Minorities and Ethnic Groups

For centuries, the lands of the Podkarpackie province were part of a national, cultural and religious borderland. This situation generated a cultural symbiosis based on coexistence of many different minorities, ethnic and ethnographic groups. The cause of this diversity was not only the local natural environment (the Podkarpackie province stretches from the lowlands, through the foothills, to the mountains), but also a huge luggage of individualism, brought here by the settlers. This mosaic functioned until mid XX century. However, the Second World War and displacement operations after the war, and in case of ethnographic groups – the pressure of uniformity trends, destroyed the varied cultural heritage in this part of Poland. Boykos and Jews disappeared altogether from the cultural landscape in Poland, and only small groups of Lemkos and Roma survived. The ethnographic groups gave up their originality and accepted the mainstream national models and cultural values. Almost all the material relics of culture are gone or forgotten. However, the original customs are still cultivated, and gain increasing popularity among the members of young generations. Preservation of cultural heritage is becoming the challenge, to save it for the future generations…