Dear Editor,
This article ["Awards encourage impoverished Slovak Hungarian writers" by Matthew J. Reynolds Vol. 7 No. 37 October 1-7] is another reminder of how inappropriate the modern boundaries of Europe are. The Slovak boundary is 30-80 kilometres south of where it should really be.
Slovaks in the western parts of the Mukachevo area have been forced to become Ukrainians (just like Hungarians in the south) since 1945. The Germans in the Czech border areas were forced to become Czechs after the first world war ended and were later brutally expelled.
The chance to create reasonably correct ethnic boundaries in Europe has been missed. Justice has still not been done. I have recently visited the South Tyrol. People speak Austrian German, they feel Austrian, but they are forced to be Italian. Where is the basic human right of self determination?
8. Oct 2001 at 0:00
