The Soviet Union, Ukrainian Nationalism and the Western Public during the Cold War - Propaganda, Politics, and the Memory of World War II

该项目考察了苏联对乌克兰民族主义的描述，以及苏联试图影响乌克兰民族主义者在西方国家的形象。主要焦点是冷战时期。在那段时期，苏联的描述主要集中在二战期间乌克兰民族主义者与纳粹德国的合作。总体而言，苏联的描述无助于历史启蒙，而是宣传了一种在俄罗斯一直有效的敌人形象，直到今天。2014年，它在俄罗斯媒体上的工具化帮助在乌克兰东部挑起了一场战争。2022年，对乌克兰被“纳粹”统治的指控和对乌克兰“去国家化”的要求，为俄罗斯对乌克兰的全面攻击提供了理由，这场战争导致了二战以来欧洲最大规模的战争。该项目还以西德、美国和加拿大为例，分析了西方国家公共领域对乌克兰民族主义者的话语，以确定苏联的说法是否以及如何影响了人们对乌克兰的看法。2014年，俄罗斯指责欧洲自由女神像是一场“法西斯主义政变”，也在国际社会引起了积极共鸣。此外，西方国家公众在20世纪形成的关于乌克兰民族主义的思想也是有基础的。因此，该项目还询问，在西方公众中传播有关乌克兰民族主义思想的其他因素中，苏联的活动与其他因素有什么影响，因为西方公众的中心主题往往看起来与苏联的描述非常相似。该项目第一阶段的重点是审查苏联关于乌克兰民族主义的出版物、其制作的背景和目的，以及苏联关于试图影响乌克兰民族主义者在西方公共领域形象的消息来源。在该项目的第二阶段，对西方话语和苏联试图影响西方话语的影响的调查将继续在美国和加拿大的乌克兰侨民中心进行。然而，项目第一阶段的结果也清楚地表明，特别是在北美，后来对乌克兰民族主义的看法的中心主题已经出现在20世纪30年代。因此，这段时间也将被纳入二期工程。

The project examines Soviet depictions of Ukrainian nationalism and Soviet attempts to influence the image of Ukrainian nationalists in Western countries. The main focus is on the Cold War period. In that period Soviet accounts centred on the cooperation of Ukrainian nationalists with Nazi Germany during World War II. Overall, Soviet accounts did not contribute to historical enlightenment, but propagated an enemy image that is effective in Russia until today. In 2014, its instrumentalisation in Russian media helped to instigate a war in eastern Ukraine. In 2022, the accusation that Ukraine was ruled by "Nazis" and the demand for a "denazification" of Ukraine served Russia to justify the all-out attack on Ukraine that led to the largest war in Europe since World War II. On the examples of West Germany, the US, and Canada, the project also analyses the discourse on Ukrainian nationalists in the public sphere of Western countries in order to determine whether and how Soviet accounts influenced perceptions here. In 2014, the Russian accusation that the Euromaidan was a "fascist coup" still had also a positive resonance in the international public. Also for this, there was a basis in ideas that had developed in the 20th century among the public in Western countries about Ukrainian nationalism. Therefore, the project also asks what influence Soviet activities had in relation to other factors in spreading ideas about Ukrainian nationalism among the Western public where central motifs often appeared to have been very similar to Soviet accounts. The first phase of the project focused on examining Soviet publications about Ukrainian nationalism, on the contexts and aims of their production, and on Soviet sources on attempts to influence the image of Ukrainian nationalists in the Western public sphere. In the second phase of the project, the investigation of Western discourses and the impact of Soviet attempts to influence them will be continued for the centres of the Ukrainian diaspora in the US and Canada. However, the results of the first project phase also clearly revealed that, especially in North America, central motifs of the later perception of Ukrainian nationalism already appeared in the 1930s. Therefore, this period will also be included in the second phase of the project.