Podkarpackie's
different cultural traditions. In addition, her group
organized a conference on Ukrainian and Lemko
culture in the province meant not just to bring
scholars together, she says, but also to "make an
impact on the ordinary people of Podkarpackie,
who should be aware they live in a multicultural
society."
Grzegorz Demel is a freelance journalist and tour
guide based in the Bieszczady mountain town of
Lesko.
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PAGE 7
Readers Column
John Super, long time member and supporter of
the Rusin Association, writes below about his experiences of being Rusin and visiting the Rusin
community in Yugoslavia.
Is George Bush Rusin?
By John Super
We were members of St. Mary’s Russian Orthodox Church in Northeast Minneapolis. As I think
back, I knew of only one Russian family in that
church. When the membership voted to switch
from Greek Catholic to Orthodoxy, the church in
Russia supplied priests and choir directors; the
first Orthodox seminary in America was established. My father often reminded us that we were
Russian. Later when I was able to read Russian
and heard Russian spoken, I had my doubts.
About 20 years ago, my doubts were answered,
when I joined the Rusin club. In my travels, I visited the villages where my parents were born,
namely Chmelova and Stebinik (in current day
Slovakia). The language in these villages was not
Russian but a simple east Slav village dialect that
was learned in the home, not in school, Rusin, not
Russian.
In my reading, I found this: Rusins in Yugoslavia
are descendants of three waves of immigration.
Starting in 1740 the Empress Maria Theresa was
trying to populate an area which for decades had
been a sparsely settled region of the Austrian Empire. The Rusin area in northern Serbia is named
Vojvodina. The town Ruski Krstur, population
6000, is mostly Rusin. This town has an annual
music festival called Cervena Ruza (Red Rose). I
wrote to the director of Dom Kolturny (House of
Culture) and inquired about the festival and hotels
for tourists. I did not get a reply; instead my letter
appeared in the Rusin newspaper, Ruske Slovo
(Rusin Word) I got a letter from Vladimir Kovac,
a Rusin living in Zabalj. Let me quote from his
letter. “I have red your letter from Ruske Slovo. I
hope you have understand me. I was in war near
Vukovar.” (Vukovar is 35 miles from Ruski
Krstur. The Serb army was shelling that town
during the music festival. There were casualties
and a Rusin church was destroyed.) The letter
continues. “When you come to my area, you will
be, of course, guest in my home as long as you
wish.” In another letter: “I hope you understand
V OLU ME 1 7 , NU M BE R 1 -2
my letter, because my English is badly than before.
What is your opinion about possibilities to go to
U.S.A. to work for 2-3 months and earn some dollars?”
In 1991, there was military action in Yugoslavia,
but not in the Serbian area, but Croatian country.
We decided to go and did indeed see tanks and
troops in trucks. I had a camcorder and luckily did
not take any pictures of the military. One day
there was a call for me to meet two men in the hotel lobby. They inquired about my camera and
wanted to see what was on the film. I rolled the
film back and they saw churches, cemeteries, and
farmer’s market. It must have been boring, they
left. I could easily understand the Rusin dialect
spoken. Several people approached me and asked,
“Do you know that President George Bush is
Rusin?” Mihajlo Busha, a Rusin living in Kucura,
left his wife and children and went to America.
He settled in Chicago. He never returned; instead
he married again and had a new family. When
people in Cucura heard that the elder George Bush
became president they assumed that he was related
to Mihajlo Busha. I decide to look into this story.
In Vrbas I talked with Professor Busha, a relative.
Then I decided to visit Kucura, Mihajlo Busha’s
home. It was a rainy day; we found the home of
the Greek Catholic priest. Father Kuhar and his
wife welcomed us. They treated us to some good
home-made soup. We saw the church with many
beautiful icons. We saw a bible with a beautiful
jeweled cover. This bible was brought here from
Slovakia over 250 years ago. We settled in the
living room and Fr. Kuhar opened large church
ledgers. Mihajlo Busha, his parents, his wife and
children all recorded with dates. Just as my friend
Vladimir asked about coming to America, this was
a common practice. Men came to America to
work and return with money to pay debts and buy
property. When Busha left Kucura, he was expected to return.
At my age, I miss not being able to travel, there
were many adventures. Some of my trips are recorded on video tapes. I will write about the music festival at another time. Have I convinced you
that the Bush family is related to Mihajlo Busha?
T REM BI TA
PAGE 8
Visitors from Slovakia
(where they watched the Twins win a game in the
bottom of the 13th inning; the only inning they saw)
Greg and Karen Doten hosted them and a few other
Rusin Association members at a barbecue dinner one
evening. They enjoyed their first trip to the U.S. although they were reserved in their impressions and
comments. Unfortunately, Tom was not invited to
become a member of the Tri-City Storm for the coming season. Jozef, Tom, and Jack Leschisin continue
to work toward getting Tom an opportunity with a
U.S. junior team. However, he has already been
picked to be on the Presov junior team in the top
junior league in Slovakia for the coming season.
Rusin Association members Barb and Jack Leschisin
hosted family from Slovakia. Jack and his visitor’s
family roots are from the Rusin village of Becherov,
Slovakia. Jozef and Tomas Lescisin visited Minneapolis from Slovakia on May 30 thru June 9. They
left Kosice at 7:00 am, flew to Prague, then to NYC,
and finally arriving in MSP at 8:00 pm (seven hour
time difference between here and Slovakia) The main
purpose of their visit was to allow Tom to participate
in a three day tryout for an ice hockey team; the TriCity Storm that is a member of the United States
Hockey League; the top league for junior hockey in
the U.S.
Foreign Exchange Student
Monika Heldáková
From Tichỳ Potok
They live in Bardejov, Slovakia. Tom is 19 years old,
just graduated from high school this spring and would
like to attend college in the U.S. along with playing
hockey for the college. He is a very talented hockey
player, having played organized hockey since he was
7 years old. Jozef's wife and 23 year old daughter did
not accompany him and Tom on the trip. Jozef's wife
operates a small inn and restaurant in Bardejov. His
daughter just received a Masters Degree in economics
and business from college in Slovakia. Jozef is managing director of a trading company named Marvel
P.I.T. His company is a trading company dealing in
leather, textiles and raw cotton. He travels often to
Russia, Ukraine, India and other countries.
Their primary focus, while in Minneapolis, was the
hockey tryout. This included training sessions held at
Ridder Arena at the University of Minnesota
(subsidized by the Rusin Association) and the Super
Rink at the Sports Center. Spare time was spent visiting various locations including downtown St. Paul
and the Excel Ice arena, Downtown Minneapolis, the
University of Minnesota, other local college campuses, the Mall of America, and the Metrodome
V OLU ME 1 7 , NU M BE R 1 -2
Rusin Association members—Karen Kokosh–Doten
and Greg Doten are hosting a foreign exchange student from Tichỳ Potok. This was made possible
through a coordinated effort by Karen and Greg
through Lubica, Dzuganová John Biros and a Minneapolis area foreign exchange student program.
Karen’s father Demeter also played a role. Demeter
meet Monika and her parents when he visited Tichỳ
Potok in June.
Monika is 16 years old, she is Senior at Armstrong
High School in Robbinsdale . She likes outdoors
activities. She has joined the tennis team and is looking forward to going downhill snow skiing this winter.
Foreign exchange students in this program must pay
their own way to this country as well as a fee for the
program. The Rusin Association will be assisting
with payments for school supplies and extracurricular
activities. If you wish to donate please send your
donation to our treasurer—Barb Breza at 1725 4th St.
N.E., Mpls, MN 55413-1239 and indicate the purpose of your donation.
T RE M BI TA
PAGE 9
Activities
Ancestors Road Show
Attendees of the 79th National Convention of the Fellowship of Orthodox Christians in America (FOCA),
held in Alexandria, VA over Labor Day weekend
were treated to “Ancestors Roadshow”, a display of
Rusin genealogy and heritage by Maryann Bacsik of
Little Falls, NJ and Polly Walker of Eden Prairie,
MN. Both women share a love of their Rusin heritage and have been involved in researching their
families’ roots for the past twenty-five years. The
display consisted of family photos from various areas in homeland, literature and books about the Rusins, and folk clothing and music. Those that were of
Carpatho-Rusin heritage were given a Rusin flag
sticker to wear on their convention badges and were
encouraged to post a flag on a map showing where
their ancestral villages were. Almost seventy people
found their villages including retired OCA
(Orthodox Church in America) hierarch, Metropolitan Theodosius. Others that were searching for their
ancestors posed questions of Ms. Bacsik and Ms.
Walker or learned where to begin their genealogical
quest.
Ruski Den Picnic— July 23
Hosted by Karen and Larry Goga
Barb Breza and Karen Goga
Festival of Nations—2005
Blessing of Food
Easter Traditions
Maryann Bacsik and Polly Walker
V O LU ME 1 7 , NU M BE R 1 -2
T REM BI TA
PAGE 10
Activities
Duquesne University Tamburittzans— from
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania held an outstanding concert of music, song and dances of Eastern Europe
on August 11 at Moundsview High School,
Moundsview, Minnesota. Several members of the
group are former members of the Rusyn Folk
Dance Group Slavjane from Pittsburgh. Dean
Polka, who visited us a few years ago, is a director
of Slavjane.
World Congress
Demeter Kokosh, Vice President of the Rusin
Association, second from left, represented the
Rusin Association at the VIII World Congress of
Rusins June 23-26 in Krynica, Poland. Thanks!
Slavjane Performs at World Congress
Trembita
Delegates and visitors to the VIII World Congress
of Rusyns were entertained by Slavjane Folk Dancers from Pittsburgh, PA. In addition to traditional
Rusin dances they performed a traditional American folk dance. Slavjane also performed in Presov,
Slovakia and Uzhorod, Ukraine while touring the
European homeland.
Web-sites
Published quarterly by the
Rusin Association
1817 121st Ave. N.E.
Blaine, MN 55449
Phone: 763-754-7463
Email—Rusinmn@aol.com
Web site: http:www.geocities.com/rusinmn/
Letters and submissions of articles welcomed
Editor—Karen Varian
Board of Directors
Thanks to Polly Walker for sharing the following
Website addresses:
www.stebnik.sk - This is the website for the village of Stebnik, Slovakia. It is in English, Slovak
and Rusin. It has a great genealogy section. One of
the future editions of the TREMBITA will be devoted to the village of Stebnik. Anyone wanting to
write an article or share old family pictures of ancestors from Stebnik contact the editor, Karen Varian c/o the Rusin Association.
www.avillagecluster.com - This is a beautiful site
with some general Rusin history and information on
the Lemko villages of Pielgrzymka, Klopotnica,
Folusz and Wola Cieklinska.
V O LU ME 1 7 , NU M BE R 1 -2
Karen Varian—President
Demeter Kokosh—Vice President
Matt Dion—Secretary
Barb Breza—Treasurer
Larry Goga—Immediate Past President
Frank Mihalik—Director
Tom Sery—Director
This newsletter is published in an attempt to bring to the reader whatever
news about our Rusin people we are able
to find. You will note that our sources
are varied and diversified.
T REM BI TA
PAGE 11
Upcoming Events
Special Presentation
Sat., November 5th
10:30 a.m.
St. John’s Byzantine Catholic Church
22nd and 3rd St. N.E., Minneapolis
Finding Our Most Ancient Ancestors
Based on DNA
Andrea Hudak-Dettloff
Come learn about the paths your ancestors may
have taken from ancient history until the major settlements of our homelands were completed. Using
the results of mtDNA and Ycs research studies as
our foundation, this presentation will reveal the descendants of “midochondrial” Adam and Eve that
came to our countries. The presentation will begin
with an overview of ancestral DNA but the main
focus will be on combining the academic disciplines of anthropology, history, linguistics and genetics into a factual, picture book story of our ancient ancestors
Saturday, December 3
11:00 a.m.
St. John’s Byzantine Catholic Church
22nd and 3rd St. N.E.
Christmas Hostina
Potluck Brunch
Celebrate your Rusin Heritage!
Special displays, merchandise for sale and special
activities for children
Tentative schedule of 2006 events
Saturday, January 14,2006—Annual Meeting
Saturday, February 21, 2006— 20th Annual Duchnovich Dinner
Special activities and guests are being planned so
plan on attending
Thursday, May 4th through Sunday, May 7th Festival of Nations, Saint Paul RiverCentre.
FIRST CLASS
Rusin Association
1817 121st Ave. N.E.
Blaine, MN 55449