Ukrainians in Lithuania
Encyclopedia
The Ukrainian minority in Lithuania numbered 22,488 persons at the 2001 census, and at 0.65% of the total population of Lithuania
(approximately 3,350,400). The Ukrainian national minority in Lithuania has deep enough historical and cultural relations. During ages in Lithuania the prominent figures of Ukraine such as T. H. Shevchenko
, Meletiy Smotritsky, Yakiv Holovatsky
, St. Yosafat (in the world — Ivan Kuntsevich, a religious figure of Greco-Catholic church canonized in 1967) and others stayed and created here.
, Chernihiv
, Pereyaslav regions) entered the Great Lithuanian Principality. It is considered, that in 1572 the Ukrainians
made 3% of the whole population of the Great Lithuanian Principality
. In Vilnius
the residence of the Kiev metropolitan was situated, in 14-17th centuries in the fraternities of Vilnius city (they were founded by Ukrainians and Belarusians
) the elucidative activity of these peoples was concentrated.
In 1596 the Union of Brest
formed catholic religious community of cast ceremony (members of Uniate Church), that contributed to the expansion of the spiritual connections of the Ukrainian and Lithuanian peoples.
In times of the Russian Empire
according to the demographic data of 1857 and 1897 the Ukrainians were 0.1% of the whole population of the country. In 1897 their common quantity reached 2 500.
The censuses of population of 1923 and other interwar years did not fix separately the persons of the Ukrainian nationality. Although their quantity is unknown, but the organizations of the Ukrainians that functioned in interwar Lithuania testify to the fact that the Ukrainians lived in Vilnius
, Kaunas
, Kedainiai
, Alytus
, Tauragė
.
The first head of the Organization of the Ukrainian Nationalists
, created in Vienna
, was the colonel of army UPR
(Ukrainian People's Republic) Yevhen Konovalets
, the citizen of Lithuania from 1929. Lithuania supported this organization morally and materially. From Lithuania the Ukrainians were presented in OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) by I. Rcvyuk (Y. Bartavichius). At this time the body of the Ukrainian military organization "Surma" appeared in Kaunas
.
In October 1933 the Ukrainian national community of Lithuania was registered in Kaunas. It, however, lasted only for four years. At the beginning of 1934 in Kaunas the cultural-educational society of the Ukrainians
in Lithuania was founded. According to its regulation, its purpose was "to unite Lithuanians and Ukrainians for close collaboration, to develop and widen the Lithuanian and Ukrainian folk art and to help to poor Ukrainians". Y. Tovstenko was the head of the society, its founders and members of the board — P. IIrinyuk, A. Kryvonis, P. Vorona. R. Harych and so on.
After the incorporation of the Lithuanian Republic to the USSR in 1940 and after the Second World War end the quantity of Ukrainians in the Lithuanian Republic grew considerably: if after the census of 1959 their quantity was 17 692 persons, in 1989 — 44 789. The sharp growth of the Ukrainian layer of population in Lithuania is explained mainly by so called "production migration" related with the industrialization of the republic. After 1961 the representatives of mainly engineer-technical intellectuals of Ukraine arrived to Lithuania. That's why the Ukrainians among other national minorities, that liv in Lithuania, differ by the high index of their education. The most of Ukrainians worked on the objects of the power, chemical, heavy, fishing industry. The newcomers descended both from east and western regions of Ukraine
. Overall in 70s-80s the percent of Ukrainians among the newcomers to Lithuania was on average 11%.
After the restoration of Lithuania independence almost all Ukrainians became citizens of the Lithuanian Republic, they enjoy the same rights and obligations as other citizens of Lithuania.
According to the census of 2001. 22 thousand ethnic Ukrainians lives in the Lithuanian Republic, making 0.65% of the population of Lithuania and are the fourth in size national minority. After the restoration of independence about 7 thousand people drove out to the Motherland. The Ukrainians mainly live in the following cities: Vilnius
(7159), Klaipėda
(4652), Kaunas
(1906), Šiauliai
(875), Visaginas
(1583). Jonava
(431 or 1.6% of all citizens), among the rural population the Ukrainians are about 0.4% of all inhabitants.
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
(approximately 3,350,400). The Ukrainian national minority in Lithuania has deep enough historical and cultural relations. During ages in Lithuania the prominent figures of Ukraine such as T. H. Shevchenko
Taras Shevchenko
Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko -Life:Born into a serf family of Hryhoriy Ivanovych Shevchenko and Kateryna Yakymivna Shevchenko in the village of Moryntsi, of Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire Shevchenko was orphaned at the age of eleven...
, Meletiy Smotritsky, Yakiv Holovatsky
Yakiv Holovatsky
Yakiv Holovatsky was born October 17, 1814 in Chepeli, Zloczow powiat, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria - died on May 13, 1888 in Vilno, Russian Empire...
, St. Yosafat (in the world — Ivan Kuntsevich, a religious figure of Greco-Catholic church canonized in 1967) and others stayed and created here.
History
In the middle of the 14th century the Ukrainian lands (the KievKiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Chernihiv
Chernihiv
Chernihiv or Chernigov is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...
, Pereyaslav regions) entered the Great Lithuanian Principality. It is considered, that in 1572 the Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
made 3% of the whole population of the Great Lithuanian Principality
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
. In Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
the residence of the Kiev metropolitan was situated, in 14-17th centuries in the fraternities of Vilnius city (they were founded by Ukrainians and Belarusians
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...
) the elucidative activity of these peoples was concentrated.
In 1596 the Union of Brest
Union of Brest
Union of Brest or Union of Brześć refers to the 1595-1596 decision of the Church of Rus', the "Metropolia of Kiev-Halych and all Rus'", to break relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople and place themselves under the Pope of Rome. At the time, this church included most Ukrainians and...
formed catholic religious community of cast ceremony (members of Uniate Church), that contributed to the expansion of the spiritual connections of the Ukrainian and Lithuanian peoples.
In times of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
according to the demographic data of 1857 and 1897 the Ukrainians were 0.1% of the whole population of the country. In 1897 their common quantity reached 2 500.
The censuses of population of 1923 and other interwar years did not fix separately the persons of the Ukrainian nationality. Although their quantity is unknown, but the organizations of the Ukrainians that functioned in interwar Lithuania testify to the fact that the Ukrainians lived in Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, Kaunas
Kaunas
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...
, Kedainiai
Kedainiai
Kėdainiai is one of the oldest cities in Lithuania. It is located on the Nevėžis River. First mentioned in the 1372 Livonian Chronicle of Hermann de Wartberge, its population as of 2008 was 30,214. Its old town dates to the 17th century....
, Alytus
Alytus
Alytus is a city with municipal rights in southern Lithuania. It is the capital of Alytus County. Its population in 2007 was 68,835. Alytus is the historical centre of the Dzūkija region. The city lies on the banks of the Nemunas River. The major highways linking Vilnius, Kaunas, Lazdijai, and...
, Tauragė
Taurage
Tauragė is an industrial city in Lithuania, and the capital of Tauragė County. In 2011, its population was 26,444. Tauragė is situated on the Jūra River, close to the border with the Kaliningrad Oblast, and not far from the Baltic Sea coast....
.
The first head of the Organization of the Ukrainian Nationalists
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists is a Ukrainian political organization which as a movement originally was created in 1929 in Western Ukraine . The OUN accepted violence as an acceptable tool in the fight against foreign and domestic enemies particularly Poland and Russia...
, created in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, was the colonel of army UPR
Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...
(Ukrainian People's Republic) Yevhen Konovalets
Yevhen Konovalets
Yevhen Konovalets was a military commander of the UNR army and political leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement...
, the citizen of Lithuania from 1929. Lithuania supported this organization morally and materially. From Lithuania the Ukrainians were presented in OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) by I. Rcvyuk (Y. Bartavichius). At this time the body of the Ukrainian military organization "Surma" appeared in Kaunas
Kaunas
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...
.
In October 1933 the Ukrainian national community of Lithuania was registered in Kaunas. It, however, lasted only for four years. At the beginning of 1934 in Kaunas the cultural-educational society of the Ukrainians
in Lithuania was founded. According to its regulation, its purpose was "to unite Lithuanians and Ukrainians for close collaboration, to develop and widen the Lithuanian and Ukrainian folk art and to help to poor Ukrainians". Y. Tovstenko was the head of the society, its founders and members of the board — P. IIrinyuk, A. Kryvonis, P. Vorona. R. Harych and so on.
After the incorporation of the Lithuanian Republic to the USSR in 1940 and after the Second World War end the quantity of Ukrainians in the Lithuanian Republic grew considerably: if after the census of 1959 their quantity was 17 692 persons, in 1989 — 44 789. The sharp growth of the Ukrainian layer of population in Lithuania is explained mainly by so called "production migration" related with the industrialization of the republic. After 1961 the representatives of mainly engineer-technical intellectuals of Ukraine arrived to Lithuania. That's why the Ukrainians among other national minorities, that liv in Lithuania, differ by the high index of their education. The most of Ukrainians worked on the objects of the power, chemical, heavy, fishing industry. The newcomers descended both from east and western regions of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. Overall in 70s-80s the percent of Ukrainians among the newcomers to Lithuania was on average 11%.
After the restoration of Lithuania independence almost all Ukrainians became citizens of the Lithuanian Republic, they enjoy the same rights and obligations as other citizens of Lithuania.
According to the census of 2001. 22 thousand ethnic Ukrainians lives in the Lithuanian Republic, making 0.65% of the population of Lithuania and are the fourth in size national minority. After the restoration of independence about 7 thousand people drove out to the Motherland. The Ukrainians mainly live in the following cities: Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
(7159), Klaipėda
Klaipeda
Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County....
(4652), Kaunas
Kaunas
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...
(1906), Šiauliai
Šiauliai
Šiauliai , is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 133,900. It is the capital of Šiauliai County. Unofficially, the city is the capital of Northern Lithuania.-Names:...
(875), Visaginas
Visaginas
Visaginas is a city with municipal rights in eastern Lithuania, situated near the country's biggest lake, Drūkšiai. Its administrative boundaries are in the process of being defined. The Vilnius–Daugavpils railway runs alongside the town, providing convenient communication with Vilnius and...
(1583). Jonava
Jonava
Jonava is the ninth largest city in Lithuania with a population of ca 35,000.It is located in Kaunas County in central Lithuania, north east of Kaunas, the second-largest city in Lithuania. It is served by Kaunas International Airport. The largest fertilizer factory in the Baltic states is...
(431 or 1.6% of all citizens), among the rural population the Ukrainians are about 0.4% of all inhabitants.