Film focus: internment of Rusyns in Austria

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Concentration camps are mainly associated with the Nazis during World War II, but the idea was first implemented in 1914 by the Austrian government.

The Thalerhof concentration camp in Groz, Austria, was used to intern Carpatho-Rusyns, a little-known people living in the northeastern region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

A documentary on the camp, titled “Changed by Thalerhof,” will be screened at 2 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Butler Institute of American Art, 524 Wick Ave. The hourlong film delves into Thalerhof’s long-term effects on the Carpatho-Rusyn community. It includes interviews with scholars, current leaders in the Carpatho-Rusyn community and descendants of Thalerhof victims.

“This is an untold piece of history,” said John Righetti, one of the producers. “It raises questions about the ways Carpatho-Rusyns were treated by the Austrian government and their immediate neighbors. It’s a study of how nations can turn one group of its citizens against another without any real reason using unfounded fear as a tool.”

“While it might seem that the documentary is dark, it really is the story of a people decimated who revived themselves and still refuse to go away,” said Maria Silvestri, co-producer.

The film was funded entirely by the Pittsburgh-based John and Helen Timo Foundation, a foundation committed to promoting and educating others about Carpatho-Rusyn culture.

Carpatho-Rusyns are an East Slavic group from the Carpathian Mountain chain of East Central Europe. They have never had a country of their own. More than 600,000 Americans are of Carpatho-Rusyn heritage, with many in the Youngstown-Warren-Sharon area. For information, email Righetti at rusynone@gmail.com.