Home Across the Border: Subcarpathian Hungarian Immigration to Northeastern Hungary

Type of Abstract (select): Paper presentation

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Hungarians form a significant minority in the Subcarpathia region of far western Ukraine. Before the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, the area belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary and was home to – among others – Ukrainians, Ruthenians, Jews, Roma, and Hungarians. In recent decades, many Subcarpathian Hungarians have immigrated to Hungary, largely due to economic factors and conflict in Ukraine. This presentation explores the phenomenon of Subcarpathian Hungarian immigration to Kisvárda, Hungary – a small city near the border of Ukraine – and its surrounding villages from the fall of the Soviet Union to the present. It examines the immigrants’ motivations for leaving Subcarpathia and for choosing the Kisvárda region, the nature of their transition to life in Hungary, and their feelings about their own identity. It touches on the economic, cultural, and political factors impacting these immigrants, including the effects of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Hungarian government’s 2011 offer of citizenship to all ethnic Hungarians. Though a small phenomenon, it sheds light on much larger topics at play in Central and Eastern Europe: the situation of the Hungarian minority communities outside of Hungary in the Carpathian Basin, emigration from a country experiencing one of the highest rates of population decline in Europe, and the impact of the war between Ukraine and Russia.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Luke Larson holds a B.A. in International Relations, Geography, and Spanish from Minnesota State University, Mankato and completed the Pre-Theology program at the University of Saint Thomas’ Saint Paul Seminary. During the 2022-2023 academic year, he participated in the Hungary Foundation’s Budapest Fellowship program and this year de is participating in the Mathias Corvinus Collegium’s Visiting Fellowship Program. Luke's areas of research in Hungary include the Subcarpathian Hungarian minority, the intersection of faith and politics, and trends within conservative politics. My work has appeared in the Hungarian Journal of Minority Studies, The American Conservative, and The National Catholic Register.