On Sunday, 13 September, a prayer vigil will be held in Lviv to mark the Day of Remembrance of Ukrainians – victims of the forced expulsion from Lemkivshchyna, Nadsiannia, Kholmshchyna, Southern Pidliashshia, Liubachivshchyna and Western Boikivshchyna in 1944–1951.
At 14:00, a ceremony of laying flowers and vigil lights will begin at the monument to Ukrainians deported from Zakerzonnia in 1944–1951. The monument is located at the junction of Vasyl Stus, Ilarion Sventsitskyi and Snopkivska streets in Lviv. After the ceremony, an ecumenical memorial service will be held for the victims of the deportations.
Solomiia Rybotytska, Deputy Chair of the Commission on Historical and Cultural Heritage and Tourism of the Lviv Regional Council, stressed the scale of the tragedy of the forced expulsion of Ukrainians from their ethnic lands and the importance of preserving the historical memory of Zakerzonnia.
As a result of the deportations, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians were deprived of their homes and forcibly resettled from ethnically Ukrainian territories. Together with the people, attempts were made to eradicate their historical memory, traditions and cultural heritage.
The Day of Remembrance of Ukrainians – victims of the forced expulsion from Lemkivshchyna, Nadsiannia, Kholmshchyna, Southern Pidliashshia, Liubachivshchyna and Western Boikivshchyna in 1944–1951 is marked in Ukraine every year on the second Sunday of September.