Archetypes From the Past

The Ukrainian government has implemented just one of all the “reforms” it declared two years ago – cultural policy in Ukraine has returned to the Russian-Soviet framework

Yaromyr Mykytko — Third-generation Political Prisoner

His earliest childhood memory is a long gloomy corridor in a barracks. Yaromyr Mykytko was born on 12 March 1953 in Prokopievsk, Kemerovo Region. When he was three, his family returned to Galicia but his parents kept their Siberia experience to themselves for a long time

How Ukrainians Survived the War

The Ukrainian Week interviewed eyewitnesses of the Second World War, and their stories are far removed from the idolised image of the “Great Patriotic War”

The Voices of the Unheard

Oral history does not only wipe out the barriers between professional historians and simple people, but can also become a powerful instrument for desovietization

Viacheslav Lypynsky: Champion of Conservatism

He formulated the idea of a political nation and advocated an aristocratic path toward building a Ukrainian state

Where Did “Ukraine” Come From?

‘Ukraine’, as a title, gained its political and geographical role in the 19th century

A Continental Union

The Treaty of Rapallo between the Weimar Republic and Soviet Russia paved the way to a revival of German military power after the First World War

A Battle For the Past

Jerzy Eisler talks about the role of history in contemporary Poland and the country's experience with de-sovietization

Legionnaires’ Day

The aggravation of Russia–Latvia relations over history proves again that conflicts stemming from memories of WWII have not abated

European Memory Gaps

Varying interpretations of 20th century history prevent the movement to acknowledge Communist crimes from spreading throughout Europe

Gender in the USSR

The omnipresent “managing and leading force” of soviet gender norms dominated relationships between men and women in the Soviet Union, leaving a heavy imprint on their development and evolution

The Rise of the Celts

In the early 21st century, the words Celts and Celtic became entrenched in the arsenal of pop culture as well as commercially successful for everything from beer and cigarettes to basketball teams

Parallel Struggle

90 years ago, when Ireland gained its independence from Great Britain, Ukraine lost its independence on the other side of Europe

“The Black Sea Will Smile”

Ukraine’s Navy, set up 20 years ago, is struggling to survive

A Guide to the Scythian World

A golden pectoral saved poet and archeologist Borys Mozolevsky from prison in Mordvia

The Land of Oium

Despite their short sojourn in Ukrainian territory, Gothic tribes made a large contribution to the culture of ancient Ukraine

Fighting Over the Goths

Who has the right to claim Gothic heritage in 20th-century? This becomes part of an ideological struggle in Ukraine

Missed Opportunity

In March 1917 a wave of national revival surged over Dnieper Ukraine, only to be wasted later by the Central Rada

From the Imperial to the National Army

How Russian Army units were made Ukrainian

Unknown Eastern Ukraine

In the 1930s, millions of Ukrainians were killed and russified in Eastern Slobozhanshchyna* and the North Caucasus

Eastern Convicts

1942 saw the beginning of the mass deportation of people from Ukraine for forced labor in the Third Reich

Can Historians Be Trusted With History?

Historical memory invented by Russia – from books to films in which facts do not always match the reality – is being imposed on Ukrainian society

Grutas Park: a Social Realism Museum Attracts 100,000 Visitors a Year

Village Grutas is located near the small Lithuanian resort town Druskininkai. The village’s name evokes a range of emotions – from outrage to satirical smiles – but leaves no-one in Lithuania indifferent. The reason — its unusual open-air museum, Grutas Park, where the key exhibits are the sculptures of Soviet leaders that long "decorated" squares in Lithuanian cities. These are the monuments in front of which both rallies were held and pioneers took their oaths

Architects of Bygone Traditions

Under the pressure of Bolshevism, talented Kyiv architects were forced either to migrate or build monstrosities

Christmas Kutia Behind Bars*

Defying prohibition, Ukrainian political prisoners celebrated Christmas in Polish, Nazi and Soviet prisons and camps

So, There Was an Occupation, But No-one Did the Occupying?

The Occupation Museum of Latvia is a reflection of the country’s historical contradictions