A political and legal history of Carpatho-Ukraine launched at Harvard (11/23/97)

A political and legal history of Carpatho-Ukraine launched at Harvard

by Robert DeLossa

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University celebrated the launch of a new book by Dr. Vincent Shandor on November 7, with a reception at the institute and a formal dinner at Harvard's Faculty Club. The reception and dinner not only marked the publication of "Carpatho-Ukraine in the Twentieth Century: A Political and Legal History," but also honored Dr. Shandor's life as a Carpatho-Ukrainian statesman, scholar and champion of Ukrainian statehood.

In his welcome, Prof. Roman Szporluk, Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History and director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI), remarked on the good fortune of the institute to be able to publish the political memoirs of a man not only important to the history and formation of the contemporary Ukrainian state, but to the history of Czecho-Slovakia as well. Despite the fact that people tend to overlook so-called "little countries and little regions," he stressed that Carpatho-Ukraine has been extremely important in the history of this century. Now, as the Transcarpathian Oblast of an independent Ukraine, Carpatho-Ukraine is Ukraine's gateway to the other countries of Central Europe.

Prof. Szporluk also highlighted the date of November 7 and the fact that this time of year has great resonance for the material contained in Dr. Shandor's book: the Bolshevik coup in Petrograd, a sad event for Ukraine, took place on November 7, 1917; the Central Rada's Third Universal proclaimed the Ukrainian National Republic (within a federation with Russia) on Nov. 20, 1917; Czechoslovak independence was announced on October 28, 1918, a fact that had huge importance for Dr. Shandor personally and Carpatho-Ukraine in general; the Western Ukrainian National Republic was declared on October 19, 1918. All these underscore the momentous changes that took place at the end of World War I and during the interwar period, precisely the time when Dr. Shandor actively participated in molding the history of Carpatho-Ukraine.

Dr. Shandor, who was head of the Carpatho-Ukrainian Representation to the Prague federal government during the critical period preceding and at the beginning of World War II, was born on October 12, 1907, in Baranintsi, near the Carpatho-Ukrainian capital of Uzhhorod. He was a direct participant in Carpatho-Ukrainian independence following Slovakia's declaration of independence, witnessed Hitler and his troops taking Prague, and helped negotiate the torturous path that Carpatho-Ukraine was forced to take during these difficult years.

Forced into exile by the advance of the Red Army, he eventually emigrated to the United States, where he has resided for 50 years. He has worked in the Pan-American Ukrainian Conference, the General Secretariat of the United Nations and the U.S. Treasury Department. He received his doctorate in jurisprudence from Charles University in Prague, the only doctorate from there to be given to a "citizen of Carpatho-Ukraine." He undertook further study in political science at Goethe University in Frankfurt and at Columbia University in New York. He now resides in the Ukrainian Village Somerset, N.J., where he continues his research on Carpatho-Ukrainian history.

Robert DeLossa, director of publications for HURI, at the reception noted that it had been a privilege for him and Raymond Smith, the manuscript editor, to work with Dr. Shandor. "Dr. Shandor has given us not only a truly scholarly insight into the 20th century history of Carpatho-Ukraine, but has given us a book that is a great read, full of adventure and high drama. It is a history that many of us don't know, but that all of us should know," he said.

Joining Dr. Shandor at the reception were Harvard faculty and HURI staff, members of the Harvard and Boston communities, and members of the Shandor family: his wife, Oksana; son Bohdan and his wife, Marie; daughter-in-law Lidia, and their children. Letters of congratulations came from the U.S., Canada, Italy, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Ukraine.

Dr. Shandor signed copies of his new book for the audience and reflected on his many life experiences. He began by recalling the traumatic struggle of his youth against enforced Magyarization. Before the end of World War I, he and his schoolmates were physically punished for speaking the language that they all spoke at home. His Hungarian teachers assured them that their native language was only a dialect of Hungarian. He reported that, "They [the Hungarian authorities] beat us." After a pause he added, "but they beat us well - because they beat the Hungarian right out of us." This experience and his family's experience housing a Ukrainian POW during World War I were formative steps in the inculcation of his strong patriotism for a greater Ukrainian state.

The author also spoke about his great hope that now, with the independence of Ukraine, people would begin to learn about the true aspirations of the Carpatho-Ukrainian people as they were before and after World War II. He repeated a point from his book that before the war, the Ukrainian consciousness of the Carpatho-Ukrainians was the most progressive trend - that the general populace, not to mention the Czecho-Slovak authorities, had by that time realized the perniciousness of the Russophile and Magyarophile circles. He also emphasized the importance that Carpatho-Ukraine has for the whole of Ukraine as Ukraine's window on the Danube Basin and gateway to the rest of Central and Western Europe.

On the lighter side of his comments, he retold how he had met his wife in Prague almost 60 years ago. "I saw her across the room at a party and told a friend that I wanted to dance with her. I went over and asked her to dance and we are still dancing together!" His wife, Oksana, had worked in the Carpatho-Ukrainian Representation Office. She continues to aid her husband's research, which at present includes plans for two more books of memoirs and history.

Both the book and the evening were dedicated also to the loving memory of Ivan Shandor, Dr. Shandor's son, who died tragically in a roadway accident earlier this year. The publication of the book attests to the strength of support that Dr. Shandor's family has given him over many years.

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"Carpatho-Ukraine in the Twentieth Century" is distributed by Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. Those interested in purchasing the book can contact the HURI Publication Office, (617) 495-3692.

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