Yulian Revai: “The People Will Overcome the Wound, Preserve Honour, Our History, Our State”

Yulian Revai was one of the founders and most popular political figures of Carpathian Ukraine, whose independence was proclaimed on March 15, 1939, and he was appointed Prime Minister. After the defeat of the liberation movement in the region and the fall of the Carpatho-Ukrainian state, he left for abroad with some members of the government. There he continued to fight for the Ukrainian cause. That was the reason for his being sought by the SMERSH, and later – by the mgb of the Ukrainian ssr. Declassified documents from the archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine tell us about the course of this operational cultivation and the seizure of the politician’s personal archive.

In October 1938, the autonomy of Subcarpathian Rus was proclaimed with its capital in Uzhhorod, where it established its own government. Those events became subject to the Ukrainian ssr nkvd’s close attention. Their echo could have contributed to the awakening of all Ukrainians’ national consciousness. That did not fit into the policy of the kremlin leadership. Therefore, the chekists were tasked with monitoring everything that was happening on the territory of the newly proclaimed autonomy within the then Czechoslovakia.

One of the reports of the nkvd of the Ukrainian ssr stated: “On Saturday November 19, the Federal Parliament in Prague finally approved the draft law on the autonomy of Carpathian Ukraine. 146 people voted for the draft law, 23 – against it. Under the new law, all power is transferred to the Ukrainian government. The issue of the official name and state language will be decided by the Soim (Parliament – Transl.) of Carpathian Ukraine... On Saturday evening, Minister of Carpathian Ukraine Yulian Revai delivered a radio speech to the population in Prague in connection with the adoption of the Constitution of Carpathian Ukraine by the Federal Parliament. The speech was broadcast by all Czech and Slovak radio stations. Minister Revai's speech made a great impression throughout the region. In Khust, the population took to the streets and listened to the speech near the loudspeakers...” (FISU. – F.1. – Case 8570. – Vol. 1. – P. 11).

Yurii Revai's speech, published in the newspaper “Nova Zoria”, No. 90 of November 24, 1938, was attached to the case. “Today, the struggle for the political rights of our people on this side of the Carpathians has ended,” reads the address, “Fate has smiled at us. The struggle ended in victory... Our people proved to be mature and, together with their intelligentsia, stood united behind the government against corrupt politicians... The people, exerting all their strength, will not give in, will overcome the wound, will preserve honour, our history, our state... From today, you, the Ukrainian people, have become free and independent. Your struggle has ended in complete victory. Your will has been fulfilled. God bless you!” (FISU. – F.1. – Case 8570. – Vol. 1. – P. 14).

The point was that the right of autonomy for Ukrainians in Transcarpathia within Czechoslovakia was guaranteed in 1919. However, Prague delayed this for almost 20 years. Eventually, the first autonomous government of Carpathian Ukraine was established in October 1938. It was headed by the Russophile Andriy Brodiy. But that government did not last long – only 15 days. Already on October 26, Prague accused Brodiy of treason for conducting secret negotiations with Budapest on the annexation of the region to Hungary and arrested him. Father Avhustyn Voloshyn was appointed the new Prime Minister. Yulian Revai became the Minister of Trade, Transport and Labour in that government. In general, he was quite a public figure, a good speaker capable of persuading. So it was he who was chosen to speak on the radio on such a solemn occasion.

According to the newspapers and agents’ reports attached to the case, after Revai’s speech, Ukrainians in the streets hugged and cried, chanting slogans such as “Glory to the Government! Glory to the Republic!” On Sunday, November 20, a large demonstration took place in Khust, where the Government was forced to move from Uzhhorod. Members of the “Carpathian Sich” national defence organisation marched in front of Prime Minister Voloshyn and saluted the national flag.

As you know, the autonomy lasted only five months. As a result of backstage negotiations and Nazi Germany's efforts to redraw the map of Europe on the eve of the Second World War, a number of countries were threatened with the loss of their sovereignty and part of their territory. Carpathian Ukraine was one of them. On the night of March 14, 1939, the autonomous Republic was attacked by Hungary. One of the steps taken to escape the aggression was the declaration of independence of Carpathian Ukraine. This took place on March 15, at a meeting of the Soim. It also elected Avhustyn Voloshyn as the first President of the state by secret ballot, and Yulian Revai – as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Ukrainian was declared the state language. The state emblem was approved – the trident of Volodymyr the Great combined with the coat of arms of Transcarpathia, the blue and yellow flag and the anthem “Shche Ne Vmerla Ukrainy...” (“The Glory and Will of Ukraine Have Not Yet Perished” – Transl.)

Patriotic forces immediately stood up to defend the independence of their state. A battle between the Sich and regular Hungarian troops took place on the Krasne Field. But the forces were unequal. The attackers were stopped for a short time. In the evening, the Hungarians captured the capital of Carpathian Ukraine, Khust. Some units continued to fight for some time. This allowed President Voloshyn and the government to leave for abroad.

There is no information about the course of those events in archival documents regarding Yu. Revai’s operational cultivation. One of the first documents of the case is dated March 16, 1944. It is chief of the soviet foreign intelligence Pavel Fitin’s response to the people's commissar of the state security of the Ukrainian ssr Serhiy Savchenko and at the same time to the chief of the 4th directorate of the nkgb of the ussr Pavel Sudoplatov. It states that the foreign intelligence abroad found out A. Voloshyn’s location – in Plzen (Czechoslovakia), where he worked as a director of one of the spiritual institutions. Yu. Revai was reported to be residing in Germany at that time.

In May 1945, Avhustyn Voloshyn was arrested by the SMERSH at the address established by the nkgb and taken to the ussr. He died in moscow's butyrka prison on July 19, 1945. In the archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, there is only a thin file on his search with a photograph from a Ukrainian newspaper. But there are no details about his arrest, transportation under guard, interrogations, or life in prison. All materials were included in the investigation file.

The case against Revai was opened on February 7, 1945. It quotes a report from a foreign agent “Tyshko”: “...In 1945, a well-known Ukrainian nationalist, Yulian Revai, a former prime minister of the Voloshyn “government”, lived in A. Voloshyn'’s house, but later left for the West...” (FISU. – F.1. – Case 8570. – Vol. 1. – P. 181).

Open sources indicate that Yu. Revai was arrested by soviet secret services in Prague in 1945 and that he soon managed to escape to the American zone of occupation in Germany. There is no detailed information about that arrest in the case file. Instead, there is an excerpt from a copy of a letter to M.F. Matchak from a certain Henek, dated February 16, 1947. It reads as follows: “I don't know if Dr. R. wrote to you about Revai’s arrest in Frankfurt, whose extradition was demanded by the Czech government. So far he has not been extradited, but he has been sent to Dachau for execution...” (FISU. – F.1. – Case 8570. – Vol. 1. – P. 31).

Another document sent to moscow by the head of the 1st directorate of the mgb of the Ukrainian ssr Mykola Pohribnyi, contained the following information: “According to a report by the agent “Zirchyn” known to you, who knows Revai in person, the latter lived in the American zone of occupation of Germany, in the Frankfurt area or Aschaffenburg, until January 1947, when he was arrested by the American occupation authorities. In connection with the arrest, Revai's relative came to Munich in February 1947 and appealed to members of the OUN Central Provid to help release Revai. At the same time, the agent “Radyst” reported that from conversations with a number of people close to the circles of the Transcarpathian Ukrainian emigration in Prague, he learned about Yulian Revai's stay in the American zone of occupation of Germany in Munich or Regensburg...” (FISU. – F. 1. – Case 8570. – Vol. 1. – P. 20-21).

The generalized information on the case file states that “in 1947 Revai was arrested by the American authorities for unknown reasons, but was released soon after.”

Despite some discrepancies, there is actually confirmation that the SMERSH authorities at that time, directly or in cooperation with relevant services of the Allied forces, tried to track down Yu. Revai and subsequently execute him, as well as other Ukrainian figures. An indirect evidence of this is that in March 1947, “materials from the archive of the former “Prime Minister” of Transcarpathia, Yulian Revai, were sent for operational use”. It was pointed out that those materials were received from a person who worked as an interpreter for the SMERSH in Bratislava.

This archive of Yu. Revai contains his correspondence with his colleagues and friends for the years 1930-1940, as well as several photographs in which he was marked with an asterisk for further identification. In total, there are dozens of handwritten letters that require separate studying. They could have been seized during the search. But this, as well as other circumstances of Revai's arrest, release, or escape from custody, is not mentioned in the archival documents.

The fact that something went wrong with Yu. Revai's arrest is evidenced by the further course of events. The mgb continued to collect information about his whereabouts through foreign agents. The directorate of the mgb of the Ukrainian ssr in Transcarpathian region put him on the wanted list. In the process of operational cultivation, information was obtained that in 1946 he was one of the initiators of a conference on the reconstruction of the Ukrainian National Council. In early 1949, information was received that he had been seen in New York and that he had participated in the activities of various Ukrainian nationalist organizations. In particular, he was reported to have been a delegate to the IV Congress of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. In 1953, the case was closed “due to the impossibility of further operational cultivation”.

It is known from open sources that Yu. Revai left for the United States in 1948. He was the Head of the Samopomich Selfreliance Association, Director of the Office of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (1949-1957), Head of the Samopomich Federal Credit Cooperative (since 1954), Director of the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York, and the Head of the Carpathian Research Center, which now bears his name.

Yu. Revai passed away on April 30, 1979, and was buried at the Ukrainian cemetery in New York.