Avgustyn Ivanovych Voloshyn | |
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President of Carpatho-Ukraine | |
In office March 15, 1939 – March 18, 1939 |
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Preceded by | post created |
Succeeded by | post dissolved |
Personal details | |
Born |
Kelecsény, Máramaros County, Carpathian Ruthenia, Kingdom of Hungary |
March 17, 1874
Died | 19 July, 1945 (aged 70–71) Butyrka prison in Moscow, Soviet Union |
Nationality | Ukrainian |
Political party | Ukrainian National Alliance (UNO, 1939) |
Other political affiliations |
Christian People's Party (1924-38) Ruthenian Agrarian Party (1920-24) |
Awards |
Rev. Avgustyn Ivanovych Voloshyn (Ukrainian: о.Авґустин Волошин, Августин Волошин, Czech: Augustin Vološin, 17 March 1874 – 19 July 1945) was a Ukrainian (Czechoslovakian) politician, teacher, essayist, priest of the Mukacheve eparchy of the Greek-Catholic Church. He was president of the independent Carpatho-Ukraine, which existed for one day on March 15, 1939.
Voloshyn was born on March 17, 1874 in Kelechyn in Carpathian Ruthenia, in the Máramaros County of the Kingdom of Hungary. He studied at Uzhhorod School of Theology and at Budapest University. He became a Greek Catholic priest, from 1924 a Papal chamberer. He was professor of mathematics at Uzhhorod Teacher Institute from 1900 to 1917. In 1918, he became head of the Subcarpathian National Council, which in 1919 asked Czechoslovakia to confederate Carpathian Ruthenia into Czechoslovakia. This was realised in Autumn 1919. In 1925, he was voted as MP in Houses of Parliament in Prague (as a leader of Ruthenian National Christian Party). In October 1938, he was the head of the Subcarpathian Autonomous Region. During the total destruction of Czechoslovakia by Hitler's Germany, he tried to preserve Carpatho-Ukraine independence and became president of Carpatho-Ukraine for a few hours (March 15, 1939) with the help of the rest of the Czechoslovakian army and made to the Kingdom of Romania a proposal for unification, but he was refused and one day later the region was invaded by the Hungarians. On March 19, 1939, Voloshyn under the protection of last Czechoslovakian troops retreated to the Romanian Kingdom's border, which was Czechoslovakia's ally. Carpathian Ruthenia was occupied by Hungary.