Ukrainians under Romanian Rule
After the First World War the Entente gave the former Austrian province of Bukovyna to Romania. Under Austrian rule, Ukrainians in Bukovyna enjoyed wide political rights, extensive local self-government, and a well-developed system of Ukrainian-language education. The situation radically changed when the region became part of Romania. Like Poland, Romania pursued a policy of assimilation. Ukrainian schools, parties, cultural organizations and newspapers were shut down. The departments of Ukrainian studies at Chernivtsi University were abolished. Bucharest refused to recognize the Ukrainians as a distinct nationality. Ukrainians were classified as “Romanians who had forgotten their native language” or “Ukrainized Romanians.” Ukrainian surnames were changed to sound more Romanian. The same happened with Ukrainian names of villages and towns. In 1940 the Rumanian government under pressure from Stalin ceded Bukovyna to Soviet Ukraine.
Ukrainians in Czechoslovakia
In 1919 Transcarpathia voluntarily joined the newly created by the Entente Czechoslovak republic, one of the most democratic states in Europe. The population of the region consisted of Ukrainians (71,3%), Jews (13%), Hungarians (7%), and other minorities such as Slovaks, Germans, Czechs, and Romanians. The Czech government allowed its population to use the language of its choice in schools and open cultural and political organizations. Such liberalism led to the growth of Ukrainian national life in the region. The Czech government, however, planned to abolish any possibility of unification of Transcarpathian Ukrainians with Ukrainians in other lands. Prague propagated the idea that Ukrainians in Transcarpathia were a separate nation – Carpathian Rusyny. This movement was called Rusynophile and it enjoyed significant support of the government. Another Ukrainian movement in Transcarpathia was called Russophile (москвофіли або русофіли). Russophile believed that Ukrainians of Transcarpathia were in fact Russians. The third movement was that of Ukrainophiles who believed that Ukrainians of Transcarpathia were brothers of the Ukrainians who lived under Polish and Soviet control. The fourth movement was called Magyarophile (“мадярони”). The Magyarophiles wanted to return Carpathian Ukraine under Hungarian control.19 Thus, Ukrainians in Czechoslovakia had four national orientations and that suited Prague well.20
Carpatho-Ukrainian autonomy
In October 1938 Prague granted autonomy to Transcarpathia. The famous Ukrainian political figure and respected Greek Catholic priest, Avhustyn Voloshyn, was appointed head of the cabinet, which started a large-scale Ukrainization policy. The educational system, publications, and administration were Ukrainized. All political parties, except the pro-governmental Ukrainian National Union, were banned and their newspapers closed. In February 1939, elections were held to the regional parliament and the Ukrainophiles received 86% (or 94%, according to other data) of the votes. Some historians say that the election results were falsified. It was not difficult under such non-democratic conditions. Meanwhile, a military organization, the Carpathian Sich, was organized and soon had about 5,000 soldiers, who were mostly enthusiastic Ukrainian youth from Galicia – many of them members of the OUN.
There were pressing reasons for establishing a military force, for as Czechoslovakia slowly disintegrated, neighboring Hungary demanded the return of its former Transcarpathian lands. On 14 March 1939, the Hungarian army moved into the region. On 15 March, in a symbolic gesture, the Voloshyn government proclaimed the independent Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine21 and sent a telegram to Hitler asking him to accept the new republic as a German protectorate.22 Voloshyn did not know that Hitler had already promised Transcarpathia to his ally and friend Admiral Horthy, the Hungarian dictator. The sejm (parliament) adopted the blue-yellow national flag, the coat of arms containing a trident, and the national anthem ‘Ukraine has not perished yet’ (Ще не вмерла Україна). Ukrainian was proclaimed the state language. Many young integral nationalists from Galicia illegally crossed the border and joined the Carpathian Sich. The Carpathian Sich showed brave but futile resistance to the outnumbered enemy. Soon the whole territory was occupied by Hungarians.23
After conquering Transcarpathia the Hungarian government started Magyarization (Hungarization) policy. All Ukrainian publications and organizations, including Prosvita, were banned. The Ukrainian language in schools was gradually replaced with Hungarian.
1 The number of republics gradually increased to 9 and then to 15.
2 It should be noted, however, that Ukrainian books did not dominate the republic’s book market, as three quarters of the books sold in the republic were published in Russia. Many Russian-language newspapers were also brought to Ukraine from Russia.
3 The lucky ones lived in the so-called communal apartments where each family occupied a single room. Families in barracks used curtains to shield their beds from their coworkers’ eyes.
4 Allegorically speaking, the Soviet people were a family; Stalin (and the party) was the father who takes decisions and cannot make mistakes. That is why, the family must be totally obedient to the father.
5 According to some historians, Stalin also believed that the peasants were hiding grain from the state.
6 The most distinguished Ukrainian expert on the famine of 1932-33, historian S. Kulchytsky, calculated that the direct losses of the famine were not more than 3.5million. The same figures are given by famous Australian demographer Stephen Wheatcroft and Ukraine’s Institute of Demography. Some politicians try to exaggerate the number for political reasons and say that over 10 million died from the famine.
7 Some Russian historians say that of 8 million people perished from the famine, Ukraine lost less than 50 percent (3.5 million), the Russian Federation lost 4.5 million. The heaviest losses in the USSR among the peasants were in Saratov region (Russia) – over 41 percent.
8 Stalin was Georgian. His real name was Dzhugashvili.
9 After 1928 the food stores and shops turned into distribution centers where foods were available to people with ration cards for foodstuffs and industrial goods. Thus peasants could not buy food in cities.
10 Almost half the parliament (the Party of Regions and Communists) refused to take part in voting.
11 The regime was afraid of them because intellectuals remained the only source of alternative information and they could tell the brain-washed citizens the truth about the regime.
12 The famous cult of Pavlik Morozov who informed on his father was created.
13 The Cossack was a symbol of freedom.
14 There were 83 Ukrainian newspapers in Poland, 21 of them were political.
15 It included setting fire to Polish estates; destruction of Polish governmental buildings, railroads, and telegraph lines; political assassinations of Poles and Ukrainians who favored cooperation with the Poles.
16 “If blood is needed, we’ll provide a sea of it; if terror is needed, we’ll give a hell of it! Do not be ashamed of killings, robberies and arsons. There is no ethics in the struggle.”
17 S. Bandera was a major organizer of terrorist acts in interwar Galicia. On February 25, 2010 the European Parliament passed a resolution on Ukraine where it expressed its regret over President Yushchenko’s decision to posthumously confer the title of ‘National Hero of Ukraine’ on S. Bandera.
18 Similar processes took place in areas populated by Ukrainians in Romania and Czechoslovakia. Communist forces in those countries wanted unification with Soviet Ukraine while nationalists wanted creation of an independent state.
19 Hungary (as part of Austro-Hungarian Empire) controlled Transcapathia from 1867 till 1918.
20 It prevented Ukrainians from unification.
21 Strictly against the proclamation of independence were local Slovaks, who wanted to join Slovakia, and local Hungarians, who wanted to join Hungary.
22 Protectorate means a country that is controlled and protected by a more powerful state.
23 The independence of Carpatho-Ukraine lasted only one day.