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Template:City in Ukraine

Mukachevo (Template:Lang-uk/ru (alternative Ukrainian spelling: Мукачеве); Rusyn: Мукачів, translit. Mukachiv; Template:Lang-hu; Template:Lang-ro; Template:Lang-yi (Minkatsh, Munkatch), is a city located in the valley of the Liatorytsia river in the Zakarpattia Oblast (province), in western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Mukachivskyi Raion (district), the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast. It has a castle from the IX to XVI centuries on top of the Lamkova hill.

The population in 1989 was 85,000 and is now 77,300 (2004).

Earlier it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary (11th century - 1918 and 1938-1944) and of Czechoslovakia (1918-1938 and 1944-1945).

The city is now a rail terminus and highway junction, and has beer, wine, tobacco, food, textile, timber and furniture industries. During the Cold War it was home to Mukachevo air base.

Today Mukachevo has a Ukrainian majority ( 77,1%) with a significant minority of Russians (9,0%), Hungarians (8,5%), Germans (1,9%) and Roma (1,4%) .

Historical names

There are many different ways to name Mukachevo, of them are Template:Lang-ro; Template:Lang-ru; Slovak and Czech: Mukačevo; Template:Lang-de; Template:Lang-yi.

History

Early history: 9th-16th centuries

For earlier history (Great Moravia or Kievan Rus'), see Carpathian Ruthenia.

From the 9th to 11th centuries, Mukachevo may have been part for a time of the Kievan Rus' state. In 1018, Mukachevo was taken by the Hungarians and became a center of power of Hungarian kings. In 1397, the town and its surrounding was granted by King Sigismund of Hungary to the Ruthenian prince Theodor Koriatovich, who settled many Ruthenians in the territory. During the 15th century, the city prospered and became a prominent craft and trade center for the region. In 1445, The town became a Hungarian free royal town. It was also granted the rights of Magdeburg law.

During the 16th century, Mukachevo became part of the Principality of Transylvania. Anti-Habsburg revolts took place during 1604-1711, within the territories and in present-day Slovakia. A gymnasium was established in the city in 1646. During 1685-1688, the beginning of the anti-Habsburg Revolt of Imre Thököly took place in Mukachevo.

Austrian control and revolts

During the early 18th century, the beginning of the revolt lead by Ferenc II. Rákóczi took place here. During the mid-late 18th century, the city came under Austrian control as part of the Kingdom of Hungary and was made a key fortress of the Habsburg Monarchy. In 1726, the Palanok Castle and the town, before 1711 owned by the Rákóczi family, was given by the Habsburgs to the Schönborn family, who were responsible for an expansion of the town. They also settled many Germans in the territory, thereby causing an economic boom of the region. During 1796-1897, the city's castle, until then a strong fortress, became an all-European political prison, after the Storming of the Bastille. During 1821-1823, the Greek national hero Alexander Ypsilanti was imprisoned at the Palanok Castle.

Mukachevo during and after the wars

In 1919, after the American-Rusyns agreed with Tomáš Masaryk to incorporate Carpathian Ruthenia into Czechoslovakia, the whole of Carpathian Ruthenia was occupied by Czechoslovak troops. On June 4, 1920, Mukachevo officially became part of Czechoslovakia by the Treaty of Trianon. In November of 1938, a part of the territory of the former Kingdom of Hungary was re-annexed by Hungary as part of the First Vienna Award. In 1944, the city's Jewish population was deportated to concentration camps under Nazi Germany. Mukachevo was then the only town in Hungary with a Jewish majority until 1944, when all the Jews were deported to Auschwitz by the Eichmann Commando. The Hungarian Jewish community was the last Jewish community in Europe to be subjected to deportation, and then only partially.

In the end of 1944, the Red Army liberated Carpathian Ruthenia (at that time part of Czechoslovakia again) and the territory became part of the Soviet Union by a treaty between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union of 1945. The Soviet Union began a policy of expulsion of the Hungarian population. In 1945, the city was ceded to the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine). In 2002, Mukachevo has been the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese comprising Transcarpathia.

Demographics

According to the 2001 census, the population of Mukachevo included:

• Rusyns¹ and Ukrainians (77.1%)
• Russians (9.0%)
• Hungarians (8.5%)
• Germans (1.9%)
• Roma (1.4%)

¹ Rusyns were not recognised as a separate nationality during this census and were counted as Ukrainians.

Jewish community

See also Munkacs (Hasidic dynasty)

There are documents in the Berehove State Archives which indicate that Jews lived in Munkács and the surrounding villages as early as the second half of the seventeenth century. The Jewish community of Munkács was an amalgam of Galician & Hungarian Hasidic Jewry, Orthodox Jews, and Zionists. The town is most noted for its Chief Rabbi Chaim Elazar Spira who led the community until his passing in 1937.

The Hebrew Gymnasium was founded in Munkacs five years after the first Hebrew speaking elementary school in Czechoslovakia was established there in 1920. It soon became the most prestigious Hebrew high school east of Warsaw. Zionist activism along with chasidic pietism contributed to a community percolating with excitement, intrigue and at times internecine conflict

Today, Mukachevo is experiencing a Jewish renaissance of sorts with the establishment of a supervised kosher kitchen, a mikva, Jewish summer camp in addition to the prayer services which take place three times daily. In July 2006, a new synagogue was dedicated on the site of the pre-war hasidic synagogue with the attendance of hundreds of local Jews from the Transcarpathia region and a delegation of 300 Hasidic Jews from the United States, Israel and Europe headed by the spiritual leader of Munkacs Hasidic Jewry, Rebbe Moshe Leib Rabinovich, who currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.

Architectural landmarks

• Palanok Castle, 14th century. The castle of Munkács played an important role during the anti-Habsburg revolts in this territory and present-day Slovakia (1604-1711), especially at the beginning of the anti-Habsburg Revolt of Imre Thököly (1685-1688), as well as at the beginning of the revolt of Ferenc II. Rákóczi (early 18th century). This important fortress became a prison from the end of the 18th century and was used until 1897. The Greek national hero Alexander Ypsilanti was imprisoned in Munkács castle from 1821 to 1823.
• Monastery, 14th century.
• Wooden church built in the Ukrainian architectural style, 18th century

See also

• Carpathian Ruthenia

External links

• mukachevo.net - Mukachevo city portal
• Mukachiv in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
• zamokpalanok.mk.uz.ua - Site dedicated to the Palanok Castle
• Google maps - Mukachevo
• Shtetlinks - Mukachevo history
• Jewish Community of Munkacs: An Overview - Holocaust Encyclopedia

• Cities in Ukraine
• Zakarpattia Oblast