Soviet annexation of Transcarpathia

The Soviet annexation of Transcarpathia was the cession of Carpathian Ruthenia (Transcarpathia), which belonged to Czechoslovakia, to the Soviet Union in the years 1945–46.

Location of Transcarpathia between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union
  Transcarpathia
  Czechoslovakia
  Soviet Union

Previous history

At the beginning of the 20th century, the population of the mountainous, economically underdeveloped region known as Carpathian Ruthenia consisted mainly of Ruthenians and Hungarians. It was one of the lands of the Hungarian crown before being annexed to the newly formed Czechoslovakia following the disintegration of the Habsburg monarchy as a result of World War I in the wake of the treaties of Trianon and Sèvres. However, the autonomy of Carpathian Ruthenia, which was also formally agreed upon in the Treaty of Saint-Germain, was not fully recognized by the Czechoslovak government. When Czechoslovakia came under pressure from Nazi Germany during the Sudeten crisis, nationalists of all stripes seized the opportunity and, beginning in the spring of 1938,[1] attempted to impose full autonomy for Carpatho-Ukraine within the Czechoslovak Republic. About a month after the Munich Agreement of September 1938, an autonomous government was formed under Avgustyn Voloshyn. On November 2, 1938, the annexation to Czechoslovakia was largely reversed in the First Vienna Award. In the dispute between the various ethnic groups, the "Ukrainophiles" now prevailed in Carpathian Ruthenia, who increasingly favored the option of annexation to an independent Ukraine.[2] All political parties except the Ukrajinské národní sjednocení were banned. On March 14, 1939, Jozef Tiso proclaimed the independence of Slovakia. Carpathian Ruthenia also declared itself independent. The Hungarian Teleki government and Miklós Horthy were instructed by Hitler on March 12 that they had 24 hours to resolve the Ruthenian question. Hungary responded immediately with the military occupation of all of Carpathian Ruthenia. Earlier, Hungary had demanded and received some Hungarian-populated territories in southern Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia. Hungary thus gained a territory in Carpathian Ruthenia with 552,000 inhabitants, 70.6% of whom professed Ukrainian nationality, 12.5% Magyar, and 12% were Carpathian Germans.[3]

Hungary had to renounce the territories won in the Vienna Awards in the Armistice Agreement signed in Moscow on January 20, 1945.[3] The renunciation was reconfirmed at the Paris Peace Conference in 1946 and recorded in the Peace Treaty of 1947.[4] As a result, Carpathian Ruthenia no longer belonged to Hungary.[5]

Accession to the Ukrainian SSR

The London government-in-exile under Edvard Beneš negotiated the restoration of the state of Czechoslovakia with the Soviet Union, with which it had been allied since 1943, in Moscow. On May 8, 1944, Beneš and Soviet dictator Josef Stalin signed a treaty of alliance that guaranteed that the territory of Czechoslovakia would be liberated by the Red Army and returned to Czechoslovak civilian control. Carpathian Ruthenia was reincorporated into Czechoslovakia while maintaining this status. In October 1944, Carpathian Ruthenia was liberated by the Red Army and occupied by the Soviet Union. A Czechoslovak delegation led by František Němec was sent to the area. Their task was to mobilize the population in order to form a new Czechoslovak army from it. Furthermore, the delegation had to win the support of the population to remain with Czechoslovakia, because the loyalty of Carpathian Ruthenia to a new Czechoslovak state was weak as a result of World War II. In April 1944, all former collaborators were excluded from the political arena. Collaborators included Magyars, Germans, and those Ruthenians who were supporters of István Fencik's party (which had collaborated with the Magyars). This concerned about one third of the population. Another third were Communists, so that only a third of the Ukrainian population probably sympathized with the Czechoslovak Republic.

After arriving in Carpathian Ruthenia, the Czechoslovak delegation announced its planned mobilization at its headquarters in Khust on October 30. The Red Army prevented the dissemination of this news and instead began to rally popular support. Protests from Beneš's government were ignored. The Czechoslovak delegation was also allegedly hindered in building relations with the Ukrainian minority, which caused the disappointment of the population. Soviet activities resulted in 73% of the population being in favor of annexation.[6]

Soviet annexation

On November 26, 1944, the first meeting of the newly elected People's Committee, organized by representatives of the Communist Party of Carpathian Ruthenia, was held in Mukachevo. It proclaimed withdrawal from Czechoslovakia and "unification with its great mother, Soviet Ukraine."[5] The Czechoslovak delegation was asked to leave the area.

Nevertheless, negotiations between the Czechoslovak government and the Soviet government were not concluded. While the right-wing conservative Czechoslovak parties voted against a cession, the KSČ promoted a cession of Carpathian Ruthenia. At the end of 1945, Beneš also confirmed the cession. An agreement was reached with the Soviet Union to postpone the annexation until 1946; the cession to the Soviet Union was agreed by treaty in Moscow on June 29, 1945, and the agreement entered into force on January 30, 1946. Czechoslovakians and Ukrainians living in Carpathian Ruthenia were given the choice between Czechoslovakian and Soviet citizenship.

Consequences

A large part of the Czechoslovak population did not notice the annexation. Over 120,000 people emigrated from the former part of the country. Of the 15,800 Ruthenian Jews, 8,000 emigrated. As a result of the cession, Czechoslovakia lost 12,777 km² of its territory and about 450,000 inhabitants.

Literature
  • Paul Robert Magocsi: The Shaping of a National Identity. Subcarpathian Rus’, 1848–1948. Cambridge, Massachusetts/London, 1978.
  • Vincent Shandor: Carpatho-Ukraine in the Twientieth Century. A Political and Legal History. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard U.P. for the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University, 1997.
  • Ivan Pop: Enzyklopedija Podkarpatskoj Rusi, Uschhorod 2001 (Ukrainian); Encyclopedia of Rusyn history and culture, University of Toronto Press, 2002/05, ISBN 0-8020-3566-3.

References
  1. Миллер, Алексей (2006). "Die Ukrainische Nationalbewegung unter deutscher Besatzungsherrschaft 1918 und 1941/42 by Frank Grelka, and: Nazi Empire-Building and the Holocaust in Ukraine by Wendy Lower". Ab Imperio. 2006 (3): 532–536. doi:10.1353/imp.2006.0120. ISSN 2164-9731.
  2. Stroschein, Sherrill (2012-05-28). Ethnic Struggle, Coexistence, and Democratization in Eastern Europe. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-79376-9.
  3. Konrad), Hoensch, Jörg K. (Jörg (1984). Geschichte Ungarns 1867-1983. W. Kohlhammer. pp. 140/157. ISBN 3-17-008578-6. OCLC 1169886406.
  4. "Friedensvertrag mit Ungarn (1947)". www.verfassungen.eu. Retrieved 2023-04-30.
  5. Boeckh, Katrin (2007). "Stalinismus in der Ukraine: Die Rekonstruktion des sowjetischen Systems nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg". Slavic Review. 67 (4): 1013–1014. doi:10.2307/27653057. ISSN 0037-6779.
  6. Book 6 Československá vlastiveda, p. 138.
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