Carpatho-Rusyn DNA Project

Group Administrator: Katherine Ogilvie - Email: katherineogilvie@gmail.com
- Email: gdran_elston@hotmail.com

Project Background

The Carpatho-Rusyn Heritage DNA Project welcomes all males and females of Carpatho-Rusyn heritage.

Carpatho-Rusyn describes a distinct group of people that live or once lived in portions of the Carpathian Mountain range. Their region is comprised of what is now South-Eastern Poland, Transcarpathia, Northwestern Slovakia, and a small pocket in Vojvoidina. Their region was ruled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1772 until 1918. The portion of their region ruled by Austria was known as "Galicia".

Starting in 1880 many Carpatho-Rusyn people immigrated to the United States and Canada. Carpatho-Rusyns in SE Poland {Lemkos} suffered various misfortunes. Some were sent to the Talerhof concentration camp during 1914-1917, and post WW-II most Lemkos in SE Poland were "voluntarily" relocated to Western Ukraine between 1944-1947 - the remaining Lemko population was forcibly removed between 1947-1948 and relocated to Western Poland during the Vistula Action. Carpatho-Rusyns in the other regions still reside on ancestral lands.

The many names by which Carpatho-Rusyns have called themselves or were called by others--Carpatho-Russian, Carpatho-Ukrainian, Rusnak, Ruthene, Ruthenian, Uhro-Rusyn--all relate to their traditional association with the East Slavic world of the Rus'. In Poland they refer to themseleves as Lemko/ Lemko Rusyn. A map of the Carpatho-Rusyn homelands can be found at: http://carpatho-rusyn.org/setmap.htm