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June 26, 1899

Yuliian Revai was born on June 26, 1899, in Mircha in Transcarpathia. A teacher and a journalist, he founded and served as president of the Teachers Hromada of Subcarpathian Ruthenia and as editor of the Uzhhorod-based newspaper Uchytel (Teacher, 1924-1935) and of Do Peremohy (1935-1938).

A member of the Transcarpathian branch of the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party, he was elected to Parliament (serving 1935-1938) and was among the authors of the bill granting autonomy to Carpatho-Ukraine. A founder of the Ukrainian National Alliance, he was elected on its slate to the Diet of Carpatho-Ukraine, and was appointed minister of communications and public works in October 1938, then minister of health and social welfare in November 1938.

Upon the proclamation of an independent Carpatho-Ukrainian state on March 15, 1939, Revai was appointed prime minister and minister of foreign affairs. When the Axis-backed Hungarian forces invaded later that year, he fled to Vienna, whence he traveled to Berlin and Bratislava to lobby to end Hungary's repressive policies in his homeland.

By war's end Revai was in Prague, and when the Soviets occupied the city they arrested him. He managed to escape, however, and found his way to the American zone of Germany, where he served on the executive of the Central Representation of the Ukrainian Emigration.

Revai emigrated to the United States in 1948, where he soon became active with the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, serving as its executive director in 1949-1957. He also served as director of the Ukrainian Institute of America.

Revai was one of the founders of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians, participating in its inaugural congress in November 1967, and served on its executive. He died on April 30, 1979, in New York City.

Source: "Revai, Yuliian," Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vol. 4 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993).

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 22, 1997, No. 25, Vol. LXV

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