Narrating the Imperial Past: Public Space and the Politics of Memory in Post - Soviet Ukraine

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The collapse of the USSR and democratization processes in the formerrepublics triggered the rewriting of master narratives and the shaping of a specificnational identityfor an independent Ukrainian state. This involved the reassessment of the relations between Ukraineand Russia as an imperial center, as well as reevaluations of Ukrainian history under Soviet rule andthe development of new national memory politics.The Orange Revolution of 2004 and memory initiatives under President Yushchenkoclearlyarticulated refuted the myth of 'eternal friendship' between the 'brotherly' Ukrainian and Russianpeoples and condemned the crimes of the Communist regime against Ukrainians. The revolution putnew aspects, such as tension between pro-European and pro-Russian vectors of Ukraine'sdevelopment, on the agenda. This was mirrored in the activities of diverse memory agents. While thePresident concentrated on the experiences of Ukraine during Soviet rule, local elites turned to adistant past, when various Ukrainian territories belonged to the Austro-Hungarian and Russianempires (monuments to Catherine II in Odesa and to Franz Joseph in Chernivtsi).Discrepancies between pro-European and pro-Russian orientations became clear during theEuro-Maidanprotests in 2013-2014 and conflict with Russian-backed separatists. State memoryactors began to question to what extent Russian imperial figures have a place in Ukrainian history andcultural memory. Particular attention has been paid to the highly disputed monument to Catherine IIin Odesa. In agreement with Ukrainian nationalists, the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory(UINM) called for the statue's removal, provoking debate about the fate of Russian monumentallegacy, involving a wide range of local and state actors.