Social activity of Carpatho-Ukrainian students in interwar Brno (renovation according to the found sources)

Abstract

For today the social activity of Carpatho-Ukrainian students in Brno is known to be the least studied issue in the history of the Carpatho-Ukrainian student movement in the period of interwar Czechoslovakia. Based on all available archival and published sources, in this study the attempt is made to reconstruct and analyse the process of formation and development of public activity of Ukrainian students (natives of modern Transcarpathian region (Ukraine) and Presov self-governing region (the Slovak Republic)), who in the 1920 – 1930s studied at higher education institutions in Brno (the University named after Masaryk, High Technical School, High Vet School). The author of the article states that the social activity of Carpatho-Ukrainian students in Brno developed in several stages. The first stage is the second half of the 1920s, the period when Prague student associations such as the Ukrainophile Union of Subcarpathian Students; and the Russophile society Vozrozhdenie (Rebirth) extended their activities in Brno some local students not only became their members but also formed some of their non-formal centers in Brno (e.g. Union of Subcarpathian Ruthenian Students). However, due to the decrease in the number of Carpatho-Ukrainian students at local universities, this process soon slowed down. Next stage is the second half of 1930s. At that time, relatively large independent Carpatho-Ukrainian student organizations – Russophile Society Verkhovina (1936) and the Subcarpathian Academic Society (1937) formed and gradually intensified in their activity in Brno. However, due to the political situation in the Czechoslovak Republic in 1938 – 1939, their activities ended. More information about the issue discussed in the article can be found in the original documents kept at the archival institutions of Brno.