Forgotten Fathers of the Fatherland: The Shistdesiatnyky and Their Legacy in Independent Ukraine

• In Event: Legacies of Resistance: Memory and Dissent from the Soviet Era to Today

Abstract

This paper will analyze the role attributed to shistdesiatnyky in Ukraine after 1991: the protagonists of the generation that contributed most to the Ukrainian national revival after WWII were not an easy legacy to manage in independent Ukraine. Also following the events of the 1970s and 1980s, this generation was often confused with the broader phenomenon of dissent and this contributed to the political divisions of the early 1990s. Since then, the shistdesiatnyky have been used to legitimize power in the new national state, even as they increasingly retreated from the public scene. A reversal occurred only with the revolutions of 2004 and 2013-14, which led to a reflection on the political and cultural significance of this generation that is still ongoing. These intellectuals, lovers of Russian culture but promoters of the Ukrainian cultural renaissance, are in fact the perfect storm for the contradictions of Ukraine's war culture and the unresolved issues of the relationship with this very aggressive neighbor.

Author

• Simone Attilio Bellezza, U of Eastern Piedmont (Italy)