Political situation in Subcarpathian Rus as assessed by Czechoslovak officials and scholars

The article analyzes political, social and cultural situation in Subcarpathian Rus in assessments of Czech officials and ethnographers dated by the time when this region joined Czechoslovakia in 1919. The end of the First World War, disintegration of Austria-Hungary and subsequent incorporation of the lands of historical Hungarian Rus into Czechoslovak state presented the Czechoslovak authorities with the vital need to solve numerous problems related to the ethnic and cultural peculiarities and national identity of the local East Slavic population. Czech ethnographers and officials played an important role in the development of the main directions of the specific policy of the Czechoslovak administration in Subcarpathian Rus. In their practical recommendations to the central government Czech officials tried to take into account the social, cultural, and linguistic characteristics of the local population as well as the geopolitical interests of Czechoslovakia in that strategically important region bordering with Poland, Hungary and Romania. The acquaintance of Czech officials and scholars with the situation in Subcarpathian Rus resulted in maneuvering of the Czechoslovak administration between several cultural and national projects in this region. However, during the 1920-ties representatives of the Ukrainian movement enjoyed the preferences of the authorities in the educational and cultural spheres. Subsequently, this led to the reinforced position of the Ukrainian movement in Subcarpathian Rus and to the growing contradictions between Ukrainophiles and Russophiles during 1930-ties.

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