Mukacheve
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mukacheve (Ukrainian: Мукачеве: Rusyn: Мукачів, translit. Mukachiv; Hungarian: Munkács; Romanian: Muncaci), is a city located in the valley of the Latorica river in the Zakarpattia Oblast (province), in western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Mukachivsky 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 Mukacheve has a majority Ukrainian and Rusyn population with a significant minority of Hungarians and Jews.
Contents |
[edit] Historical names
Romanian: Muncaci or Munceag; Russian: Мукачево (Mukachevo); Slovak and Czech: Mukačevo; German: Munkatsch; Yiddish: Munkacz or Minkatsh;
[edit] Timeline
For early history (Great Moravia, Kievan Rus') see Carpathian Ruthenia.
- 9th to 11th centuries: Mukacheve may have been part for a time of the Kievan Rus' state.
- 1018: Mukacheve was taken by the Hungarians and became a center of power of Hungarian kings.[citation needed]
- 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.
- 1445: The town became a Hungarian free royal town. It was granted the rights of Magdeburg law.
- 15th century: Became a prominent craft & trade center for the region.
- 16th century: Became part of the Principality of Transylvania.
- 1604-1711: Anti-Habsburg revolts in this territory and present-day Slovakia.
- 1646: A gymnasium was established.
- 1685-1688: Beginning of the anti-Habsburg Revolt of Imre Thököly.
- Early 18th century: Beginning of the revolt of Ferenc II. Rákóczi.
- 18th century: Came under Austrian control as part of the Kingdom of Hungary and was made a key fortress of the Habsburg Monarchy.
- 1726: The 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.
- 1796-1897: The Mukacheve castle, until then a strong fortress, became a prison.
- 1821-1823: The Greek national hero Alexander Ypsilanti was imprisoned at the Mukacheve castle.
- 1919: After the American Rusyns agreed with Tomáš Masaryk to incorporate Carpathian Ruthenia into Czechoslovakia, the whole Carpathian Ruthenia was occupied by Czechoslovak troops.
- June 4, 1920: The city officially became part of Czechoslovakia by the Treaty of Trianon.
- November 1938: Part of the territory of the former Kingdom of Hungary re-annexed by Hungary as part of the First Vienna Award.
- 1944: The deportation of the Jewish population to concentration camps. Mukacheve was 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.
- End of 1944: The Soviet Army occupies 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 extermination of the Hungarian and Rusyn population.
- 1945: Ceded to the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine)
- 2002: Mukacheve has been the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese comprising Transcarpathia.
[edit] Jewish community
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 it's Chief Rabbi Chaim Elazar Spira who led the community until his passing in 1937.
The Hebrew Gymnasium was founded in Munkacz 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 rennaisance of sorts with the establishment of a supervised Kosher kitchen, a mikva (ritual bath), Jewish summer camp in addition to the prayer services wich take place three times daily. In July 2006, a new synagouge was dedicated on the site of the pre-war Hasidic synagouge with the attendance of hundreds of local Jews from the Trans-Carpathian region and a delegation of 300 Hasidic Jews from the United States, Israel and Europe headed by the spiritual leader of Munkacs Hasidic Jewry, Grand Rebbe Moshe Leib Rabinovich, who currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.
[edit] Architectural landmarks
- Castle (14th century). The castle of Munkács, called the Palanok Castle, 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)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
- Mukachiv in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
- Mapquest map of Mukacheve
- Mukachevo at Shtetlinks, History
- Jewish Community of Munkacs: An Overview, Holocaust Encyclopedia
- Mukachiv article in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
 |
Subdivisions of Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine |  |
|
Raions: Berehivskyi | Irshavskyi | Khustskyi | Mizhhirskyi | Mukachivskyi | Perechynskyi | Rakhivskyi | Svaliavskyi | Tiachivskyi | Uzhhorodskyi | Velykobereznianskyi | Volovetskyi | Vynohradivskyi |
||
|
Cities: Berehove | Chop | Irshava | Khust | Mukacheve | Perechyn | Rakhiv | Svaliava | Tiachiv | Uzhhorod | Vynohradiv |
||
|
Urban-type settlements: Mizhhiria | Velykyi Bereznyi | Volovets | more... |
||
|
Villages: more... |
