Prof. Petro KRALIUK, Ostrih Academy National University:
Suppose we proceed from the assumption that May 9 became a propaganda show in the Soviet Union, with WWII veterans often used as extras. Since 1965, when it became a red-letter day, Soviet propaganda purposefully formed in people’s minds the myth about the Great Patriotic War. Twenty years had elapsed and some of the horrors of WWII had been forgotten, so now they could start creating myths. The one about WWII boiled down to Nazi Germany treacherously invading the Soviet Union in June 1941; the Red Army was not prepared and had to retreat at first, but then, owing to the heroism of the Soviet people as well as to the talent of certain military leaders (particularly Georgy Zhukov), the Nazi onslaught was stopped and Germany was defeated, with almost half of Europe liberated. Regrettably, this myth became predominant in the minds of most people in the USSR and continues to exist in the post-Soviet space. In building this myth, its authors seemed to forget generally known facts: that WWII was actually started by the Soviet Union and Germany when Poland was invaded in 1939; that the Soviet military leaders (specifically Georgy Zhukov) won their victories not with military skill but by having several times more officers and men killed than on the German side; last but not least that, owing to some reasons, the victors (i.e., the Soviet people) lived in far worse conditions than the losers (i.e., Germans in the FRG and even in the GDR). After the USSR’s collapse the myth about the Great Patriotic War was effectively monopolized by the leadership of the Russian Federation. Just like in Soviet times, Victory Day continues to be used for propaganda and image-building purposes. Remember the way its 50th anniversary was celebrated in Russia; it was a typical image-building campaign stunt. I’m convinced that the same thing will happen in Moscow for the celebrations of the 60th anniversary, only on a larger scale. I hope the current Ukrainian leadership will muster the courage and wisdom not to play along with this Russian promotional campaign. The Second World War was a great tragedy for Ukraine and Ukrainians. We must be aware of this and remind ourselves of this even on the day marking its 60th anniversary. We must, of course, mark the anniversary, but with something like a funeral repast rather than jubilation. Above all, we must pay homage to the millions of its victims.
Prof. Yuriy SHAPOVAL, historian:
Every year on the eve of May 9, when another official display pomp and a parade beckons, with glorifications of heroism, discourses on tragedy, patriotism, controversies, and the humiliating ritual of serving glasses of vodka to war veterans (and others) in public parks, I’m reminded of an intellectual in the West who said bitterly that in any war there are no victors, only losers. That’s why we must first rid ourselves of all Soviet approaches to this anniversary. War veterans must finally be provided with adequate social security rather than one-time charity handouts.
I think that May 9 is an annual occasion to remind ourselves that victory over Nazism did not come by itself, that a price had to be paid: this fact must be openly admitted. Society’s historical consciousness is still enslaved by Stalinist-Brezhnevite myths that are stubbornly maintained by some war veterans’ organizations and leftist politicians. The war must be demystified. The President of Ukraine can contribute to this, come May 9, by making a truthful assessment, instead of continuing to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds, as was the case in previous years.
Another important thing is that it’s absolutely necessary to cancel all those military parades, for they actually mean nothing and they symbolize the participation in the war of only a certain proportion of Ukrainians — those who served in the Red/Soviet army. Then who are the rest of the war veterans, for example, those who fought in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army? Outcasts? Scum that must be totally ignored? May 9 should become an anniversary that would help to unite rather than antagonize war veterans and society, and to achieve a consensus in understanding one of the fundamental problems of the past.
Prof. Volodymyr DERHACHOV :
The previous regime remembered our veterans only on red-letter days and during election campaigns — yet they remained its most faithful part of the electorate. Hence all those commemorative medals and presents. The new young government has decided to cancel all these traditions. But what does this have to do with Victory Day? In the West they’re debating the possibility of attending it, so how can we cancel it now? I understand the stance of the Baltic countries that were occupied by Soviet forces in 1939. They have their own complex attitude to WWII. Ukraine is an entirely different matter. It was incorporated into the Soviet Union as an independent state. Anyone familiar with the documents of the Anti-Hitler Coalition can appreciate the Herculean efforts that were made by Soviet diplomats to keep Halychyna part of Ukraine. The victory in the Great Patriotic War was achieved by the Soviet people, meaning also the Ukrainian people, and it marked a global event in the history of mankind. To have the right to annul it, one must first create something as significant. History doesn’t tolerate any conditional methods. We should learn from the Chinese; they leave nothing out of their history and preserve it so their heirs can study it and add to their knowledge.
Prof. Stanislav KULCHYTSKY, D.S. (History):
The 60th anniversary of victory in WWII is an extremely important event in our sociopolitical life. Naturally, all related events will focus on war veterans, especially those who were directly involved in hostilities.
We must abandon the format of such festivities, which took shape in the 1960s-1980s; we should discard all that pomp and circumstance. We must understand that the Allies, with the Soviet Union playing the main role, focused their military efforts on the annihilation of Nazism, not Germany.
I was amazed by last year’s 60th anniversary of the Allied landing in France, when Ukraine wasn’t invited to take part in the festivities because no one in the West knows about its contribution to the defeat of Nazism. This contribution was immense, because Ukraine was a theater of war from 1941 until 1944, and our manpower losses were such that we can estimate them to within a million, bringing the total to 8 or 9 million.
If we want to integrate into Europe, we must also be closer to European countries in our understanding of our shared history. In other words, we should see how V-Day is marked in Europe, primarily in France and Germany; Germany also celebrates the victory over Nazism. We too should invite guests from Germany, France, Great Britain, and the United States to take part in our festivities.
Our youth badly needs a clear concept of this victory, and for this we need new, unconventional parameters of these festivities.
In conclusion, I must comment on the Ukrainian Insurgent Army’s participation in the 60th anniversary celebrations. It’s true that the UPA fought against the Soviet army and Soviet partisans, but this warfare had nothing to do with WWII — or the Great Patriotic War for those who fought in the ranks of the Soviet army. The UPA veterans also fought the German occupier. Stalinist propagandists branded them as German lackeys and this left its mark on the consciousness of the older generation. However, we must understand something: the UPA’s very presence in German-occupied territory was a challenge to the aggressor. What administration would have tolerated armed units acting on their own in a territory under its control? Nikita Khrushchev was well aware of this when he gave the order to leave the UPA fighters alone while they were in the rear of the Wehrmacht. The Germans and French celebrate V-Day together. Why does a confrontation persist between Ukrainians who fought each other during this period? We are used to this confrontation, it began in 1941, but it’s a different epoch and different historical realities.
Yuriy SHUKHEVYCH, chairman of the civic organization “Halytsky vybir” (Galician Choice):
I fully agree with Deputy Premier Mykola Tomenko about the impropriety of a military parade on the 60th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War. In my opinion, we should institute a Remembrance Day commemorating the people who perished during WWII regardless of the uniform they wore or not. What I mean to say is that this subject is extremely sensitive in western Ukraine. As soon as the war began and German forces entered Lviv, they found 5,000 bodies, victims of NKVD atrocities. Halychyna lost over a million people in 1939-41. So what kind of victory are we supposed to be celebrating? What political liberties and social gains did it bring our land? The collective farmers were denied the right of free movement and were thus reduced to the status of Roman slaves. In 1946-47, when people were being shuffled like a deck of cards, forced from one place to the next (those who were deported from Halychyna to Poland and vice versa were lucky, because it was neither Siberia nor the firing squad), didn’t we have our share of suffering?
Above all, we must have a clear understanding of what happened in those days. Today, many people have muddled notions. After the truth is established, understanding will come automatically. None of our people feel any hatred toward those lads who donned Soviet uniforms somewhere near Poltava, then crossed Halychyna and ended up in Berlin. They were soldiers, they fought well, and thank God they made it back home. True, some of them later ended up in prison camps because they were straightforward and said things they shouldn’t have. At times UPA men shared the camp barracks with former Soviet solders against whom they had fought (as well as the Nazis) only a couple of years back. By the way, the UPA men who were fighting for Ukrainian independence not because they were conscripted but because their hearts told them to do so still do not enjoy the same privileges and respect from the state as the veterans of the Great Patriotic War and their lives are miserable. Why hasn’t this problem been solved? Why do we remain silent about the Death Valley in Yakutia with tens of thousands of corpses of prison camp inmates, POWs, among them German, Japanese, and Russian, Kazakh, Ukrainian, and other political prisoners, that weren’t even given a proper burial?
Viktor Yushchenko proposes festively laid tables along Khreshchatyk St., where war veterans from all Ukraine could sit and share food and drink. Try to imagine anything like that in Lviv. How could Soviet army and UPA veterans sit together at these tables? One can only hope that their children will come to some sort of mutual understanding one of these days. This must happen, but people my age have different feelings about V-Day.
Oleg KOSTROMITINOV (Zhytomyr), war veteran, participant in the defense of Sevastopol in 1941 and combat operations at Malaya Zemlya:
This outstanding occasion should be celebrated at the highest level. Even during the most difficult times, under constant German air raids at Sevastopol, we believed that we would be victorious and tried to imagine how our victory would be celebrated. Victory over Nazi Germany laid the foundations of Ukrainian independence and Ukraine can’t be separated from this victory. I think that on this day we must tell our children the truth about that war, about the grandeur of victory and people’s heroism. It is necessary to instill in our children a sense of patriotism and love of their native land. To this day my fellow veterans and I have been marching on V-Day in Zhytomyr, all the way from the center of the city to the Obelisk of Glory. I think that the 60th V-Day should be a festive occasion not only for war veterans, but for the entire nation. May there be merrymaking in all public parks, may there be all kinds of amusements. But it is also necessary to speak the truth about the role of the people in the victory over fascism.
Oleksandr SERHIYENKO, chairman of the Donetsk Regional Council of Veterans:
Parades have always taken place in our country. It’s a tradition. Therefore, I believe that an outstanding event, such as the 60th anniversary of Victory, must be celebrated in keeping with this tradition. We are dumbfounded by the Ukrainian government’s decision to cancel the parade. We don’t understand. Instead of a parade, we were promised festively laid tables. But this is not a solution to the problem; we believe that this won’t be jubilation but a funeral repast. Besides, all the veterans in the regions won’t come to Kyiv, there won’t be enough room for them. We have over 900,000 war and labor veterans in the Donbas alone, among them more than 50,000 disabled veterans and other participants of combat operations. There are over a million such people in Ukraine. They can’t invite all of them to Kyiv, and those who won’t be invited will feel bitterly offended because they too made a great contribution to the victory. It hurts to realize that someone believes that all we need is a lunch. We need such parades above all because they mobilize us, bring us back to the good old times; they cheer us up. You don’t have to take part in such ceremonies, it’s enough just to watch them and remember the past.
Veterans from all over the region keep calling and asking why they made such a decision. Perhaps if a ranking government official talked to us and explained the situation we’d understand. As it is, we feel hurt; we fought throughout the war and remember all those beautiful parades and now suddenly the tradition is forgotten. Does this mean that our country is forgetting that many war veterans are still alive, that they need attention and respect, that they simply need this parade? Besides, for many of us this 60th anniversary may well be the very last one. Today, the “youngest” veterans are 80 years old. Our numbers are constantly declining. Is it that difficult to pay some attention to us while we’re still around? After all, the President of Russia invited our president to attend the festivities and he didn’t decline. Why doesn’t he want to organize festivities for his fellow Ukrainians?
Les TANIUK, MP, chairman of the VR Committee for Culture and Spirituality:
I believe this occasion should be a holiday of reconciliation, so Red army and UPA veterans could share festive tables and celebrate V-Day together rather than separately. To do so, the Verkhovna Rada should consider the bill I drew up three years ago on the rehabilitation of UPA combatants. Now and then attempts are made to put it on the agenda, but every time it’s blocked by the Communists. I think that the bill could be passed before V-Day at an emergency session; then there would be no legal grounds for any conflicts. As it is, the situation looks grotesque, with Germans visiting Stalingrad and being made welcome, whereas we can’t come to terms in Ukraine. It’s as though we didn’t fight for the same cause known as an Independent Ukraine. I believe that such reconciliation is absolutely possible in a rejuvenated Ukraine of the new European type.
I also think that pomp and circumstance isn’t what we need. I support the president’s idea of a “roundtable” instead of brass bands and marching soldiers. Military celebrations are being discarded all over the world.
