Ukraine

Larysa Zariczniak, Kyiv

On September 29, 2015 the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory (INM) opened their new exhibit on the Second World War in Ukraine in front of Kyiv City Hall. The exhibit, called “Ukraine’s Second World War,” is only one of many projects that the INM has created throughout the past year and a half.

When Volodymyr Viatrovych became the new head of the INM at the end of March 2014 he soon began to recruit new staff.  There was a high turnover since the majority of the old staff were card-carrying communists, and as Viatrovych points out, the Institute needed renewal since “it was basically liquidated during Yanukovych’s time.” Presently, close to 40 people work for the Institute and the majority of them are young historians.

Viatrovych points out that the most important task of the INM during his short tenure was the introduction of the four decommunization laws by the Ukrainian Parliament. He believes that these laws will “finally demarcate modern Ukraine from its communist past, condemn the crimes of its totalitarian past and open the archives of the communist secret service.” Currently, Ukrainian towns and cities are trying to decommunize their city names, streets and architecture by removing the last visible symbols of the Soviet Union. Most popular are the “dethroning” of the Lenin statues all over Ukraine, with more than 500 being dismantled by mid-April 2015 (an interactive map of “raining Lenins” can be viewed here).

In 2015 the INM devoted their work to the topic of the Second World War. In January, for example, they worked with the Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II to hold an exhibition dedicated to the 70^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.  The exhibit was entitled “Auschwitz: A Ukrainian Account.”

One of the most significant projects of the INM this year was the reworking of the Second World War commemoration in the month of May. This year marked the first year that the Liberation of Europe was commemorated on May 8^th and not May 9^th.  This is significant as it brought Ukraine’s commemoration into the European fold and out of Moscow’s time zone. The German surrender in Europe in 1945 occurred at 23:01 on May 8 Central European Time, but it was already May 9 in Moscow (and was celebrated on this date by the Soviet Union as “Victory Day”). This year’s commemoration was also styled differently from the typical Soviet-style celebrations (see: Moscow’s Victory Day celebration) and more towards a “Remembrance Day” variation for all Ukrainians who died during the Second World War.

For this, the INM worked with government agencies to develop their staff’s understanding of the war, prepared a commemorative concert called “Hero’s Voices” and included both historical voices of Ukraine’s involvement in the Second World War and today’s Ukrainian heroes. Along with this the poppy  was introduced as a symbol to commemorate Ukraine’s dead. Canadians know this symbol very well, and Ukraine now has adopted this symbol from the West.

Above all, the INM created numerous multi-media videos about Ukrainians in the Second World War. This included Ukrainians from Ukraine but also Ukrainians from the diaspora who fought for the Allies in the war. This included a video about Petro Dmytruk, a Ukrainian-Canadian (a fighter pilot who was shot down over France and became a leading figure in the French Resistance) and a video about Michael Strank, a Ukrainian-American (famous for being part of the raising of the American flag over Iwo Jima). Most importantly, these videos were televised on almost every Ukrainian TV channel leading up to the May 8^th commemorations.

Towards the end of the year the INM will prepare educational materials for schools entitled “War and Myth” which will “refute the main Soviet myths of the Second World War in a set of teaching materials (posters, maps, additional historical texts),” said Viatrovych.

The INM’s free and open-air “Ukraine’s Second World War” exhibit first opened in Lviv at the beginning of September. This was symbolically important because for Ukraine, the war began in 1939 (and not 1941 as according to the Soviet narrative) when the Germans bombed Lviv. It was estimated that about 2000 people came to view the exhibit in Lviv during the several days it was located outside of the historic Rynok Square. It opened in Kyiv and will move to Odesa and Cherkasy, and the intention is to also show the exhibit in Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv. Viatrovych says that plans are underway for the exhibit to be displayed in “all the cities of Ukraine.” There are also plans to translate the exhibit into English and have it tour outside of Ukraine.

The current situation in Ukraine can be blamed on the decades of Soviets twisting of historical events: the lack of historical discussions, the hidden memories, and the inability to examine one’s history have created a generation of Ukrainians who still cherish and nurture a very unnerving view of the country’s history. That is the importance of the INM’s work. It is gauged more towards the younger generations that will have the ability to actually study history and discuss its various impacts on Ukraine rather than a one state-governed historical narrative that was preached for so many years under the Soviet Union.