Khust, Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine

🇺🇦 Khust is a city located on the Khustets River in Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine. It is near the сonfluence of the Tisa and Rika Rivers. Serving as the administrative centre of Khust Raion, the city itself does not belong to the raion and is designated as a city of oblast significance, with the status equal to that of a raion. Khust was the capital of the short-lived republic of Carpatho-Ukraine.

Etymology The name is most possibly related to the name of the stream Hustets or Husztica, which means "kerchief". It is also conceivable that the name of the city comes from a Romanian traditional food ingredient – husti.

There are several alternative names used for this city: Ukrainian/: Хуст, Romanian: Hust, Hungarian: Huszt, Czech/Slovak: Chust, Yiddish: חוסט, German: Chust.

There is also one fairy tale about the town's name: Once a chort (demon) was walking around the town and then a mountain appeared. A moment later, it fell on his tail. He shouted, Hvust (Transcarpathian dialect, "Хвіст" in Ukrainian, tail in English). Another chort heard "Khust"… In that way, the name of the town was formed.

History The settlement was first mentioned as terra Huzth, in 1324. Its castle, supposed to be built in 1090 by the king St. Ladislaus of Hungary as a defence against the Cumans and destroyed during the Mongol invasion of Hungary, was mentioned in 1353. The town got privileges in 1329.

In 1458 King Matthias imprisoned his uncle, the rebellious Mihály Szilágyi in the castle. In 1514, during György Dózsa's peasant revolt local peasants captured the castle. In 1526 the area became a part of Transylvania.

The army of Ferdinand I captured the town in 1546. In 1594, the Tartars destroyed the town, but could not take the castle. The castle was besieged in 1644 by the army of George I Rákóczi, in 1657 by the Polish, and in 1661–62 by the Ottoman and Tartar hordes. Count Ferenc Rhédey, the ruling prince of Transylvania and high steward of Máramaros County died in the castle on 13 May 1667.

The castle surrendered to the Kurucs on 17 August 1703, and the independence of Transylvania was proclaimed here. It was the last castle the Habsburgs occupied when suppressing the freedom fight of the Kurucs, in 1711. The seriously damaged castle was struck by lightning and burnt down on 3 July 1766; a storm brought down its tower in 1798, it has been in ruins ever since then. Khust was renamed as Csebreny in 1882 during Magyarization process. In 1861, Rabbi Moshe Schick, established what was, at that time, the largest yeshiva in the world, with over 800 students.

In 1910 Khust had 10,292 citizens, 5,230 Ukrainians, 3,505 Hungarians and 1,535 Germans. Until the Treaty of Trianon it belonged to Hungary and was the seat of the Khust district of Máramaros county. After World War I, in summer 1919 the Rumanian troops took over the territory. But according to the St.-Germain treaty Czechoslovakia received the city, as part of newly formed Podkarpatsko ("under the Carpathians") region (Subcarpathia). Czechoslovakia had to provide the region a wide autonomy, but autonomy was realised only in 1938. In Autumn 1938 an autonomous government was organised. The day after the collapse of Czechoslovakia on 14 March 1939, the Khust city government proclaimed, by the will of the local population, independence as Carpathian Ukraine on 15 March 1939. The next day, 16 March 1939, Hungarian troops invaded Khust and claimed it as part of Hungary. On 24 October 1944 Soviet troops occupied the city, and annexed it into the Soviet Union. The Soviet government deported much of the city's German and Hungarian populations.

WWII and the Holocaust Prior to 1939, Jews thrived in Khust and owned many businesses. When the city became part of Hungary in March 1939 again, many Jewish citizens were forced into labor camps. A ghetto was established, and Jews from other regions were forced to live there. Additional ghettos were established nearby in Iza and Szeklence (toda Sokyrnycia, Ukraine). By April 1944, most Jewish residents were killed at Auschwitz. Prior to the war, there were 8 synagogues in the city. One survives and is in use today.

Demographics In 2001 it had 31,900 inhabitants, including: • 28,500 (89.3%) Ukrainians • 1,700 (5.4%) Hungarians • 1,200 (3.7%) Russians • 100 (0.4%) Roma

Until the 19th century, the city's population also included ethnic Romanians (800 Romanians according to the 1880 census).

Tourist sights[edit] • Ruins of the Khust Castle • Protestant fortress church 13th–14th century, Protestant since 1524, fortified in 1616, 1644, 1661 and 1670, restored in 1773 and 1888. Its belfry is from the 15th century; until 1861 it had four pinnacles. • Roman Catholic church (Baroque, 18th century) • Greek Orthodox church (18th century).