“Round table” dedicated to the 78th anniversary of proclamation of Independence of Carpatho-Ukraine was held at UzhNU
"Carpatho-Ukraine of 1938-1939 as a stage of development of Ukraine as an independent state in the XX century" is the topic which gathered scholars, experts and representatives of national and regional media at the “round table”. The debate was also joined by the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Hrytsak and the Head of the Security Service in the Transcarpathian region Oleh Voyevodin.
"Those who don’t know their history have no future" – said the Acting Rector of UzhNU Oleksandr Slyvka opening the discussion. The Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Hrytsak thanked the university managers for the invitation to take part in the "round table", stressing that it was a great honour for SBU members to participate in it.
Participants of the "round table" held a minute of silence to commemorate all those who died in the fight for freedom of Ukraine in 1938-39, and in an undeclared war with Russia today.
On behalf of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Hrytsak presented letters of commendation to Ivan Chavarha, the researcher who donated a hand written copy of the criminal case filed against the President of Carpatho-Ukraine Avgustyn Voloshyn (the original is now kept in the archives of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation) and Oleksiy Korsun, the head of the editorial and publishing group "Rehabilitated by history".
Then, the scholars studying the history of Carpatho-Ukraine presented their reports. Serhiy Fedaka, Oleksiy Korsun, Mykola Vehesh and Ivan Chavarha told about the actual course of events in 1938-39, the subsequent tragic fate of the President of Carpatho-Ukraine Avgustyn Voloshyn and the difficulties encountered by the researchers studying the historical documents of the period under discussion.
Professor Mykola Vehesh stressed that the scholars of UzhNU had done a huge amount of work to popularize Carpatho-Ukraine. The heroes of Carpatho-Ukraine were commemorated by the President and the Speaker of the Parliament of Ukraine on Krasne Pole near Khust. According to Mr. Vehesh it is a clear indication that the topic of Carpatho-Ukraine is recognized at the state level. After all, at present all textbooks on the history of Ukraine contain at least a paragraph about Carpatho-Ukraine, although still in the early 90-ies the articles where Avgustyn Voloshyn was called a political swindler were published by "Zakarpatska Pravda".
Summarizing the work of the "round table”, Vice-Rector for Academic Policy and Research of UzhNU Myroslava Lendel noted that the presented reports were profound and emotional and also said that the idea to present the history of Carpatho-Ukraine through the personalities of the researchers who had studied it, was very compelling. Finally, she promised that Uzhhorod National University would organize and conduct an extensive international scientific conference on the 80th anniversary of proclamation of independence of Carpatho-Ukraine.
