SUBCARPATHIAN RUS' WITHIN CZECHOSLOVAKIA
By Bogdan Horbal ©1996 all rights reserved.
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Several documents and articles deal with the question of the fate of
Subcarpathian Rus' after the First World War and its incorporation into
Czechoslovakia. Istvan Csáky (1887-19??) gives the Hungarian point of
view of this important events in his:
- La question ruthène, par
le comte Étienne de Csáky [The Rusyn Question by the
Count Etienne de Csaky], Paris, 1920. Czechoslovak view of the Paris Peace
Conference, together with Edward Benes's (1884-1948) proposal on Subcarpathian
Rus' appears in David Hunter Miller's (1875-1934), My Diary at the
Conference of Paris, vol.1-21, New York, 1924, especially vol.4, 13, 14
and 17.
The official view of the new ruler of the region is also presented in:
-
Czecho-Slovakia, Ministerstvo Zahranicnich Veci, Mémoire
concernant la Russie subcarpatique, teritoire ruthène du sud des
Carpathes [Memorandum Concerning Subcarpathian Rus', Rusyn Territory
South of the Carpathians], [Prague, 1921].
Former Czechoslovakian Minister of
Foreign Affairs Kamil Krofta (1876-1945), also discussed the Subcarpathian
question in his:
- Podkarpacká Rus a Ceskoslovensko
[Subcarpathian Rus' and Czechoslovakia], Prague, 1934, as well as in: "Ruthenes,
Czechs, and Slovaks", The Slavonic and East European Review, XIII,
1-4 (London, 1935), p.362-371, 611-626.
See also official British account in:
-
Great Britain, Foreign Office, Historical Section, Hungarian Ruthenia,
London 1920.
The former governor of the Region Hihorii Ihnatii Zhatkovych
(1886-1967), Exposé Dr. G.I. Zatkovica, byvshoho gubernatora
Podkarpatskoi Rusi, o Podkarpatskoi Rusi [Expose of H.I. Zhatkovich,
ex-governor of Subcarpathian Rus', about Subcarpathian Rus'], Homestead, PA,
[1922?], discussed the final pro-Czechoslovak agreement made by Rusyn activists
in 1919.
A constitutional background of Subcarpathian Rus' within Czechoslovakia
was given in:
- Zdenek Peska (1900-1970), Ústava Podkarpacké
Rusi [Constitution of Subcarpathian Rus'], [Prague, 1929].
The same
author, together with Josef Markov (1890-1976) published several important
documents in: "Prispevek k ústavnim dejinám Podkarpatské
Rusi" [A Contribution to the Constitutional History of Subcarpathian Rus'],
Bratislava, IV-V (Bratislava, 1930-31), p.419-422 and 511-535.
Complementing these historical materials is an interesting collection of
interwar publications and documents. The Jan Papanek (Czechoslovak diplomat and
humanitarian 1898-1991) Collection includes 17 boxes of printed materials (675
items) and manuscripts. Some of them concern the history of Subcarpathian Rus'.
From another, former Czechoslovak Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Benes
(1884-1948), came the account of the international situation of Subcarpathian
Rus':- Rech' o podkarpatorusskoi probleme. Podkarpatskaia Rus' s tochki
zrennia mezhdunarodnoi politiki [A Note on the Subcarpatho-Russian
Question. Subcarpathian Rus' from the International Politics Point of View],
Prague, 1934.
Criticism of the Czechoslovak administration in the region came
from Rusyn immigrant circles. Michael Yuhasz (1865-1944) wrote about it in his:
-
Wilson's Principles in Czechoslovak Practice: The Situation of
Carpatho-Russian People Under the Chech Yoke, Homestead, 1929.
Aleksei
Gerovskii (1883-1972), published his memories:
- "Karpatskaia Rus' v
cheshskom iarmi" [Carpathian Rus' Under Czech Yoke], in: Karpatorusskii
Narodnyi Kalendar' 1944, (Perth Amboy, NJ, 1944), p.104-118.
The former
Hungarian Senator from Subcarpathian Rus' Charles J.Hakky also expressed
opposition to the Czechoslovak regime in the region but unlike Yuhasz and
Gierovskii, Hakky stressed the Subcarpathian Region's unnatural separation from
Hungary in his:
- Ruthenia, Spearhead toward the West,
Gainesville, FL, 1966.
An example of political activity of Carpatho-Rusyn
leaders is given in: Stefan Fentsyk (1892-1945), Interpelliatsii,
podannyia Predsidateliu Sovita Ministrov i Ministram Chekhoslovatskoi respubliki
deputatom Stefanom Fentsykom [Interpellations Presented to the Prime
Minister and the Ministers of the Czechoslovak Republic by deputy Stefan
Fentsyk], Uzhhorod, 1936.
Scholarly accounts of this period were given in several publications:
- Peter
Stercho (1919-1987), Diplomacy of Double Morality. Europe's Crossroads
in Carpatho-Ukraine 1919-1939, New York, 1971;
- Paul R. Magocsi, "The
Carpatho-Ruthenian Decision to Unite with Czechoslovakia", in Slavic
Review, XXXIV, 1 (Seattle, 1975), p.360-381;
- Walter K. Hanak (b.1929),
The Subcarpathian-Ruthenian Question: 1918-1945, Munhall, PA,
1962, Jirí Král (1893-1975), Podkarpatská Rus
[Subcarpathian Rus'], Prague, 1924;
- Edmund Bachinskii (1880-1947), Editor-in
Chief, Podkarpatska Rus za gody 1919-1936 [Subcarpathian Rus'
for the Years 1919-1936], Uzhhorod, 1936;
- Pavel Fedaka, Narys istorii
Tovarystva "Prosvita" Karpatskoi Rusi-Ukrainy 1920-1939 [An
Outline of the History of the "Prosvita" Society of Carpathian
Rus'-Ukraine], Uzhhorod, 1992.
Czech sentiments towards the province of Subcarpathian Rus' reflect in a
number of recent publications:
Jaromir Horec, Nedelitelna svoboda
Podkarpatska Rus [Undivideable Freedom of the Subcarpathian Rus'],
Prague: Spolecnost Pratel Podkarpatske Rusi, 1992; Vladimir
Fiser-Jaromir Horec, Editors, Minulost a soucasnost Podkarpatske Rusi
[The Past and the Present of the Subcarpathian Rus'], Prague:
Spolecnost Pratel Podkarpatske Rusi, 1994; Jaromir Horec, Podkarpacka
Rus: zeme neznana [The Subcarpathian Rus': Land Unknown], Prague: H&H,
1994.
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