Page - 148 - in Österreich-Ungarns imperiale Herausforderungen - Nationalismen und Rivalitäten im Habsburgerreich um 1900

© 2020, V&R unipress GmbH, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847110606 – ISBN E-Lib: 9783737010603 HungarianForeignOffice inAugust1914ontheorganisationofmilitary, socio- legal, and ecclesiasticalmatters in a futureUkrainian state separate from the RussianEmpireandassociatedwithAustria-Hungary.Military relationsought tobeset-upalongthelinesofthetraditionsoftheZaporozhianCossacks,which, themetropolitanclaimed,were inherentlyUkrainianandstill alive; incontrast, theRussian institutionof theDonCossackswas a ‘degeneracy’ (Entartung) of true Cossackdom. The proclamation of the most distinguished Habsburg commanderas‘HetmanofUkraine’wouldrepresentamajorvictoryfortheDual Monarchy. AHabsburg fieldmarshal could be in charge of amilitary admin- istrationenjoyingabroaddegreeof autonomy,whichwouldbeginassembling theofficercorpsofafutureUkrainianarmy.TheHetmanwouldrulethroughthe promulgation of a series of Universals to the army and population at large. Following theproclamationofbasic laws including freedomandtolerance, the Austrian civil code (in as authentic aUkrainian translationaspossible)would replace Russian law. The ecclesiastical organisation ought to have the goal of separating the church in Ukraine from the Russian Orthodox Church. The Metropolitan ofHalych (‘and all ofUkraine’) – presumably Sheptyts’kyi him- self – would introduce a series of decrees on the separation of the church in Ukraine from theHoly Synod inPetrograd, the prohibitionof prayers for the tsar, and the introduction of prayers for theHabsburgKaiser. Ukrainian and AustrianbishopsmightalsobebroughtintoreplacerecalcitrantRussianonesin certainplaces.TheOrthodoxyofthechurchwouldnothavetobetamperedwith, concludedthemetropolitan,solongasitwaspurgedof‘Muscovite influences’.27 In effect, thiswouldhave amounted to the extensionof the jurisdictionof the Greek Catholic Church to all Ukrainian populated territories and its trans- formationfromaregionaltoaUkrainiannationalinstitutionthatwouldbecome thebedrockofUkrainiannational identity. Sheptyts’kyi’s remarkablememorandumthus envisioned thewar as anhis- toric opportunity to resolve theUkrainianQuestion through the separationof DnieperUkraine fromtheRussianEmpire and the replacementof all artificial Russian political and cultural influences with allegedly authentic Ukrainian traditions and institutions like theHetmanate and theUniateChurch. The re- sulting new state would be closely aligned with Austria-Hungary. While the heavyAustriandefeatsandthelossofalmostallofGaliciaintheautumnof1914 madetherealisationof thisprojectallbut impossible intheshortterm,itwould 27 Erzbischof Szeptycki anUrbas: PromemoriaüberdieOrganisierungderUkraine inmili- tärischer, sozial-rechtlicher und kirchlicher Hinsicht mit dem Ziel ihrer Loslösung von Russland,15.08.1914, in:Hornykiewicz(ed.),Ereignisse inderUkraine(seenote5),vol. 1, p. 8–11. BorislavChernev148