Divided Memory: Ukrainian Narratives on World War II

• In Event: From Soviet Legacy to National Memory: World War II in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

The legacy of World War II played a significant role in shaping Soviet identity. The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the independent nation-states became the impetus for the reevaluation of historical narratives, along with the nationalisation of the war memory in each of these states. In Ukraine, this process took place by contrasting the existing imperial and post-imperial or post-colonial concepts.
This paper examines the transformation of the image of World War II in Ukrainian official narratives from 1991 to 2025, with a special focus on the development of a new conceptual framework for war remembrance, its study, and teaching. Upon gaining independence, Ukraine retained many aspects of the Soviet-era narrative of World War II, particularly the concept of the “Great Patriotic War”, albeit with slight modifications in emphasis. However, significant shifts occurred after the annexation of Crimea and the onset of the conflict in Donbas in 2014, and especially following the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. In an effort to distance itself from the Soviet legacy, Ukraine’s political elites developed the legislation that separated the state from the Soviet legacy and moved towards the Western model of remembering World War II. Similar changes can also be observed in the representation of this war in Ukrainian historiography and textbooks, which are the primary focus of this paper’s analysis.

Author

• Hanna Bazhenova, Inst of Central Europe (Poland)