Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T01:18:47.057Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Clash of claims: Nationalizing and democratizing policies during the first parliamentary election in multiethnic Czechoslovak Ruthenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2019

Sebastian Paul
Sebastian Paul*
Affiliation:
Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe — Institute of the Leibniz Association, Marburg, Germany
*
* Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the question of why the countrywide 1920 parliamentary election in Czechoslovakia was postponed in its eastern borderland, Podkarpatská Rus, by putting this event into a context of simultaneous processes of democratization and nationalization, described here as the “double transformation.” The territory in question was inhabited by a Ruthenian majority, who received the support of the government in Prague; a Jewish population without clear preferences regarding their loyalties and aims; a still-influential Hungarian minority; and finally, a Czech-dominated state administration. The aim of the state administration was to let the ethnically mixed population of Ruthenia vote for its parliamentary representatives in the most democratic way possible. However, this intention clashed with the realities in place: old loyalties of the local population toward the Hungarian elites, Hungarian revisionism, a lack of governance, and security issues. Complicating the situation, Romanian troops still occupied the eastern part of Ruthenia as a result of the war among Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania in 1919; Romanians claimed part of the territory for their own nation-state. Faced with these thorny issues, the Czechoslovak state administration felt constrained to postpone the elections until 1924.

Keywords

Subcarpathian RusCzechoslovakianationalizationdemocratization
Type
Research Article
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 46 , Issue 5: Special Section: Between the wars , September 2018 , pp. 776 - 790
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, Manfred, and Dolezel, Heidrun. 2003. Deutsche Gesandtschaftsberichte aus Prag: Innenpolitik und Minderheitenprobleme in der Ersten Tschechoslowakischen Republik. Vol. 1. München: Oldenbourg.Google Scholar
Bakke, Elisabeth. 1999. Doomed to Failure? The Czechoslovak Nation Project and the Slovak Autonomist Reaction 1918–1938. Oslo: Akademika AS.Google Scholar
Budin, Viktor. 1996. Podkarpatská Rus očima Čechů [The Podkarpatská Rus in the Eyes of the Czechs]. Praha, Czech Republic: Nakl. Česká expedice.Google Scholar
Čapek, Karel. 1935. Masaryk erzählt sein Leben: Gespräche mit Karel Čapek. Berlin: B. Cassirer.Google Scholar
“Das Problem der Ruthenen Ungarns.” 1937. In Die Tschechoslowakischen Denkschriften für die Friedenskonferenz von Paris 1919/1920, edited by Raschhofer, Hermann, 216–221. Berlin: C. Heymanns Verlag.Google Scholar
Fedinec, Csilla, and Vehes, Mikola. 2010. Kárpátalja 1919–2009. Torténelem, politika, kultúra [Kárpátalja 1919–2009. History, Politics, Culture]. Budapest: Argumentum — MTA Etnikainemzeti Kisebbségkutató Intézete.Google Scholar
Fischer, Holger. 1978. Oszkár Jászi und Mihály Károlyi: Ein Beitrag zur Nationalitätenpolitik der bürgerlichdemokratischen Opposition in Ungarn von 1900 bis 1918 und ihre Verwirklichung in der bürgerlichdemokratischen Regierung von 1918 bis 1919. München: R. Trofenik.Google Scholar
Vladimír, Goněc. 1997. “Autonomie Podkarpatské Rusi jako problém úrovně práva a právního myšlení.” [The Autonomy of the Podkarpatská Rus as a Problem on the Level of Law and Legal Thinking]. Československá historická ročenka [Czecho-Slovak Historical Yearbook] 2:71–82.Google Scholar
Górny, Maciej. 2006. “Exotische Sommerfrische. Das Huzulenland im unabhängigen Polen und die Karpatoukraine im tschechoslowakischen Staat.” In Wiedergewonnene Geschichte. Zur Aneignung von Vergangenheit in den Zwischenräumen Mitteleuropas, edited by Loew, Peter Oliver, Pletzing, Christian, and Serrier, Thomas, 187–204. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Jaromír, Hořec, ed. 1997. Dokumenty o Podkarpatské Rusi [Documents about the Podkarpatská Rus]. Praha, Czech Republic: Nakl. Česká Expedice.Google Scholar
Jelinek, Yeshayahu A. 2008. Carpathian Diaspora: The Jews of Subcarpathian Rus and Mukachevo. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Kalvoda, Josef, et al. 1982. “The Czechoslovak-Hungarian Dispute.” In War and Society in East Central Europe Vol. 6, edited by Béla K. Király, 275–295. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Karnik, Zdeněk. 1998. “Volby na jaře 1920. Československo na cestě od národně revoluční diktatury k parlamentní demokracii.” [The Elections of Spring 1920. Czechslovakia on the Road from a National Revolutionary Dictatorship towards a Parliamentary Democracy]. In Acta contemporánea, edited by Pecka, Jindřich, 95–131. Praha, Czech Republic: Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR.Google Scholar
Katz, Richard. 1921. “Beim Gouverneur Žatkovich.” Prager Tagblatt, February 26.Google Scholar
Klein-Pejšová, Rebekah. 2015. Mapping Jewish Loyalties in Interwar Slovakia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Kolář, František. 1997. “Podkarpatská Rus na Pařížské mírové konferenci.” [Podkarpatská Rus at the Paris Peace Conference]. Československá historická ročenka [Czecho-Slovak Historical Yearbook] 2:61–69.Google Scholar
Kovács-Bertrand, Anikó. 1997. Der ungarische Revisionismus nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg: Der publizistische Kampf gegen den Friedensvertrag von Trianon (1918–1931). München: R. Oldenbourg Verlag.Google Scholar
Krofta, Kamil. 1936. “Čechoslováci a Podkarpatská Rus.” [Czechoslovaks and Podkarpatská Rus]. In Podkarpatská Rus: Sborník hospodářského, kulturního a politického poznání Podkarpatské Rusi [Collection of Economic, Cultural and Political Knowledge of the Podkarpatská Rus], edited by Zatloukal, Jaroslav, 19–29. Bratislava, Slovakia: Vydal Klub přátel Podkarpatské Rusi.Google Scholar
Lichtej, Ihor. 2002. “Organizáda a činnost' Civilnej správy ako mocenského orgánu Podkarpatskej Rusi.” [Organization and Activity of the Civil Administration as an Organ of Power of Podkarpatská Rus]. In Vel'ká politika a malé regiony: Malé regióny vo vel'kej politike, vel'ká politika v malých regiónoch; karpatský priestor v medzivojnovom období (1918–1939) [Big Politics and Small Regions: Smalls Regions in Big Politics, Big Politics in Small Regions: The Carpathian Area During the Interwar Period (1918–1939)], edited by Švorc, Peter, 93–103. Prešov: Universum.Google Scholar
Lipscher, Ladislav. 1990. “Karpatenrußland und die Südkarpatischen Ruthenen 1919–1933.” Bohemia 31:55–72.Google Scholar
Magocsi, Paul Robert. 1975. “The Ruthenian Decision to Unite with Czechoslovakia.” Slavic Review 34(2): 360–381.Google Scholar
Magocsi, Paul Robert. 1978. The Shaping of a National Identity: Subcarpathian Rus', 1848–1948. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Magocsi, Paul Robert. 1988–2012. Carpatho-Rusyn Studies: An Annotated Bibliography. 5 vols. Boulder, CO: East European Monographs.Google Scholar
Magocsi, Paul Robert. 2002. Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Magocsi, Paul Robert. 2015. With Their Backs to the Mountains: A History of Carpathian Rus' and Carpatho-Rusyns. Budapest: Central European University Press.Google Scholar
Masaryk, Tomáš Garrigue. 1922 (1991). Das neue Europa. Der slavische Standpunkt. Berlin: Verlag Volk und Welt.Google Scholar
Masaryk, Tomáš Garrigue. 1925. Die Weltrevolution. Erinnerungen und Betrachtungen. Berlin: Reiss Verlag.Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, Ezra. 1987. The Jews of East Central Europe Between the World Wars. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Jaromír, Nečas. 1919–1920. “Podkarpatská Rus.” Služba 1:136–147.Google Scholar
Jaromír, Nečas. 1997. Politická situace na Podkarpatské Rusi (rok 1921) [The Political Situation in the Podkarpatská Rus]. Praha, Czech Republic: Společnost přátel Podkarpatské Rusi.Google Scholar
Němec, Ludvik. 1968. “The Ruthenian Uniate Church in Its Historical Perspective.” American Society of Church History 37 (4): 365–388.Google Scholar
Paul, Sebastian. 2017. “Zwischen Loyalität, Realpolitik und Bündnisoption. Die Angliederung der Podkarpatská Rus an die Tschechoslowakei, 1918–1919.” In Akteure der Neuordnung. Ostmitteleuropa und das Erbe der Imperien, 1917–1924, edited by Buchen, Tim and Grelka, Frank, 77–90. Berlin: epubli.Google Scholar
Pop, Ivan. 2008. Podkarpatská Rus. Osobnosti její historie, vědy a kultury [Podkarpatská Rus: Characters of Its History, Science and Culture]. Praha, Czech Republic: Libri.Google Scholar
Rychlík, Jan, and Rychlíková, Magdaléna. 2013. Hospodářský, sociální, kulturní a politický vývoj Podkarpatské Rusi 1919–1939 [The Economic, Social, Cultural and Political Development of Podkarpatská Rus]. Praha, Czech Republic: Národohospodářský ústav Josefa Hlávky.Google Scholar
Sisák, Miron. 1997. “Tlač Podkarpatskej Rusi v rokoch 1919–1938.” [The Press of Podkarpatská Rus in the Years 1919–1938]. Česko-slovenská historická ročenka [Czecho-Slovak Historical Yearbook] 2: 123–126.Google Scholar
Sláma, Jiří. 1988. “Die Parlamentswahlen im Jahre 1935 in Karpatorußland.” Bohemia 29:34–49.Google Scholar
Švorc, Peter. 1997. “Začlenenie Podkarpatskej Rusi do ČSR (1918–1920).” [The Integration of Podkarpatská Rus into the ČSR (1918–1920)]. Československá historická ročenka ročenka [Czecho-Slovak Historical Yearbook] 2:39–60.Google Scholar
Švorc, Peter. 2005. ““Vol'by 1920: Sčítanie obyvatel' štva 1921 a krajinská hranica.” [The Population Census 1921 and the Provincial Boundary]. In Národnostná otázka v strednej Európe v rokoch 1848–1938 [The National Question in Central Europe in the Years 1848–1938], edited by Švorc, Peter, Harbul'ová, L'ubica, and Schwarz, Karl, 185–197. Prešov: Universum.Google Scholar
Švorc, Peter. 2007. Zakletá zem: Podkarpatská Rus 1918–1946 [The Enchanted Land: The Podkarpatská Rus 1918–1946]. Praha, Czech Republic: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny.Google Scholar
Tóth, Andrej, Novotný, Lukáš, and Stehlík, Michal, eds. 2012. Národnostní menšiny v Československu 1918- 1938: Od státu národního ke státu národnostnímu? [National Minorities in Czechoslovakia 1918–1938: From a Nation State to a State of Nationalities?]. Praha, Czech Republic: FF UK v Praze.Google Scholar
Zeidler, Miklós. 2007. Ideas on Territorial Revision in Hungary, 1920–1945. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Žeguc, Ivan. 1965. Die nationalpolitischen Bestrebungen der Karpato-Ruthenen. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz.Google Scholar