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

苏联的解体和前共和国的民主化进程引发了对主叙事的重写，并为一个独立的乌克兰国家塑造了一个特定的民族身份。这涉及到重新评估乌克兰和俄罗斯作为帝国中心的关系，2004年的橙子革命和尤先科总统领导下的记忆倡议明确驳斥了“兄弟般的”乌克兰和俄罗斯人民之间“永恒友谊”的神话，谴责了共产党政权对乌克兰人民的罪行。乌克兰人。这场革命带来了新的问题，比如乌克兰发展中亲欧和亲俄势力之间的紧张关系。这反映在各种记忆代理的活动中。当总统专注于苏联统治时期的乌克兰经历时，地方精英们转向了遥远的过去，当时乌克兰的许多领土都属于奥匈帝国和俄罗斯帝国（敖德萨的叶卡捷琳娜二世纪念碑和切尔诺夫策的弗朗茨·约瑟夫纪念碑）。在2013-2014年的欧洲-迈丹抗议活动以及与俄罗斯支持的分离主义者的冲突中，亲欧和亲俄取向的分歧变得清晰起来。国家记忆演员开始质疑俄罗斯帝国人物在乌克兰历史和文化记忆中的地位。特别注意的是备受争议的纪念碑凯瑟琳二世在敖德萨。乌克兰国家记忆研究所（UINM）与乌克兰民族主义者达成协议，要求拆除雕像，引发了关于俄罗斯纪念碑命运的辩论，涉及广泛的地方和国家行为者。

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.