Эго-документы Александра Духновича как источник информации о некоторых фактах истории русинов

Abstract

The article analyzes the history of Rusins reflected in the ego-documents of the public and religious figure, publisher and enlightener Alexander Dukhnovich (1803– 1865), who was a precedent personality for the Rusins linguocultural community. His epistolary heritage and autobiographical materials are a source of information, first, about his own life, literary and publishing activities, ideological attitudes, ethnic and linguistic identity, second, about the social and material status of the Rusins in the Kingdom of Hungary and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the mid 19th century as well as magyarization of the non-Hungarian peoples and its consequences. The author compares the facts in A. Dukhnovich’s ego-texts with modern works on history to conclude that the subjectivity and emotionality of letters and autobiographies does not undermine their historical and cultural value, thus making them significant for understanding the past by a direct participant in the events.