Forced lineups continue, according to the news, the Ukrainians know no mercy in this area, and you can also read shocking stories about the operation of the police...
I can imagine fewer sadder and more heartbreaking tasks from a Hungarian point of view in connection with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict than to write a paragraph about the situation of Hungarians in Transcarpathia. Of course, as a person living on Earth, as a European, it is incomprehensible and shocking to see the war going on in Eastern Ukraine, the suffering of millions of innocent people, the deaths and injuries of tens and hundreds of thousands, the serious destruction amounting to billions of dollars, but for a Hungarian, special attention should be paid to Transcarpathia.
Now it would be nice to start the analysis with something positive, to write something encouraging, but no matter where I run into the story, I feel like crying. The only positive, which is also a negative, is that many Hungarian men of conscription age were able to escape from Ukraine, and thus they do not have to participate in the senseless war in eastern Ukraine. At the same time, this is also a huge problem, because – according to the current situation – once these men return home, they will immediately be brought to court. Thus, if the men ran away from Transcarpathia, their families must have gone with them. And if this has not happened yet, then in time the wife and children will surely follow the head of the family.
Right at the beginning of the war, it was estimated that half of the 150,000-strong Transcarpathian Hungarians had left their homeland. Since then, the situation has most certainly only worsened, so that among the Transcarpathian Hungarians, only the elderly stayed at home. Those who were reckless enough not to run away can't have an easy life. Although they do not have to fear Russian bombing, because so far during the war they have only fired a rocket into Transcarpathia once, when an attack hit a railway power supply center near Volóc, but the Ukrainian army and police are very active there.
Forced lineups continue, according to the news, the Ukrainians know no mercy in this area, and you can also read shocking stories about the operation of the police...
However, there is another problem. While most of the Transcarpathian Hungarians left Ukraine, they were replaced by hundreds of thousands of refugees from the east. And the longer the war in eastern Ukraine lasts, the more dramatic will be the ethnic transformation of the county. Unfortunately, we can risk that if the war continues and the acting president remains in the presidency, Transcarpathia will cease to be Hungarian and will never be the same as it was before February 24, 2022, ethnically nothing.
And what can you hold on to? Well, the believers clasp their hands in prayer, those who deny the existence of God, press for the turn of fate to the right. For the Transcarpathian Hungarians to be able to return to their homeland and plan their future there, a miracle is needed. First of all, the Russian-Ukrainian war should end. Secondly, there should be a radical change in the leadership of Ukraine - this is hardly imaginable with the acting president - which should grant amnesty to those who fled the country because of the war. And this leadership should be one that respects the rights of the minorities living in the country. And of course, these should not only be promised, but also kept, in Ukraine they do not always go together.
Well, if all of these were to be fulfilled, then perhaps Transcarpathian Hungarians would gain new strength, or at least rise from total weakness. However, this seems so hopeless at the moment that only a (divine) miracle can help. So help me!
Photo: MH/Róbert Hegedüs
