Nationalization of History

On November 12 the book Wars and Peace was ceremoniously launched as part of the sixth international “Book World” fair in Kyiv. This is in fact when the Kyiv public was acquainted with the third project in The Day’s Library Series. Earlier, advance copies were shown to the students of the Ukrainian Gymnasium (High School) of Simferopol. After that the book was submitted to the Publishers Forum in Lviv, where it won the Honorary Diploma of the Forum’s president Oleksandra Koval, and at this book exhibit it was awarded a diploma for Best Original Publishing Project. Last week, a readers’ conference was held in Khmelnytsky, based on the book’s materials, which are devoted to Ukrainian-Polish relations.

Last Friday students, lecturers, journalists, publishers, and translators (among them a number of regular readers of The Day) gathered at the Sportyvny exhibition center in Kyiv. Among those present were the compilers and authors of the book: Larysa Ivshyna, Editor-in-Chief of The Day (editor of Wars and Peace), Klara Gudzyk, Viktor Horobets, Volodymyr Panchenko, Stanislav Kulchytsky, Ihor Siundiukov, and Taras Chukhlib. All the speakers mentioned the novelty and topical nature of this project. The speeches were followed by a discussion and a lengthy question period, during which discussants broached the history and current status of Ukrainian-Polish relations, the specifics of political life in Ukraine, and Ukrainian-Russian relations, based on the data contained in Dvi Rusi. Below are the most interesting excerpts from this discussion.

Larysa IVSHYNA, Editor-in-Chief of The Day:

Our first book Ukraine Incognita, which comprised materials from our columns “Ukraine Incognita” and “History and I,” was compiled in one month. The second one, Dvi Rusi, was based on a single theme addressing Ukrainian-Russian relations. The third book, Wars and Peace, is about our relations with Poland. If we want to become aware of our identity now, it is perhaps possible to do this by considering our relations with Ukraine’s closest neighbors. Ukrainians must understand who they are today, what their prospects are, and what kind of future they want. Wars and Peace, in Ukrainian and Polish, is the first attempt to conduct a dialogue with the Poles about topics that until recently were painfully sensitive. The launch of the book at the Publishers Forum in Lviv was attended by people from the Polish consulate, lecturers from Warsaw University, Ukrainian professors,and students. Honestly, I was afraid the tone of the discussion would be jeopardized by our past experiences, where accusations were thrown back and forth. However, I’m becoming increasingly convinced that society has grown up. When we were launching The Day’s Library Series many people asked, ‘Where is your audience, who are you doing all this for?’ These kinds of questions reflected the general atmosphere of nihilism that prevailed at the time. In a way that atmosphere emanated from high offices whose occupants were not in the habit of listening to what other people had to say. Because of this, they must have missed the moment when the younger generation emerged with mature ideas, when people had changed with the times. Now they need a new view of themselves, their history, and current realities.

I think that credit is also due to all those who have been working on developing new civic standards all these years, particularly with reference to our history, pointing out the mistakes that resulted in the loss of independence. In our book we discuss Pilsudski and the prospects for Poland, which rose from her knees after its many partitions, and why things like that proved to be more complicated in Ukraine. I think this project will be interesting for all those who want to understand what nation they belong to. At present, the point is not only how to build a better economy and raise social standards. Of course, all this is important. But the point is also how Ukraine should take its proper place in history and return to civilization. I think that this book is an attempt to rethink this road and make it shorter and more successful.

Viktor HOROBETS, head of the Social History Center, the National Academy’s Institute of Ukrainian History, co-compiler of Wars and Peace:

The subject of Ukrainian-Polish relations has long been topical in both Ukrainian and Polish historiography. However, rendered in a confrontational key, it has served to kindle the flames of animosity between our countries, especially in the nineteenth century, when history was being formed as a scholarly discipline. A most vivid example is Sienkiewicz’s Ogniem i mieczem (With Fire and Sword). Quite a few examples are also found in Ukrainian writing in this period. What caused this animosity? It was a time when both the Polish and Ukrainian nations were in the process of being created. One could identify oneself by distancing oneself from one’s neighbor and blaming him for one’s own failures. However, such a method of self-identification is unacceptable in the twenty-first century. And so we came up with the idea of presenting the history of Ukrainian- Polish relations with an eye to the new exigencies. Wars and Peace is a unique book in certain respects. It offers a positive concept of this history, even if it is often quite destructive. The project involved noted Ukrainian historians, political scientists, philosophers, experts on culture, and Polish intellectuals. Another important thing is that this is a journalistic publication meant for a broad reading audience.

Several compilers came up with the idea, practically at the same time, of using Jan Matejko’s painting Vernyhora for the front cover. It shows a girl dressed in white, symbolizing Ukrainian-Polish reconciliation and the mutual prosperity of these two nations in the future. I think it’s the culminating point of the conceptual vision of this problem.

Volodymyr PANCHENKO, Vice President, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy National University, co-compiler of Wars and Peace:

I’d like to comment on some of the materials in the book. I wrote the chapter “Cultural Space,” although I had to go beyond its scope in the course of my work. Zbigniew Brzezinski visited Kyiv-Mohyla Academy this past May. Back in 2000, we awarded him an honorary doctorate, but were able to present him with the diploma and gown only recently. Dr. Brzezinski delivered a speech on the subject “Ukraine and the World,” which tallied perfectly with the project’s subject matter. This world-renowned scholar, who is an ethnic Pole, was born in Ukraine, so we had every reason to include his speech in the book. Of course, we are proud that the book contains Oksana Pakhliovska’s article in which the author ponders the situation in modern Ukraine against the background of European realities. In particular, her article explains why Poland was able to implement its European aspirations comparatively quickly and why Ukraine is still at the crossroads. Next to Ms. Pakhliovska’s article we included an interview with her mother Lina Kostenko under the heading “There Was Everything in Polish History, Except the Ruination of the Spirit.” There are many other unique materials in the book. For example, the researcher and journalist Bohdan Osadchuk, who lives in Germany now, wrote an article for our publishing project about Gedrojc and the Kultura phenomenon for our project. This legendary figure was a close friend of Jerzy Gedrojc and a co-founder of the magazine Kultura in Paris. A number of Polish thinkers and cultural personalities are in one way or another associated with Ukraine, among them the Polish-Ukrainian writers Michal Czajka-Czajkowski, Michal Grabowski, the composer Karol Szymanowski, the Polish-British writer Joseph Conrad (born in what is now Zhytomyr oblast), and others. The project includes a series of articles about their life and work.

In conclusion, I’d like to add that absolutely all the materials in Wars and Peace constitute history that is well thought through and incorporated into our current realities. Not coincidentally, a whole chapter is dedicated to the events in Volyn in the 1940s. Now this is history that inherently merges with the political domain.

Stanislav KULCHYTSKY, Deputy Director, National Academy’s Institute of Ukrainian History, one of the authors featured in Wars and Peace:

Poland is a special country as far as we are concerned. It is special not only for the west of Ukraine that was part of Poland for so many years, but also for the east, which was also part of the Rzeczpospolita. The history of Ukrainian-Polish relations unites as well as separates us — separates is more like it. The twentieth century proved incredibly complicated, but the twenty-first century offers prospects not only for peaceful coexistence but living together in Europe. Poland is showing us an example, guiding us along the right path.

We often hear about feelings of reciprocal aversion between Poles and Ukrainians in terms of daily life and practices. I think, however, that modern scholars should write history so as to eliminate this aversion, and that the media should support their efforts in this direction. I visit Poland several times a year as a member of the Ukrainian-Polish Commission for School Textbooks. Its aim is to prevent teaching history in a way that may cause protests from the neighboring country. Ten issues of the collection Complex Questions have come off the presses in Ukrainian and Polish, financed by the Polish side.

To this end the third book of The Day’s Library Series is extremely important indeed, because here the emphasis is on positive aspects, even if this publication broaches subjects that remain very painful for both countries.

Petro CHERNEHA, Head of the Slavic History and Ukrainian Studies Department, Drahomanov National Pedagogical University:

A poll was conducted in Poland, asking respondents who they thought was their best neighbor. The respondents ranked Germany in the first place, even though the Germans had once seized their territories. Russia was next, although the Russian empire was directly involved in the three partitions of the Rzeczpospolita, and finally Ukraine. The obvious conclusion is that we must build our own image.

It’s true that Ukrainian-Polish relations have been dramatic, even tragic. But this was due to objective reasons, owing to the geopolitical position of both countries. The time has come to put an end to discussions of bloody Ukrainian-Polish wars, as described by the Polish poet Samuel Twardowski and the writer Henryk Sienkiewicz. Instead, we should discuss things that unite us. Herein lies the unique meaning of The Day’s third book.

We are also working in this direction with the Poles. We’ve held several conferences and published a collection entitled Ukraine and Poland in the Twentieth Century, which deals with problems connected to our interrelationships.

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In addition to oral presentations, a number of interesting and topical questions were asked.

Borys FLIPCHENKO, pensioner, regular reader of The Day:

The book Wars and Peace actually emphasizes things that unite rather than disunite Poles and Ukrainians. Ms. Ivshyna, how do you feel about Ukraine now being divided into east and west? I think they’re doing this on purpose.

Larysa IVSHYNA:

That’s a very good question. Politicians who fail to put forward an idea that would unite the nation seize on the easiest concept. What could be easier than an animosity long cultivated at the level of daily life and practices? Of course, such things must be strongly condemned. The elections will be over, but the virus conveyed by them will remain. I think that many people feel disgusted, no matter what language they speak. While we’re on the subject of stability, these politicians are actually splitting this society, and going about it with such cynicism. Yet the consequences have surpassed all our expectations. We have seen that Ukrainian society has grown much stronger and that it is aware of the threat. Of course, we are all children of one mother, although we were raised in different families. At the same time, there are regional peculiarities. Ukrainians in the east and west were brought up under different systems of coordinates. In a way this situation is remotely similar to West and East Germany where, after reunification, they are doing their best to erase the distinctions. It’s here that the state should step in and serve as a tool of rapprochement rather than discord.

I’ve visited the eastern regions on a number of occasions. During our book launches I met with Donetsk University students. I must say that students are often the bearers of progressive change. During the previous elections they were about 13 years old and now they are progressive young people casting their votes. I think that there will be rapprochement in our society, hard as some of the ranking bureaucrats are trying to bring about the opposite, because people are aware of the threat of this artificial rift.

Yulia NEKRASOVA, student, Institute of Journalism:

What about the next project? Maybe it will be about Ukraine’s relations with Turkey or Hungary?

Larysa IVSHYNA: Indeed, Ukraine-Turkey is the next project we have in mind. This is the logic of the Russia-Poland-Turkey historical triangle. A project dedicated to the East will be governed by this logic. In addition, Turkey wants to be a member of the European Union. Do we?