Нелегальні переходи українців Східної Галичини у карпатську Україну і реакція Польського уряду (1938-1939 рр.)

Abstract

У статті, на основі уведення до наукового обігу архівних та опублікованих документів, найновіших публікацій українських і зарубіжних істориків, зроблено спробу висвітлити громадсько-політичні взаємини українців Східної Галичини і Закарпаття напередодні Другої світової війни. Автор доводить, що нелегальні переходи чехословацько-польського кордону свідчили про солідарність галичан із національно-визвольною боротьбою закарпатських українців. Разом з цим, вони викликали негативну реакцію польської влади, яка прагнула встановити спільний угорсько-польський кордон у 1938-1939 рр.

The formation of the Carpatho-Ukrainian state in 1938-1939 was the result of a many years activity of the Ukrainian patriotic forces in all spheres of social life in Transcarpathia. The short-lived existence of an autonomous and subsequently independent Transcarpathian region with the alternate names "Subcarpathian Rus" and "Carpathian Ukraine" coincided with the intense political crisis in Central Europe that became the detonator of World War II. The situation of the Carpathian Ukraine in the late 1930s should be considered in at least two areas: as a subject of political processes and as one of the stages of the Ukrainian people's struggle for independence, especially taking into account the fact that here we talk only about a separate part of the Ukrainian lands. Czechoslovakia's attitude to Transcarpathia and to the Ukrainian problem in general differed significantly from the policy, concerned with the Ukrainian idea, in other European countries, first of all in Hungary and Poland. This fact undoubtedly contributed to a clear Ukrainian course by the President of Carpathian Ukraine Augustine Voloshyn, albeit with a focus on German patronage, and the local government received comprehensive support from Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia. This support resulted in a mass of illegal crossings of the Polish-Czechoslovak border, holding a number of protest actions in the cities of Eastern Galicia, the infusion of the inhabitants of Galicia into the National Defense Organization “Carpathian Sich”. Such solidarity of the inhabitants of Galicia with the national liberation struggle of the Transcarpathian Ukrainians testified to their sincere desire to help, but at the same time it complicated the international position of Czechoslovakia, exacerbating Czechoslovak-Hungarian and Czechoslovak-Polish interstate relations. Polish authorities have repeatedly appealed to Prague for protests, demanding the immediate extradition of their citizens, many of whom were part of the “Carpathian Sich” military headquarters. The anti-Polish actions of individual radical-minded Galicians and Transcarpathian nationalists, including the attacks on the Polish consulate in Svalyava, also played a negative role. An important role was played by the fact that the Carpathian Ukraine was supported by Halych Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky. Ukrainians of Galicia, who were in Transcarpathia, took an active part in the defense of Carpathian Ukraine in March 1939.