Talking Point Czechs and Rusyns: the ties that bind
National anthems are not just reserved for peoples with a state of their own. What you heard there is the national anthem of Subcarpathian Rusyns—or Ruthenians, as they are referred to by some. When Czechoslovakia was established in 1918, Rusyns were a founding people of the new central European state. After World War Two, the province of Subcarpathian Rus was incorporated into Soviet Ukraine and lost to Czechoslovakia, yet the relationship between Czechs and Rusyns was never emotionally severed and since 1990 there has been a growing Rusyn revival throughout central Europe. Although the numbers of Rusyns living in the Czech Republic is considerably less than that in neighbouring Slovakia, Hungary or Ukraine, Rusyns here represent a link to the past that's attracting new life.
Jaromir Horec
Back
