CARPATHO-RUSYNS. Cleveland's Carpatho-Rusyns trace their heritage to the Carpathian Mountains, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918, annexed by Czechoslovakia between the world wars, and seized by the USSR after World War II. The Carpatho-Rusyns have always been a minority dominated by foreign powers, resulting in a weak sense of national identity among many immigrants and inconsistence in selecting terms to refer to themselves. Most immigrants accepted the designation Carpatho-Rusyns. However, early immigrants belonging to the BYZANTINE RITE CATHOLICS church were called either Rusins or Ruthenians; while immigrants from Galicia preferred Lemkos--derived from Lemkovina, a territory in the Carpathian Mts. Religiously, the Lemkos were both Russian Orthodox and Byzantine Rite Catholics. Other immigrants belonging to the Russian Orthodox church did not use any designation other than Carpatho-Rusyn.

Carpatho-Rusyns arrived in Cleveland during three distinct periods: around the turn of the century (1880-1914); post-World War I (1920-38); and post-World War II (as displaced persons). Most came during the first period, largely men hoping to earn money and then return home. Religious oppression also prompted some Eastern Orthodox believers to emigrate. Between 125,000 and 150,000 Carpatho-Rusyns immigrated to the U.S. prior to World War I. After 1920, women and children predominated among new immigrants as families joined men who decided to remain in Cleveland. In 1924, the U.S. enacted a quota system severely restricting immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe, so between 1920-38 only 7,500 Carpatho-Rusyns immigrated to the U.S. In the 1930s, more than 30,000 Carpatho-Rusyns lived in Cleveland. Immigrants arriving during the third wave of immigration were displaced persons, unable or unwilling to return to their European homeland for political reasons, of diverse backgrounds, and all seeking permanent residence and citizenship. Since 1950, the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries have effectively banned emigration. In 1983 approx. 25,000 Carpatho-Rusyns lived in Greater Cleveland.

One of the earliest Carpatho-Rusyn settlements in Cleveland dates to the 1890s, when immigrants moved in among the HUNGARIANS along Orange and Woodland avenues. As the groups prospered, the Hungarians and Carpatho-Rusyns moved eastward along Union and Buckeye avenues. Carpatho-Rusyn settlements always centered around churches. Three early churches on Cleveland's east side were the ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST BYZANTINE RITE CATHEDRAL, St. Joseph's Byzantine Catholic Church, and St. Michael's Russian Orthodox Church, all since relocated to the suburbs. A second early settlement was on the west side of the CUYAHOGA RIVER in TREMONT. The original Lemko settlement was also here, with ST. THEODOSIUS RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL and HOLY GHOST BYZANTINE CATHOLIC CHURCH serving the community. By 1906, Carpatho-Rusyns began settling in LAKEWOOD, with St. Gregory's Catholic Church of the Byzantine Rite and SS. PETER AND PAUL ORTHODOX CHURCH there. A large-scale move to the suburbs, especially to PARMA, began after World War II. Some inner-city churches followed their members to the suburbs, while new Byzantine Catholic and Orthodox churches were also established. By the 1980s, most Byzantine Rite and Russian Orthodox congregations were comprised of several nationality groups.

The most important organizations in the communities, after the churches, were the fraternal societies preserving the traditions of Carpatho-Rusyns and providing financial security with life insurance and workmen's compensation. Culturally, they sponsored youth clubs, sports organizations, social gatherings, and publications. Many early Carpatho-Rusyn clubs for Orthodox members were named for homeland villages to attract former neighbors. Most no longer existed in the 1980s, although national clubs, such as the Russian Brotherhood Organization of the USA, the United Russian Brotherhood Organization of the USA, and the Federated Russian Orthodox Clubs of America, did. A newspaper for Orthodox Carpatho-Rusyns, Rodina (The Family), was published in Cleveland from 1927-40. National journals and newspapers, such as the American Orthodox Messenger, Russian Orthodox Journal, Orthodox Church in America, and Novoye Russkoyo Slovo (New Russian Word), still circulated in Cleveland into the 1980s. Several fraternal, cultural, and athletic organizations were established in Cleveland by Rusins (Ruthenians). The Rusin Elite Society, founded in 1927, maintained the Rusin traditions among youth, becoming in 1935 the Rusin Educational Society. Its monthly publication, the Leader (1929-30), was short-lived, but the organization sustained itself until the early 1960s.

In 1892, a Clevelander, Michael Lucak, Sr., helped found the Greek Catholic Union (GCU), a national organization promoting unity among Greek Catholics who spoke Rusin, providing insurance, encouraging both academic and religious education, and publishing Amerikansky Russky Vietnik (American Russian Messenger). In the 1980s, the GCU also organized golf and bowling tournaments and participated in an annual Byzantine Catholic Day celebration (originally called Rusin Day). Its publication, renamed the Greek Catholic Union Messenger, adopted an English-language format in 1953, retaining 1 page in the Rusin language. In 1952, a Rusin Cultural Garden was erected in Cleveland's ROCKEFELLER PARK, with a bust of Aleksander Duchnovich, a 19th-century Rusin nationalist.

Lemkos in Cleveland founded an organization in 1929 to preserve their traditions. Two years later, representatives of Lemko associations throughout the U.S. and Canada met in Cleveland to form the Lemko Association, headquartered and publishing its newspaper, Lemko, in Cleveland from 1931-39, when it moved to Yonkers, NY. During the 1950s, the local branch of the Lemko Assn. moved to the Lemko Club in Tremont and published magazines, newspapers, and books in the Lemko dialect; however efforts to attract young members were generally unsuccessful. In the mid-1980s, the Lemko Club was sold and planned to relocate in the suburbs. By the 1980s, most of the old Carpatho-Rusyn neighborhoods were abandoned and immigrants' descendants, as well as new immigrants, relocated to suburban areas, with the Carpatho-Rusyn culture kept alive largely through the churches, which had mostly also relocated.

Nicholas J. Zentos

Lorain County Community College

Wendy Marley

Cuyahoga Community College

Pap, Michael S. Ethnic Communities of Cleveland (1973).

Works Projects Admin. The Peoples of Cleveland (1942).

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