ОСОБЛИВОСТІ УВІЧНЕННЯ ПАМ’ЯТІ ЖЕРТВ НАЦИСТСЬКОГО ТЕРОРУ НА ХАРКІВЩИНІ У ВОЄННИЙ ТА ПОВОЄННИЙ ЧАС

Abstract

The aim of the work. The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of commemorative initiatives and building of monuments connected with the commemoration of victims of Nazi terror on the territory of the Kharkiv region. The article explains the specifics of honoring the memory of different groups of victims of Nazi terror on the territory of the Kharkiv region in wartime and in the post-war period. The methodological base consists of general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction, systematic approach) along with special historical ones (historical-comparative, historical-systematic). The principles of scientificity, objectivity, and historicism are also applied. The scientific novelty of the research is defined by the fact that the author conducted for the first time a comprehensive study of commemorative initiatives of victims of Nazi terror on the territory of the Kharkiv region. Conclusions. During 1941–1945, the Kharkiv region was controlled by the German Military Administration. The German occupation regime established in the Kharkiv region led to numerous deaths among civilians and prisoners of war. The people's initiative served as the first step in commemorating the victims of war. Further, the state assumed control over the building of monuments. Works of monumental art became the instruments for the distribution of Soviet myths about «The Great Patriotic War». The official Soviet ceremonial model of commemoration was characterized by an intrusive cult of internationalism, heroism, Soviet patriotism, and self-sacrifice. The authorities stayed indifferent to people, keeping no record of victims and depersonalizing the dead. Due to the fatal defeats of the Red Army, the Kharkiv region lost about half a million citizens, but it wasn't highly ranked in the national narrative about the war. The state demonstrated discriminatory methods for commemoration of certain categories of the dead. Some of them were represented in the memorial space, and others were deprived of their rights. First of all, this concerned victims of mass terror – Jews, orphans, and prisoners of war. Only with the collapse of the communist regime and the independence of Ukraine these categories of victims of Nazi terror got the opportunity to convey their own vision of war to the general public.