Opinion: Fate of the Rusyns, (USA, New York Times, October 1, 1992)
rusin
To the Editor:
In "Ugly Echoes in Slovakia" (editorial, Sept. 13), reference is made to the "600,000 ethnic Hungarians as well as Gypsies and Ukrainians." Most of these "Ukrainians" do not consider themselves Ukrainians but rather Rusyns.
The Rusyns before World War I all lived within greater Hungary. After 1919 the Rusyns were split, some finding themselves within the new and reduced Hungary, others in the new republic of Poland, and still others in Romania. Most were included, along with the Czech lands and Slovakia, as a third, eastern component of Czechoslovakia, called Subcarpathian Rus'.
In June 1945, the larger part of this region was forcibly incorporated into the Ukrainian S.S.R. The remainder found itself part of postwar Slovakia, separated by a new international boundary. It was in the interests of the Soviet Union and its Czechoslovak client to call this group "Ukrainians" to legitimize the seizure of Subcarpathian Rus', later called the Transcarpathian Oblast of the Ukrainian S.S.R. COUNT D. GIBSON JR., M.D. Stanford, Calif., Sept. 14, 1992
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/01/opinion/l-fate-of-the-rusyns-584292.html?searchResultPosition=8