Intertwined Memories of Kryvyi Rih: The Ato, the Second World War, and the Cossacks

Abstract

In the last decade, the politics of memory in Ukraine, implemented after the Revolution of Dignity and the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in Donbas in 2014, has been the subject of intense scholarly attention. However, researchers mainly focused either on the national level of collective memory or on the cases of the few largest cities. Much less attention has been paid to processes at the local level, in the towns of Southern Ukraine. Kryvyi Rih is a large industrial city in Southern Ukraine. It is usually characterized by general sociological features of the region: Russian-speaking and Soviet nostalgia. In the context of the local history and political situation, the author shows how the presentation of three layers of memory about the past of the region entangled in the city`s space. Established on the former Zaporizhzhia Cossacks lands, the city manifests its Cossack identity. Simultaneously, the most popular politicians in Kryvyi Rih are still those associated with the former Party of Regions, which was presented by former President Viktor Yanukovych, who was removed from power during the Revolution of Dignity in 2014. The basis of their memory politics was to protect the (post)Soviet version of the history of the Second World War as the “Great Victory”. But since the summer of 2014, its commemoration has intersected with the commemoration of city residents who died during the Anti-Terrorist Operation in Donbas. The paper addresses the evolution of commemorative practices and the overlapping of commemoration of the ATO, the Second World War, and the Cossacks. It also raises the question of what place the memory of the ATO and the Second World War will take in the conditions of the ongoing war.