Magyarone

Magyarone. The term applied, often pejoratively, to members of the Transcarpathian intelligentsia, especially the Greek Catholic clergy and hierarchy, who in the 19th and early 20th centuries consciously Magyarized themselves. Although some Magyarones sympathized with the Transcarpathian Russophiles or with the tuteishi, that is, the local patriots with a low level of Ukrainian national consciousness, they believed that Transcarpathia's Ukrainians would be better off if they became linguistically and culturally Magyarized. They actively fostered that assimilationist goal in the church and schools, where they introduced the use of Hungarian, through their Magyar-language periodicals Kelet (1888–1901) and Görögkatholikus Szemle (1899–1918) and through Budapest-based organizations, such as the National Committee for Magyars of the Greek Catholic Rite (est 1898) and the Union of Magyar Greek Catholics (est 1902). In the 19th century they opposed Transcarpathian ‘awakeners’ such as Rev Oleksander Dukhnovych, Adolf Dobriansky, and Rev Ivan Rakovsky. After 1920, when Transcarpathia was part of Czechoslovakia, they propagated the idea of Transcarpathia's restoration to Hungary, and during the 1939–44 Hungarian occupation of Transcarpathia they supported and collaborated with the M. Horthy regime. Some prominent Magyarones were Bishops Stepan Pankovych (I. Pankovics) and A. Papp of Mukachevo and I. Novak of Prešov, the scholars Sándor Bonkáló and Antonii Hodinka, and the politicians Antin Beskyd, Andrii Brodii, M. Demko, Stepan Fentsyk, Rev Oleksander Ilnytsky, Yosyf Kaminsky, M. Kutkafalvy (Kutka), and A. Stefan (not to be confused with Avhustyn Shtefan).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]