TRANSCARPATHIAN UKRAINE (1944 – 1945): SPORTS POLICY
Authors: Mishchanyn Vasyl , Dibrova Vladyslav 
Published: July 2024

The article highlights the sports policy of the National Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine (NRZU) from 1944 to 1945. The Resolution of the National Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine on April 10, 1945, regulated the development of physical education and sports in Transcarpathian Ukraine. The Central Sports Committee was organized during the establishment of the authorized NRZU in matters of education. The NRZU Commissioner for Education managed it. We note that with the Sovietization of all spheres of life, NRZU is trying to introduce Soviet sports standards. In the State Archives of the Transcarpathian Region, a separate description of fund 1211 contains documents about the sports policy of Transcarpathian Ukraine. Description 2 "Committee on Sports under the National Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine" has 19 cases. In the first founding documents ("Regulations on the Committee for Physical Education and Sports at the National Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine", "Regulations on the Physical Education Team of the Enterprise, Institution, Educational Institution"), we follow two main tasks the formation of physical education and sports in Transcarpathian Ukraine; direct copying of Soviet experience in physical education and sports, introduction of Soviet standards. In particular, "the training of workers in the complex "Ready for Work and Defence of the USSR", the involvement of "physicians in the active participation in the socio-political life of the country", their mobilization "to fulfil the tasks set by the party and the National Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine ... in the matter of further socialist construction and defence of the country". A separate resolution of the NRZU dated May 25, 1945, created the Committee for Physical Education and Sports at the NRZU. Vasyl Fedak was appointed as the head of the Committee. Personnel from Soviet Ukraine are sent to help him establish the Soviet sports management system. The article also provides specific facts about conflict situations between athletes and Red Army soldiers: arbitrary seizure of housing by soldiers, refusal to return sports equipment, and theft of property. Athletes were also ideologically trained - compulsory attendance at various lectures and subscriptions to periodicals. The organization and celebration of the "Physical Culture Day" by NRZU were also covered. In 1945, there were as many as two of these - "as part of the celebration of May 1" and "on the occasion of the end of the school year" (July 1, 1945). Another area of activity of the Committee for Physical Education and Sports at NRZU during this period was the introduction of Soviet standards for teaching physical education in the region's schools. For this, the leadership of the Committee requested all the necessary educational and methodological literature from the republican centre. We note that after the signing of the agreement on the reunification of Transcarpathian Ukraine with Soviet Ukraine (June 29, 1945), the participation of athletes from the region in all-republic and all-Union competitions began: the participation of Transcarpathians in the Ukrainian Spartakiad, gymnastics competitions in Moscow, the invitation of Transcarpathian football players "on October holidays" to Kyiv. On the other hand, athletes from Kyiv were invited to the anniversary of the liberation of Transcarpathian Ukraine. The first mass-political event that involved athletes and sportspeople on the all-Union scale was the elections to the Verkhovna Rada of the USSR, which took place in February 1946. The athletes' duties included, in particular, "campaigning and explanatory work among the population, as well as checking and collecting materials on the preparation for the elections".