Paris Peace Conf. 184.01102/207
Major Lawrence Martin to Professor A. C. Coolidge89
Subject: The Ciscarpathian Ruthenians, in relation to parts of the final frontiers of Ukrainia, of Stat Československa, and of Hungary, and in relation to the Transylvania problem.
1. In accordance with your direction, I submit a second memorandum (see Goodwin’s and Martin’s memorandum dated Budapest, March 9, 191990) regarding the Ruthenian population southwest of the main crest of the Carpathian Mountains in Ruszka-Krajna, adjacent to the new states of the former kingdom of Hungary. Tentative [Page 396] final frontiers are shown on Map 1, this page, and Map 12, accompanying, in red.91
2. One of the principal needs here [is] to more carefully determine the wishes of the Ruthenian people, since the Carpathian barrier, (Maps 1, 2, 12), which separates them from the Ukrainians of southeastern Galicia is so high and crossed by so few passes that these Russians must market their products in one or the other of the states on the south and west. The determination of the desires of these people then becomes of paramount importance in connection with the maintenance of permanent peace in Europe. There are 464,000 Ruthenians, and many Hungarians, Slovaks, Roumanians and Jews in the area involved. The Ruthenian increase in population just equals loss by emigration (see Wallis, Exhibit C). I saw the Ruthenians during five days of geographical field work just completed.
3. Geographically, this district is a simple mountain unit. The population here consists of Ruthenian settlements in valleys in the midst of high mountains. At the eastern borders of the district the peaks reach altitudes of 1405 to 2058 meters, or 4000 to 6000 feet. The Uzsok Pass lies at an elevation of 889 meters, or about 2700 feet, the Beskid Pass at 1014 meters or 3000 feet, and the Woronienka or Tar-taren Pass is equally high. The valleys inhabited by the Ruthenians lie at elevations varying from 121 meters, or 350 feet, above sea-level, at Ungvar to 274 meters, or 820 feet, at Maramaros-Sziget. Thus, the local relief is 3600 to 5100 feet. The roughness of the topography is indicated in general on Maps 1 and 2 and is shown in detail upon the ten sheets of the 1:200,000 staff maps appended as Map 12.
4. The region has heavy rainfall and is densely forested (see last map listed). Its agricultural and grazing industries are limited by the steepness of slopes, so that lumber and other forest products and mineral resources, including salt and petroleum, form an important output. There is no manufacturing to speak of except in connection with the forest products. Eighty-nine per cent of the Ruthenians are farmers; all the miners are Magyars. The sparse population of the region with no inhabitants except in the valleys (Map 4) is not self supporting, but is dependent upon the markets to the southwest in Hungary. Ungvar, Munkacs, and Maramaros-Sziget are the chief towns.
5. Transportation depends upon the railways from Lemberg through three chief passes (Maps 11a, lib) to Budapest. The main line between Lemberg and Budapest, however, is a fourth railway which crosses Lupkow Pass in territory to the northwest, also inhabited [Page 397] by Ruthenians who occupy the heads of mountain valleys in whose mouths live Slovaks.
6. With these geographical, economic, and ethnic factors must be combined a religious factor which I reported to you from Prague on February 22nd on the basis of a conversation with President Masaryk. I append a copy of my letter (Exhibit M).
7. As this letter also states the view President Masaryk presented to me as to the future of the Ciscarpathian Ruthenians I shall not repeat his view of the wishes of the Ruthenians upon which I present some evidence myself and his desire for physical connection between his republic and the Roumanians of Transylvania.
8. The matters just discussed are best stated specifically by saying how we would draw a boundary for (a) the west border of Ukrainia adjacent to the northeast side of the Republic of Hungary; (b) the east side of the Stat Československa; and (c) the north border of Transylvania, assuming that it might possibly become a part of Roumania rather than be erected as an independent state or be retained as a part of Hungary. Accordingly, although I have not had an opportunity to carry on complete geographical field studies in the region, to ascertain the wishes of its people with soldiers absent, or to study its resources as fully as I should like, I shall try in this memorandum to summarize my present view regarding the Ciscarpathian Ruthenians by drawing tentative boundaries on the series of Austrian staff maps, scale 1:200,000, hereto appended (Map 12), discussing them under the headings listed above.
9. The Western Frontier of the Ukraine. I recommend that unless a more complete field investigation regarding the wishes of the Ruthenians in Hungary indicated a different feeling from that which I encountered the first week in March, 1919, the western frontier of the Ukraine be considered as best drawn along the crest of the Carpathians, following the old boundary between Hungary and Galicia, except near Prislop Pass (Stiol P.) where a change is extremely desirable (Map 12). This line is shown in red on the appended Austrian staff maps, scale 1:200,000 (Ungvar, Turka, Stanislau, Maramaros-Sziget, Sniatyn sheets). I make this recommendation because: (a) the overwhelming majority of the educated Ruthenians in Hungary prefer to be ruled by the new Magyar republic rather than by Ukrainia and fear the Russians (see Exhibit D); (b) a surprisingly large proportion of the uneducated Ruthenians have the same preference; (c) the remainder, although conscious of a blood-preference for the Ukraine, have no clear appreciation of the economic disadvantage of being separated from Hungary, since the market relationships, both exports and imports, of Ruszka-Krajna are and always must be with Hungary rather than Galicia and the Russian plain; (d) the crest of the Carpathians is an excellent strategic frontier and there is a decided military [Page 398] advantage in holding the Slavs east of the mountain crest instead of giving them a bridgehead at the very border of the Alfold (Plain of Hungary). In 1914, when they were our Allies, the Russians came through Uzsok and several other passes, and penetrated nearly to the border of the plain before they were driven back. If the military frontier had been at the southern foothills of the Carpathians they would have easily overrun the Plain of Hungary.
Another important factor influencing my recommendation is the direct relationship between this section of the Carpathians and the Alfold. The Hungarians need the salt, the petroleum, and the water-power of these mountains. They need the forest products; they need to restrict deforestation in order to control the rivers which water the agricultural lands of Hungary. The forest products include not only lumber, but also important by-products, like acetone, used in the manufacture of munitions. During the war, for example, there were large gunpowder factories between Ungvar and the Uzsok Pass, and in the Maramaros-Sziget valley. I should prefer that these be in the hands of the Magyars rather than the Russians. But this small forest area is merely one of many upon which the prosperity of the plain of Hungary depends. If Hungary is to be dismembered, and particularly if she is to lose the forested mountains inhabited by the Slovaks, the retention of the mountains populated by Ruthenians, is even more important. I take it that we are not trying to crush Hungary absolutely and are interested in the existence of an economically prosperous rather than a maimed state.
10. The Eastern Frontier of the Stat Československa. I recommend that the tentative boundary indicated in red on the Austrian staff map, scale 1:200,000 (Ungvar sheet), be adopted unless further field study among the Ruthenians and Slovaks adjacent to Ungvar, leads to a different conclusion. I have drawn this tentative boundary upon the basis of (a) Sheet 7 of Count Paul Teleki’s ethnic map of Hungary, scale 1:200,000; (b) the ridges, valleys, and forests of the region involved; (c) the market relationships of the Slovaks and Ruthenians in the adjacent valleys; (d) the trunk lines of railway crossing the Carpathians at the Lupkow and Uzsok Passes.
Although the Ruthenians of the Ungvar valley told me on March 6 and 7 that they desired to belong to the Stat Československa rather than to the Ukraine or Hungary, I am not convinced that this represents their real sentiment or best good. I explained in my memorandum of March 9 the military conditions under which this sentiment was expressed to me. I also described in that memorandum the greed of the Slovak governor who desired to cross the line of demarcation and occupy Ruthenian territory now held by the Hungarians. He could easily have done so, as he had 3000 troops, the Hungarians [Page 399] having only 175. Moreover, he tried to mislead me about bolshevism (see Goodwin and Martin’s Memo, of March 9).
The permanent boundary ought not to be on the Ung River. The unwise choice of the river as the present Line of Demarcation is best indicated by the facts (a) that the Line of Demarcation in the city of Ungvar has been shifted southward from the river by mutual consent because the city was divided by the Line of Demarcation; the railway station was in Hungarian hands while the main part of the city was held by the Czecho-Slovaks; (b) the railway line from Ungvar over Uzsok Pass to Lemberg crosses the river at several points near the pass, so that there was friction and danger of bloodshed until the Hungarians allowed the Czecho-Slovaks to run their trains through, regardless of the Line of Demarcation.
However, I am convinced that the permanent boundary should be west of the Ung River rather than on some watershed east of it, because I believe that this particular Ruthenian population will be more prosperous and contented under Hungarian rather than Czechoslovak rule, and because I am not willing to consider subjecting Poland’s and Russia’s transportation to Czecho-Slovak regulation and military control. It is bad enough to have the double-track railway by Lupkow Pass going for a short distance through Slovak territory without considering that this second railway line should do the same thing, giving the Slovaks an unnecessary economic and military control over Hungarian-Ukrainian transportation.
I fear there is no legitimate basis for the Slovak ambition to retain the city of Ungvar (Uzhorod). Its economic relations are largely with the Hungarians on the south and the Ruthenians on the north and east. The Slovaks have no more right in Ungvar, as administrators, than the Americans would have to claim a wedge of land including the city of Montreal and thus control Canadian commerce. Ungvar is at a geographically and commercially strategic point.
All this applies equally well either to an international frontier in the position shown by the red line on the Ungvar sheet or to a state boundary within Hungary, in case the Peace Conference finds that the Slovaks do not desire to be ruled by the Czechs, or that the economic relations of the Slovak mountains and the Hungarian Plain are such that a boundary between the Ruszka-Krajna and Slovenska-Krajna is established.
President Masaryk gave me an impression, when I talked with him in Prague, that the religious factor was a gravely important one, because the Ruthenian (Greek Catholic) priests, although belonging to the Roman Catholic church and acknowledging the Pope in Rome rather than the [omission] in Kief, may marry, and conduct religious services in the vernacular rather than in Latin. After talking to [Page 400] Greek Catholic and to Roman Catholic priests I saw no reason to believe that the religious welfare of the Ruthenians will be safer under Slovak than under the new Hungarian government. But if the Ukrainians were to obtain the southern slope of the Carpathians permanently I see danger of a religious upset.
So far as the educational outlook is concerned the new Hungarian government seems to have made more generous provisions than the Slovaks. I append as Exhibit A the proclamation in Russian, Slovak, and Hungarian by Governor Moys of Ungvar providing that the official language in Slovak territory shall be Slovak, and in Ruthenian territory Ruthenian. I append as Exhibit B a translation of the Hungarian law of December 21, 1918, providing for such generous autonomy for the Ruthenians that their state legislature will be able to provide education under almost any terms they desire. Certainly, with the information now on hand, the Ruthenians may look forward to a happier future under Hungarian than under Slovak rule, and this is one of the several reasons why I favor drawing the frontier west of the city of Ungvar and of the valley of Ung River.
11. The Southern Frontier of Ruszka-Krajna. The frontier is described in relation to Ruszka-Krajna, or the Hungarian territory inhabited by Ruthenians, rather than is the northern frontier of Roumania, because the Transylvania problem is such a grave one that I do not wish to presuppose that it is settled, or that we may look upon Transylvania as definitely given to the Roumanians rather than as a possible Hungarian province.
I recommend that this frontier be considered as best located on the line indicated in red on the Austrian staff maps, scale 1:200,000 (Szatmar-Nemeti and Maramaros-Sziget sheets). I have drawn the frontier which I recommend upon the basis of Count Teleki’s ethnic map, scale 1:200,000, sheets 16 and 17, but in relation to mountain ridges, to forests and to the resources and transportation lines of this part of the Carpathians. It will be observed that the boundary recommended does not correspond to the distribution of Ruthenians, Roumanians, and Magyars, but leaves a small number of Roumanians in the Magyar-Ruthene territory.
At Prislop Pass, an important and necessary change is made (Sniatyn sheet), as the old boundary did not follow the main crest of the Carpathians.
The problem has many factors, but assumes an economic form at once because of the nature of the terrain. The comitat of Maramaros is essentially the valley of the Tisza (Theiss) River within the Carpathians. South of this river is the Avavs-Köhat–Lapos–Rodnaer–Borgo Gebirge (Siebenburg Karpathen) a great, forested ridge rising to an elevation of 900 to 2300 meters, or 2700 to 7000 feet. The city of [Page 401] Maramaros-Sziget has an elevation of 274 meters or a little over 800 feet so that the local relief is approximately 1900 to 6100 feet. It has an easy water grade outlet northwestward down the Tisza. One may go northeastward from Maramaros-Sziget over the Woronienka or Tartar Pass and on to Czernowitz, a city in the distinctly Ruthenian portion of Bukowina. One may go southeastward from Maramaros-Sziget over the Prislop Pass, but this is not a line of railway transportation. A military railway (deecauville) was built here during the war. Finally, one may go southward across the Lapos Hegyseg, at an elevation of 1039 meters or more than 3000 feet, or over another pass, at an elevation of 917 meters or more than 2700 feet. Neither of these two will ever be a line of railway transportation. The Roumanian Lieut. Colonel at Maramaros-Sziget told me that his difficult present line-of-communication was over the western of these two passes. It appears, therefore, that the economic future of the valley of the Tisza and the city of Maramaros-Sziget is necessarily controlled by the natural outlet northwestward through Huszt and the Hungarian Plain.
The city of Maramaros-Sziget appears in the Hungarian statistics as overwhelmingly Hungarian with a few Roumanians and a smaller number of Ruthenians and Germans. It has been claimed that a large number of persons classified as Hungarians are Jews and that a large number of Hungarians in this and several other cities are officials who would not remain there if the city passed from the hands of the Magyars. There may be a slight basis for the latter statement, but the former certainly is exaggerated. … I am convinced that a large proportion of the Jews classify themselves as Germans rather than as Magyars. Whatever correction should be made, it still appears evident that the great majority of the inhabitants of Maramaros-Sziget are Magyars. The majority of the country population of the valley in which the city lies is Ruthenian, the Roumanians on the south slope being a smaller number. I am convinced that all the nationalities involved will be more contented and prosperous if this city and its outlet are controlled by the Hungarians.
We were told that the Ruthenian population in three villages near Maramaros-Sziget were in favor of Roumanian administration (see memorandum by Goodwin and Martin, paragraph 20, March 9). I place no more value upon this statement than I do upon what the Ruthenians in the valley of the Ung told me about their preference for Slovak administration. At Maramaros-Sziget the Ruthenian population is said to be now for union with Roumania. The Ukrainian troops occupied the city not long ago, and I have no doubt that the Ruthenians were then for union with the Ukraine. If Hungarian troops garrisoned the town the population, being Magyar, would express [Page 402] preference for Hungary. If all troops were removed, and (a) if the advantages of union with their blood-brothers the Ruthenians in Ukrainia and the disadvantages of the Carpathian barrier were explained to the Ruthenians, followed by (b) an impartial discussion of what would result if the Roumanians here were joined to Roumania even though there is a very strong mountain barrier on the south, and (c) if both races were told that union with Hungary would involve being ruled by Magyars, who may or may not, be regenerate, but that under these conditions they would have greater economic prosperity, I have a strong impression that a great majority of the Ruthenians and Roumanians would prefer to remain a part of the Hungarian Republic.
An important resource of the Maramaros-Sziget valley is the salt, the mines there supplying a great deal of salt which has been shipped to Serbia and the Balkan States as well as to Hungary. The workmen employed in the salt mines are Hungarians not Ruthenians. It appears that possibly the anxiety on the part of President Masaryk that the whole area of Ruthenian population be united with his republic may have some relation to mineral resources, particularly as Bohemia, Moravia, and the Slovak region of northern Hungary, although rich in all sorts of other minerals, are absolutely deficient in salt, and the Maramaros-Sziget valley has great salt mines.
I talked in Budapest with Mr. Ferencz Bolgar, a former governor of Maramaros-Sziget, and with Count Perenyi, who was his predecessor as governor there. Both these gentlemen assured me that the petroleum resource of this region was such an important one that a large amount of British capital was about to be invested just as the war broke out. It appears to me that a region which may turn out to be an important producer of petroleum ought to be given to Hungary, which is likely to be deficient in fuel, rather than to Roumania, or the Ukraine, both of which have petroleum, because, as suggested before, a maimed Hungarian state cannot be as peaceable and prosperous as one that has adequate resources.
Maramaros-Sziget can develop 388,000 horse power by use of the Tisza (see Exhibit G and Map 10). Neither the Roumanians nor Ukrainians would have the same interest as the Hungarians in developing this.
12. Taking all the factors into account, it appears to me as if some such boundaries as I have described are eminently desirable, because the Ruthenians of Ruszka-Krajna and the adjacent Magyars of Hungary can be more prosperous and will be more inclined to keep the peace if this slope of the Carpathians is retained by Hungary. I do not see the slightest danger of creating a serious Irredenta, because it is clear that the Ruthenians have no great preference for the Ukraine. [Page 403] The Roumanians and Slovaks have not, to my mind, a just claim for expansion within this area. Righty-nine percent of the half-million Ruthenians are farmers. We have an opportunity to see to it that they be united with the farmers of Hungary. Under the new Hungarian regime I believe that the forests and mines will be developed and I am sure that the Hungarians need the forests and mineral resources of these mountains more than the other three nations. The waterpower is not of the least value to any one of the other three and is almost essential to the Hungarians. The regulation of the streams is also essential to the Hungarian farmers and would be of no interest to either one of the other three nations if the frontier were at the western base of the Carpathians rather than on the crest. Finally, the military strategic situation is not improved by creating a Slav-Latin buffer (“corridor”) between the Magyars of the Hungarian Plain and the Slavs of the Russian Plain. On the other hand, the strategic situation is decidedly better if the military frontier coincides with the old frontier on the crest of the Carpathians as it was before the war, except at Prislop Pass.
- Transmitted to the Commission by Professor Coolidge under covering letter No. 139, March 13; received March 15.↩
- Not found in Department files.↩
- Map 1 has not been reproduced; the other maps referred to do not accompany file copy of this report. None of the enclosures referred to are printed except exhibit M, p. 403.↩