Between socialist homeland and totalitarian dictatorship. The image of the post-World War II period in Ukrainian historical discourse

Między socjalistyczną ojczyzną a totalitarną dyktaturą. Obraz dziejów kraju po II wojnie światowej w ukraińskim dyskursie historycznym

Abstract: This paper is devoted to the analysis of selected aspects how Ukrainian schools present the historical narrative that covers the post-World War II history of this country – particularly the period of late socialism. My goal was to establish how post-Maidan textbooks presented the times when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union in its superpower phase. I was especially interested in the current assessment of such phenomena as: post-Stalinist modernization, the movements opposing communist ideology, and the late socialist concept of the Soviet people. The source material was five new textbooks for historical education at high-school level approved for use by the Ukrainian authorities in 2019. The basic research method was discourse analysis: the content of the textbooks were critically evaluated in light of the ongoing political and social situation. Among the theoretical assumptions that were applied in the paper was that the historical narrative has a key importance as a function of the nation-state and as such serves its interests. To conclude the analysis below, it should be emphasized that historical narrative of Ukrainian Schools presents the past of the country in the second half of the 20th century as a general process of gaining independence from the Soviet centre. In the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, it should be assumed that the emancipatory nature of the interpretation of Ukraine’s national history is now irreversible.

Bibliography:

Chlibowśka H. et al., Istorija Ukrajiny. Riweń standartu: pidrucznyk dla 11 kłasu zakładiw zahalnoji seredńioji oswity, Ternopil 2019.

Danyłenko W., Smolnićka M., Istorija Ukrajiny: riweń standartu: pidrucz. dla 11-ho kł. zakł. zah. sered. oswity, Kyiv 2019.

Mudryj M., Arkusza O., Istorija: Ukrajina i swit: (intehr. kurs, riweń standartu): pidrucz. dla 11 ho kł. zakł. zah. sered. oswity, Kyiv 2019.

Soroczynśka N., Hisem O., Istorija Ukrajiny [riweń standartu]: pidrucznyk dla 11 kł. zakł. zahaln. sered. Oswity, Ternopil 2019.

Własow W., Kulczyćkyj S., Istorija Ukrajiny (profilnyjriweń): pidrucznyk dla 11 kłasu zakładiw zahalnoji seredńioji oswity, Kyiv 2019.

Bakare L., The force awakens (in Ukraine): Darth Vader statue replaces Lenin monument, “The Guardian”, 23 October 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/oct/23/darth-vader-statue-erected-ukraine.

Baran W., Danylenko W., Ukrajina w umowach systemnoji kryzy (1946-1980-i rr.), Kyiv 1999.

Bellezza S.A., Wings to Lift the Truth Up High: The Role of Language for the Shistdesiatnyky, [in:] The Battle for Ukrainian. A Comparative Perspective, M.S. Flier, A. Graziosi (eds.), Cambridge (Mass.) 2017.

Berdychowska B., Szestydiesiatnycy – bunt pokolenia, [in:] Bunt pokolenia. Rozmowy z intelektualistami ukraińskimi, B. Berdychowska, O. Hnatiuk (eds.), Lublin 2000.

Burszta W., Silencing the Past, Retrotopia, and Teaching History, “Sprawy Narodowościowe. Seria nowa” 2018, vol. 50.

Cherviatsova A., On the Frontline of European Memory Wars: Memory Laws and Policy in Ukraine, “European Papers”, vol. 5, no. 1.

Hrycenko O., Kultury pamięci Ukrainy i Polski w związkach wzajemnych i porównaniach, [in:] Kultury historyczne Polski i Ukrainy. O źródłach nieporozumienia między sąsiadami, T. Stryjek, V. Sklokin (eds.), Warsaw 2021.

Jankowśka O., Socialna polityka derżawy oczyma robitnykiw i selan, [in:] Powojenna Ukrajina: narysy socialnoji istoriji (druha połowyna 1940-ch – seredyna 1950-ch rr), W. Danylenko, N. Łaas (eds.), book 2, Kyiv 2010.

Jędraszczyk K., Trzydzieści lat dekomunizacji na Ukrainie, “Rocznik Instytutu Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej” 2021, vol. 19, no. 2.

Kasianov G., The “Nationalization” of History in Ukraine, [in:] Convolutions of Historical Politics, A. Miller, M. Lipman (eds.), Budapest 2012.

Konieczna-Sałamatin J., Stryjek T., Otrishchenko N., Wydarzenia. Ludzie.

Historia. Raport z badań sondażowych o pamięci współczesnych Polaków i Ukraińców, Warsaw 2018.

Lachowski T., Od rozrachunków z przeszłością do konfliktu zbrojnego na Donbasie.

Sprawiedliwość okresu przejściowego na Ukrainie po Rewolucji Godności, [in:] Ukraina po Rewolucji Godności. Prawa człowieka – tożsamość narodowa, T. Lachowski, V. Mazurenko (eds.), Łódź–Olsztyn 2017.

Mahda Y., Yevhen Mahda – Facebook profile, Facebook.com, 17 May 2020, https://www.facebook.com/yevhen.mahda [17.05.2020].

Minakov M., Development and Dystopia. Studies in Post-Soviet Ukraine and Eastern Europe, Stuttgart 2018.

Moskwa D., Opponents in battle, allies in suffering: a dualistic picture of Poland and Poles in Ukrainian history textbooks, [in:] The Politics of Memory in Poland and Ukraine. From Reconciliation to De-conciliation, T. Stryjek, J. Konieczna-Sałamatin (eds.), London 2021.

Olszański T. A., Wielka dekomunizacja. Ukraińska polityka historyczna czasu wojny, Warsaw 2017.

Rasiak R.O., “The Soviet People”: Multiethnic Alternative or Ruse?, [in:] Ethnic Russia in the USSR. The Dilemma of Dominance, E. Allworth (ed.), New York 1980.

Studenna-Skrukwa M., What history? What homeland? The nationalization of history in the school education before the breakthroughs in 2014-2015 and after, [in:] The Politics of Memory in Poland and Ukraine. From Reconciliation to De-conciliation, T. Stryjek, J. Konieczna-Sałamatin (eds.), London 2021.

Świder K., Ewolucja elity władzy w Związku Radzieckim i Rosji, Warsaw 2013.

Tchermalykh N., “We Felt That the Country Was in the Stage of a Rough Cut…”: Vernacular Documentation, Political Affects and the Ideological Functions of Catharsis in Ukraine, “Visual Anthropology” 2022, vol. 35, no. 2.

Wojnowski Z., The Soviet people: national and supranational identities in the USSR after 1945, “Nationalities Papers” 2015, vol. 43, no. 1.

PDF: Download