Julian v. Zachariewicz: Greek Catholic village church in Skorodyńce by Czortków in Galicia, Illustration

The Ruthenians, as the West Ukrainians were called in Habsburg Austria, stepped into the epoch of nationalism with the worst possible cards in their hand. As “faceless people” they had no more than a very weak awareness of their own national autonomy. The status of knowledge about their ethnicity was minimal, also in the corridors of power in Vienna.