FROM COOPERATION TO ENMITY: CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THE CARPATHIAN SICH AND THE CZECHOSLOVAK SECURITY AGENCIES (1938 – 1939)

Abstract

The article studies the evolution of relationships between the Carpathian Sich paramilitary organization and the Czechoslovak security agencies on the territory of Podkarpatska Rus' (Capratho-Ukraine) at the turn of 1938 – 1939 as they escalated towards mutual hostility. Drawing on the vast archival sources the article traces three conflict lines between the sides: 1) interference by Sich members into the area of public order and security; 2) anti-Czech demonstrations sparked by the controversial decision of Prague to nominate the Czech army general Lev Prchala to the post of the third minister in the Carpatho-Ukraine autonomous government; 3) attempts by Sich members to steal weapons and ammunition from the depots of the Czechoslovak gendarmerie. Though frictions between the sides were visible even before, it was the mid-January 1939 decision of the Prague government to appoint general Prchala that stirred up Carpatho-Ukrainian society, led to the escalation of Czech-Ukrainian relations, and increased inter-ethnic tensions in Carpatho-Ukraine. It fostered the radicalization of the Carpathian Sich and boosted its aggression against the Czech presence in the region. These events put high on the Carpathian Sich agenda the necessity to replace the Czechoslovak security corps on the territory of Carpatho-Ukraine. They resulted in several armed clashes with the Czechs and attempts by Sich members to seize weapons from the gendarmerie deposits. As a rule, the autonomous government took the Sich side in these conflicts while pursuing its plans to increase the influence on the law enforcement agencies in the region. Amid heightened tensions, the armed conflict, which broke out between the Carpathian-Sich and Czechoslovak troops in Khust and its vicinities before the dissolution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, was not a coincidence, but the logical outcome of the exponential escalation of their relations in the previous months. The studied antagonism reflected certain tendencies in the whole Second Czecho-Slovak republic, where the autonomous region of Slovakia and Podkarpatska Rus' had been striving for more powers in security and sought to get rid of excessive Prague patronage. In this regard, Carpathian Sich's actions against the Czechoslovak gendarmerie had many similarities with the Hlinka Guard's anti-Czech campaign in Slovakia. Keywords Czech-Slovakia, Capratho-Ukraine, Carpathian Sich, Lev Prchala, gendarmerie