With Their Backs to the Mountains

by Paul Robert Magocsi

Overview

This is a history of a stateless people, the Carpatho-Rusyns, and their historic homeland, Carpathian Rus’, located in the heart of central Europe. A little over 100,000 Carpatho-Rusyns are registered in official censuses but their population is estimated at around 1,000,000, the greater part in Ukraine and Slovakia. The majority of the diaspora—nearly 600,000—lives in the US.

At the present, when it is fashionable to speak of nationalities as "imagined communities" created by intellectuals or elites who may live in the historic homeland, Carpatho-Rusyns provide an ideal example of a people made—or some would say still being made—before our very eyes. The book traces the evolution of Carpathian Rus’ from earliest prehistoric times to the present, and the complex manner in which a distinct Carpatho-Rusyn people, since the mid-nineteenth century, came into being, disappeared, and then re-appeared in the wake of the revolutions of 1989 and the collapse of communist rule in central and eastern Europe.

To help guide the reader further there are 34 detailed maps plus an annotated discussion of relevant books, chapters, and journal articles.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9786155053467
Publisher:	Central European University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2015
Pages:	564
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Paul Robert Magocsi is professor of history and political science at the University of Toronto, where since 1980 he also holds the John Yaremko Chair of Ukrainian Studies.

Table of Contents

List of Maps

List of Tables 

Introduction

Chapters

1. Carpatho-Rusyns and the land of Carpathian Rus’

Human geography

No shortage of names

Physical geography

A borderland of borders

2. Carpathian Rus’ in prehistoric times

Earliest human settlements

The Iron Age and the Celts

Early peoples in Carpathian Rus’

The Roman Empire and the Dacians

3. The Slavs and their arrival in the Carpathians

The Huns and the displacement of peoples

The origin-of-peoples fetish

Is DNA the reliable way?

The Slavs and Carpathian Rus’

Dwellings of the early Slavs

The White Croats and the Avars

4. State formation in central Europe

The Pax Romana and the Byzantine Empire

Greater Moravia

Saints Constantine/Cyril and Methodius

Christianity becomes "our" religion

Contents

Who among the East Slavs first received Christianity?

The Magyars and Hungary

Historical memory and political reality

The rise of Poland

Kievan Rus’

The Great Debate: the origin of Rus’

5. Carpathian Rus’ until the early 16th century

The formation of the Hungarian Kingdom

A medieval Carpatho-Rusyn state: fact or fiction?

The Mongol invasion and the restructuring of Hungary

The Vlach colonization

Kings, nobles, and the implementation of serfdom

Poland: administrative and socioeconomic structure

The fall of Constantinople and the decline of Orthodoxy

6. The Reformation, the Counter-Reformation, and Carpathian Rus’ 

The Ottoman Empire in central Europe

The Protestant Reformation

The Catholic Counter -Reformation

Poland and church union

Transylvania and church union in Hungary

The Union of Uzhhorod

Uniates/Greek Catholics: A new church or a return to the old?

7. The Habsburg restoration in Carpathian Rus’

Rákóczi’s "War of Liberation"

Habsburg Austria’s transformation of Carpathian Rus’

The Bachka-Srem Vojvodinian Rusyns

Poland and Galicia’s Lemko Region

8. Habsburg reforms and their impact on Carpatho-Rusyns

The reforms of Maria Theresa and Joseph II

Uniate/Greek Catholics and the Enlightenment in Carpathian Rus’

Carpatho-Rusyns become an historical people

9. The Revolution of 1848 and the Carpatho-Rusyn national awakening

The multicultural Austrian Empire

Kakania’s emperors and kings

What is nationalism and what are national movements?

Nationalism in Hungary

From inferiority to superiority: the transformation of a dangerous complex

Revolution in the Austrian lands and Hungary

The Carpatho-Rusyn national awakening: politics

The first Carpatho-Rusyn political program

The Carpatho-Rusyn national awakening: culture

Did Carpatho-Rusyns really love the Russians?

10. Carpathian Rus’ in Austria-Hungary, 1868–1914

The Dual Monarchy and Austrian parliamentarism

In search of a Rus’ national identity

The national awakening in the Lemko Region

Hungary and its magyarization policies

Magyarization despite the letter of the law

Carpatho-Rusyns in Hungarian politics

Carpatho-Rusyns and national survival

Socioeconomic developments

Was life in pre-World War I Carpathian Rus’ so destitute?

11. Carpatho-Rusyn diasporas before World War I

Migration to the Srem, Banat, and Bachka

Emigration abroad to the United States

Rusyn-American religious and secular organizations

Rejected Greek Catholics and the "return" to Orthodoxy

"You are not a proper priest"

"Ruthenians" become Uhro (Hungarian)-Rusyns, or Russians, or Ukrainians

Rusyn Americans and international politics

12. Carpathian Rus’ during World War I, 1914–1918

The end of civilized Europe

World War I in Carpathian Rus’

The war against Carpatho-Rusyn civilians

Magyarization reaches its peak

13. The end of the old and the birth of a new order, 1918–1919 

National self-determination and socialist revolution

Rusyn Americans mobilize politically

Political mobilization in the Carpatho-Rusyn homeland

Hungary’s autonomous Rus’ Land

The Ukrainian option

The meaning of Ukraine

Carpatho-Rusyns on the international stage

14. Subcarpathian Rus’ in interwar Czechoslovakia, 1919–1938

Czechoslovakia and "Rusyns south of the Carpathians"

Borders and the autonomy question

Carpatho-Rusyn national anthems

Hungarian irredentism

Political life

Socioeconomic developments

Subcarpathian Rus’: Czechoslovakia’s architectural tabula rasa

Education and culture

Churches and the religious question

Orthodoxy: the jurisdictional problem

The nationality and language questions

The language question

15. The Prešov Region in interwar Slovakia, 1919–1938

Borders, schools, and censuses

The problem of statistics

Carpatho-Rusyns and Slovaks

Socioeconomic developments

Education

The religious question

The nationality question and cultural developments

16. The Lemko Region in interwar Poland, 1919–1938

Poland, its Ukrainian problem, and the Lemko Region

Socioeconomic status of the Lemko Rusyns

Religious and civic activity

The Lemko-Rusyn national awakening

17. Carpatho-Rusyn diasporas during the interwar years, 1919–1938

Romania and Hungary

Yugoslavia—the Vojvodina

The United States

Marriage and property: two sticking points

18. Other peoples in Subcarpathian Rus’

Magyars

Jews

Relations between Jews and Carpatho-Rusyns

Germans

Romanians, Slovaks, and Roma/Gypsies

Russians, Ukrainians, and Czechs

19. Autonomous Subcarpathian Rus’ and Carpatho-Ukraine, 1938–1939 

The struggle for autonomy during the interwar years

Nazi Germany and the Munich Pact

Autonomous Subcarpathian Rus’

From Subcarpathian Rus’ to Carpatho-Ukraine

Alternatives to the Ukrainian national orientation

Carpatho-Ukraine’s road to "independence"

20. Carpathian Rus’ during World War II, 1939–1944

Nazi Germany’s New Order in Europe

The Lemko Region in Nazi Germany

Carpatho-Rusyns in the Slovak state

Subcarpathian Rus’ in Hungary

The apogee of the Rusyn national orientation

Opposition to Hungarian rule

21. Carpathian Rus’ in transition, 1944–1945

The Soviet Army and Ukrainian nationalist partisans

Rusyn/Lemko Americans and the war in Europe

The Soviet "liberation" of Subcarpathian Rus’

Transcarpathian Ukraine and "reunification"

The act of reunification

Czechoslovakia acquiesces to Soviet hegemony

Why did Czechoslovakia give up Subcarpathian Rus’?

The new Poland and the deportation of the Lemkos: Phase one

22. Subcarpathian Rus’/Transcarpathia in the Soviet Union, 1945–1991

Subcarpathian Rus’ becomes Soviet Transcarpathia

The Soviet socio-political model

Totalitarian time

Forced collectivization and industrialization

Transcarpathia’s new peoples

Revising the past and reckoning with "enemies of the people"

How Carpatho-Rusyns were declared Ukrainians

Destruction of the Greek Catholic Church

Transcarpathia’s new Soviet society

Love of the East

23. The Prešov Region in postwar and Communist Czechoslovakia, 1945–1989

Postwar politics: the Ukrainian National Council

Population transfers and the UPA

Communist Czechoslovakia according to the Soviet model

Carpatho-Rusyns are ukrainianized

The Prague Spring and the rebirth of Carpatho-Rusyns

Soviet-style political consolidation and reukrainianization

Socioeconomic achievements and national assimilation

24. The Lemko Region and Lemko Rusyns in Communist Poland, 1945–1989

Poland reconstituted and reconstructed

The deportation of the Lemkos: Phase two

Greek Catholic and Orthodox Lemkos

Lemkos as Ukrainians

Lemko fear and anxiety

25. Carpatho-Rusyn diasporas old and new, 1945–1989

Soviet Ukraine (Galicia and Volhynia)

Czechoslovakia (Bohemia and Moravia)

Romania (the Banat and Maramureş Regions)

Yugoslavia (Vojvodina and Srem)

The United States

We want to know who we are

26. The revolutions of 1989

Transformation and demise of the Soviet Union

The end of Communist rule in central Europe

Carpatho-Rusyns reassert their existence

One people despite international borders

Proclamation of the First World Congress of Rusyns

The autonomy question again

27. Post-Communist Transcarpathia—Ukraine

Unfulfilled political expectations

Ukraine’s "Rusyn question"

Carpatho-Rusyns in the international context

Socioeconomic realities

A failed or incomplete national movement?

Traditional religious and secular culture

Protestantism and Carpatho-Rusyns

28. The post-Communist Prešov Region and the Lemko Region—Slovakia and Poland

Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution

Censuses confirm nationalities

Independent Slovakia and the European Union

Prešov Region Carpatho-Rusyns reaffirm their existence

The Greek Catholic Church: a positive or negative force?

Nationality assertion and assimilation

Codification of a Rusyn literary language

Poland’s three Lemko-Rusyn communities

Lemko Rusyns or Lemko Ukrainians?

The Vatra: a symbol of national and political advocacy

The attraction of Polish assimilation

29. Other Carpatho-Rusyn communities in the wake of the revolutions of 1989

Ukraine

The Czech Republic

Hungary

Romania

Yugoslavia—Serbia and Croatia

The United States

Canada

30. Carpathian Rus’—real or imagined?

Carpathian Rus’: a reality or an idea?

Carpathian Rus’ beyond Carpathian Rus’

Enemies as friends

A movement of women and young people

Education and national self-confidence

Notes 

For further reading 

1. Reference works and general studies

2. Prehistoric times to the 16th century

3. The 17th and early 18th centuries

4. The reform era and Habsburg rule, 1770s to 1847

5. The Revolution of 1848 to the end of World War I

6. The interwar years, 1919–1938

7. International crises and World War II, 1938–1945

8. The Communist era, 1945–1989

9. The revolutions of 1989 and their aftermath

Illustration Sources and Credits

Index

Editorial Reviews

"Paul Robert Magocsi, a well-known author on Ukrainian History and a self-identified Rusyn, authored With Their Backs to the Mountains not only to fill a lacuna in knowledge among specialists and genealogical researchers, but also to advocate for the distinctiveness (and, indeed, existence) of an ethno-national group still struggling for recognition at home and abroad. The comprehensive book includes a wealth of illustrations, maps, and text capsules, which address thematic issues outside the immediate chronological narrative, and Magocsi’s text is certain to become the definitive reference guide to the Carpatho-Rusyns."

—Curtis Murphy, Slavic and East European Journal

"Magocsi's book is an invaluable source of detailed information for those who are interested in a history of the Rusyns and their diaspora, for those who teach the history of East Central Europe it is also a useful textbook with helpful inserts that explain certain terms, events, and historiographical problems, and includes documents or illustrative explanations of other authors, finishing with a great bibliographic essay in the section 'for further reading'."

—Sergei I. Zhuk, Russian Review

"The real value of With Their Backs to the Mountains is that it is a history of Carpatho-Rusyns that is not written from any state perspective, whether that of Budapest, Moscow, Kyiv, Prague, Warsaw, or Bratislava. It is not inappropriate to say that Magocsi’s history is written from the perspective of Carpatho-Rusyns, while at the time emphasizing that the book systematically analyzes historical events in an objective manner, a not unimportant characteristic of his research. Although a scholarly publication, the book has relevance in the context of present-day changes in Europe. The relevance factor applies to those states to whom the doors became open for membership in the European Union. Although not the sole reason (but nevertheless a reason) was the fact that all of those states recognized their Carpatho-Rusyn citizens to comprise a distinct ethnos. The book’s relevance factor also applies to other countries, first and foremost Ukraine, which is seeking a path to the European Union and which inevitably will be required to recognize that the 1945 annexation of historic Subcarpathian Rus’ and the abolition of the Carpatho-Rusyn nationality throughout central Europe were simply part of the expansionist ideology of the Soviet Union. Magocsi’s monograph, which outlines the above historical scenario, may therefore become a kind of road map for Ukraine’s future political elite."

—Valerii Padiak, Nationalities Papers

"Paul Robert Magocsi, Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto, has been writing about Carpatho-Rusyns for almost half a century now and this book represents a condensation, if not culmination, of his scholarship on the subject. For historians of the so-called stateless nations, Magocsi’s main narrative will strike a familiar chord. He tells a story of people who have existed from the ancient times under foreign powers (Hungarian for the most part) but have been inhibited from developing fully due to the lack of self-rule and governmental policies against them. With Their Backs to the Mountains will certainly prove to be a valuable book for those interested in the Carpatho-Rusyn perspective on the history of these lands by the Carpathians and the question of ethnic/national identity of their indigenous Eastern Slavs."

—Ernest Gyidel, Austrian History Yearbook

"This book is undoubtedly the work of a renowned scholar with impressive knowledge concerning the history and culture of the region. At the same time, this is also the work of an ardent advocate of a national cause (of the people inhabiting this region or having ancestral links to it). It is clear from the text that the author is well aware of the possibility of being accused of partisanship as potentially compromising the academic impartiality of his narrative. Still, Magocsi attempts to balance a critical scholarly approach (as embodied by constructivist methodology) with the primordialism of a national activist."

—Agnieszka Halemba, Ab Imperio

"Die Monographie folgt einem klassischen chronologischen Aufbau und setzt nach einer Beschreibung des geographischen Raumes mit der Darstellung der vorgeschichtlichen Zeit und der ersten menschlichen Ansiedlungen in der Karpato-Rus’ ein. Indem dieser Aufbau an die klassische Geschichtsschreibung moderner Nationalstaaten erinnert, meldet er einen Anspruch an. Wie bei den Handbüchern von Magocsi üblich, wird der Text illustriert durch sorgfältig gestaltete, informative (und suggestive) Karten sowie Kästen, die Kontexte zur Geschichte der Karpato-Rus’ erörtern. Als einführende Gesamtdarstellung konzipiert, die Monographie umfasst über 40 Seiten eines chronologisch strukturierten, kommentierten bibliographischen Anhangs sowie ein gut verwendbares Register."

—Christophe von Werdt, Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas

From the Publisher