Ruthenia
Ruthenia more correctly Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia was a narrow enclave of the former Austrian Kingdom of Galicia which enclave in 1919 was awarded by the western plutocratic Allies to the new artificial state[1][2][3] of Czechoslovakia. It was bordered on the north-east by Poland, on the south-west by Hungary, and on the south by Romania. The inhabitants were Ruthenians, or Ukrainians. In 1933 the official published figures show that of a total population of 685,000, 624,000 were indigenous Ruthenians, 30,000 Jews, 20,000 Hungarians, and some 10,000 Germans. The principal occupation was agriculture.
Rights and wrongs
Ruthenian inclusion in the new Czechoslovakia was announced on 8 May 1919. Yet there were no historical nor ethnographical reasons in support of this conclusion. The Treaty of St.Germain confirmed the rights of the Ruthenians giving them self-government by their own Diet, having jurisdiction over all religious, educational and language questions. It was also expressly laid down that Ruthenian officials were, as far as possible, to be of Ruthenian blood. Ruthenian nationalism, was aroused in the first instance by considerable Czech ill-treatment. The Czechs succeeded in postponing this autonomy on the grounds that the country was not ripe for self-government and would require at least 20 years of tutelage (from those who themselves were amateurs). A further breach of the Peace Treaty was committed in 1926, when the official language of the country was declared to be Czech.
Sources
- ↑ The Tragedy of Trianon by Sir Robert Donald, G.B.E., LL.B., London, 1928, pps: 25-6, 57-8.
- ↑ Czecho-Slovakia Within by Count Bertram de Colonna, London, 1938, p.9.
- ↑ The Origins of the Second World War by A. J. P. Taylor, London, 1961, p.201.
- Czecho-Slovakia Within by Count Bertram de Colonna, London, 1938.
