June 26, 2015

June 29, 1945

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Seventy years ago, on June 19, 1945, the Soviet Union annexed Carpatho-Ukraine, which on March 15, 1939, had proclaimed its independence and soon thereafter lost it when Hungarian troops, with Nazi Germany’s approval, invaded it. An agreement was formally signed by Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet foreign commissar, and Dr. Zednek Fierlinger, premier of Czechoslovakia, in the presence of Stalin.

Czechoslovakia had ruled Carpatho-Ukraine prior to the spring of 1939 (following Hungary’s invasion, the Ukrainian territory remained under Hungarian control), and the agreement provided for an exchange of populations between the USSR and Czechoslovakia, and established two commissions to fix the new boundary between the two countries and to liquidate property in Carpatho-Ukraine.

“Although the agreement states that the cession of Carpatho-Ukraine to the Reds was ‘in accordance with the desire shown by the population of Carpatho-Ukraine,’ the fact remains, however, that there was no form of plebiscite whatsoever giving the Carpatho-Ukrainian a chance to express their desire in the matter,” The Weekly’s article noted.

Two areas of Ukraine that were not under Stalin’s control were Lemkivshcyhyna and Kholmshchyna, which were under Polish rule.

Anna Waskos, a public school teacher, was interviewed by a local radio talk show to promote a Ukrainian war relief drive, Tag Day, in April 1945 at the Ukrainian Democratic Club in Hamtramck, Mich.

She told listeners: “…Our homes are intact, food and clothing can be bought, and when we go to bed at night we retire with the full assurance that tomorrow our homes will still stand and a means of livelihood will exist. But not our fellow Ukrainians living in Europe. For many nations have warred on its lands trying to conquer the Ukrainian people. Wars have always disrupted the progress of a country… They have tried starvation, forced labor, death and transportation of entire families and villages into different areas and countries. If the Ukrainians were not a freedom-loving people and a real menace to the nation attempting to settle on its land, such methods would not be employed.”

Source: “Soviet annexation of Carpatho-Ukraine,” The Ukrainian Weekly, July 7, 1945.

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