The relations between the Jews and their non-Jewish environment in the Carpathian region between the World Wars were generally restless. Many Carpathian Jews mention the historical absence of anti-Semitism in the region, and the good neighborly relations between Jews and non-Jews. In their testimonies, the Jews, of course, do not distinguish between the various national tendencies of the Ruthenians, and among others mentioned there are mainly Hungarians, Schwabians (local Germans, also known as Karpatendeutsche), Roma and Czechs. In most cases, but certainly not in all of them, antisemitism is mentioned in the context of the Schwabians. This may be retrospectively influenced by the events of the Holocaust. However, in general these testimonies are not surprising, since the local Germans in the regions of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire developed a fairly extreme pan-German nationalism, which was accompanied by quite a bit of anti-Semitism, as early as the 19th century. Nevertheless, the relations with most of the local populace were good. A committee of the JDC, which visited Munkacs in April 1938, also reported on the nature of these relations. There is little doubt that the official character of the Czechoslovak government – a democratic and tolerant one – created a more favorable environment for Jews, certainly compared to other places in Eastern Europe, where Jews suffered not only from official anti-Semitism during the period in question, but also from widespread hostility among the population. The very fact that Jews in Carpatho-Rus lived in many mixed residential areas with other ethnic groups (especially Ruthenians) proves that such hostility was not common there at the time.
Beginning in the mid-1930s, the situation in the Carpathian Jews worsened. The Nazi regime in Germany provoked anti-Semitic ferment throughout Europe and, to a certain extent, in the Carpathians. The lumber industry in the region, a source of livelihood for many, collapsed and the situation of many Jews in the region deteriorated. Although these processes were felt more in rural areas and small towns, they were also expressed in larger towns. On the eve of the collapse of Czechoslovakia, the Jews in Carpatho-Rus were, therefore, in quite a distress. It was a divided community, dominated largely by a fanatical and uncompromising religious leadership, with a very little influence by the extensive Zionist activity within it and on the verge of economic collapse. Still, the worst was yet to come.