Hungarian Conservative has recently covered the events surrounding the appointment of a new school head teacher in Transcarpathia. An ethnic Ukrainian, Marija Pauk, has been selected to lead the Hungarian institution by the Ukrainian municipality officials of Munkács (Mukachevo), even though she has no affiliation either with the school or with the local Hungarian community.

Earlier this year, also in connection with the fate of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, our magazine also devoted an article to the situation surrounding the Ukrainian decree mandating the removal of Hungarian flags from all public buildings. At the same time, the employment of some teachers affiliated with the Transcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Association (KMKSZ) was terminated, and the ethnically Hungarian school director fired shortly afterwards. The removal of flags and teachers happened despite that fact that there had never ever been any objections to the displaying of the Hungarian flag on the school building or complaints against the teachers.

The central and local government’s actions undermining the Hungarian community in the region raises the question: what do the Ukrainians who live side by side with Hungarians in Transcarpathia think about the aforementioned recent events? Does the local Ukrainian population approve of the decisions of their officials? Although we are in no position to conduct a survey among Ukrainians living in the historically Hungarian towns of the region, we can look at how the recent incidents are covered in the regional press, which may provide some insights into the general perceptions of the population. Obviously, the opinions and takes on matters in the media do not directly reflect the views of the Ukrainian people, it is important to note that in Ukraine the media enjoys a notable degree of freedom, even amidst the raging war. Therefore it can be expected that, given that they are free to do so, reporters will be describing things as they see them, even if that is not in line with their government’s official position.

Quite surprisingly, none of the Ukrainian-language articles about the removal of the school director express support for the governmental interference in the lives of Transcarpathian Hungarians. In fact,

some of the recently published articles openly condemn these actions.

While the article published on the news site called Carpathian Lens (in Ukrainian, Карпатьский об’єктив) is written in a rather neutral tone, it does present the Hungarian point of view without dedicating any effort to defending the decision of the local government. An article on the website karpat.in.ua, which used the article of the previous site as their source, writes: (Below is a full translation of the article, starting with its title):

Marija Pauk became the director of Mukachevo Secondary School No. 3 — the educational institution opposes it.

At the Mukachevo secondary school No. 3 named after Ferenc Rákóczi II, a new head teacher has been appointed. The educational institution announced the news on its official Facebook page.

In the message dated 15 August, it is noted that Marija Pauk, who has no relation to the Hungarian community, was appointed to the position of director. The post ends with the words: “We will not give in!”. The previous director of the school, István Schink, was dismissed from his position on 17 January.’

A much more pro-Hungarian stance is adopted by the Voice of Carpathians (ukr. Голос Карпат) media outlet:

The educational institution resists: Mukachevo school No. 3 got a new head teacher. The staff of the institution is against her appoinment, arguing that she has no relation to the Hungarian community.

In Mukachevo secondary school No. 3 named after Ferenc Rákóczi II, a new director has been been appointed. The educational institution announced the news on its official Facebook page.

In the message dated 15 August, it is noted that Marija Pauk, who has no relation to the Hungarian community, was appointed to the position of director. The post ends with the words: “We will not give in!”. The previous director of the school, István Schink, was dismissed from his position on 17 January.

We would like to remind you that earlier the Voice of Carpathians already reported that in Mukachevo, overturning [Munkács Mayor] Balog’s decision, the court reinstated Stepan Shinko (Editorial note: The name of the director is István Schink,Stepan Shinko is the Ukrainianised version. End note.), the dismissed director of the Hungarian school No. 3 named after Ferenc Rákóczi II. Shinko had managed the educational institution for 17 years and is very respected among the educators. After the dismissal of the director, the teachers even appealed to the mayor of Mukachevo, Andrii Balog, with a demand to reinstate Shinko as director.

Later, on 8 May, four weeks before the end of the school year, the reinstated director was fired again. This happened for the second time, notwithstanding the fact that a month earlier, on 12 April, the Mukachevo District Court deemed his January dismissal illegal and ordered his immediate reinstatement.’

It’s important to emphasize that all the quoted media outlets are regional. This implies that they are authored by individuals who are either Ukrainian speakers residing in Transcarpathia or are otherwise closely connected to the region.

None of the larger, national outlets published any articles about the story,

so there is no way to tell what reactions it would have garnered had it been shared more widely across the country.

The fact that local and regional and Ukrainian language media has written in a neutral or sympathetic manner about the issue is important. The Ukrainians in the region are hardly the ones who pushed for the arbitrary and unlawful measures of the local government, which may be acting to pander to an anti-Hungarian sentiment that has been fuelled by the government and Ukrainian political actors that are not from Transcarpathia.

Ukraine is undoubtedly in an extremely difficult position, heroically fighting off Russian invasion. This is the time when for obvious practical reasons Ukraine would need internal consolidation and harmony, instead of artificial rifts and strife between its peoples. Encroaching on the minority rights of Hungarians in the sphere of education certainly does not serve the purpose of national unity. The choice of those who discriminate against the ethnic Hungarian community s is both morally questionable and impractical, and only serves to alienate some of its citizens.