After a long-time “holiday marathon” it appears that one part of the country has failed to grasp exactly what we were celebrating. Many people, especially the young ones, celebrate the May holidays without giving them much thought.
Whereas May Day is indeed a vestige of Soviet times, everything is far more complicated with the Victory Day. Nobody doubts that this is a really great date, but few people take the trouble of trying to comprehend (reinterpret) its meaning. Celebration is not a reason for political speculations, nor is it an opportunity to once again air victorious communiqu s, but a chance to face the truth. The Day tried to find out what the May holidays means for individual Ukrainians in order to understand its import for the country.
Oleksandr AFONIN, president of the Ukrainian Association of Publishers and Book Distributors:
“I marked May 9 while participating in the book forum and conference in Lviv. It happened to be a combination of holiday and work, since were discussing the problems of Ukrainian books and children’s reading experience. In general, I did not have any holiday marathon: I was drafting documentation on May 1, and I returned home only on May 10. At the same time, I had a rather festive mood, especially on Victory Day. My father fought in this war, and out of seven men in my mother’s family who fought at the front and as partisans only one survived. Therefore, for my family and my children the date of May 9 will always be a holiday, notwithstanding the way some people treat it in present-day Ukraine.
“Honestly, I am irritated when young people aged over 20 and somewhat older, who neither know history nor fully understand those events, start to assess the events that happened 20-30 years before their birth, not to mention older events, from the point of their backward worldview and ignorance. Not knowing the real facts, they are making cardinal, at times very cruel, assessments, trying to trample over the souls of people who lived in those times and thus have a moral right to assess them. That is why I was irritated by some moments in the celebrations, but I did not want to spoil my festive mood because of them.”
Natalka FITSYCH, General Producer of the Zakryta Zona (Closed Zone) production Center:
“On the eve of May 9 we shot a 26-minute-long investigation film on the events that took place during the so-called liberation or seizure of Berlin by the Soviet Army in 1945. In particular, there were cases of robbery of civilians and rape of German women. These are proven facts, there is much evidence of this kind, and the film features women who told about this for the first time in their lives. We tried to present this material with utmost tolerance.
“I think that the presence of these facts by no means denies the heroic deed of those veterans who vanquished fascism and fought against it. But there is the other side of the coin. And if we are moving in the democratic direction, we should take into consideration all the facts, not only shout victorious communiqu s, as it has happened in the last 50 years in times of the Soviet Union and the first years of Ukraine’s independence. One should face the truth.
“For me, the Vistory Day is a very ambiguous event. My grandfather was decorated as a participant of World War II and, at the same time, he served a sentence for liaisons with the Banderites. A similar situation is with the relatives on my father’s side. One should understand that this holiday is very bitter for some people. For those whose feats were recognized it is at least a holiday, but there are also people whose feats are still denied, for example, the UPA combatants, who in the same way fought against fascism and for their land, independent Ukraine.
“Our task is to tell truth about these events and how everything was in reality. Perhaps, with time the public will perceive everything that took place over 50 years ago in a calmer and more tolerant way. But now our country has a very conservative perception.
“After people were brainwashed for 50 years in ‘one direction,’ it is very difficult to break this perception afterward, even if there is incontrovertible evidence. I believe Ukrainians are ready to understand many things, but the problem is that politicians are constantly speculating on these questions in the same way they do with the questions of language, the Black Sea Fleet, etc. Therefore, this is, first and foremost, a problem of politicians, who don’t want to understand that one can build this country only when there is unity, understanding, and a calm perception even of controversial historical facts. If the politicians were not pressing the issue, everything would be much simpler.”
Semen HLUZMAN, human rights activist, former political prisoner, acting secretary of the Association of Psychiatrists of Ukraine:
“For me it is easy indeed to tell you about these holidays. As a person who goes to work every day, I was thankful to finally get an opportunity to deal with my past. During these seven days I managed to write many texts: recollections about the political camps, the people I was in prison was, etc. On ordinary days I simply don’t have time for this. Somebody was digging in the kitchen garden, others were baking in the sun and swimming, while I plunged into the past.
“The general celebration gives me a feeling of hypocrisy. Somebody played an open hypocrite, others were baby-talking, sugaring their falsity with syrup. But there was no real honey, just syrups.”
Yulia LYTVYNETS, main preserver at the National Art Museum of Ukraine:
“May 1, a holiday of the working people, was indeed a holiday of a working person for me, for I always have work that I put off for an unspecified period, and additional holidays enable me to accomplish it. Honestly, I don’t understand the sense of May Day, and it is unclear why we have a day off on May 1, but it is always pleasant when you have an opportunity to complete some things that have long been on the backburner.
“The museum is getting ready for the Museum Night, which will be marked on the night of May 17. We plan to be open until 11 p.m. Besides, Roman Zhuk’s exhibit ‘Robbers’ will be opened, and the launch of Oleh Chorny’s project ‘Shout’ (Kryk) will take place. Also, a concert will take place in the fa ade of the museum, a modern one, rather than classical. We want to change our format, and shift the focus on young people.
“Regarding May 9, my family does not practically mark this holiday. My grandfathers, who were directly involved in the war (one of them was wounded in the Battle of Stalingrad), already died. Of course, we remember them in our family circle every time, but we don’t celebrate this date as we used to.
“Naturally, we always congratulate our museum veterans. There are four of them in the museum at the moment. And we have fewer of them with each passing year, unfortunately. But it is pleasant that they are still working; the museum and the state need them, and they are still on their ‘action stations.’
“I tried not to switch on the TV these days. This holiday is still important for me, so I did not want to watch the TV shows that tried to push politics, which immediately evoked a great negative response. After all, May 9 should be the holiday of victory, not a platform for PR of some overly ambitious politician.”
