Vplyv politiky „sovietskeho ľudu“ na etnickú identitu zakarpatských Slovákov v období ZSSR
The Impact of the “Soviet People” Policy on the Ethnic Identity of Slovaks in Transcarpathia during the USSR Period

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the ethnic identification of the Slovaks of Transcarpathia (currently part of Ukraine) during the Soviet Union period (1945–1991). During these decades, we can observe the Soviet effort to create the “Soviet people” (or “nation”) without specific (non-Russian) ethnic, cultural, language, or religious characteristics. The paper aims to analyse how these Soviet assimilation policies influenced the ethnic identification of the Transcarpathian Slovaks and how they tried to preserve their ethnic identity. To achieve this aim, we conducted field research in Transcarpathia and visited localities with the Slovak minority between March and June 2024. The oral history method has helped us to collect local people’s memories of the studied period. The concept of the collective memory of a social group (the Transcarpathian Slovaks) is a key theoretical concept through which we understand the respondents’ interpretations of the past. Even though this memory is composed of the individual memories of the group members, it is shaped by the collective, its norms, and current needs, and is regularly re-interpreted. Assimilation policies and the concept of the Soviet people dynamized natural assimilation processes but could not fully marginalize Slovak ethnic identity. The research reveals how ethnic minorities can preserve their identities in an undemocratic environment and how they can resist assimilation policies.

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