The materials of the RF State Duma Commission for Studies of Practical Observance of Human Rights and Basic Freedoms, Supervision over their Observance in Foreign States
Unfortunately, the existence of Rusyns, a fairly numerous (numbering up to 1 mln people) nation partitioned by borders of various countries, on the ethnic map of Europe is known only among the expert community. Yet in Europe they are one of the oldest autochthonous peoples of the Slavic stock, which, according to chronicles, populated the territories from the High Tatres mountains in the west to the slopes of the Carpathians in the east and the Middle-Danube lowland in the south. Historians and philologists (V. O. Kliuchevskii, O. N. Trubachev) believed that the territories currently populated by Rusyns were the original homeland of all the Slavs, who subsequently dispersed in various
The publications and materials of M. Makara, President of the Rusyn Scholarly and Enlightenment Society; M. Sharga, Transcarpathian Regional Association "Znannia"; and Archpriest Dymytrii Sydor, President of the Soim of Subcarpathian Rusyns are used in the present paper.
стр. 121
directions - beyond the Danube, to the Balkans, to the Baltic Sea coast and to the Dnieper River. Rusyns preferred not to leave their home "nest" despite the severe times they had to go through. They preserved their national identity even being a partitioned nation for centuries.
The issue of national survival became particularly acute for Rusyns in the late XX - early XXI centuries.
The Rusyns of the Austria-Hungarian Empire have known violations of their national rights including being transferred from territory to territory by force (this is how Rusyns found themselves in Vojvodina and Croatia). But only nowadays, when most of this nation lives within the territory of Ukraine, Rusyns feel a real danger to their very national existence. The new democratic Ukraine does not recognize Rusyns a ...
Читать далее