US EditionUkrainian museum moves to 'decolonise' history
- Amidst the Russian invasion, Ukraine has escalated its "de-colonisation" efforts, including the removal of tsarist and Soviet symbols, prompting the Poltava Museum, located approximately 350 kilometers east of Kyiv, to address claims that it hasn't sufficiently revised Kremlin-supported narratives.
- These decolonization measures build upon efforts that began in 2014, the same year Russian forces annexed Crimea and backed armed separatists in eastern Ukraine, and are formalized through new laws enacted during the full-scale invasion.
- The museum's director, Nataliya Bilan, emphasizes that "decolonisation" necessitates "a profound reinterpretation" of historical facts by her staff, while museum guide Lyudmyla Shendryk, who has worked there for over 40 years, aims to analyze the causes of the 'catastrophe' in Poltava to prevent recurrence.
- The museum's transformation after Ukraine's 1991 independence from the USSR involved presenting Mazepa, who sought to preserve the independence of Ukrainian Cossacks, as a national hero and disproving "10 Russian myths" about Poltava in 2020, including the notion of Mazepa's "treachery".
- In 2024, Ukrainska Pravda accused the Poltava museum of continuing to glorify "Russian arms" and not adequately detailing the 1708 massacre in Baturyn, Mazepa's capital, which the newspaper characterized as "an act of genocide" resulting in thousands of deaths, prompting Shendryk to state, "We need to be brave, not remain silent or close our eyes to the complex or disagreeable pages in our history," and acknowledge that "one of these disagreeable pages is, above all, our lack of unity.
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Skidmore College hosts Ukrainian concert to honor unique culture
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Skidmore College hosted a Voices of Ukraine Concert Sunday afternoon to celebrate Ukrainian culture through unique song and dance. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! The concert featured rarely heard works from Ukrainian opera, art and folk tradition. Dr. Adrij Baran, president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee said the songs were about love, loss, desp…
Pacific Daily News
Ukrainian museum moves to 'decolonise' history
The quiet and echoing rooms of the museum in Poltava, dedicated to an 18th-century battle in central Ukraine, belie a struggle in the war-torn country on how far to go in recasting Russia's role in history.
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