A People, A Language

by Roman Rokytka, Korzár (Prešov, Slovakia), 21 September 2004translated by Bohuslav Harvil’ak (C-RS, Bratislava, Slovakia)Published as “Expelled Residents of Staryna Valley Still Returning to Their Native Villages After Many Years”, New Rusyn Times 2005, Vol. 12, No. 2 Prepared from the original by Peter Simkins Sluk (C-RS, Cleveland, OH) Modern social development sometimes requires in­dividuals to conform to the so-called public interest. Such a situation occurred in Slovakia with the construction of factories, huge water works, highways, etc. Such projects brought thousands of jobs, brought fresh drinking water to dozens of villages and cities, and improved infrastruc­ture. On the other hand, these projects changed the lives of people who, though compensated, were forced to aban­don their homes. One of the greatest forced resettle­ments in Slovakia’s history occurred during the construc­tion of the Staryna Dam in the Snina district. Seven villages were destroyed From 1980 to 1986, seven Rusyn villages were re­moved from the area around the Bukovsky Highlands (Bukovsky Verchy). According to official data, 3,500 resi­dents were displaced. The Staryna reservoir was then constructed and is now the largest source of drinking water in Slovakia and in all of central Europe, supply­ing drinking water to all of eastern Slovakia. Those who were displaced now live in other places, most in the cit­ies of Snina and Humenne, the rest scattered through­out eastern Slovakia. New housing tracts were created for the displaced upon their arrival, and the people built their houses or moved into apartments allotted to them. In the city of Snina, the tract is called “Brehy”; the one in Humenne is called “Dubnik.” Although the people adjusted to their new surroundings and have associa­tions and folklore ensembles, to this day they continue to remember their lost homes with a heavy heart. They still come back The abandoned vil­lages come alive on sum­mer weekends. Not wish­ing to forget their lost homes, the displaced people return to the area of their birth. About a hundred cars comethrough the gate every day, according to a secu­rity guard. People visit the places where theirhouses stood; they show their children who lived where, where the school was, a pub, a church… In over­ grown gardens they get their bearings from surviving fruit trees and the remains of building foundations. They visit the cemeteries where their close relatives are bur­ied. The cemeteries did not have to be destroyed, except for the cemetery in the village of […]