THE FORMATION OF THE IMAGE OF BOGDAN Khmelnitsky IN THE HISTORICAL LITERATURE OF THE STALIN AGE

Abstract

The peculiarities of forming a historical portrait of Ukrainian hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky during the 1930s – early 1950s are investigated. The historical aftermath of Hetman-centered events has been so groundbreaking that discussions about his personality have not subsided for centuries. Such ideological manipulations did not remain aloof and Soviet historians also resorted to the use of hetman’s name. A comparative analysis of several historical essays of Stalin era is made. The first who took up the creation of the image of Bohdan Khmelnytsky was M. Pokrovsky, whose conclusions were taken by other authors. These are mainly negative traits attributed to him personally and his activities, which were cleverly used by the fighters with «Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism». In the course of the Soviet Union’s preparation for war and its deployment, the process of ideological support for military campaigns began. To this end, they immediately returned good name to the Ukrainian hetman, presenting it to a reader as a ruthless and successful leader of the armed struggle against the lords of Poland. For this purpose, other essays and articles were published, which fulfilled various ideological and propaganda functions: unity of all Ukrainian lands, «brotherly reunification of peoples», etc., where Bogdan Khmelnytsky’s heroically elevated image was always in the focus of a reader.