The picture of eastern Slovakia in Transcarpathian Ukraine and Transcarpathian Ukraine in eastern Slovakia from the 17th to 20th centuries

Project facts

Project promoter:
University of Presov
Project Number:
SK08-0007
Target groups
Researchers or scientists,
Students and trainees in all forms of higher education level education and training
Status:
Completed
Initial project cost:
€180,080
Final project cost:
€165,606
From Norway Grants:
€ 119,650
The project is carried out in:
EXTRA-REGIO NUTS 1

Description

Present eastern Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine are regions linked with centuries-old relations. From the 11th century they were part of the same country and there were no borders between them for over 900 years. Neither of them formed a separate administrative unit, therefore, they were open to mutual communication to a maximum extent. However, it all changed after World War II. Apart from other things the division of the territory also resulted in dividing the archives mapping the history and life of the population in the border region. Therefore, certain documents belonging to Mukacheve archive ended up in the Prešov Greek Catholic archbishopry’s archive, and vice versa, many documents belonging to the Slovak side may be found in the archives in Uzhhorod and Berehovo. Many important historical documents have not been made available for the other side, which makes the common historical knowledge about the coexistence of the inhabitants of the border region remain absent.The project objective is to gather documents of different nature that contain information on the people, their lives, feelings, cooperation, common interests, problems and objectives in the two neighbouring regions in the period when they were not divided by borders, and make them available for the public. The major and long-term effects of the project are improvements in Slovak/EU/EEA and Ukrainian relations in academic cooperation, however, the key impacts of the project are to preserve the historical heritage of the border region, make archived historical data available for researchers as well as the general public. Last but not least, the project will generate new knowledge on common history and coexistence of residents in the border region. The main project outputs will include digitalisation of documents and literature as well as exchange of outcomes of the scientific research on the project topic through conferences and published collections of conference papers.

Summary of project results

The main and long-term expected impact of the project was the improvement of Slovak-Ukrainian scientific cooperation, but the key impact of the project is the preservation of the historical heritage of the border region, the accessibility of historical data to the broad professional and lay public and the mutual exchange of the digital form of documents found on the opposite sides of the common borders. Last but not least, the project generates new knowledge about the common history and the coexistence of the inhabitants of the border region. The aim of the project was to collect and make available to the general public documents of various origins of Upper Hungary (today Eastern Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine) which capture information on the inhabitants and their lives of these two nearby regions, their perceptions, cooperation, common interests and problems and goals, when they did not divide the boundaries. The uniqueness of the project was in the mutual exchange of historical documents and put. The main activity of the project was digitization of documents and literature in selected archives and exchange of scientific research results through conferences, anthologies and scientific journals. Digitization covered part of these archives: • State Archives in Prešov: Drugeth Humenné Fund - Urbáre, extracts, documents and other materials related to Uzhhorod estate. Saris County - Communication from the county of Už. • Archives of the Greek-Catholic Archbishopric in Prešov: official agenda of the eparchy, information about priests, canonical and dean's visitation. • Transcarpathian State Archives: Fellowships and Fellowship of the County of Už (lat. comitatus Unghvariensis), population censuses, tax records, soldier, and school documents. Hellenic Catholic Bishopric Mukachevo - canonical visitation, priest information, and records. • Hungarian National Archives in Budapest: Selected funds, books and newspapers focused on Eastern Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine. Exhibitions of photographs and documents from World War I in Prešov and Uzhhorod were organized for the public. At the same time, a 50-page catalog of selected photographs was published from the exhibition. At the same time, a library of the Center for Excellence of Socio-Historical and Cultural-Historical Research of the Prešov University in Prešov has been created, which contains an older and new social sciences file focusing on the territory of eastern Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine

Summary of bilateral results