National memory and efforts to stymie it
The historical-memorial publication, Knyha pamiati Ukrainy (Ukraine’s Book of Memory) objectively reflects the Ukrainian nation’s participation in the Second World War. Work on this project began 18 years ago, and to date hundreds of volumes containing lists of names of Ukrainians who perished in the 1940s have been published.
Today, in many homes in Ukraine’s rural areas copies of The Book of Memory, with names underlined in it, are placed next to family icons. “Memory is a definition of Ukraine’s national security; without it self-identification is impossible.” So say Ihor Yukhnovsky, head of the Institute of National Memory, and Roman Vyshnevsky, head of the research and publishing company Ukraine’s Book of Memory.
In July 1989 the Soviet Ukrainian government resolved to create a so-called Book of Memory of Ukraine that would contain the names of all Ukrainians who died during the Second World War, along with brief biographical data. Naturally, all those who undertook this labor- intensive project had to exert Herculean efforts, especially in the absence of reliable historical sources at the time, particularly documents that could be used to tally the number of victims. Remarkably, but not surprisingly, the government decree envisaged only 70 volumes with 1,300,000 names.
However, the publishing company’s 18 years of research produced results that destroyed the Soviet historiographical myth and shocked both scholarly circles and the public. A total of 270 volumes of Ukraine’s Book of Memory have been released, containing over six million names of Ukrainians who died during the war or were listed as missing in action (MIA). It should be emphasized that this is not an assumption but an established fact, and proof of Ukraine’s actual contribution to the victory in the Second World War.
Vyshnevsky, the head of publishing company, Ukraine’s Book of Memory, says that when the large summarizing volume entitled Bezsmertia (Immortality) was published, a copy was sent to the Vatican Embassy in Ukraine, to be forwarded to Pope John Paul II. Two weeks later his company received a letter from the pope in which His Holiness thanked the research team for its work.
Countries that suffered incomparably smaller losses during the Second World War carried out similar projects a long time ago. The head of the Institute of National Memory, which has placed Vyshnevsky’s company under its aegis, stresses the importance of this multi-volume commemorative book project. He believes that memory has a direct bearing on the formation of the national idea.
Initially, this multivolume publication was noticed primarily by those who had lost relatives during the war. Then similar regional publications quickly appeared. Seventeen volumes containing the names of officers and soldiers killed in action were published in Donetsk oblast. Two volumes were issued in Luhansk, and similar publications are being prepared in Zhytomyr and Chernihiv. Today Vyshnevsky’s company has branches in every region of Ukraine.
Summing up the work on all the volumes of his historical-commemorative publication, Vyshnevsky says that more than half a million people, mostly volunteers, were involved in the work of researching, collecting, and analyzing data. The actual number of people who died during the Second World War exceeds flawed Soviet statistics by 4.5 times. According to the book, 6,034,768 Ukrainians were killed in action alone. This number includes more than just combatants. A separate volume is dedicated to Ukrainian nationals who were killed during military conflicts outside the borders of Ukraine and those who perished on all continents as officers and soldiers of the Soviet armed forces.
Vyshnevsky says that a revised and updated edition of the Immortality volume is being prepared for publication. It will contain new conceptual materials that are being prepared by leading historians and which focus on the background of the Second World War, as well as analytical materials that establish Ukraine’s wartime losses.
A manuscript of a volume entitled Pechal (Grief) devoted to civilian victims of the war has already been prepared.
A series of publications entitled Knyha skorboty Ukrainy (Ukraine’s Book of Sorrow) was recently launched after a decree was issued by President Yushchenko. It will consist of 140 volumes listing 4.5 million names with biographical data. There is a Web site (http//www.poimenno.org.ua) where new names are constantly being added. Both Yukhnovsky and Vyshnevsky believe that it is important to get young people involved in preserving “generational memory.” Young people searching for information about their relatives, who were killed or declared MIA during the war, frequently contact Vyshnevsky’s publishing company. Often they find their names in one of the many published volumes.
All the publications scheduled for the series Ukraine’s Book of Memory will be released by 2010. This will be the conclusion of the truthful story about the Second World War,” Vyshnevsky says, adding that during the 18 years of work on this huge project he and his coworkers frequently encountered unjust attitudes to their efforts. “But we are convinced that these publications will finally put an end to this deliberate loss of memory, and that’s the most important thing.”
Restoring truth and national memory — the vocation of countless numbers of people — requires funds. Apparently that’s news to those who are supposed to finance the project. Vyshnevsky says that his employees’ salaries are the lowest in the publishing industry. What’s worse is that they haven’t been paid since February 2007.
But by far the worst and most dangerous thing is the lack of response from the Ukrainian authorities to attempts to evict Vyshnevsky’s publishing company from the premises where for the past 18 years Ukrainian history was being restored through the addition of millions of names. The publisher’s lease expired in February 2007. Well before the lease expired, the management put in a request to renew it. To date there has been no response whatsoever, except that the company was sued for allegedly breaching certain clauses in the lease. Vyshnevsky believes that the lawsuit was engineered by those who want to get their hands on the old building, an architectural rarity, on Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street, in which Anna Akhmatova once lived.
The government is very appreciative of the publication project and likes to pat people on the head for it. At the same time it is pointedly ignoring the publisher’s letters requesting its help and protection. Apparently, the plaintiffs, who are clearly but indirectly trying to stop the company’s activities, consider the government’s response to be adequate. In a troubling coincidence, the court hearing was scheduled for June 21, one day prior to the Day of Mourning for the victims of the Second World War.
