Totalitarian Communist Research Articles

Udział polskiego duchowieństwa katolickiego na Pomorzu w procesie narodowotwórczym XIX–XXI w.

After the fall of the First Polish Republic, Pomerania joined the territory of Prussia. National institutions integrating the Polish society disappeared. The Catholic Church and Catholic faith became the only connecting link between all social layers and classes. Therefore, the Catholic faith played a very important role in Pomerania in the Polish nation formation process. The creator of this state was Polish Catholic clergy which actively participated in all patriotic activities. In the period of 1918-1920, the clergy played an important role in the formation of the Polish statehood on this territory. During the interwar period, priests continued their activity in all areas of life in Pomerania. After 1939 they were affected by the repressive action of Nazi Germany. At that time, 34 clergymen were killed in Chełmno diocese. In the period of 1945-1989, in the Polish People’s Republic, people of Pomerania faced communist totalitarianism. The Church and Catholic clergy, then, were defending national existence. After 1989 Pomerania land encountered demoliberalism rejecting national imponderabilia and Christian values. The Catholic Church became a barrier from totalitarian and liberal indoctrination.

Enshrining legal coercion as a prerogative of the rule of law

Purpose of the article is to study legal coercion as one of the traditional state management methods from the standpoint of the exclusive prerogative of the state to implement it. Methodology. The research uses a natural-law approach and a number of methods aimed at a systematic and meaningful analysis of the problems of state coercion, the most important of which are generalization, dialectical, historical and integrative methods. Results: it is resoned that the following grounds are necessary for the application of coercion: 1) the legal basis presupposes the presence of legal norms that provide for the possibility of applying coercion to certain subjects in concrete cases; 2) the factual basis presupposes the occurrence of the legal event provided for in the law - the event or act which generated the legal relationship; 3) the formal basis implies the issuing by the state body of the act of application of the law ordering the application of the constraint to a specific subject. The coercion as a physical action is applied by special state bodies on the basis of a court decision or administrative act. In the absence of such acts, coercion cannot be exercised. It is emphasized that the legal coercion applied by the state must involve proportionate measures and sanctions, in such a way that, on the one hand, it creates the necessary inhibiting factors in the conscience of those who would try to break the law and, on the other hand, it strengthens the feeling of security in others, inspiring them with the conviction that the law, the state, protects them and that they should not resort to non-state, unofficial means in order to take the law into their own hands. It is absolutely essential that the application of coercion should not be used to infringe the rights and freedoms of individuals or to cause physical or mental suffering. Only in such a situation will legal coercion contribute to the formation of the ethical attitude of citizens, increasing their psychological readiness to respect the law. Originality. This is one of the first studies devoted to the issue of legal coercion as the context of its use by the state in order to exercise its power in modern political and legal realities, including taking into account the experience of state formation in the Republic of Moldova. Practical significance. The results of the study can contribute to the improvement of law enforcement and human rights protection activities, to increase the level of legal culture at the current stage of social development, primarily in countries freed from communist totalitarianism. Key words: state, law, rule of law, legality, legal act, coercion, legal coercion, normativity.

ASPECTS OF HISTORICAL ROMANIAN DRAMATURGY DURING THE COMMUNIST TOTALITARIAN REGIME

An insight that can greatly help us in our understanding of Romanian history during the era of the Communist totalitarian regime, is without a doubt provided by the historical dramaturgy of the period. During those years, a large number of historical plays were written and directed. It is for this very reason that historical theatre cannot be ignored by any historian interested in how the social representation of the past was constructed in the context of the four decades in which Romania was held in the grip of Communist ideology. There is an obvious parallel between the evolution of Romanian literature during the period in question (including dramaturgy) and Romanian historiography. In the latter field, changes that occurred during the 1960s and 1970s have been highlighted over the last two decades by Lucian Boia1. An analysis of literary criticism and writings reveals similar characteristics and developments in that field. Moreover, the literary genre of historical theatre can be closely linked to the rise of nationalism within the political discourse of the Communist regime, so it should not come as any surprise that the number of historical themes had been growing steadily since the mid-1960s. In a manner similar to other cultural policies of the time, the ideological twists and turns of Romanian Communism can be found in the evolution of historical theatre. Indeed, the closest comparison that can be made is with the historical cinematography of the time, which was better known and more popular than the dramaturgy of the era, through its themes, subjects and artistic approaches. However, while the historical movies of the era are still available today and indeed are frequently broadcast on Romanian TV, the historical plays of the time are available to the modern researcher only in specialized books in which they had been collected before 1989, in the volumes of literary criticism from the Communist period, or in the collective memory of witnesses. Nevertheless, a study of the impact of theatre under the conditions of communist totalitarianism is essential in order to be able to properly understand the effects of the regime’s propaganda, its evolution in terms of ideological orientation, and how it contributed to the crystallization of social representations of the past. This research study is merely a first step. The themes of the historical plays written and produced during the Communist regime are closely correlated with its historiographical writings. Ideas such as the antiquity of the Romanian nation, its persistency, the permanent nature of the defence of its statehood, and the aspiration toward unity are all now emerging. One theme highlighted during the 1970s is that of ‘heroism’, also present in the propaganda of the time. This theme channels us towards a better understanding of the role and attributes of the leader, thus becoming one of the main themes of Romanian historical dramaturgy within a very short time. While a long line of voivodes and heroes appeared on the stage, and via this medium through history, they became in fact the moving parts of a bigger mechanism that would ultimately become the personality cult of Nicolae Ceaușescu.

To nie „czerwony carat”. Dawna Rosja a Związek Sowiecki w myśli politycznej Józefa Mackiewicza

NOT THE „RED CZARATE”: OLD-DAY RUSSIA VERSUS THE SOVIET UNION IN THE POLITICAL REFLECTION OF JÓZEF MACKIEWICZ
 This article discusses Józef Mackiewicz’s views on old Russia and the Soviet Union, attempting to answer the question of whether Mackiewicz saw in totalitarian communist rule a continuation of Russian self-government or a new type of political phenomenon. Unlike most Polish writers and activists of political circles, Mackiewicz does not agree with the thesis formulated by Jan Kucharzewski in his work Od białego tsaratu do czerwonego [From the White to the Red Czarate], that the face of Russia was unchangeable, independent of political changes. Answering the question whether communism was institutionally and mentally rooted in the former Russian statehood, Mackiewicz strongly disagrees. He claims that communism was a completely different phenomenon, transcending systemic differences, which is why calling it “a red czarate” is completely wrong. He consistently separates the concepts of self-government and communism, opposes the view that the Soviet Union was a continuation of tsarist Russia, and therefore rejects the treatment of communist captivity as another iteration of the national dispute between Poland and Russia.

Communist Totalitarian Regime and the Status quo of the Catholic Church in the Context of Post-War Reality of Poland (1945−1956)

The fundamental purpose of this article is to present the specificity of the totalitarian communist regime to the status quo of the Catholic Church functioning in the Polish People's Republic in the early post-war period (1945−1956). Therefore, the analysis of the discussed issues allows one to expose the nature of the Stalinist system of repression described as the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” taking into account the tough and challenging situation of the Catholic Church, forced not only to fight for her survival but above all to preserve the Christian identity of the Polish nation. The reinterpretation of the Stalinist totalitarian system from the perspective of Christian personalistic praxeology discloses its unprecedentedly criminal nature. Moreover, the presentation of the fundamental assumptions of the totally anti-human and anti-Christian paradigm that characterizes the “dictatorship of the proletariat” makes it possible to interpret Stalinism in terms of not only defining but also legitimizing and even authenticating one of the most terrifying and degenerate forms of totalitarian systems of the 20th century. However, this is of crucial importance, specifically today when many emerging ideological trends often downplay the criminal nature of Stalinism and even treat the “totalitarian model” — particularly communism — as a “specific historical phenomenon” attempting to resolve many complex and multifarious socio-political, cultural and economic issues.

ПЕРШИЙ У КРИМУ ПАМ’ЯТНИЙ ЗНАК ЖЕРТВАМ ГОЛОДОМОРУ: ВІД ІДЕЇ ДО МІСЦЯ ПАМ'ЯТІ У СІМФЕРОПОЛІ

The article highlights the history of the first memorial sign in Crimea to the victims of the Holodomor, which was installed in the form of an Orthodox cross in 2000 on the facade of the Cathedral of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princes Volodymyr and Olga in Simferopol. The idea of its establishment belongs to the secretary of the Crimean Diocese of the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate Pavlо Kushch, who in 2000 was ordained a bishop under the name of Kliment. The nearly three-meter memorial sign in the form of a pedestal and a stele, on which an Orthodox cross entwined with vines and stones are carved, was made and presented to the bishop by Crimean Tatar sculptor and national movement activist Ilmi Ametov. The memorial cross has become a place of remembrance where, since 2000, members of the public have gathered every year to commemorate both the victims of the Holodomor and the people repressed and deported by the totalitarian communist regime. Before the occupation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, representatives of the Crimean Tatar people regularly participated in these events along with activists of the Ukrainian community of Crimea. In an abbreviated version, the ceremony honoring the victims of the genocide of the Ukrainian nation at the memorial in Simferopol continues to be held in the temporarily occupied Crimea, but its existence is threatened. As part of the general policy of discrimination against the Ukrainian community of Crimea, the Crimean Diocese of the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate, which since 2018 has become part of the autocephalous Ortodox Church of Ukraine is subject to systematic pressure. In particular, the occupiers have already taken part of the temples from it. In 2019, the illegitimate occupation "court" decided to vacate the premises of the OCU, where a memorial cross to the victims of the Holodomor was installed. As of 2022, the church continues to hold it, but if the church building is seized, the memorial will probably be dismantled, because Russia has declared itself the successor of the USSR and does not recognize the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian nation.

The Fates of the Group Subjected to Terror in the Totalitarian Regime

Abstract The 20th century was marked by multiple anthropogenic historical traumas, constructed by totalitarian regimes, in the context of which certain groups became targets of the death drive. These traumas show similarities, related to the general specificity of the trauma, whether individual or collective, but they also feature significant differences, which are the result of social, political and cultural factors. In this article, I will refer to the fate of the people deported from the Moldovan SSR during the Stalinist regime, analysed from a psychoanalytical perspective, based on oral history testimonies. The results and reflections presented in the article are part of a research dedicated to the deportations from the Moldavian SSR, carried out within the “Recovery and historical exploration of the memory of the victims of the totalitarian communist regime in the Moldavian SSR during the years 1940-1941, 1944-1953” State Programme. As an anthropogenic collective trauma, the deportations brought communication with the Other to the forefront of reflection. In particular, we will refer to the specificity of the relationship of the deported persons with the community, with the State, with state institutions, in the process of mourning and mentalizing the trauma.

Cultural Heritage of Lemkos as a Research Problem in the Humanities and the Topic of Discourse in Poland

Cultural Heritage of Lemkos as a Research Problem in the Humanities and the Topic of Discourse in Poland
 The cultural heritage of Lemkos is today one of those European values that have found themselves in danger. The reason for this is not only the project of political and economic unification of Europe, which will inevitably trigger far-reaching cultural unification and violate ethnic and national traditions in its area, but also an event from over 80 years ago – the displacement of Lemkos from their homeland and the dispersion and assimilation in a different ethnic environment, as well as the destruction of material and spiritual heritage on the territory of this homeland and its resettlement by newcomers inheriting an alien culture. Among the many issues that come with it, two are the subject of this review. The first are the attitudes of Poles towards the Lemko heritage, which are reflected in the public discourse understood here not only as statements, but also as initiatives. The importance of this issue stems from the fact that the fate of the Lemko heritage is decided primarily within the context of contemporary Polish culture, although it is justified to disagree with the common identification of Poland with the communist authors and performers of the action of 1947, which destroyed the Lemko region as a homogeneous cultural area. The second issue is the way of analyzing the fate of this heritage in the humanities, wchich is devoid of a comparative perspective. It dominates today, narrowing research horizons as well as exerting a tangible influence on the choice of strategies for rescuing and transmitting endangered cultural content. In this regard, attention should be paid to the need to learn about and compare analogous cultural catastrophes caused by communist totalitarianism, as well as the strategies of survival and rebirth of the destroyed cultures.

Interconnection of Orwell's Novel Animal Farm as a Micro-Universe and Our Macro-Universe

George Orwell is best known for his allegorical political novel, Animal Farm (1945), written in the period of Modernism in English literature. This novel is read as an offensive on totalitarianism in general, and a political satire against Stalinism Communist totalitarianism in particular. The current paper is conducted to investigate the relationship between the micro-universe which is represented by the narrative text of Orwell's novel Animal Farm, and macro-universe which represents the reality or the real world. The main aim of this study is to determine the interconnection of the micro-universe (the narrative text), and the macro-universe (the reality) through finding a convergence between the topics and events of the narrative text and our real world. Marxist Criticism and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) are used together as analytical approaches to investigate the selected narrative text and the historical, political, and social context in which the narrative text was written. The findings of this study points out that the narrative text of Animal Farm represents reality. This confirms the social and moral function of the committed literature which expresses human sufferings and aspirations for better conditions. The significance of the current study lies in provides better comprehension of the interconnection of the narrative text and reality as a missing feature in literature on this novel. This study contributes to literature on Orwell's novel Animal Farm particularly, and the field of the political English novels in general. Thus, this study extends the base of the researchers' knowledge in this literary area. Keywords: Micro-universe and Macro-universe, Modernism, Totalitarianism, Animal Farm.

Raspad multietničkih zajednica / Disintegration of Multi-Ethnic Communities

In the end of the 1980s and during the 1990s, the religious communities in Yugoslavia wholeheartedly critiqued the ‘totalitarian communist government’ claiming that it had imposed, from the above, the ideological restraints and suppression of religious freedoms. Therefore, many religious elites accepted the process of Western European liberalization in order to win the fight for religious freedom, as well as to affirm its role and power through free elections. In the anti-communist context, the religious elites insisted on the return to tradition, to ancestors, to the past, and mostly neglecting the narrative of ‘the new future.’ This paper examines the way in which nationalism – which establishes its power through the use of religious symbols in order to unify and mobilize the masses— came to existence after the disintegration of a multi-ethnic state, such as the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empire, on the one side, and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, on the other. In such a way, religious universalism reduces itself on the particular national myth, which, through the symbol of the victim, constructs the ‘chosen people’ whose politics is not based on joining, connecting with other people, but on separation and division.

The problem of the atheist education of the new man in communist cultural policy

The article analyzes the totalitarian communist anti-religious and anti-clerical rhetoric developed în the context of the utopian project of atheism of the Soviet people. It is shown that the process of asserting atheism in the Soviet space was a component of the monoideologized cultural policy subordinated to the program of training the new man. Along with the analysis of some official reference documents regarding the development of the activity of atheist education of the masses, the work of several researchers from the national space is elucidated who have become remarkable through their approaches to this subject: A.Babii, D.Tabacaru, M.Goldenberg etc.

Fortes in Fide—The Role of Faith in the Heroic Struggle against Communism

Repression and persecution by the totalitarian communist regimes have significantly affected the fates of Christian churches and believers in the countries of the “Eastern Bloc”. Many members of the clergy and laypersons were incarcerated, tortured and persecuted, several bishops suffered exemplary punishment in the propaganda-driven show trials and a few of them were later beatified or canonized across the world (by the Catholic Church). Focusing on the literature originating in Slovakia, this meta-report aimed to summarize the key authors’ essential works and to examine the question as to whether—and to what extent—faith was a contributing factor in the collapse of the communist regime. What was the role of the churches and believers in the struggle against communism? How and to what extent believers were involved in the resistance movements and the political and economic transformation of their countries that were set in motion by the collapse of those regimes? Based on an analysis of hundreds of books and articles on the subject, essential ideas were extracted, categorized and presented. The works of the persecuted authors were the subject of a detailed qualitative content analysis. Thus, four overarching dimensions (philosophical, intimate, personal and social/political) and fourteen categories related to the experience of faith were identified.

The idea of independence and freedom in the activities of Hasan Oraltay

Hasan Oraltay is a Kazakh figure abroad, researcher of the national liberation movement, historian, publicist, author of works in Turkish, Kazakh, English, German and other languages, honorary professor of the International Kazakh-Turkish University. He devoted all his life to serving for the benefit of the Kazakh people. In the 20th century, the Kazakhs of East Turkestan waged a liberation struggle for their freedom and independence. Hasan Oraltay wrote a chronicle of the life of the Kazakhs, persecuted by the totalitarian communist system in their homeland and gained freedom in the West. His writings highlight the history of the Alash national intelligentsia and all the pressing problems of Kazakhstan. The scientific novelty of the research is determined by the fact that the article deals with the writer's and, as is known, the historical role of Hasan Oraltay, from the perspective that the Kazakhs of East Turkestan, picking a pen, declared the first swallow of the national liberation struggle to the world. Half a century ago, his first book was published in the Turkish city of Izmir “On the way to freedom. Kazakh Turks of East Turkestan”. Until the last period of his life, all works written and organised by him were devoted to urgent problems concerning the Kazakh people, for the Kazakh past and future. Radio Azattyk (RL/RFE) was the first to speak about the uprising of Kazakh youth against the Soviet system in December of 1986. Later, Hassan Oraltay published in the Western press various articles about the December events, collections and books, in which he assessed the protest mood in Soviet Kazakhstan. The practical significance of the study is determined by the fact that for 27 years of service in Azattyk, Hasan Oraltay constantly raised the urgent problems of Kazakhs in the Soviet Union. The study collected all information on the ideas of independence

On the topicality of the ethnology of Sovietness in the Republic of Moldova

The article elucidates the establishment of a new direction of ethnological research in the Republic of Moldova – “Ethnology of Sovietness”, which refers to the research of „Soviet culture” from an ethnological perspective. The very term Sovietness means the directed transformations of the Soviet tradition and culture created by the totalitarian communist system in the USSR. The article also reflects the fact that some researchers approach Soviet culture as a „specific traditional culture” and opt for safeguarding it, as is the case with all traditional cultures, while other researchers appreciate Soviet culture as repressive and exclusive, inauthentic, created on false utopian ideological principles, meant to build a new social and cultural community. In the author’s opinion, in a democratic society, the culture created in totalitarianism can no longer survive without being ideologically nurtured, and without being imposed by dictation. However, elements of Soviet culture are still perpetuated to this day. And, the mission of „Ethnology of Sovietness” is not to preserve a totalitarian culture, but to elucidate the guided transformations that have taken place, the mechanisms of influence on social and ethno-cultural identity, the invented Soviet tradition, everyday life, etc., in order to understand the authentic cultural values of today, which can develop the individual and communities based on the cultural matrix

Communist Totalitarian Regime and the Status Quo of the Catholic Church in the Context of Post-War Reality of Poland (1945–1956)

This article presents the specificity of the totalitarian communist regime and the status quo of the Catholic Church operating in the Polish People’s Republic in the early post-war period (1945–1956). The analysis of the discussed topics allows one to expose the nature of the Stalinist system of repression described as the “dictatorship of the proletariat”, taking into account the tough and challenging situation of the Catholic Church, forced not only to fight for her survival but – above all – to preserve the Christian identity of the Polish nation. The reinterpretation of the Stalinist totalitarian system from the standpoint of Christian personalistic praxeology discloses its unprecedentedly outrageous nature. Moreover, the presentation of the fundamental issues of the totalitarian, anti-human, and anti-Christian paradigm that characterizes the “dictatorship of the proletariat” makes it possible to interpret Stalinism in terms of not only defining but also legitimizing and even authenticating one of the most terrifying and degenerate forms of totalitarian systems of the 20th century. However, this is of crucial importance, specifically today, when many emerging ideological trends often downplay the excessively iniquitous nature of Stalinism and even treat the “totalitarian model” – particularly communism – as a “specific historical phenomenon” attempting to resolve many complex and diverse socio-political, cultural and economic issues.

A comparison of home education legislation in Europe from the perspective of geography of education

ABSTRACT Home education is becoming an important issue for education policy in almost every country across Europe. It should also be of potential interest to the geography of education which, however, has remained the domain of research to educational studies. Consequently, no studies currently compare the individual aspects of home education by looking for the geographical factors behind this phenomenon. This article sets out to present a current and comprehensive picture of the legislative frameworks regulating home education in all the countries of Europe and tries to identify their spatial context and conditions. It is based on a comparative content analysis of texts collected in an extensive literature review of more than 500 publications and documents. Promising areas for further, more in-depth geographical and educational research on this subject has been identified while various spatial patterns of country’s legislative framework on home education was discovered, like the unique position of Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, South-eastern and Central European countries, and factors like collapse of communist totalitarian regimes in the former Eastern bloc, spread of the individualising ideology of neoliberalism, the neolocalism reaction to the standardising effects of globalisation, the international immigration, and the success in the integration of immigrants.

Regime Preferences in Communist Czechoslovakia and the Narrative on the Slovak National Uprising

Most of the participants in the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) were fighting for the ideals of democracy and freedom, for the defeat of fascism and Nazism and for the new Czechoslovak Republic with equal status for the Slovak people within it. They could not have foreseen that communist totalitarianism would be established after the war, one that would try to use the Uprising as a precursor for the socialist revolution (Fremal 2010: 359). The Communist Party, with the support of historians, utilised the legacy of the SNP to justify its political actions. Czechoslovak identity was also constructed through the image of the SNP, whose annual celebrations provided the communists with the opportunity to interpret the legacy of the SNP in various forms. This work deals with the way the communists interpreted the SNP in order to convince the public that this was a people's Uprising intended to lead to social equality and the eventual acceptance of communism in Czechoslovakia in the years 1947,1948 and 1954.

De l’esthétisme socialiste

"In the late 1960s, after the break from Moscow and the relative “liberalization” of culture, the aesthetic criterion was officially accepted as a benchmark of literary and artistic value. Despite some moments of ideological backlash, writers gradually acquired some autonomy from the Party directives. Many of them practiced escapism and oneiric fantasy, out of a genuine belief that art should be divested of any moral or political purpose or that it could alleviate the pressures and constraints of social life. What emerged, under communist totalitarianism, was a paradoxical fundamentalism that I have called socialist aestheticism, a sort of ad hoc response to socialist realism."

Compatibility of lustration measures application with the right to respect for private life according to art. 8 of the Convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms

The article examines the compatibility of the application of lustration measures in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “OnGovernment Cleansing (Lustration)” of 2014 with the provisions of Article 8 of the 1950 Convention for the Protection of HumanRights and Fundamental Freedoms regarding the right to respect for privacy. Based on the judgment of the European Court of HumanRights in “Polyah and Others v. Ukraine” and its previous case-law on the compatibility of the measures applied to the applicants bythe authorities of the States Parties to the Convention in accordance with the legal acts on lustration adopted mainly during the transitionperiod from the totalitarian communist regime to democracy, with art. 8 of the Convention, the criteria for compatibility of the applicationof lustration measures with Article 8 of the Convention in the modern period are defined and analyzed. Among those are: whetherlustration measures were applied in accordance with the law, whether their application had a legitimate aim answering a “pressing socialneed” proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued and whether lustration measures were necessary in a democratic society.Lustration measures will be considered as having been applied in accordance with the law, if such law was accessible (published)and formulated with sufficient accuracy; the persons concerned could have foreseen the extent of the adverse effects of their actionscontrary to its provisions; the law contained a remedy against arbitrariness of public authorities.The lustration measures may be considered pursuing a legitimate aim if their use is justified by the need to protect the publicfrom persons who, through their past behavior, could threaten the newly formed democratic regime or to purify public administrationfrom those who have committed widespread corruption. In doing so, a prerequisite for assessing the compatibility of the purposes ofthe lustration measures application with the objectives recognized as legitimate is taking into account all the circumstances of the applicants’particular cases relating to the determination of the existence or absence of a violation of a specific article of the Convention andtheir “need in a democratic society” in meaning of art. 8.2 of the Convention.The necessity of lustration measures application in a democratic society is determined by their scope, nature and context. If theobjectives of the application could be achieved in less intrusive ways, their likelihood to be motivated by vindictiveness against the personsinvolved in previous governments is rising and does not meet the criterion of “necessity in a democratic society”. If the applicationof lustration measures to persons is based solely on the fact that they occupy certain relatively high positions during the rule of a particulargovernment, irrespective of their functions, there is a risk that the state will exceed its powers by taking such measures. Accor -ding to the ECtHR standard, the application of lustration measures must be individualized – at the level of each individual case. Individualizationof lustration measures use is also possible at the legislative level, however – in the presence of qualitative parliamentaryand judicial reviews of such a legislative scheme. This takes into account the severity of the measures applied and whether the legislativescheme is sufficiently narrowly designed to meet the pressing social need, at the request of which it is applied on the basis of theprinciple of proportionality.
 Lustration measures can be applied if there is a clear explanation for their temporal frame – with reference to specific events ornegative precedents of a particular government period of rule, where the key is to prove the applicants’ identified relationship to specificnegative events.Publication of information about persons to whom lustration measures have been applied is possible only after they have exhaus -ted the possibility of challenging such measures. At the same time, the remedies available must act without delay.Lustration measures application to the person who did not file the lustration declaration within the terms stipulated by the laware proportional to the legitimate aim if the declaration disclosed certain potentially hidden facts about the person, obliged to submit it.Otherwise, imposition of such a severe restrictive measure for a minor delay in submitting a technical application cannot be consideredas “necessary in a democratic society”.The timing of adoption and implementation of lustration measures is a key consideration in assessing their proportionality. Suchmeasures are, by their nature, temporary, and the objective necessity for the restriction of individual rights resulting from this proceduredecreases over time. Severe lustration measures adopted and implemented in twenty years after the transition from a totalitarian communistregime to democracy require very strong justification. In its absence, their application does not meet the criterion of necessityin a democratic society.

Political Repressions Against Polish Intellectual Class in the Uman Region in the 1920s-1930s

The article deals with the peculiarities of the national policy of the Bolshevik regime during the 1920s and 1930s in Ukraine. The main attention is paid to the mechanism of political repressions against representatives of the intellectual class of the Polish national minority in the Uman region. The article used not only problem-chronological and comparative-historical methods of research, but also the biographical method. The purpose of the work was to study and highlight the process of mass terror against the Polish intellectual class in the Uman region taking into consideration a personalized approach.
 It has been established that political repressions in the Uman region date back to the early 1920s, just when the policy of «localization» was introduced. At the same time, giving impact to the cultural and educational development of the national minority, the government controlled the manifestations of local nationalism. Starting from the case of «Umanska pliatsuvka» on accusation of G.Z. Yagodzinska and 26 other residents of the Uman Region, the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs periodically made arrests of people of Polish nationality. Given the previous activities of Polish intellectual class in the territory of Ukraine, the penal authorities had a convenient reason for further substantiation and investigation of the so-called «counter-revolutionary nationalist organizations». Based on a study of previously unavailable archival and investigative cases of the Departmental State Archive of the Security Office of Ukraine, the facts of mass falsifications on accusations of the Polish intellectual class of the Uman region for espionage in favor of Poland were revealed. Simultaneously with the closing up process of the policy of «localization» in 1933, political repressions gained extraordinary activity and were carried out in order to execute successive resolutions and decisions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party(b) of Ukraine, inclusive until 1938. In the territory of Ukraine and the Uman Region, in particular, the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs falsified criminal case materials mainly on the basis of the mythologization of the activities of the former Polish military organization – «PMO». In addition to the central Ukrainian cities, in particular, Kyiv, Kharkiv, the formation of this organization was also «revealed» in various regions. An archival investigative case No. 64463 on the accusation of the Uman citizens F.P. Budzylevych and others was revealed and may serve as an example. According to the decision of the Special Meeting of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR of November 28, 1937 P.I. Sulyma-Saliichuk and S.F. Kravchuk were executed by shooting and F.P. Budzylevych was sentenced to 10 years of labor camps.
 According to the of the author’s study generalization the conclusion has been made of the multi-faceted historical problem, which actualizes further study and analysis of the crimes mechanism of the totalitarian communist system in national, regional and social aspects.