Khomiak, Myroslava/Chomiak, Miroslava

Khomiak, Myroslava/Chomiak, Miroslava (b. March 24, 1942, Uscie Gorlickie/Uscie Ruskie [Generalgovernement, Germany], Poland) — Lemko teacher and cultural activist of Rusyn national orientation in the Lemko Region. Khomiak was forcibly resettled with her family to western Poland during the 1947 *Vistula Operation but returned to her native village in 1972. She studied Russian philology and has spent nearly 40 years teaching Russian at the high school level. With the creation of the *Lemko Society/Stovaryshynia Lemkiv (1989), she became a leading member of its Committee of National Enlightenment and she has been a leading figure in the ongoing codification of Lemko-Rusyn language in Poland. After the Polish Ministry of Education allowed Lemko classes in schools (1991) Khomiak produced a number of textbooks for lower grades, including primers (1992-93, 1996), readers (1993, 1995), dictionaries (1992, 1996-97), and a grammar (Lemkivska gramatyka dlia dity, 1992). In cooperation with the Polish linguist Henryk *Fontanski she has published the Gramatyka lemkivskoho iazyka (2000), which is expected to function as the standard for Lemko-Rusyn publications in Poland. Khomiak has also been an organizer and a speaker at seminars for teachers of Lemko language.

Bogdan Horbal

Entry courtesy of Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture.
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