Originally Posted by
MaxQ
Very few people in the West have ever heard of it, so they can't even forget.
Obviously while under Russian control that bit of history was not taught in the schools.
During the USA invasion of Iraq I used that bit of history a few times to draw comparisons of spreading Democracy by point of a gun to Lenin's attempt to spread the Revolution in the same manner.
None of my business, but did your family identify as Polish, Ukrainian or some other group? Lwow/Lviv area civil war at end of WW2 was especially gruesome.
Interesting question. I always thought of myself as Ukrainian, that’s what I was taught. Mom’s an old Yankee family. My father’s parents came to the US in 1915 from a village near Ternopil, farm families, many children. They met and married in the US,but we’re acquainted in the “old country”; fully expecting to return. Grandma, who died at 105, thought of herself as Austrian-Hungarian, said so on her immigration papers, IIRC. When granted US citizenship in the ‘20s, she was Ukrainian, although many thought of my grandparents as Polish. Very fluid borders. My father’s cousin (grandma’s sister’s son) survived by joining the Germans after the Russians invaded that part of Ukraine. All his male siblings as well as grandpa’s make siblings were killed, one way or another. My “generation” over there are still in the village.
My father’s cousin, received a letter welcoming home from the new Ukrainian government in 1992, Sloko says, he was likely arrested on return before that time. He visited frequently with his English wife and children over the years. Now, 96, he can’t go anymore obviously. He calls frequently, but jot since this war started. I last visited him in Toronto a few years ago. Mom would send money and Xmas cards over to the family, but I’ve lost track, sadly.
I spent time in Warsaw on long layovers, great city, lots of history.