NAZI OCCUPATION AND DISMANTLING OF COMMUNIST MONUMENTS IN UKRAINE DURING WORLD WAR II

Serhii Stelnykovych,Olga Bilobrovets,Oleksandr Zhukovskyi

doi:10.35433/history.11205

Serhii Stelnykovych, Olga Bilobrovets + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.35433/history.11205

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Abstract

This paper considers the measures undertaken by the Nazi occupation administration to dismantle Communist monuments in Ukraine during World War II. The research methodology integrates general scientific and special historical methods and the basic principles of historical research, namely: historicism, scientificity, objectivity, and systematicity. The principles of historicism and scientificity have contributed to complex representation of the processes of dismantling the Bolshevik monuments in interconnection and interrelation with the events of that period. The principle of objectivity has facilitated the analysis of the outlined issues taking into account the objective historical regularities, based on a critical analysis of the specialized literature and sources. The principle of systematicity has been used togain a holistic picture of Communist monuments dismantling in Ukraine during World War II. This paper is the first research considering the measures to dismantle Communist monuments in Ukraine under the Nazi occupation on the basis of a comprehensive range of historical sources. The authors come to the conclusion that dismantling of Communist monuments in Ukraine was initiated at the beginning of the Nazi occupation. Bolshevik monuments were often demolished, whereas monuments without any ideological charge were preserved. The policy was supported by the local population, who associated ideological monuments with the Bolshevik anti-Ukrainian policy of the interwar period. To sustain anti-Soviet sentiments, the occupation administration promoted the local initiatives to erect monuments with anti-Bolshevik content (mostly monuments in memory of the Ukrainians executed by the NKVD). The evidence from this study indicates that Bolshevik ideological monuments were completely demolished on the territory of Ukraine during World War II.

Highlights

The dismantling of Communist monuments was one of the priorities of the Nazi occupation policy in Ukraine during World War II
The dismantling of Communist monuments was mainly initiated by the German military
Dismantling of Communist monuments was initiated by the Nazis on the occupied Ukrainian territories at the beginning of World War II

Summary

Introduction

The dismantling of Communist monuments was one of the priorities of the Nazi occupation policy in Ukraine during World War II. Numerous Bolshevik monuments erected in the interwar period symbolized Communist realities and were strongly ideologically charged. The dismantling of the objects of the Bolshevik monumental propaganda by the Nazis did not cause any objection on the part of the local Ukrainian population, who often assisted in the liquidation of the monuments. At the beginning of the Nazi occupation, the Ukrainian population associated the monuments to Soviet-party activists with the Bolshevik anti-Ukrainian policy of the interwar period. The dismantling of Communist monuments in Ukraine during World War II marked the new historical policy, aimed at destructing the historical memory of the Soviet past and spreading anti-Soviet sentiments. Few studies have been conducted to investigate the dismantling processes of Communist monuments on the Nazi-occupied territory of Ukraine. The research carried out by Alla Zakoretskaya episodically focuses on the destruction of monuments, ,the monuments to

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