DECOLONIZATION OF HISTORICAL MEMORY IN UKRAINE DURING THE RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR: MONUMENTS AND TOPONYMS

Abstract

Abstract: The article discusses the politics of memory in Ukraine during the war. The main component of Ukraine’s politics of memory during the war is Decolonization, as a continuation of Decommunization, which began in 2015, and Derussification, which began at the initiative of some local authorities and right-wing activists after the full-scale Russian invasion. Decolonization of memory involves the removal of symbols — names and memorial signs, which are considered markers of Russian imperial policy — from the public space. Ukraine wants to get away from the influence of Russian historiography, to shape its own national historical narrative and politics of memory, connected with the European tradition. The expected result of Decolonization is to destroy any cultural and historical
connections between Ukraine and Russia so that no one considers Ukrainians and Russians to be either “one nation” or “brotherly nations.” I see decolonization as a reactive process to the Russian invasion and Putin’s de-Ukrainianization policy, which had no preconditions in Ukrainian society. The article analyses the destruction or appropriation of Soviet/Russian monuments and the renaming of toponyms. Monuments and toponyms associated with Russia and the USSR, with the beginning of a full-scale invasion, began to be perceived as markers of the invader, with which the empire “branded” its own territory. It is believed that by destroying them the victim can fight back by breaking historical ties with the aggressor. A key concept used in Ukrainian narratives in the context
of Soviet/Russian monuments and toponyms was the cleansing of sacred land desecrated by enemy markings as well as the cancellation of Russian culture and language.
Keywords: Ukraine, Retrotopia, Decommunization, Historical Memory, Memory Politics.