The liquidation of the Russophile organization “Shkol’naya Pomoshch’” (“The School Help”) in the context of the national and cultural life of Subcarpathian Rus’ during the period of the Hungarian occupation (1938–1944)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the nature of the cultural and educational societies of Subcarpathian Rus’ (primarily the Russophile organization “Shkol’naya Pomoshch’” (“The School Help”)) between the wars and during the period of the Hungarian rule. The activities of the organizations were determined by the complex national and cultural landscape of the region, the presence of several models for identifying of the local East Slavic population. The liquidation of “Shkol’naya Pomoshch’” corresponded to the main guidelines of the national and cultural policy of the Hungarian authorities, aimed to popularize the idea of the existence of a separate Rusyn people loyal to the Hungarian state among the population of Subcarpathian Rus’. The basis of the source base of the work were the documents of the Hungarian National Archives and the State Archives of the Transcarpathian Region (Ukraine). In particular, the reports of the Hungarian officials E. Malinics, J. Torockói, J. Dyurich on the nature of the activities of “Shkol’naya Pomoshch’” are analyzed in detail. Representatives of the Hungarian administration in Subcarpathian Rus’ considered the activity of this influential Russophile structure, which called into question the correctness of the national and cultural policy of Budapest in the region, extremely undesirable. The Russophiles, a significant part of whom during the interwar period acted in the revisionist interests of Budapest and counted on a positive attitude from the new authorities after the annexation of the region to Hungary, were deceived in their expectations. After the liquidation of “Shkol’naya Pomoshch’”, its property in 1941 was given to “Podkarpatskoe obshchestvo nauk” (“The Subcarpathian Society of Sciences”), whose members worked on the scientific justification for the existence of a separate Rusyn people.