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

Hryhoriy Kochur: Unwavering Translator

His translations span 26 centuries, three continents and almost 30 literatures. The Soviets “awarded” him with 10 years in labor camps and the status of a dissident with no right to travel

Children’s Literature: Lost in Translation?

More books for children are translated into Ukrainian than written in the language. Families seem to prefer “popular” classics and books made into Hollywood films

Natural Art

Several art villages have sprung up alongside ecological settlements in Ukraine

“Fun” Occupation

Estonia established a museum with a good sense of humor, evidently to attract more Russians

Men of the Crowd

How Homo Sovieticus was created

Bloody Massacre in Bazar

On November 21, 1921, the Bolsheviks stopped the Second Winter Campaign of the UNR army which was meant to launch a united struggle against the Soviets

European Optimist

Historian Andreas Kappeler speaks on the political concept of Europe and ways to forge European identity

Hostages to the System

The last mass deportation of Ukrainians was carried out 60 years ago to satisfy Moscow's interests

A Death Row Army

Stalin used penal battalions in the Red Army as an instrument of repression

House of Terror

A museum by this name opened in Budapest in 2002 to tell about two tragic periods in Hungarian history – the repressive rules of the Nazis and of the Soviets

Life Without Illusions

The Bolsheviks successfully utilized feuds, fear and servility among intellectuals to tighten their totalitarian regime and eliminate opponents like Serhiy Yefremov

Excursion to Hell

Eugenijus Peikštenis, director of the Museum of Genocide Victims, speaks about how the taboo history of Soviet repressions came to light

Museum In KGB Prison

Lithuanian authorities set up the Museum of Genocide Victims in a building once occupied by the KGB

Unwilling Instrument of the State

After luring UNR General Yuriy Tiutiunnyk to the USSR, the Bolsheviks used his knowledge and connections and later shot him as “spent material”

No Unity, No Statehood

The failure of Ukrainian elites to agree among themselves for the sake of independence in the 14th and 15th centuries led to the breakup of the Rus’ principality and incorporation of its parts into Poland, Lithuania and Hungary

Mshvidobit*, USSR!

The Museum of Soviet Occupation in Georgia is a monument to the nation's critical reappraisal and rejection of is Soviet past

The Spirit of Statehood

An unrealized project of Ukrainian conservatism

Overcoming Nihilism

Why an American decided to set up a Museum of Communism in the Czech Republic

The Stolypin Myth: Chimerical And Dangerous

The regime established by Pyotr Stolypin in tsarist Russia was largely the precursor to the Bolshevik dictatorship

Dissident Despite Death

Writer and film director Heliy Snehirov was unable to exist in the crushing Soviet atmosphere and paid for freedom with his life