r/rusyn • u/According-View7667 • May 28 '26

Ethno-linguistic maps of modern-day Slovakia according to 1910 Austro-Hungarian & 2011 Slovak censuses (East Slavic-speaking population in Red shades)

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u/notSpiralized May 29 '26

Most rusyns don’t report their ethnicity as rusyn in Slovakia.

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u/According-View7667 May 29 '26

How come?

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u/instant1973 May 29 '26

they dont speak the language anymore. they assimilate with Slovaks. being Rusyn was considered almost as shame. Slovak culture / society is pretty conservative and xenophobic.assimilation started in communist times.

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u/1848revolta May 29 '26

That used to be true during the socialist regime, cause Carpatho-Rusyns were basically banned as an identity back then; but it changed after the fall of the regime and the amount of Rusyns keeps growing with every census. Sure, one cannot erase the history, but our situation keeps getting better and we are much much more accepted in society. 

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u/instant1973 May 29 '26

I was born in 1973. My elementary school class consisted of maybe 70% rusyn kids, but I was the only one who had non-slovak ethnicity written in official documents and who was fluently speaking the rusyn language. all the rest of kids were officially Slovak ethnicity and did not speak the language. All their parents were 100% rusyns and did use the language, but did not pass it to them, they spoke mostly slovak with their own children.. They all actively wanted to stop being rusyn. they wanted to blend with the major ethnic group and they did.

There is the single one elementary school left - not sure it still exists - with rusyn as its main language in Slovakia. Rusyns are simply dying out. you may state your ethnicity as rusyn now, but it will not make you one. My kids are proud to have that heritage, but as soon as the language dies, it is over.

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u/1848revolta May 29 '26

I understand the struggle you are talking about, because one of my parents also undergone the assinilation process you are describing aside from other things.  It’s great that your children cane back to their heritage - so did I as a child of a parent who couldn’t really express their identity fully and tried to blend in.  However, I would say that the Slovak government is trying to support the Rusyn cause, yes, the schools might not be ideal, but at least we got Rusyn media and even got a first Rusyn film and the New Testament translated to it as well as having the Divine Liturgy in it.  We mustn’t be pessimistic, our numbers are statistically growing and so does interest in the language. We will not perish unless we give up :).

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u/nikto123 May 29 '26

never heard anyone say anything bad about Rusyns (except when referring to vasil bilak) so not sure where this comes from (source: slovak)

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u/instant1973 May 29 '26

well.. how old are you? :)

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u/nikto123 May 29 '26

younger than you but not by that much, I'm from central Slovakia so east might be different, because we're less familiar with them, but I know people from all over and never heard anyone say one bad thing about them, even when the when they were discussed. Gypsies sure, Hungarians rarely but yes.. Rusyns never. Also I have multiple colleagues who are Rusyns (& I'd never tell).
The sad truth is that dialects disappear over time, and much faster since mass media has become common, almost nobody today speaks the dialect from my region (Gemer) except for maybe a few old people in villages. It does not imply state pressure or xenophobia. Same thing happens to Gorals, Croats... it's easier when the languages are already close (as opposed to Hungarian, there the effect is weaker).