Deciphering history
Students of the Taras Shevchenko Pedagogical University and Larysa Ivshyna, editor in chief of Den’/The Day, have discussed actualized history and a generation that is, after all, not lost.
The Day’s trip to Chernihiv was a logical response to the readers’ powerful support of the newspaper. This city in northern Ukraine hosted The Day’s photo exhibit twice, in 2003 and 2004. The Day has also displayed its exhibits in other towns in Chernihiv oblast. In 2004 Larysa Ivshyna, editor in chief of Den’/The Day, met with the readers in Pryluky. Ten years ago, in 1999, while on a visit to Nizhyn State Pedagogical University, she said it was Ukrainian Cambridge. That meeting with students became the starting point for the newspaper’s trips to universities. Ivshyna’s book-album My Universities begins with an account of this trip. Chernihiv oblast is thus a special place for The Day.
Looking back at the past decade, there have been dozens of such trips, including to Nikolai Gogol Nizhyn State Pedagogical University, Lesia Ukrainka Volyn State University, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, Bohdan Khmelnytsky Cherkasy National University, Dnipropetrovsk National Mining University, Ilia Mechnikov Odesa National University, Donetsk National University, Vasyl Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kamianets-Podilsky National University, Khmelnytsky National University, Ivan Franko Lviv National University, and, of course, Ivshyna’s favorite Ostroh Academy, where she is a member of the university’s supervisory board. The list of universities could be continued, and it is a fact that every such meeting in eastern, western, southern, and northern Ukraine has been unique. Many things have changed over the decade: approaches, concepts, political issues, and, above all, the worldview of the students.
Then finally it was Taras Shevchenko Chernihiv Pedagogical University (ChPU). Its student body enjoys special conditions here, considering the great historical value of the Chernihiv land, once the cultural center of Kyivan Rus’.
“Traveling across Ukraine, I often see festivities commemorating two-digit anniversaries of the formation of this or that oblast. However, it is better to celebrate the thousand-year-old history of Ukrainian cities. Chernihiv spells ancient history packed with dramatic events that need to be interpreted by entire Ukraine,” Ivshyna said in her opening address before the student audience.
The 11th-century Cathedral of Our Savior and Holy Transfiguration, the Yeletsky Dormition Monastery dating back to the same century, the 12th-century Church of Good Friday, and other ancient relics of Chernihiv generate the city’s inimitable atmosphere and inspire one to study local history. This is proved by the continued interest of the local public in Den’, which has won the reputation of a “historical” periodical. In 2005 Chernihiv oblast responded to Den’s project “Ukraine Incognita” with the local history almanac Chernihivshchyna Incognita produced by the Chernihivski Oberehy Publishers on Viktor Tkanko’s initiative.
Local media also take part in the Chernihiv historical discourse. Volodymyr Koval, the editor of the Chernihiv regional state television and radio company, is working on several thematic radio programs dedicated to Chernihiv’s past, including the series “Events. Facts. Names” and “Chernihiv Oblast: Historical Calendar.”
Says Volodymyr Koval: “We tell our listeners about interesting figures who sank into oblivion under the Soviets; about events that were kept secret by the [Soviet] regime. We are working with archives and invite researchers, experts on local history, and interesting guests to come to to Chernihiv and take part in our programs. Of course, we are working with literary sources. Thanks to the national book-publishing program, we regularly publish books on local history. In fact, the book-publishing program is being carried out quite effectively in Chernihiv oblast, despite the meager budget appropriations.”
The Day had an important opportunity to hear what the most progressive part of the oblast’s community—university students—had to say.
Taras Shevchenko State Pedagogical University marked its 90th anniversary in 2006. It was founded in 1916 as a teacher training college. In the 1950s, it moved into a new building where it is located at present.
Says Vice-Rector for Education Anatolii Tymoshenko: “We were granted the university status in 1998. Today we have eight faculties, of which the philology one is the youngest. The exact sciences have been traditionally our forte. Viktor Kostarchuk was the leading figure in our history; he was our rector for almost 30 years. He created a remarkably strong school of mathematics. Without exaggeration, I can say that in the 1960s through the 1970s our institute had one of the strongest schools of mathematics in the USSR (I mean among teacher training institutes). We were known all over the Soviet Union. Do our students know this? Those at the physics faculty certainly do. However, in the 1980s we lost some of this potential.”
The Chernihiv university professors are involved in the working out of Ukrainian national standards for joining the Bologna process. Tymoshenko says that the credits and modules started being practiced at the chemistry and biology faculty in the 1980s, which is, in fact, the basis of the Bologna ECTS-credits-per-module system. In other words, the local lecturers can be regarded as innovative. Remarkably, students are involved in this transition process. According to the third-year student Iryna Brynza, who is a member of the student parliament, self-government is an extremely important factor.
In a word, the university lives a life of its own. It is often visited by guests of different caliber, ranging from poets to the First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko. All guests are received in the spacious, bright reading hall of the university library. Its director, Hanna Makarova, told The Day that a regional ecological information center will shortly be set up in the library. Even now they have a lot of special literature and periodicals. The administration often invites local ecologists to meet with students. From now on the students will be able to “meet” here with the best authors, press photographers, and cartoonists of The Day, as well ash Oxana Pachliowska, Ivan Dziuba, and Anatolii Svidzynsky. At the meeting Larysa Ivshyna presented the university library with a complete set of The Day’s Library Series, along with the books Ave, Europa!, Reminiscences and Thoughts on Home Stretch, and The Synergic Concept of Culture.
The reading hall was packed. Among those present were lecturers and students from three higher education institutions of the oblast: Chernihiv Pedagogical University, Chernihiv State Institute of Economics and Management, and Chernihiv State Technical University. The meeting lasted for almost three hours, with students and lecturers asking interesting questions.
It is important that The Day has ideological partners and veteran contributors in many regions of Ukraine, among them Tamara Demchenko, Ph.D. (History), Associate Professor, Department of History and Archeology of Ukraine at the ChPU.
She addressed the audience with these warm words: “I think that this newspaper and its library project are unique in the truest sense of the word; they are rare, exceptional phenomena. This newspaper follows a systemic approach to important phenomena in our past and present realities, our cultural life. These issues are raised not formally, not as a publicity stunt. They are explored and developed in each issue. In particular, the Holodomor subject can, in fact, be studied using The Day. I am very glad that Larysa Ivshyna did not wait for a decade or 120 years for such materials to start being used in dissertations and various collections. She decided to collect them and publish them in the form of attractive publications.”
Among those present were people who still remembered the launch of the book Ukraine Incognita that started the newspaper’s Library Series. Liudmyla Zinevych, head of the Department of Ukrainian Studies at the Chernihiv State Institute of Economics and Management, recalled the year 2002: “I was a graduate student at the time and reading Ukraine Incognita expanded my worldview and my understanding of our history. As a linguist, I am grateful to this newspaper for being one of the first Ukrainian-language intellectual periodicals.”
The student readers’ conference of The Day entitled “Shaping the Historical Memory of the Youth” was held on The Day of Ivan Mazepa’s birth. Jointly with the Museum of Ukrainian History, The Day proclaimed 2009 the Year of Hetman Mazepa. On March 20 prayers for the hetman were offered up in the temples of Chernihiv oblast.
“We are witness to great transformations in public consciousness. Not so long ago Ivan Mazepa was mentioned in the context of anathema,” noted Ivshyna.
Teaching the younger generation to correctly interpret history and identify it with current processes is a task that cannot be coped with by means of dull textbooks, which are often rejected by students. A more flexible approach to historical knowledge is needed.
“Actualized history leaves no one indifferent. History cannot be regarded only as archival knowledge, so books in The Day‘s Library Series are the galloping cavalry that reaches the reader with answers to the most topical questions,” she said in her opening address.
The discussion with the Chernihiv students and lecturers in the question–answer format proved that our current realities actualize our history and excite interest in the deepest causes behind our victories and defeats. The Day and the Ukraine Incognita Series have an important mission of tracing and emphasizing this connection, as well as making it visible and tangible.
The students appropriately let Stanislav Ponomarevsky, the dean of the ChPU’s Philology Faculty, ask Ivshyna the first question.
Ponomarevsky: “Contrary to the well-known thesis, Ukraine has always had its prophets. Why do you think the American prophet James Maces was chosen by our dead to raise the hair-raising issue of the Holodomor? Why wasn’t there a Ukrainian prophet?”
Ivshyna: “I don’t think we should blame ourselves too much for this, although Mace’s life story can make the plot for a very interesting film that no one has as yet made in Ukraine. He never appeared in a full-scale radio or television program in his lifetime. By the way, Chernihiv was one of the few cities that invited him and where he could speak to people. Political regimes notwithstanding, there are always people who abide by their conscience, who do what they think is right.
“Upon his arrival in Ukraine, Mace diagnosed our society as post-genocidal, meaning that, among other things, it had a grave mental injury. Ukraine was badly afflicted. Some wrote to this effect even then (suffice it to recall Ivan Bahriany and Vasyl Barka), yet a generation capable of understanding the factors that had brought about this tragedy had yet to come.
“Ukraine was living in a totally different dimension then. The post-genocidal disease must be treated with love, warmth, patience, [combined] efforts, and social well-being. Our state has almost none of these remedies, and so the struggle for people’s minds and for truth continues. For the truth to reign supreme the state must show serious political achievements, but our state is in a very difficult condition now. The conscientious part of this society loves this country in time of defeat and success, yet today’s man in the street more often than not favors only very successful countries. And so we have to struggle for success. James Mace grasped things that we will need to understand and accept very soon in order to produce good historians, philosophers, and decent ordinary citizens. Unless we take care of ourselves, no well-wishing people will do so anywhere in the world. It is up to no one else but us.”
Students also touched on the subject of the Holodomor in their questions.
Sviatoslav Chernenko, a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics: “Since the late 1990s we have been discussing the replacement of industrial society by information society. For us information is as important as water, air, and food. Why is good news so rare in our media? Regarding the Holodomor, will this topic boost our national spirit? Isn’t there good news that could serve as positive motivation and help us grow?”
Ivshyna: “There is no avoiding the Holodomor theme, otherwise we would turn traitor to the memory of millions of victims who died in this man-made famine. The question is how to go about it. During the memorial days last November I insisted that the most rational approach would be to discuss, above all, the reasons behind this catastrophe and the mistakes politicians made at the time. National history can be absorbed in different chunks. People need to fed as much as they can handle if they cannot grasp the truthful picture in its entirety.”
Regrettably, there are many themes and questions in Ukrainian history that can only be described as complicated and cannot be explained unambiguously. Why didn’t Ukraine follow in Poland’s footsteps after 1991? This domestic rather than foreign policy aspect of Ukrainian history attracted the attention of Yaroslav Hladky, a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Philology. He believes that Ukrainian culture has actually been always very close to Polish culture, so Ukraine’s lagging behind here does not seem logical to him.
Ivshyna: “The first Polish Ambassador to Ukraine Jerzy Bar said that, in his opinion, Ukraine was much closer to the ‘hit area’ than Poland. Poles rallied around Pilsudski based on one very simple principle: they were all Poles. That was why Budionny stopped at the Vistula. Ukraine, instead, received two Holodomors. Our western neighbor has one church and one language. In the 1990s Poland had an extremely high authority in John Paul II. In Ukraine political leaders who came from [labor] camps were not prepared to meet the challenges facing the young Ukrainian state. The Polish road was realistic for Ukraine. In fact, it remains realistic today, but in order to go this way, we must exert a lot of effort, for the impression is that we have not as yet broken free from the ‘red circle.”
Let us hope that a copy of the book Wars and Peace, or Ukrainians — Poles: Brothers/Enemies, Neighbors that Ivshyna presented to Yaroslav Hladky as a gift will answer his questions.
A topic that hangs over Ukraine like the sword of Damocles is its relations with Russia. The first-year student Maria Hrebeniuk’s asked question, “Are we allies or rivals?”, and this is something a lot of Ukrainians want to know, at least those who are interested in global issues. Needless to say, Russia-Ukraine relations have never been unambiguous.
Ivshyna: “Ukraine and Russia are different personae. We are neighbors, of course, and are very close ethnically. We are following different paths, which is explained by our history. You will remember that the Ukrainian cities had Magdeburg Law as a basis of administration that was characteristic of Europe. The spread of Magdeburg Law extended as far as Ukraine’s border with Russia. We are all well aware that the tsarist tradition is native to our [northern] neighbor. We may say that we are right to adhere to our historical convictions, but are we sufficiently effective? Over the past decade television and the press have inflated politicians (in the sense of publicity) on an unheard-of scale. What we watch and hear on the air are not discussions of public interests, the land issues, or health care reforms in rural areas. Russia is following its course, while we are wasting time and money and making mistakes. We are not only neighbors, but also rivals.”
Liudmyla Zinevych asked about the role of patriotic national myths in bringing up the younger generation: “Historians are debating whether history should be ideologized. Is it necessary to create patriotic national myths to properly raise our youth? What do you think?”
Ivshyna: “I do want Ukrainian history to become a healthy environment in which Ukrainians can live and develop. We can find in our history examples of courage as well as elevated spirit, intellect, character, and beauty. We must perceive the reasons behind our catastrophes. Sweet myths appear from lack of courage. We must understand the worst traits of our national character and use this understanding in following that part of our society which is moving forward. But look at how quickly Ukraine is showing signs of life! There are three recipes: time, patience, and above all, hard work.”
Yevhen Vytvytsky, a third-year student at the Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogy, asked a question that was actually prompted by historical myths: “You have mentioned noted figures in our past who are associated with the history of Ukraine. Why do we forget about the times of Kyivan Rus’ and our princes? Does the word Rus’ scare us so much that we forget about this part of history?”
Ivshyna: “Why should this word scare us? On the contrary, it should fill us with joy because we are Rus’. Even though Rus’ means not only Ukrainians, Ukrainians made up its core. Reaching that deep into history is a luxury for historians and other scholars. Actualized history, however, must also use this knowledge. Historical memory is a collective product. Historians must combine efforts with those who arebuilding our state because historians often act in lieu of them. Comprehending and appreciating history is much easier when you know that, should anything happen, you would be instantly made welcome in a clean and well-staffed and equipped hospital.
“Adjusting the feng shui principles to our realities, Oleh Skrypka recommends tidying up as the first elementary rule in order to rid this country of its chaos. All places where our great history was made are now buried under garbage. We can be proud of Kyivan Rus’ or any other period in our history, but we have to get rid of this garbage. No member of the Monomakh dynasty will do this for us. There can be no great history for a bedraggled country.”
These questions led to the key one, asked by the fourth-year student Inna Shkliarova: “How do you understand the expression ‘lost generation’? Can the Ukrainian youth be regarded as one?”
Ivshyna: “Generations that set themselves ambitious goals but are unable to reach them, due to some reason or other, cannot be regarded as lost. A lost generation is one that wants nothing or which is tempted by a cheap way of life from the standpoint of values. Whether or not the emerging generation will be lost depends, above all, on society. Ours is a disoriented society. Our young people will not automatically change if they continue living in this poisonous environment. Anyway, if you don’t have a clever interlocutor, you can go to a library and ‘talk’ to Chaadayev or Franko. It all depends on your personal, individual efforts.”
Proof of this is Ivshyna’s story she related in response to a question from Ihor Khomenko, a third-year student at the Faculty of History: “Where do you find your inspiration?”
Ivshyna: “I have met fantastic people at every stage in my life. I am a lone wolf by nature, a strict individualist. As a small girl I would sob when being dragged to a daycare center. I adamantly refused to attend it. I was not interested in collective forms of creativity. My grandparents raised their six children as they went through the wars, misery, and suffering; they tried to make them as little dependent on the state as was absolutely possible. This is the first and very important lesson: you must be brought up like the marines, so you can take care of yourselves wherever you are.
“Second, I went to an excellent school where the teachers loved us. I always remember my first teacher Polina Aksionova with gratitude, God rest her soul! She was so proud of me. After school I worked as a plasterer and wall painter at a construction project for two years, and this considering that I finished school with honors. My job didn’t worry me at all because I was reading a lot after work and was maturing. Fortunately, there were many books on and about history at the school library. I read all of Starytsky. Characteristically, even as a small girl, I was drawn to big books. I remember lifting a thick volume of Shakespeare off the shelf, lugging it home, opening it and reading historical dramas. I understood virtually nothing, but I sensed that it was something really great, something admired by the whole world. This is what I call the building of a healthy system of coordinates. If there is something you don’t understand now, it doesn’t matter. But if this something is recognized by the world as being very important (after all, civilization is adopted best practices), then you should try to comprehend it.”
In conclusion, Ivshyna voiced a very original formula “for personal use”: “All girls have their cherished dreams—about Prince Charming, Romeo, etc. Well, such dreams must be more down-to-earth or specific these days, but in any case having dreams is not enough. You have to develop and work out a formula, something like ‘I must be prepared when he comes.”
