Eastern Galicia

Eastern Galicia (Ukrainian: Східна Галичина, romanized: Skhidna Halychyna; Polish: Galicja Wschodnia; Rusyn: Всхідня Галичына, romanized: Vskhidnya Halichyna; Yiddish: מזרח גאַליציע, German: Ostgalizien) is a geographical region comprising the eastern portion of the historical, Austro-Hungarian-defined region of Galicia in Eastern Europe, corresponding roughly with the historical region of Red Ruthenia (excluding the Chełm Land). It includes parts of Western Ukraine (present day oblasts of Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, most of Ternopil Oblast) and Southeastern Poland (parts of present day Subcarpathian and Lublin Voivodeships). It has an essential historic importance in Poland which it was an integral part of until 1939. Before World War II Eastern Galicia had a mixed population consisting of a Ukrainian (Ruthenian) overall majority, with a Polish plurality (majority) in urban areas, as well as Carpatho-Rusyn, Ashkenazi Jewish, Forest German and other minorities. It was one of the two major regions of wartime Poland affected by the Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, which is characterized by Polish sources as a genocide. Its Polish portion was also the site of the post-war Operation Vistula, a Stalinist-led effort to purge UPA activity from the region through forced resettlement. Though aimed at eliminating Ukrainian nationalist elements and guerillas who had been using the mountainous geography of the region for raids on Polish border troops, the resettlement instead disproportionately affected Poland's autochthonous Lemko minority, a majority of whom identified as Rusyns rather than Ukrainians. Galicia was formed within the Austrian Empire during the years 1772–1918 when it was the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. Eastern Galicia now includes all of the Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblasts (regions) of Ukraine as well as most of the Ternopil Oblast, barring its northern stretches of the former Kremenets, Shumsk and Lanivtsi Raions and the northern part of Zbarazh Raion. On the other hand, the...