Evening star., 1948-03-31
By WiIIiom |. Nichols
North Amerjecn N>~sponsy AIliooes

impressions, those of a little town
called Leckart are the most vivid
the most revealing and the most
significant.
To my knowledge, Leckart is the
only town in the world that has
onacially been part Of Soviet Rus
sia and which was then given back
to the western world. It is little
accidental island on the edge OF
Eastern Slovakia and, apart from
one other. American, Mrs. Nichols
and I are the only Americans who
have ever been there. Let me show
where 1t Is, and then let me tell
you a little about it.
You may remember that, toward
the end of the war, the Russians
came in from the east and occupied
Slovakia. Gen. George s. Patton
and the Americans came In later
from the west and occupied Bo-
hemia and Moravia. For virtually
a year, from October, 1914, to Sep
tember, 1945, all Slovakia was oc-
cupied by the Russians under their
military government.
Somebody Made Mistake.
Then in September, 1s45, the east
ern tip Of Slovakia-the region
known as the Carpatho-Ukraine-
was ceded to Russia by Czecho-
slovakia, and became an integral
part Of the Soviet Union.
| lS.a ha %ro,,t;a,s
somebody made mistake. Near
the new border was a little town
called Leckart and it was included
by error in the Carpathian province
which was turned over to the Rus
slams. It was incorporated in that
state and operated as part of 1t
until, think, May of 1916.
Then somebody discovered that a
mistake had been made. The town
made a big lump in the frontier.
It extended the Russian boundary,
and produced whole series Of ad-
ministrative complications. So the
Russians revised the treaty with
Czechoslovakia and gave 1t back.
So, here is little town which has
been part Of Russia, and isn't any
more. We thought it would be in
teresting to go there. After first
visiting London and Prague, we
took the plane to Kosice, the last
provincial capital before you come
to the boundary line between Slo-
vakia and Russia. There we had
good luck. We turned up a good
local driver and set out in his little
car for one of the most extraordi-
nary journeys that I have ever
made.
Hard to Believe.
It is hard to believe how prinli-
tive that country can be. 1t is part
Of the great Hungarian plain,
fought over for years by Slovakia
and Hungary. At the last count, It
had been given to Czechoslovakia--
but it had all the characteristics of
Hungary. We drove along through
fields fiat as the ocean; we saw
hobbled horses in the fields and
storks standing on one leg and star
ing at us. And then, at intervals,
we saw the ruined villages, one by
one, each following the same pat
tern: AS the Russians came in, the
first thing they would do would be
to shoot the top off the church
steeple in order to eliminate snipers,
then they would blast the first
house on the right and left OF the
street, then the tanks would rattle
down the single street, their ma
chine guns spraying the houses On
either side, and leave, with . final
blast at the last two houses.
We went through miles and miles
Of these fields and little villages
Even Our local driver got lost at
one point but by good luck we
bumped into peasant with whom
he had served in the Hungarian
Army. We got him to climb aboard
and guide us and finally we arrived
at Leckart.
i Down the Main Street.
l We came down its main street
one Of the few automobiles, am
|, sure, that had been in that town
since the days Of the Russians. Ger
tainly we were the first Americana
who had been there for six months
The two or three leaders OF the
town gathered around our car. The
leaders consisted Of several priests
a couple of merchants, the single
school teacher. They said, this
town is going to be talking about
your visit for six months
/ They tnok 1,S into the hndlse sent