Carpatho-Ukraine
Encyclopedia
Carpatho-Ukraine was an autonomous region within Czechoslovakia
from late 1938 to March 15, 1939. It declared itself an independent republic on March 15, 1939, but was occupied by Hungary between March 15 and March 18, 1939, remaining under Hungarian control until the Nazi occupation of Hungary
in 1944.
Soon after the implementation of the Munich Agreement
of 29 September 1938 (by which Czechoslovakia
lost much of its border region to Nazi Germany
) Carpathian Ruthenia
and Slovakia
declared their autonomy within Czechoslovakia, which Prague
accepted. The autonomous Carpathian Ruthenia (officially known as Subcarpathian Ruthenia until then) changed its name to "Carpatho-Ukraine" soon afterwards, in November 1938.
In November 1938, under the First Vienna Award
, which resulted from the Munich agreement
, Nazi Germany
and Italy
prevailed on Czechoslovakia to cede the southern third of Slovakia and southern Carpatho-Ukraine to Hungary.
to Germany according to the Munich agreement of September 29, 1938.
In late September 1938, Hungary had supported Nazi Gernmany by mobilizing between 200,000 and 350,000 ill-trained and ill-equipped men on the Slovak and Ruthenian borders, ready to invade Czechoslovakia in case of war between Germany and Czechoslovakia. After Munich the Hungarians had remained poised threateningly on the Slovak border. They reportedly had artillery
ammunition for only 36 hours of operations, and were clearly engaged in a bluff, but it was a bluff the Germans had encouraged, and one that they would have been obliged to support militarily if the much larger, better trained and better equipped Czechoslovak Army chose to fight. The Czechoslovak army had built 2,000 small concrete emplacements along the border in places where rivers did not serve as natural obstacles.
The Hungarian Minister of the Interior, Miklos Kozma, had been born in Ruthenia, and in mid-1938 his ministry armed the Rongyos Garda ('Ragged Guard'), which began to infiltrate guerillas into southern Slovakia and Ruthenia (ethnic rusyn territory). The situation was now verging on open war, which might set the whole of Europe ablaze again. From the German and Italian point of view, this would be premature, so they pressured the Hungarian and the Czechoslovak governments to accept their joint Arbitration of Vienna. On November 2, 1938, this found largely in favour of the Hungarians and obliged the Prague government to cede 11,833 km² of Slovakia and Ruthenia to Hungary. Not only did this transfer the homes of about 590,000 Hungarians to Hungary, but 290,000 Slovaks and 37,000 Ruthenians
as well. In addition, it cost Slovakia its second city, Košice
, and left the capital, Bratislava
, vulnerable to further Hungarian pressure.
As a consequence, the Slovak end of the Czechoslovak Army had to be reorganised. It had been forced to cede its natural defensive positions on the Danube River almost the entire belt of fortifications along the Hungarian border and several major depots.
The Arbitration of Vienna fully satisfied nobody, and there followed 22 border clashes between November 2, 1938 and January 12, 1939, during which five Czechoslovaks were killed and six were wounded. The Slovak national militia Hlinka Guard
participated in these clashes. The ineffectiveness of the Prague government in protecting their interests stirred Slovak and Ruthene nationalism further. On November 8, 1938, the Slovak National Unity Party got 97.5% of the Slovak votes, and a one-party state was instituted. Slovak autonomy was formalised by the Prague parliament on November 19, and to symbolise this new Slovak assertiveness, the country's name was then altered to Czecho-Slovakia. Ruthenia, or Carpatho-Ukraine, was also given autonomy.
Slovak and Ruthene nationalism grew more intense, and on March 10, there were demonstrations by the Hlinka Guard and Volksdeutsche
, demanding their independence from Czecho-Slovakia.
In the evening of March 13, Jozef Tiso
(the Slovak leader) and Durcanský met German leader Adolf Hitler
, Joachim von Ribbentrop
and Generals Walther von Brauchitsch
and Wilhelm Keitel
in Berlin. Hitler made it absolutely clear that either Slovakia declared independence immediately and associated itself with the Reich, or he would let the Hungarians, who were reported by Ribbentrop to be massing on the border, take the country over. In fact, encouraged by the Germans, the Hungarians were largely massing on the adjacent Ruthene border.
During the afternoon and night of March 14, the Slovak people proclaimed their independence from Czecho-Slovakia, and at 5:00 a.m. on March 15, 1939, Hitler declared that the unrest in Czecho-Slovakia was a threat to the German security, and sent his troops into Bohemia
and Moravia
, meeting virtually no resistance.
Following the Slovak proclamation of independence on March 14 and the Nazis' seizure of Czech lands
on March 15, Carpatho-Ruthenia declared its independence as the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine, with the Reverend Avgustyn Voloshyn (Авґустин Волошин) as head of state.
"The First Constitutional Law of Carpatho-Ukraine" of March 15, 1939 defined the new status of the country as follows:
The proclaimed Carpatho-Ukraine government was headed by President Avgustyn Ivanovych Voloshyn, Prime Minister Yulian Révaý, Minister of Defence Stepan Klochurak
, and Minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Perevuznyk. The head of the Sojm was Avhustyn Shtephan, his deputies were Fedir Révaý and Stepan Rosokha.
The Slolvak declaration of independence caused law and order to break down immediately. On the same day, Hungary had learned that the Germans would not object to a Hungarian takeover of Carpatho-Ukraine.
The available Hungarian forces consisted of an infantry regiment, two cavalry regiments, three infantry battalions on bicycles, one motorized battalion, two border guard battalions, one artillery battalion and two armored trains. These forces were counting for more than two World War II divisions. They were supported by Fiat CR.32 fighter planes amounting to one regiment.
The Hungarian Border Guard units stationed around Mukačevo, after throwing back the attacking Czechs on March 14, 1939, pressed forward in turn, and took the town of Orhegyalja.
On March 15, 1939 the Hungarian Army regular troops invaded Carpatho-Ukraine and by the nightfall reached Szolyva. The Carpatho-Ukrainian irregular troops, the Carpathian Sich
, without additional support, were quickly routed. Czech resistance in Carpatho-Ukraine was negligible, and the advancing Hungarian troops did not have to face a well-organized and centralized resistance. The Hungarian Army also had the advantage of the Vienna Award, which made it possible for the Hungarians to take possession of the area where the Czechs built their permanent fortifications against Hungary.
On March 16, 1939, Hungary formally annexed the territory. Prime Minister Yulian Révaý had resisted the Hungarians until then.
In the night to March 17, the last Czechoslovak troops left Khust
and retreated to Romanian borders. Together with them, the one-day president of Carpatho-Ukraine, Voloshyn, emigrated to Romania.
The Hungarian Army continued their advance, pushing forward at top speed, and reached the Polish border on March 17. Sich volunteers who came from the province of Galicia and captured by Hungarians were handed over to Polish soldiers and were executed in a few days. The last resistance in the Carpathian mountains was taken out on March 18.
The fate of the captive Sich soldiers was a dramatic one. After a short hold in captivity they were taken to the banks of Tisa river and executed in large numbers. This event put a long lasting split in the relations of Hungarians and Ruthenians living in the area. Only recently did the signs of reconciliation begin to appear.
The invasion campaign was a success, but it also proved that the Hungarian Army was not yet ready for full war. The handicaps imposed by the Trianon Treaty
were clearly visible, but the morale and nationalist spirit of the soldiers and the civilian populations were high, which also are important to build a strong national army.
. When the Soviet Army crossed the pre-1938 borders of Czechoslovakia in the fall 1944, the delegation of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile
, led by minister František Němec, arrived to Khust
to establish the provisional Czechoslovak administration, according to the treaties between the Soviet
and Czechoslovak government from the same year. However, just after few weeks, for reasons that are still not clear, the Red Army and NKVD
started to obstruct the delegation's work and finally the puppet "National Committee of Transcarpatho-Ukraine" was set up in Mukachevo under the protection of Red Army. On November 26 this committee, led by Ivan Turyanitsa (a Rusyn who deserted from Czechoslovak army
) proclaimed the "will of Ukrainian people" to separate from Czechoslovakia and join the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. After two months of conflicts and useless negotiations the Czechoslovak government delegation departed Khust on February 1, 1945, left Carpatho-Ukraine under the Soviet control.
On June 29, 1945, a treaty was signed between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, ceding Carpatho-Ruthenia officially to the Soviet Union. In 1946 the area became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, as the Zakarpattia Oblast
(Transcarpathian Oblast
).
After the break-up of the Soviet Union, it became part of independent Ukraine as Zakarpattia Oblast.
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
from late 1938 to March 15, 1939. It declared itself an independent republic on March 15, 1939, but was occupied by Hungary between March 15 and March 18, 1939, remaining under Hungarian control until the Nazi occupation of Hungary
Operation Margarethe
During World War II, the Germans planned two discrete operations using the codename Margarethe.Operation Margarethe I was the occupation of Hungary by German forces on 19 March 1944. The Hungarian government was an ally of Nazi Germany, but had been discussing an armistice with the Allies...
in 1944.
History
- For early history see Carpathian RutheniaCarpathian RutheniaCarpathian Ruthenia is a region in Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast , with smaller parts in easternmost Slovakia , Poland's Lemkovyna and Romanian Maramureş.It is...
.
Soon after the implementation of the Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
of 29 September 1938 (by which Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
lost much of its border region to Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
) Carpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia is a region in Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast , with smaller parts in easternmost Slovakia , Poland's Lemkovyna and Romanian Maramureş.It is...
and Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
declared their autonomy within Czechoslovakia, which Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
accepted. The autonomous Carpathian Ruthenia (officially known as Subcarpathian Ruthenia until then) changed its name to "Carpatho-Ukraine" soon afterwards, in November 1938.
In November 1938, under the First Vienna Award
First Vienna Award
The First Vienna Award was the result of the First Vienna Arbitration, which took place at Vienna's Belvedere Palace on November 2, 1938. The Arbitration and Award were direct consequences of the Munich Agreement...
, which resulted from the Munich agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
, Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
prevailed on Czechoslovakia to cede the southern third of Slovakia and southern Carpatho-Ukraine to Hungary.
Proclamation of Independence
Slovak and Ruthenian demands for independence grew after Czechoslovakia's central government was forced to give up SudetenlandSudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...
to Germany according to the Munich agreement of September 29, 1938.
In late September 1938, Hungary had supported Nazi Gernmany by mobilizing between 200,000 and 350,000 ill-trained and ill-equipped men on the Slovak and Ruthenian borders, ready to invade Czechoslovakia in case of war between Germany and Czechoslovakia. After Munich the Hungarians had remained poised threateningly on the Slovak border. They reportedly had artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
ammunition for only 36 hours of operations, and were clearly engaged in a bluff, but it was a bluff the Germans had encouraged, and one that they would have been obliged to support militarily if the much larger, better trained and better equipped Czechoslovak Army chose to fight. The Czechoslovak army had built 2,000 small concrete emplacements along the border in places where rivers did not serve as natural obstacles.
The Hungarian Minister of the Interior, Miklos Kozma, had been born in Ruthenia, and in mid-1938 his ministry armed the Rongyos Garda ('Ragged Guard'), which began to infiltrate guerillas into southern Slovakia and Ruthenia (ethnic rusyn territory). The situation was now verging on open war, which might set the whole of Europe ablaze again. From the German and Italian point of view, this would be premature, so they pressured the Hungarian and the Czechoslovak governments to accept their joint Arbitration of Vienna. On November 2, 1938, this found largely in favour of the Hungarians and obliged the Prague government to cede 11,833 km² of Slovakia and Ruthenia to Hungary. Not only did this transfer the homes of about 590,000 Hungarians to Hungary, but 290,000 Slovaks and 37,000 Ruthenians
Ruthenians
The name Ruthenian |Rus']]) is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially, it was the ethnonym used for the East Slavic peoples who lived in Rus'. Later it was used predominantly for Ukrainians...
as well. In addition, it cost Slovakia its second city, Košice
Košice
Košice is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary...
, and left the capital, Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
, vulnerable to further Hungarian pressure.
As a consequence, the Slovak end of the Czechoslovak Army had to be reorganised. It had been forced to cede its natural defensive positions on the Danube River almost the entire belt of fortifications along the Hungarian border and several major depots.
The Arbitration of Vienna fully satisfied nobody, and there followed 22 border clashes between November 2, 1938 and January 12, 1939, during which five Czechoslovaks were killed and six were wounded. The Slovak national militia Hlinka Guard
Hlinka Guard
Hlinka Guard was the militia maintained by the Slovak People's Party in the period from 1938 to 1945; it was named after Andrej Hlinka.The Hlinka Guard was preceded by the Rodobrana organization, which existed from 1923 to 1927, when the Czechoslovak authorities ordered its dissolution...
participated in these clashes. The ineffectiveness of the Prague government in protecting their interests stirred Slovak and Ruthene nationalism further. On November 8, 1938, the Slovak National Unity Party got 97.5% of the Slovak votes, and a one-party state was instituted. Slovak autonomy was formalised by the Prague parliament on November 19, and to symbolise this new Slovak assertiveness, the country's name was then altered to Czecho-Slovakia. Ruthenia, or Carpatho-Ukraine, was also given autonomy.
Slovak and Ruthene nationalism grew more intense, and on March 10, there were demonstrations by the Hlinka Guard and Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche - "German in terms of people/folk" -, defined ethnically, is a historical term from the 20th century. The words volk and volkische conveyed in Nazi thinking the meanings of "folk" and "race" while adding the sense of superior civilization and blood...
, demanding their independence from Czecho-Slovakia.
In the evening of March 13, Jozef Tiso
Jozef Tiso
Jozef Tiso was a Slovak Roman Catholic priest, politician of the Slovak People's Party, and Nazi collaborator. Between 1939 and 1945, Tiso was the head of the Slovak State, a satellite state of Nazi Germany...
(the Slovak leader) and Durcanský met German leader Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
and Generals Walther von Brauchitsch
Walther von Brauchitsch
Heinrich Alfred Hermann Walther von Brauchitsch was a German field marshal and the Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres in the early years of World War II.-Biography:...
and Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Bodewin Gustav Keitel was a German field marshal . As head of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht and de facto war minister, he was one of Germany's most senior military leaders during World War II...
in Berlin. Hitler made it absolutely clear that either Slovakia declared independence immediately and associated itself with the Reich, or he would let the Hungarians, who were reported by Ribbentrop to be massing on the border, take the country over. In fact, encouraged by the Germans, the Hungarians were largely massing on the adjacent Ruthene border.
During the afternoon and night of March 14, the Slovak people proclaimed their independence from Czecho-Slovakia, and at 5:00 a.m. on March 15, 1939, Hitler declared that the unrest in Czecho-Slovakia was a threat to the German security, and sent his troops into Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
and Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
, meeting virtually no resistance.
Following the Slovak proclamation of independence on March 14 and the Nazis' seizure of Czech lands
German occupation of Czechoslovakia
German occupation of Czechoslovakia began with the Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's northern and western border regions, known collectively as the Sudetenland, under terms outlined by the Munich Agreement. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's pretext for this effort was the alleged privations suffered by...
on March 15, Carpatho-Ruthenia declared its independence as the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine, with the Reverend Avgustyn Voloshyn (Авґустин Волошин) as head of state.
"The First Constitutional Law of Carpatho-Ukraine" of March 15, 1939 defined the new status of the country as follows:
- Carpatho-Ukraine is an independent state.
- The name of the state is: Carpatho-Ukraine.
- Carpatho-Ukraine is a republic, headed by a president elected by the Sojm of Carpatho-Ukraine.
- The state language of Carpatho-Ukraine is the Ukrainian language.
- The colors of the national flag of the Carpatho-Ukraine are blue and yellow, blue on top and yellow on the bottom.
- The state emblem of Carpatho-Ukraine is as follows: a bear on a red field on the sinister side, four blue and three yellow stripes on the dexter side, as well as the trident of Saint Volodymyr the Great.
- The national anthem of Carpatho-Ukraine is "Sche ne vmerla Ukraina" ("Ukraine has not perished").
- This act comes valid immediately after its promulgation.
The proclaimed Carpatho-Ukraine government was headed by President Avgustyn Ivanovych Voloshyn, Prime Minister Yulian Révaý, Minister of Defence Stepan Klochurak
Stepan Klochurak
Stepan Klochurak was the Prime Minister of the short lived Hutsul Republic in 1919. In 1939, in the same general area, he was the Minister of Defense of Carpatho-Ukraine.-Memoirs:-References:...
, and Minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Perevuznyk. The head of the Sojm was Avhustyn Shtephan, his deputies were Fedir Révaý and Stepan Rosokha.
The Slolvak declaration of independence caused law and order to break down immediately. On the same day, Hungary had learned that the Germans would not object to a Hungarian takeover of Carpatho-Ukraine.
Hungarian invasion
The Carpatho-Ukrainian declaration of independence was taken as the cue for the Hungarians to demand that the Czech government evacuate its troops and civil servants from the area of the Carpathians immediately. The Czech government did not respond, and instead ordered its troops to attack the city of Mukačevo (previously ceded to the Hungarians on November 2, 1938) on the morning of March 14, 1939.The available Hungarian forces consisted of an infantry regiment, two cavalry regiments, three infantry battalions on bicycles, one motorized battalion, two border guard battalions, one artillery battalion and two armored trains. These forces were counting for more than two World War II divisions. They were supported by Fiat CR.32 fighter planes amounting to one regiment.
The Hungarian Border Guard units stationed around Mukačevo, after throwing back the attacking Czechs on March 14, 1939, pressed forward in turn, and took the town of Orhegyalja.
On March 15, 1939 the Hungarian Army regular troops invaded Carpatho-Ukraine and by the nightfall reached Szolyva. The Carpatho-Ukrainian irregular troops, the Carpathian Sich
Carpathian Sich
The Carpathian Sich were irregular soldiers of the short-lived state of Carpatho-Ukraine.-History:The Carpathian Sich was formed in November 1938 under the newly-elected moderate Ukrainian nationalist prime minister of the Subcarpathian Autonomous Region within Czechoslovakia, Avgustyn Voloshyn....
, without additional support, were quickly routed. Czech resistance in Carpatho-Ukraine was negligible, and the advancing Hungarian troops did not have to face a well-organized and centralized resistance. The Hungarian Army also had the advantage of the Vienna Award, which made it possible for the Hungarians to take possession of the area where the Czechs built their permanent fortifications against Hungary.
On March 16, 1939, Hungary formally annexed the territory. Prime Minister Yulian Révaý had resisted the Hungarians until then.
In the night to March 17, the last Czechoslovak troops left Khust
Khust
Khust is a city located on the Khustets River in the Zakarpattia oblast in western Ukraine. It is near the confluence of the Tisza and Rika Rivers...
and retreated to Romanian borders. Together with them, the one-day president of Carpatho-Ukraine, Voloshyn, emigrated to Romania.
The Hungarian Army continued their advance, pushing forward at top speed, and reached the Polish border on March 17. Sich volunteers who came from the province of Galicia and captured by Hungarians were handed over to Polish soldiers and were executed in a few days. The last resistance in the Carpathian mountains was taken out on March 18.
The fate of the captive Sich soldiers was a dramatic one. After a short hold in captivity they were taken to the banks of Tisa river and executed in large numbers. This event put a long lasting split in the relations of Hungarians and Ruthenians living in the area. Only recently did the signs of reconciliation begin to appear.
The invasion campaign was a success, but it also proved that the Hungarian Army was not yet ready for full war. The handicaps imposed by the Trianon Treaty
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon was the peace agreement signed in 1920, at the end of World War I, between the Allies of World War I and Hungary . The treaty greatly redefined and reduced Hungary's borders. From its borders before World War I, it lost 72% of its territory, which was reduced from to...
were clearly visible, but the morale and nationalist spirit of the soldiers and the civilian populations were high, which also are important to build a strong national army.
World War II and the aftermath
During the German occupation of Hungary in 1944, almost the entire Jewish population was deported; few survived the HolocaustThe Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
. When the Soviet Army crossed the pre-1938 borders of Czechoslovakia in the fall 1944, the delegation of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile
Czechoslovak government-in-exile
The Czechoslovak government-in-exile was an informal title conferred upon the Czechoslovak National Liberation Committee, initially by British diplomatic recognition. The name came to be used by other World War II Allies as they subsequently recognized it...
, led by minister František Němec, arrived to Khust
Khust
Khust is a city located on the Khustets River in the Zakarpattia oblast in western Ukraine. It is near the confluence of the Tisza and Rika Rivers...
to establish the provisional Czechoslovak administration, according to the treaties between the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Czechoslovak government from the same year. However, just after few weeks, for reasons that are still not clear, the Red Army and NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
started to obstruct the delegation's work and finally the puppet "National Committee of Transcarpatho-Ukraine" was set up in Mukachevo under the protection of Red Army. On November 26 this committee, led by Ivan Turyanitsa (a Rusyn who deserted from Czechoslovak army
I Corps (Czechoslovakia)
I Czechoslovak Army Corps was a unit of the Czechoslovak army in exile on the Eastern Front fighting alongside the Soviet Red Army, which was created on the April 10, 1944 at Chernivtsi and moved to Krosno area soon after....
) proclaimed the "will of Ukrainian people" to separate from Czechoslovakia and join the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. After two months of conflicts and useless negotiations the Czechoslovak government delegation departed Khust on February 1, 1945, left Carpatho-Ukraine under the Soviet control.
On June 29, 1945, a treaty was signed between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, ceding Carpatho-Ruthenia officially to the Soviet Union. In 1946 the area became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, as the Zakarpattia Oblast
Zakarpattia Oblast
The Zakarpattia Oblast is an administrative oblast located in southwestern Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Uzhhorod...
(Transcarpathian Oblast
Oblast
Oblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"...
).
After the break-up of the Soviet Union, it became part of independent Ukraine as Zakarpattia Oblast.
Parliament
The Soim of Carpatho-Ukraine was established on February 12, 1939 by the Czechoslovakian constitutional act of November 22, 1938. It consisted of 32 representatives with 29 Ukrainians and 3 three of national minorities. There was only a single session of the parliament that took place on March 15, 1939 in Khust. At the session the parliament approved the proclamation of the sovereignty of Carpatho-Ukraine, adopted its Constitution, elected the president, and confirmed the new government of Julian Revai. The head of the Soim became Augustin Štefan with his deputies, Fedir Revai and Stepan Rosokha. The presidium of the Soim emigrated out of the country following the invasion of Carpatho-Ukraine by the Hungarian Armed Forces.See also
- Slovak–Hungarian War
- UkrainiansUkrainiansUkrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
- RusynsRusynsCarpatho-Rusyns are a primarily diasporic ethnic group who speak an Eastern Slavic language, or Ukrainian dialect, known as Rusyn. Carpatho-Rusyns descend from a minority of Ruthenians who did not adopt the use of the ethnonym "Ukrainian" in the early twentieth century...
- Carpathian RutheniaCarpathian RutheniaCarpathian Ruthenia is a region in Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast , with smaller parts in easternmost Slovakia , Poland's Lemkovyna and Romanian Maramureş.It is...
- Former countries in Europe after 1815Former countries in Europe after 1815This article gives a detailed listing of all the countries, , that have existed in Europe since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to the present day...
- Ruthenians and Ukrainians in Czechoslovakia (1918-1938)Ruthenians and Ukrainians in Czechoslovakia (1918-1938)Subcarpathian Ruthenia was economically Czechoslovakia’s poorest region. In 1914 the region was referred to by one historian as "little more than a Magyar deer park." Its people were wretchedly poor, having for centuries supplemented the meagre living the mountainous area afforded with seasonal...
External links
- "World Academy of Rusyn culture", http://www.rusyn.org/?root=rusyns&rusyns=politics&article=30, in English
- Carpatho-Ukraine from "Encyclopedia of Ukraine"
- Villagers reunited by Slovak-Ukraine border crossing, ReutersReutersReuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
, 24 December 2005 - "The Greatness and the Tragedy of Carpathian Ukraine", Zerkalo NedeliZerkalo NedeliZerkalo Nedeli , usually referred to in English as the Mirror Weekly, is one of Ukraine’s most influential analytical newspapers published weekly in Kiev, the nation's capital. It was founded in 1994, and as of 2006 its print circulation was 57,000. It offers political analysis, original...
(Mirror Weekly), March 13-19, 2004. in Russian, in Ukrainian.
Also see
- List of countries in 1939
- List of countries in 1938