Anti-Ukrainian sentiment
Encyclopedia
Anti-Ukrainian sentiment or Ukrainophobia is animosity towards Ukrainians, Ukrainian culture, language
or Ukraine
as a nation. It is widely present in Poland
and in the former Soviet Union
, mainly in the Russian Federation and in some parts of Eastern Ukraine
. Its opposite is Ukrainophilia
.
Modern scholars define two types of anti-Ukrainian sentiment: one based on discrimination of Ukrainians based on their ethnic or cultural origin (similar to other manifestations of xenophobia
and racism
), and another based on the conceptual rejection of Ukrainians
, Ukrainian culture and language as artificial and unnatural. At the turn of the 20th century, several authors supported an assertion that Ukrainian identity and language had been created artificially in order to undermine Russia. This argument has been promulgated by several conservative Russian authors.
. In order to retard and control this movement, the use of Ukrainian (Little Russian) language within the Russian empire was initially restricted by official government decrees such as the Valuev Circular (July 18, 1863) and later banned by the Ems ukaz
(May 18, 1876) from any use in print (with the exception of reprinting of old documents). Popularly the anti-Ukrainian sentiment was promulgated by such organizations as "Black Hundreds", which were vehemently opposed to Ukrainian self-determination. Some restrictions on the use of Ukrainian language were relaxed in 1905-1907. They ceased to be policed after the February Revolution in 1917.
rule in Ukraine
, a policy of korenization was established, which initially supported Ukrainian self awareness. This policy was phased out in 1928 and terminated entirely in 1932 in favor of general Russification
. There was supposedly no anti-Ukrainian sentiment within the Soviet government, which began to repress all aspects of Ukrainian culture and language as contrary to the ideology of Proletarian Internationalism. During the Soviet era
, the population of Ukraine was reduced by the artificial famine called Holodomor
in 1932-33 along with the population of other nearby agrarian areas of the USSR. Many prominent Ukrainians were labelled as nationalists or anti-revolutionaries, and many were repressed and executed as enemies of the people
.
On May 8, 2000 Ihor Bilozir, a composer and People's Artist of Ukraine
was murdered in Lviv
. He was beaten to death in the evening hour near the regional State's Attorney
office (former building of the city's Communist Party).A police squad that was in the vicinity did not intervene as one of the attackers was a son of the Deputy Chief of Lviv Militsiya. The attackers, although arrested at first, were released, an explanation - there was no one to issue a warrant for arrest before the Victory Day. That warrant was finally issued on May 22, while one of the attackers ran away. He, however, was found in Crimea
on January 6, 2001. In the memory of Ihor Bilozir the city of Ivano-Frankivsk
renamed its R.Zorge Street in his name in December 2000. On September 28, 2001 the criminal tribunal of the Lviv Court of Appeals issued a verdict in the case. For an intentional murder under hooligan motives to 15 years imprisonment was convicted a former counter-intelligence officer Dmytro Voronov and 12 years imprisonment - his friend Yuriy Kalinin, both ethnic Russians. Along with the conviction the tribunal issued three separate decisions: actions of the militsya officer of the Halych Raion department that was patrolling near the restaurant not only did not stop the conflict, but offered to Voronov and Kalinin to deal with Bilozir elsewhere as well as the whole patrol service of militsiya that has released the attackers; actions of the medical personnel that improperly attended the victim; and the Prosecutor of the Lviv Oblast
that was to determine the responsibility of the law enforcement personnel before the law.
In January 2002 the Supreme Court of Ukraine
overturned the sentence as unreasonable and returned the case to the Lviv Court of Appeals on review by a different panel of judges. Following that the Lviv Court of Appeals convicted Voronov and Kalinin to 10 and 8 years of imprisonment, but as causing bodily harm with fatal consequences instead of intentional murder.
Markov and Co.
On February 24, 2009 Ihor Olehovych Markov, a deputy of Odessa
city council
and leader of the pro-Russian organization Rodina — along with associates — beat up picketers who where protesting against raising of the monument of the Russian empress Catherine II
in Odessa. Catherine II
was the founder of the city of Odessa
, but she is sometimes reviled in Ukraine
for the destruction of Zaporizhian Host and for spreading serfdom
to Ukrainian territory.
On April 17, 2009, Maksym Chaika, a 20-year old student of Odessa National University, was murdered in Odessa. Chaika was a member of Sich, a patriotic youth movement in Ukraine. Some observers say that Chaika had openly criticized the pro-Russian activities of Markov, his party, Rodina, and the local TV channel ATB, which sympathizes with Markov. On April 24, 2009 during the TV-show Shuster-Live Markov called murdered Chaika neo-fascist and stated that Ukraine follows the same political route as the Nazi Germany
. With the help from Mykolaiv city Prosecutor's Office Markov was able to evade any responsibilities.
A propaganda article posted on the website of the Kremenchuk
department of the Communist Party of Ukraine
argues that history that was published during the Soviet regime
was the true history, and that new historical facts being uncovered from the archives are false. The article also denies the existence of the Ukrainian culture.
Mykola Levchenko, a Ukrainian parliamentarian from Party of Regions
, and the deputy of Donetsk
City Council states that there should be only one language, Russian. He says that the Ukrainian language is impractical and should be avoided. Levchenko called Ukrainian the language of folklore and anecdotes. However, he says he will speak the literary Ukrainian language on principal, once Russian is adopted as the sole state language. Anna German, the spokesperson of the same party, highly criticized those statements.
Mykhailo Bakharev, the vice-speaker of the Crimean Autonomous Republic parliament (and the main editor of Krymskaya Pravda), openly says that there is no Ukrainian language and that it is the language of the non-educated part of population. He claims that it was invented by Taras Shevchenko
and others. He also believes that there is no Ukraine nation, there is no future for the Ukrainian State, and that Ukrainization needs to be stopped.
The current Ukrainian Minister of Science and Education, Dmytro Tabachnyk
, has sparked protests calling him anti-Ukrainian in some parts of Ukraine due to this statements about Western Ukrainians, his preference for the Russian language, and his denial of the Holodomor. Tabachnyk's view of Ukraine’s history
includes the thesis that western Ukrainians aren’t really Ukrainian
. In an article for the Russia
n newspaper Izvestia
Tabachnyk wrote last year: “Halychany (western Ukrainians) practically don’t have anything in common with the people of Great Ukraine, not in mentality, not in religion, not in linguistics, not in the political arena” “We have different enemies and different allies. Furthermore, our allies and even brothers are their enemies, and their ‘heroes’ (Stepan Bandera
, Roman Shukhevych
) for us are killers, traitors and abettors of Hitler’s executioners.” By March 17, 2010 four of western Ukraine
’s regional councils had passed resolutions calling for the minister’s dismissal. A host of civic and student organizations from all over the country (including Kherson
in southern Ukraine
and Donetsk
in eastern Ukraine
), authors and former Soviet dissidents
also signed petitions calling for his removal. Tabachnyk also denies the Holodomor, considering it an invention of foreign historians for political motives. Tabachnik also had stated that Ukrainian history textbooks contained "simply false" information and announced his intention to rewrite them.
in June 2009 in Russia
75% of Russian respondents respected Ukrainians
as ethnic group but 55% were negative about Ukraine
as the state. In May 2009, 96% of Ukrainians polled by Kyiv International Sociology Institute were positive about Russians
as ethnic group, 93% respected Russian Federation and 76% respected Russian establishment.
Some Russian media seem to try to discredit Ukraine
. Media like Komsomolskaya Pravda
seem to try to intensify the bad relationship between Ukraine and Russia. A series of Russian films used anti-Ukrainian slurs without any criticism from their government. Anti-Ukrainian attitude persists among several Russian politicians, such as the former mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
and the Deputy Speaker of the Russian Parliament
, Vladimir Zhirinovsky
.
Ukrainians
form the third largest ethnic group in Russian Federation after Russians
and Tatars
. In 2006, in letters to Vladimir Putin
, Viktor Yushchenko
and Vasily Duma, the Ukrainian Cultural Centre of Bashkortostan
complained of anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Russia, which they claim includes wide use of anti-Ukrainian ethnic slurs in the mainstream Russian media, television and film. The Urals Association of Ukrainians also made a similar complaint in a letter they addressed to the OSCE in 2000.
According to the Ukrainian Cultural Centre of Bashkortostan, despite their significant presence in Russia, Ukrainians in that country have less access to Ukrainian-language schools and Ukrainian churches than do other ethnic groups. In Vladivostok, according to the head of the Ukrainian government's department of Ukrainian Diaspora Affairs, local Russian officials banned a Ukrainian Sunday school in order not to "accentuate national issues"
According to the president of the Ukrainian World Congress in 2001, persistent requests to register a Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate
or a Ukrainian Catholic Church were hampered due to "particular discrimination" against them, while other Catholic, Muslim and Jewish denominations fared much better. According to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
, by 2007 their denomination had only one church building in all of Russia.
Some Russians mass-media continues their policy of turning the population of Ukraine against its government and trying to convince of non-existence of the Ukrainian culture, such as some Alexei Itsenkov from Gazeta 2000 who posted his article under domain's name litvin.com.ua. In his article Mr.Itsenkov gives an impression of being an expert of ethnography, implying that the Ukrainian ethnicity never existed and is simply an invention of the Motherland's deserters who emigrated to Poland, United States, and Canada. Interestingly that his name can also be traced to the pro-presidential website of the Russian Federation.
In November 2010, the High Court of Russia cancelled registration of one of the biggest civic communities of the Ukrainian minority, the “Federal nation-cultural autonomy of the Ukrainians in Russia” (FNCAUR). According to the author Mykhailo Ratushniy Ukrainian activists continue to face discrimination and bigotry in much of Russia.
in 1648. It continued with numerous outbursts during the Haydamak revolts of the 18th century.
The 20th-century anti-Ukrainian Polish actions such as Operation Vistula left a deep and endemic mark on the ethnic Ukrainians living within the Polish state.
Despite more recent positive official relations, some Polish politicians often resort to exacerbate anti-Ukrainian sentiment. This is achieved by organizing speculative exhibitions focusing on Ukrainian participation in war crimes, and creating memorials and monuments that contribute only to the escalation of mutual hatred. War and after-war crimes took place between both sides, and many of these escalations are caused by one-sided attention to Ukrainian outburst creating anti-Ukrainian's sentiment in both in Poland and in Ukraine. Such actions on Polish side are treated in Ukraine as Ukrainophobia.
Ukrainian organizations in Poland are disturbed by a new wave of anti-Ukrainian actions that have recently erupted such as those that appeared during the festival of Ukrainian culture in Poland in the border town of Przemyśl
in 1995 where numerous threats against participants and numerous acts of vandalism took place. A rise in incidences of graffiti with anti-Ukrainian slogans, and the office of “Związek Ukraińców w Polsce” was set alight. In some cities anti-Ukrainian assaults, vandalism acts of an organized character have targeted centers of Ukrainian culture, schools, churches, memorials.
Polish publishing house Nortom
was banned from the Frankfurt Book Fair
in 2000, for selling anti-German and antisemitic books. Ukrainophobic and antisemitic authors (mainly interbellum Endecija activists) published by Nortom include: Roman Dmowski
, Janusz Dobrosz
, Jędrzej Giertych
, Jan Ludwik Popławski
, Maciej Giertych
, Stanisław Jastrzębski, Edward Prus
, Feliks Koneczny
.
In 2000, Nortom was forced to withdraw its 12 controversial titles from the Frankfurt Book Fair by the Polish Ministry of Culture representative Andrzej Nowakowski overlooking the Polish exposition. Nortom was accused of selling anti-German, Anti-Ukrainian and antisemitic books, especially the following titles: "Być czy nie być" by Stanisław Bełza, "Polska i Niemcy" by Jędrzej Giertych and "I tak nie przemogą. Antykościół, antypolonizm, masoneria" by his son Maciej Giertych. As a result of the above request, the president of the Polish delegation Andrzej Chrzanowski from Polska Izba Książki decided to penalize Nortom by removing it from the 2000 book fair altogether.
around 1891 until the late 20th Century. In once sense this was part of a larger trend towards nativism
in English Canada during the period. But Ukrainians were singled out for special discrimination because of their large numbers, visibility (due to dress and language), and political activism. During the First World War, around 8,000 Ukrainian Canadian were interned by the Canadian government as "enemy aliens"
(because they came from the Austrian Empire). In the interwar period all Ukrainian cultural and political groups, no matter what their ideology was, were monitored by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
and many of their leaders were deported.
This attitude began to slowly change after the Second World War, as Canadian immigration and cultural policies generally moved from being explicitly pro-British to a more pluralistic foundation. Ukrainian nationalists were now seen as victims of communism, rather than dangerous subversives. Ukrainians began to hold high offices, and one, Senator Paul Yuzyk
was one of the earliest proponents of a policy of "multiculturalism
" which would end official discrimination and acknowledge the contribution of non-English, non-French Canadians. The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism
of the 1960s, which had originally been formed only to deal with French-Canadian grievances, began the transition to multiculturalism in Canada because of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
's desire to court Ukrainian votes in Western Canada. The Commission also included a Ukrainian commissioner, Jaroslav Rudnyckyj
.
Since the adoption of official multiculturalism under Section Twenty-seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
in 1982, Ukrainians in Canada have had legal protection against discrimination.
strong Ukrainophobia existed among members of the Jewish diaspora in the United States
during the 1990s, as well as among some Russian-Americans. He referred to trials against Ukrainians who were accused of war crime
s against Jews by the prosecutors of the Office of Special Investigations comparing them with witch-hunt
s.
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
or Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
as a nation. It is widely present in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and in the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, mainly in the Russian Federation and in some parts of Eastern Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. Its opposite is Ukrainophilia
Ukrainophilia
Ukrainophilia is the love of and/or identification with Ukraine and Ukrainians; its opposite is Ukrainophobia. The term is used primarily in a political and cultural context. "Ukrainophilia" and "Ukrainophile" are the terms used to denote pro-Ukrainian sentiments, usually in politics and...
.
Modern scholars define two types of anti-Ukrainian sentiment: one based on discrimination of Ukrainians based on their ethnic or cultural origin (similar to other manifestations of xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
and racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
), and another based on the conceptual rejection of Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
, Ukrainian culture and language as artificial and unnatural. At the turn of the 20th century, several authors supported an assertion that Ukrainian identity and language had been created artificially in order to undermine Russia. This argument has been promulgated by several conservative Russian authors.
Russian Empire
The rise and spread of Ukrainian self-awareness produced an anti-Ukrainian sentiment within some layers of society within the Russian empireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. In order to retard and control this movement, the use of Ukrainian (Little Russian) language within the Russian empire was initially restricted by official government decrees such as the Valuev Circular (July 18, 1863) and later banned by the Ems ukaz
Ems Ukaz
The Ems Ukaz, or Ems Ukase , was a secret decree of Tsar Alexander II of Russia issued in 1876, banning the use of the Ukrainian language in print, with the exception of reprinting of old documents. The ukaz also forbade the import of Ukrainian publications and the staging of plays or lectures in...
(May 18, 1876) from any use in print (with the exception of reprinting of old documents). Popularly the anti-Ukrainian sentiment was promulgated by such organizations as "Black Hundreds", which were vehemently opposed to Ukrainian self-determination. Some restrictions on the use of Ukrainian language were relaxed in 1905-1907. They ceased to be policed after the February Revolution in 1917.
Soviet Union
Under SovietSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
rule in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, a policy of korenization was established, which initially supported Ukrainian self awareness. This policy was phased out in 1928 and terminated entirely in 1932 in favor of general Russification
Russification
Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...
. There was supposedly no anti-Ukrainian sentiment within the Soviet government, which began to repress all aspects of Ukrainian culture and language as contrary to the ideology of Proletarian Internationalism. During the Soviet era
History of the Soviet Union
The history of the Soviet Union has roots in the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, emerged as the main political force in the capital of the former Russian Empire, though they had to fight a long and brutal civil war against the Mensheviks, or Whites...
, the population of Ukraine was reduced by the artificial famine called Holodomor
Holodomor
The Holodomor was a man-made famine in the Ukrainian SSR between 1932 and 1933. During the famine, which is also known as the "terror-famine in Ukraine" and "famine-genocide in Ukraine", millions of Ukrainians died of starvation in a peacetime catastrophe unprecedented in the history of...
in 1932-33 along with the population of other nearby agrarian areas of the USSR. Many prominent Ukrainians were labelled as nationalists or anti-revolutionaries, and many were repressed and executed as enemies of the people
Enemy of the people
The term enemy of the people is a fluid designation of political or class opponents of the group using the term. The term implies that the "enemies" in question are acting against society as a whole. It is similar to the notion of "enemy of the state". The term originated in Roman times as ,...
.
Ukraine
Bilozir affairOn May 8, 2000 Ihor Bilozir, a composer and People's Artist of Ukraine
People's Artist of Ukraine
People's Artist of Ukraine is an honorary and the highest title awarding to outstanding performing artists whose merits are exceptional in the sphere of the development of the performing arts ....
was murdered in Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
. He was beaten to death in the evening hour near the regional State's Attorney
State's Attorney
In the United States, the State's Attorney is, most commonly, an elected official who represents the State in criminal prosecutions and is often the chief law enforcement officer of their respective county, circuit...
office (former building of the city's Communist Party).A police squad that was in the vicinity did not intervene as one of the attackers was a son of the Deputy Chief of Lviv Militsiya. The attackers, although arrested at first, were released, an explanation - there was no one to issue a warrant for arrest before the Victory Day. That warrant was finally issued on May 22, while one of the attackers ran away. He, however, was found in Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
on January 6, 2001. In the memory of Ihor Bilozir the city of Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk is a historic city located in the western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, municipality....
renamed its R.Zorge Street in his name in December 2000. On September 28, 2001 the criminal tribunal of the Lviv Court of Appeals issued a verdict in the case. For an intentional murder under hooligan motives to 15 years imprisonment was convicted a former counter-intelligence officer Dmytro Voronov and 12 years imprisonment - his friend Yuriy Kalinin, both ethnic Russians. Along with the conviction the tribunal issued three separate decisions: actions of the militsya officer of the Halych Raion department that was patrolling near the restaurant not only did not stop the conflict, but offered to Voronov and Kalinin to deal with Bilozir elsewhere as well as the whole patrol service of militsiya that has released the attackers; actions of the medical personnel that improperly attended the victim; and the Prosecutor of the Lviv Oblast
Lviv Oblast
Lviv Oblast is an oblast in western Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Lviv.-History:The oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on December 4, 1939...
that was to determine the responsibility of the law enforcement personnel before the law.
In January 2002 the Supreme Court of Ukraine
Supreme Court of Ukraine
The Supreme Court of Ukraine is the highest judicial body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction in Ukraine.The Court derives its authority from the Constitution of Ukraine, but much of its structure is outlined in legislation...
overturned the sentence as unreasonable and returned the case to the Lviv Court of Appeals on review by a different panel of judges. Following that the Lviv Court of Appeals convicted Voronov and Kalinin to 10 and 8 years of imprisonment, but as causing bodily harm with fatal consequences instead of intentional murder.
Markov and Co.
On February 24, 2009 Ihor Olehovych Markov, a deputy of Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
city council
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
and leader of the pro-Russian organization Rodina — along with associates — beat up picketers who where protesting against raising of the monument of the Russian empress Catherine II
Catherine II of Russia
Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...
in Odessa. Catherine II
Catherine II of Russia
Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...
was the founder of the city of Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, but she is sometimes reviled in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
for the destruction of Zaporizhian Host and for spreading serfdom
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
to Ukrainian territory.
On April 17, 2009, Maksym Chaika, a 20-year old student of Odessa National University, was murdered in Odessa. Chaika was a member of Sich, a patriotic youth movement in Ukraine. Some observers say that Chaika had openly criticized the pro-Russian activities of Markov, his party, Rodina, and the local TV channel ATB, which sympathizes with Markov. On April 24, 2009 during the TV-show Shuster-Live Markov called murdered Chaika neo-fascist and stated that Ukraine follows the same political route as the Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. With the help from Mykolaiv city Prosecutor's Office Markov was able to evade any responsibilities.
A propaganda article posted on the website of the Kremenchuk
Kremenchuk
Kremenchuk is an important industrial city in the Poltava Oblast of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Kremenchutskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located on the banks of Dnieper River.-History:Kremenchuk was...
department of the Communist Party of Ukraine
Communist Party of Ukraine
The Communist Party of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine, currently led by Petro Symonenko.The party fights the Ukrainian national self-determination by identifying any Ukrainian national parties as the National-Fascist ones The Communist Party of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine,...
argues that history that was published during the Soviet regime
Politics of the Soviet Union
The political system of the Soviet Union was characterized by the superior role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , the only party permitted by Constitution.For information about the government, see Government of the Soviet Union-Background:...
was the true history, and that new historical facts being uncovered from the archives are false. The article also denies the existence of the Ukrainian culture.
Mykola Levchenko, a Ukrainian parliamentarian from Party of Regions
Party of Regions
The Party of Regions is an Ukrainian political party created on October 26, 1997 just prior to the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary elections under the name of Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine. It was reformed later in 2001 when the party united with several others...
, and the deputy of Donetsk
Donetsk
Donetsk , is a large city in eastern Ukraine on the Kalmius river. Administratively, it is a center of Donetsk Oblast, while historically, it is the unofficial capital and largest city of the economic and cultural Donets Basin region...
City Council states that there should be only one language, Russian. He says that the Ukrainian language is impractical and should be avoided. Levchenko called Ukrainian the language of folklore and anecdotes. However, he says he will speak the literary Ukrainian language on principal, once Russian is adopted as the sole state language. Anna German, the spokesperson of the same party, highly criticized those statements.
Mykhailo Bakharev, the vice-speaker of the Crimean Autonomous Republic parliament (and the main editor of Krymskaya Pravda), openly says that there is no Ukrainian language and that it is the language of the non-educated part of population. He claims that it was invented by Taras Shevchenko
Taras Shevchenko
Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko -Life:Born into a serf family of Hryhoriy Ivanovych Shevchenko and Kateryna Yakymivna Shevchenko in the village of Moryntsi, of Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire Shevchenko was orphaned at the age of eleven...
and others. He also believes that there is no Ukraine nation, there is no future for the Ukrainian State, and that Ukrainization needs to be stopped.
The current Ukrainian Minister of Science and Education, Dmytro Tabachnyk
Dmytro Tabachnyk
Dmytro Tabachnyk is an Ukrainian politician, science and education minister of Ukraine since March 11, 2010. Tabachnyk has the equivalent of a doctorate in historical science, has the title of professor, and is a current member of the Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine.-Career:In 1986 Tabachnyk...
, has sparked protests calling him anti-Ukrainian in some parts of Ukraine due to this statements about Western Ukrainians, his preference for the Russian language, and his denial of the Holodomor. Tabachnyk's view of Ukraine’s history
History of Ukraine
The territory of Ukraine was a key center of East Slavic culture in the Middle Ages, before being divided between a variety of powers. However, the history of Ukraine dates back many thousands of years. The territory has been settled continuously since at least 5000 BC, and is also a candidate site...
includes the thesis that western Ukrainians aren’t really Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
. In an article for the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n newspaper Izvestia
Izvestia
Izvestia is a long-running high-circulation daily newspaper in Russia. The word "izvestiya" in Russian means "delivered messages", derived from the verb izveshchat . In the context of newspapers it is usually translated as "news" or "reports".-Origin:The newspaper began as the News of the...
Tabachnyk wrote last year: “Halychany (western Ukrainians) practically don’t have anything in common with the people of Great Ukraine, not in mentality, not in religion, not in linguistics, not in the political arena” “We have different enemies and different allies. Furthermore, our allies and even brothers are their enemies, and their ‘heroes’ (Stepan Bandera
Stepan Bandera
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera was a Ukrainian politician and one of the leaders of Ukrainian national movement in Western Ukraine , who headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists...
, Roman Shukhevych
Roman Shukhevych
Roman Taras Yosypovych Shukhevych was a Ukrainian politician and military leader, the general of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.-Childhood:Roman Taras Yosypovych Shukhevych was born in the city of Krakovets, Jaworow powiat, in Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria which is located today between Lviv and...
) for us are killers, traitors and abettors of Hitler’s executioners.” By March 17, 2010 four of western Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
’s regional councils had passed resolutions calling for the minister’s dismissal. A host of civic and student organizations from all over the country (including Kherson
Kherson
Kherson is a city in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kherson Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. Kherson is an important port on the Black Sea and Dnieper River, and the home of a major ship-building industry...
in southern Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and Donetsk
Donetsk
Donetsk , is a large city in eastern Ukraine on the Kalmius river. Administratively, it is a center of Donetsk Oblast, while historically, it is the unofficial capital and largest city of the economic and cultural Donets Basin region...
in eastern Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
), authors and former Soviet dissidents
Soviet dissidents
Soviet dissidents were citizens of the Soviet Union who disagreed with the policies and actions of their government and actively protested against these actions through either violent or non-violent means...
also signed petitions calling for his removal. Tabachnyk also denies the Holodomor, considering it an invention of foreign historians for political motives. Tabachnik also had stated that Ukrainian history textbooks contained "simply false" information and announced his intention to rewrite them.
Russia
In a poll held by Levada CenterLevada Center
Levada Center is a Russian independent, non-governmental polling and sociological research organisation. It is named after its founder, the first Russian professor of sociology Yuri Levada . Levada Center traces back its history to 1987 when VCIOM was founded, originally headed by Academician...
in June 2009 in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
75% of Russian respondents respected Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
as ethnic group but 55% were negative about Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
as the state. In May 2009, 96% of Ukrainians polled by Kyiv International Sociology Institute were positive about Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
as ethnic group, 93% respected Russian Federation and 76% respected Russian establishment.
Some Russian media seem to try to discredit Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. Media like Komsomolskaya Pravda
Komsomolskaya Pravda
Komsomolskaya Pravda is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper, founded on March 13th, 1925. It is published by "Izdatelsky Dom Komsomolskaya Pravda" .- History :...
seem to try to intensify the bad relationship between Ukraine and Russia. A series of Russian films used anti-Ukrainian slurs without any criticism from their government. Anti-Ukrainian attitude persists among several Russian politicians, such as the former mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia , Liberal'no-Demokraticheskaya Partiya Rossii is a political party in Russia. Since its founding in 1991, it has been led by the charismatic and controversial figure Vladimir Zhirinovsky...
and the Deputy Speaker of the Russian Parliament
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
, Vladimir Zhirinovsky
Vladimir Zhirinovsky
Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky is a Russian politician, colonel of the Russian Army, founder and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia , Vice-Chairman of the State Duma, and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe....
.
Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
form the third largest ethnic group in Russian Federation after Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
and Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
. In 2006, in letters to Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
, Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
and Vasily Duma, the Ukrainian Cultural Centre of Bashkortostan
Bashkortostan
The Republic of Bashkortostan , also known as Bashkiria is a federal subject of Russia . It is located between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains. Its capital is the city of Ufa...
complained of anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Russia, which they claim includes wide use of anti-Ukrainian ethnic slurs in the mainstream Russian media, television and film. The Urals Association of Ukrainians also made a similar complaint in a letter they addressed to the OSCE in 2000.
According to the Ukrainian Cultural Centre of Bashkortostan, despite their significant presence in Russia, Ukrainians in that country have less access to Ukrainian-language schools and Ukrainian churches than do other ethnic groups. In Vladivostok, according to the head of the Ukrainian government's department of Ukrainian Diaspora Affairs, local Russian officials banned a Ukrainian Sunday school in order not to "accentuate national issues"
According to the president of the Ukrainian World Congress in 2001, persistent requests to register a Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate
Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate
Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate is one of the three major Orthodox churches in Ukraine, alongside the Ukrainian Orthodox Church , and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church...
or a Ukrainian Catholic Church were hampered due to "particular discrimination" against them, while other Catholic, Muslim and Jewish denominations fared much better. According to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , Ukrainska Hreko-Katolytska Tserkva), is the largest Eastern Rite Catholic sui juris particular church in full communion with the Holy See, and is directly subject to the Pope...
, by 2007 their denomination had only one church building in all of Russia.
Some Russians mass-media continues their policy of turning the population of Ukraine against its government and trying to convince of non-existence of the Ukrainian culture, such as some Alexei Itsenkov from Gazeta 2000 who posted his article under domain's name litvin.com.ua. In his article Mr.Itsenkov gives an impression of being an expert of ethnography, implying that the Ukrainian ethnicity never existed and is simply an invention of the Motherland's deserters who emigrated to Poland, United States, and Canada. Interestingly that his name can also be traced to the pro-presidential website of the Russian Federation.
In November 2010, the High Court of Russia cancelled registration of one of the biggest civic communities of the Ukrainian minority, the “Federal nation-cultural autonomy of the Ukrainians in Russia” (FNCAUR). According to the author Mykhailo Ratushniy Ukrainian activists continue to face discrimination and bigotry in much of Russia.
Poland
Anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland first became significant in the mid 17th century in the aftermath of the revolt led by KhmelnytskyKhmelnytskyi, Ukraine
Khmelnytskyi is a city in Ukraine in the region of Podillia. It is located on the Southern Buh River and about from the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. The town's original name was Płoskirów, later Proskurov, but in 1954 was renamed Khmelnytskyi. It is the center of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast in western...
in 1648. It continued with numerous outbursts during the Haydamak revolts of the 18th century.
The 20th-century anti-Ukrainian Polish actions such as Operation Vistula left a deep and endemic mark on the ethnic Ukrainians living within the Polish state.
Despite more recent positive official relations, some Polish politicians often resort to exacerbate anti-Ukrainian sentiment. This is achieved by organizing speculative exhibitions focusing on Ukrainian participation in war crimes, and creating memorials and monuments that contribute only to the escalation of mutual hatred. War and after-war crimes took place between both sides, and many of these escalations are caused by one-sided attention to Ukrainian outburst creating anti-Ukrainian's sentiment in both in Poland and in Ukraine. Such actions on Polish side are treated in Ukraine as Ukrainophobia.
Ukrainian organizations in Poland are disturbed by a new wave of anti-Ukrainian actions that have recently erupted such as those that appeared during the festival of Ukrainian culture in Poland in the border town of Przemyśl
Przemysl
Przemyśl is a city in south-eastern Poland with 66,756 inhabitants, as of June 2009. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship; it was previously the capital of Przemyśl Voivodeship....
in 1995 where numerous threats against participants and numerous acts of vandalism took place. A rise in incidences of graffiti with anti-Ukrainian slogans, and the office of “Związek Ukraińców w Polsce” was set alight. In some cities anti-Ukrainian assaults, vandalism acts of an organized character have targeted centers of Ukrainian culture, schools, churches, memorials.
Polish publishing house Nortom
Nortom
NORTOM is a privately owned Polish publishing house, founded in 1992 in Wrocław, specializing in books on Polish history with special focus on the Kresy region of the Second Polish Republic, the Polish literature and political thought, including on post-communism economic crises and nationalism...
was banned from the Frankfurt Book Fair
Frankfurt Book Fair
The Frankfurt Book Fair is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. As to the number of visitors, the Turin Book Fair attracts about as many visitors, viz. some 300,000....
in 2000, for selling anti-German and antisemitic books. Ukrainophobic and antisemitic authors (mainly interbellum Endecija activists) published by Nortom include: Roman Dmowski
Roman Dmowski
Roman Stanisław Dmowski was a Polish politician, statesman, and chief ideologue and co-founder of the National Democracy political movement, which was one of the strongest political camps of interwar Poland.Though a controversial personality throughout his life, Dmowski was instrumental in...
, Janusz Dobrosz
Janusz Dobrosz
Janusz Dobrosz is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 14655 votes in 3 Wrocław district, candidating from Liga Polskich Rodzin list....
, Jędrzej Giertych
Jedrzej Giertych
Jędrzej Giertych was a Polish right-wing politician, journalist and writer, son of Franciszek Giertych, father of Maciej Giertych and grandfather of Roman Giertych...
, Jan Ludwik Popławski
Jan Ludwik Popławski
Jan Ludwik Popławski was a Polish publicist, politician and one of the first chief activists and ideologues of the right-wing National Democracy political camp....
, Maciej Giertych
Maciej Giertych
Maciej Marian Giertych is a Polish dendrologist and social conservative politician of the League of Polish Families . He favours state intervention in the economy. He was a member of the Sejm and a Polish member of the European Parliament...
, Stanisław Jastrzębski, Edward Prus
Edward Prus
Edward Prus Edward Prus Edward Prus (born 1931 in Załoźce (now known as Zaliztsiv) near Zboriv, (now in the Ternopil oblast, Ukraine, died December 31, 2007) was a controversial Polish political activist and politologist with fields of interest in history of Poland (particularly the Second World...
, Feliks Koneczny
Feliks Koneczny
Feliks Karol Koneczny was a Polish historian and social philosopher. Founder of the original system of the comparative science of civilizations.- Biography :...
.
In 2000, Nortom was forced to withdraw its 12 controversial titles from the Frankfurt Book Fair by the Polish Ministry of Culture representative Andrzej Nowakowski overlooking the Polish exposition. Nortom was accused of selling anti-German, Anti-Ukrainian and antisemitic books, especially the following titles: "Być czy nie być" by Stanisław Bełza, "Polska i Niemcy" by Jędrzej Giertych and "I tak nie przemogą. Antykościół, antypolonizm, masoneria" by his son Maciej Giertych. As a result of the above request, the president of the Polish delegation Andrzej Chrzanowski from Polska Izba Książki decided to penalize Nortom by removing it from the 2000 book fair altogether.
Canada
Anti-Ukrainian discrimination was endemic in Canada from the arrival of Ukrainians in CanadaUkrainian Canadian
A Ukrainian Canadian is a person of Ukrainian descent or origin who was born in or immigrated to Canada. In 2006, there were an estimated 1,209,085 persons residing in Canada of Ukrainian origin, making them Canada's ninth largest ethnic group; and giving Canada the world's third-largest...
around 1891 until the late 20th Century. In once sense this was part of a larger trend towards nativism
Nativism (politics)
Nativism favors the interests of certain established inhabitants of an area or nation as compared to claims of newcomers or immigrants. It may also include the re-establishment or perpetuation of such individuals or their culture....
in English Canada during the period. But Ukrainians were singled out for special discrimination because of their large numbers, visibility (due to dress and language), and political activism. During the First World War, around 8,000 Ukrainian Canadian were interned by the Canadian government as "enemy aliens"
Ukrainian Canadian internment
The Ukrainian Canadian internment was part of the confinement of "enemy aliens" in Canada during and for two years after the end of the First World War, lasting from 1914 to 1920, under the terms of the War Measures Act that would be used again, in the Second World War, against Japanese Canadians;...
(because they came from the Austrian Empire). In the interwar period all Ukrainian cultural and political groups, no matter what their ideology was, were monitored by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
and many of their leaders were deported.
This attitude began to slowly change after the Second World War, as Canadian immigration and cultural policies generally moved from being explicitly pro-British to a more pluralistic foundation. Ukrainian nationalists were now seen as victims of communism, rather than dangerous subversives. Ukrainians began to hold high offices, and one, Senator Paul Yuzyk
Paul Yuzyk
Paul Yuzyk was a Canadian historian and Senator remembered as the "father of multiculturalism." He was appointed to the Canadian Senate on 4 February 1963 on the recommendation of John Diefenbaker...
was one of the earliest proponents of a policy of "multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
" which would end official discrimination and acknowledge the contribution of non-English, non-French Canadians. The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism
Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism
The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism was a Canadian royal commission established on 19 July 1963, by the government of Prime Minister Lester B...
of the 1960s, which had originally been formed only to deal with French-Canadian grievances, began the transition to multiculturalism in Canada because of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
's desire to court Ukrainian votes in Western Canada. The Commission also included a Ukrainian commissioner, Jaroslav Rudnyckyj
Jaroslav Rudnyckyj
Jaroslav Bohdan Rudnyckyj, OC was a Ukrainian Canadian linguist, lexicographer with a specialty in etymology and onomastics, folklorist, bibliographer, travel writer, and publicist. He was one of the pioneers of Slavic Studies in Canada and one of the founding fathers of Canadian "Multiculturalism"...
.
Since the adoption of official multiculturalism under Section Twenty-seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Section Twenty-seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Section Twenty-seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a section of the Charter that, as part of a range of provisions within the section 25 to section 31 bloc, helps determine how rights in other sections of the Charter should be interpreted and applied by the courts...
in 1982, Ukrainians in Canada have had legal protection against discrimination.
United States
According to Ukrainian-American historian Petro MirchukPetro Mirchuk
Petro Mirchuk was a Ukrainian writer living in United States. During and before World War II, he was an activitst for Ukrainian independence. Imprisoned in Auschwitz by Nazi Germany, after the war he emigrated to United States.-References:**...
strong Ukrainophobia existed among members of the Jewish diaspora in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during the 1990s, as well as among some Russian-Americans. He referred to trials against Ukrainians who were accused of war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s against Jews by the prosecutors of the Office of Special Investigations comparing them with witch-hunt
Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
s.
External links
- http://www.ucipr.kiev.ua/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index&catid=&topic=22
- Article that lists the communist regime crimes against Ukrainians
- Що таке українофобія і як її розпізнати