As the European Union extends eastward, incorporating an increasing number of formerly eastern bloc countries, it faces intricate cultural and social situations emerging out of the history of the region. Jessica Allina-Pisano is an associate professor of political science at the University of Ottawa and holds a PhD in political science from Yale University. In her article "From Iron Curtain to Golden Curtain: Remaking Identity in the European Union Borderlands" she looks at the effect that joining the European Union had upon new member states and how those changes in turn affected non-EU countries bordering them.
Hungarians in Ukraine and Slovakia
Pisano’s article examines the example of the village of Kisszelmenc in Ukraine, composed of ethnic Hungarians, and the opening of a border crossing between Kisszelmenc and her sister village of Nagyszelmenc in Slovakia. It was meant as a way to protect and encourage Hungarian identity as well as an attempt to amend for the splitting of the two villages after World War II. Pisano writes of the reverse effects to come out of the installment of the border crossing and attacks the inadequate interpretation and false application of the history of Kisszelmenc and Nagyszelmenc.
Pisano describes how the border became increasingly more guarded when Slovakia entered the European Union. Opening the border was a way of “redressing the grievances of specific individuals who had been involuntarily separated from family members,” as well as to “remedy what was widely perceived as a historical wrong: the division of the nation in the village.”
However, what was considered a utopian reunification through the opening of the Ukraine-Slovak border in 2005, actually left out the voices of the people the project was to impact the most: the villagers themselves.
Golden Curtain in Place of the Iron
The title of the article came from a villager’s interpretation of what happened now that residents of Nagyszelmenc can freely come from Slovakia but those in Kisszelmenc must go through the arduous task of obtaining a passport if they wish to leave the Ukraine. The villagers saw a golden curtain replacing the iron curtain.
Everything in Kisszelmenc became more expensive as people took advantage of the market available with so many from the west going through. The economic boom benefitted everyone but the local villagers. Most of the people setting up kiosks were Slovaks or Ukrainians from large cities, and not the local Magyar population.
Pisano found that the two villages were separate as far back as the eighteenth century. They remained separate in 1910 and then the Treaty of Versailles separated Kisszelmenc and Nagyszelmenc from Hungary in 1920.
The author was convincing in her argument that the opening of the border allowed for the disintegration of national unity and in the span of less than a decade the Hungarian population of Kisszelmenc has almost disappeared. While the EU allows for more movement of peoples between member states, there seems to be an increase in strong national sentiment, instead of the EU’s hope of more transnational loyalties to a unified Europe.
It is a reality check for the EU enthusiasts who see a united states of Europe as the best and most urgently needed good for saving and building up Europe. Europe’s history of centuries of ethnic conflict can not be healed in a few decades. Pisano acknowledged the vast accomplishments but gave a warning to keep eyes wide open to all that may be affected.
Source:
Allina-Pisano, Jessica. "From Iron Curtain to Golden Curtain: Remaking Identity in the European Union Borderlands." East European Politics & Societies 23, no. 2 (Spring 2009): 266-290.
Iemima Ploscariu - As a recent college graduate of Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, Iemima's writing experience consists of work done for ...
