Ivan Garaida
The famous philologist, educator and historian Ivan Garaida comes from the dynasty of priests and teachers. His great-grandfather Mykhailo Bachynsky served as a pastor in Zarichovo in 1825-1847. One of the pastor's daughters, Antonia, married the priest Ivan Torma. And their son Ivan Torma (1843-1905) worked for 43 years as a teacher and director of the church school in Zarichovo, was the chairman of the teachers' union of Uzhansky parish, as well as the village birov (head of the village). His great-grandson was the famous educator Ivan Garaida, who was born in the village of Zarichovo on January 29, 1905. The family belonged to the local elite, who were respected and well known.
After the annexation of Carpathian Ruthenia to Czechoslovakia, the boy's parents moved to Hungary. Ivan studied at the gymnasium in Szekesfehervar, after which in 1924 he entered the Faculty of Law of the University of Budapest, which he graduated in 1928. In 1934, Ivan Garaida graduated from the Philological Department in the Cracow University and continued his studies at the Faculty of Philosophy in the Pecs University. From 1934 to 1939 he taught Hungarian language at the Cracow University, as well as «History of Poland» at a gymnasium in Сrakow. After the occupation of Poland by German troops, all university professors were arrested on charges of anti-German activities. In November 1939, Ivan Garaida found himself in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where German communists, members of the Polish intelligentsia, rebellious students and miners of Silesia were imprisoned.
You can learn about the humiliating living conditions in the concentration camp from the words of Ivan Garaida himself. Sachsenhausen concentration camp then covered an area of about 1 km. sq. There were approximately 12,000 prisoners in 70 barracks. For breakfast they gave soup with buckwheat or black coffee with saccharin, bread was measured once a day for 100-150 gr. For lunch there was an empty soup, and for dinner - potatoes with margarine. Meat soup was given only at Christmas and Easter. They slept in barracks on the floor on straw without blankets, later camp prisoners were provided with mattresses - one for two people. Three times a day was an inspection on the square (sometimes for 3 hours in the cold). The ascent was at 5 o'clock (there were washbasins and water), breakfast at 6 o'clock, then a check in the square, then the prisoners were in a locked barracks close to each other until noon (at 12 o'clock). Dinner was at 6 p.m. After dinner, a game of chess was allowed for an hour.
Thanks to the help of various people, including former high school teachers (Hungarian Ambassador to Berlin, Bishop O. Stojca) and colleagues from the University of Cracow, Ivan was released on April 9, 1940. He was in Krakow until October 22, and then he left for Budapest. After an unsuccessful search for work, I. Garaida decided to return to Uzhhorod, where he settled with a relative on Druget Square, 19. In November 1940, Ivan Garaida asked Bishop O. Stoyka to help him find a job. Thanks to the bishop's connections, he was recommended for the position of executive director of the SSS (Subcarpathian Society of Sciences), where Garaida has worked until October 27, 1944. During the war he also worked as an editor of the magazines «Zorya-Hajnal», «Ruska Molod», «Literary Sunday», series «Literary and Scientific Library» and «National Library».
Thanks to his activities in the region, the development of science and education intensified. In particular, in 1941 in Uzhgorod was published his «Grammar of the Ruthenian language», which became the official textbook for Ukrainian schools in Hungary. In 1942-1944 I. Garaida published the «Great Agricultural Calendar of the Subcarpathian Society of Sciences», and in 1943 together with M. Lelekach, he edited the reference publication «General Bibliography of Subcarpathia» in Uzhgorod, which in the Soviet period belonged to the banned literature.
According to the memoirs of Yulia Opalenyk, the secretary of the SSS, in the early 1940s Ivan (Janos) Garaida was already an old, fat man who had neither a wife nor children, and lived only by his work, finalizing his «Grammar of the Ruthenian language» - a textbook , which was later used in all schools of the region. Yulia Opalenyk mentioned that it was very easy and pleasant for her to work with such a leader, because he was an extremely calm, balanced, kind and intelligent person.
«Grammar of the Ruthenian language»
The scientist was concerned that the Ruthenians of Carpathian Ruthenia did not have a grammar for the common people and the intelligentsia. Books and periodicals were published on the basis of outdated and incomprehensible grammar, which hindered the development of education in the region.
And so, on February 28, 1941 at a meeting of the language commission of the Subcarpathian Society of Sciences, that took place in Budapest, the main theses of the future «Grammar of the Ruthenian language», created on a living language basis, were approved. The need to create a universal grammar was caused by the desire to standardize the spoken language and publish on its basis books and newspapers that would be understandable to people. Due to the fact that in his «Grammar» I. Garaida combined the vernacular language with historical spelling, the scholar was accused of trying to create a separate language for the Carpathian Ruthenians. I. Garaida called «Grammar» a compromise on issues that divided supporters of different approaches to solving the language issue into hostile camps. The language proposed by the scientist became the standard for a number of scientific publications and publications for children born in Carpathian Ruthenia during the Second World War. I.Garaida's grammar has found the widest use in the school system of Carpathian Ruthenia. On the language by «Grammar», were publishes the scientific journal «Zorya – Hajnal» (four volumes in 1941-44), the newspaper «Literary Week» (May 1941 - October 1944), book series «Literary and Scientific Library» - 42 editions, «People's Library» - 12 editions, «School textbooks» - 3 editions and three separate books.
On November 27, 1944, Garaida was arrested by the Soviet military counter-intelligence service SMERSH. The decision to arrest him stated:
«... Garaida since 1940, being the director of the Subcarpathian Society of Sciences from the pages of its printed publications, carried out pro-fascist agitation directed against the communist movement and the Soviet Union, and also praised the aggressive policy of Germany and Hungary and called for the nationwide support of the Hungarian government». Ivan Garaida was repeatedly interrogated, and on December 13, 1944, the field prison warden stated in a report to his superiors that in cell 9 «Garaida had died».
In Soviet times, his name was erased from history, and the existence of the book by Mikhail Lelekach and Ivan Garaida «General Bibliography of Subcarpathia» was forbidden to even mention. And only in 2000 the book was republished in the Uzhhorod publishing house of Valery Padyak. Later, in 2009, the «Grammar of the Ruthenian language» was republished in the «People's Library» series, compiled by the late translator, poet and publisher Ivan Petrovtsy.
Photo 1: Andriy Haraida with his wife and children. Photo from the family archive of Oleksiy Baraniy. Downloaded from Ivan Bachynsky's blog:
http://bachynskyj.blogspot.com/2010/10/blog-post_13.html
Photo 2: Top row from right to left: Andriy Fentsyk (Stefan's father), Stefan Fentsyk (then a seminarian), Yevhen Fentsyk (Stefan's brother), Andriy Garaida. Bottom row from right to left: Julia Legeza (Fentsyk), Etela Torma (Garaida). In the bottom row are little Ivan Garaida and his brother Nandor. Photo taken in the village of Zarichovo. Photo from the family archive of Oleksiy Baraniy. Downloaded from Ivan Bachynsky's blog:
http://bachynskyj.blogspot.com/2010/10/blog-post_13.html
Photo 3. Bishop Alexander Stoyka (photo from the article about the bishop on Wikipedia)
Photo 4: Title of the «Grammar of the Ruthenian language» by I. Garaida.
Photo 5: I. Garaida at the desk (photo from the article about the I. Garaida on Wikipedia).
References:
Annotation to the reprint of the book «Mykhailo Lelekach and Ivan Garaida General Bibliography of Subcarpathia»:
https://kapraly.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/in-pdf11.pdf
«Grammar of the Ruthenian language» Ivan Garaida:
https://petrovtsiy.livejournal.com/5654.html
Ivan Garaida:
https://rue.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%86%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD_%D0%93%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%B4%D0%B0
Ivan Garaida - historian, philologist, editor, cultural and educational figure of our region / Ivan Bachynsky's Blog:
http://bachynskyj.blogspot.com/2010/10/blog-post_13.html
Ivan Garaida:
https://rusinmaromorosh.livejournal.com/87863.html
Literaty Tatiana. Lost Uzhhorod: the life story of the secretary of the Subcarpathian Society of Sciences Yulia Opalenyk (Yanchyk):
