On 2014-03-03, at 7:47 PM, Louis Proyect wrote: > The 2012 KIIS Survey shows that the absolute majority of the residents > of Ukraine, given a choice of the various forces active in Ukraine > during World War II, support most the Soviet Army (75%). In addition, 4% > favor the Soviet partisans. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army [militia led by > ultrarightist Stephan Bandera] is a choice of 8% of the respondents. In > contrast, only 1% support the German Army. The relative majorities (41% > each) of adult Ukrainians have negative views of both Joseph Stalin and > [Bandera cohort] Roman Shukhevych during the war. However, a much > greater percentage (32%) hold very positive or mostly positive views of > the wartime activities of Stalin, compared to Shukhevych (14%). The > absolute majority (91%) of the respondents regard Hitler’s actions > during the war negatively, while only 1% express a positive opinion of > the leader of Nazi Germany. A fifth of Ukrainians do not know who Roman > Shukhevych was, in contrast to 1% who do not recognize Joseph Stalin or > Adolf Hitler (see Table 1). > > full: > https://www.academia.edu/3378079/The_Politics_of_World_War_II_in_Contemporary_Ukraine
A very illuminating and encouraging document! Thanks for posting. As the figures above demonstrate, the Ukrainian masses are no more sympathetic to fascism than other peoples, including those elsewhere in Eastern Europe who directly experienced Stalinism and ultimately turned against the Soviet bloc. The sole exception was the province of Galicia, whose major city is Lviv, which demonstrated the highest regional level of support for the UPA (45%) and lowest level of support for the Soviet Army (23%). In general, as to be expected, the predominantly and heavily industrialized Russian-speaking eastern provinces were more strongly antifascist than the western half of the country. It should be noted that the pro-Western Ukrainian nationalist leaders who have just recaptured control of the state apparatus have been trying for some time to alter the negative public opinion of the fascist bands who actively participated in the mass killing of Jews, Poles, Red Army POW's, and anti-Nazi partisans. The report states: "Supporters of nationalist parties, such as Svoboda and Our Ukraine, are likely to embrace different views concerning the war, compared to supporters of pro-Communist or pro-Russian parties, such as the Communist Party and the Party of Regions. For example, Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine from 2005 to 2010 and a leader of the Our Ukraine Bloc,which included his party and other nationalist parties, promoted as a centerpiece of his policy commemoration of the UPA as fighters for the Ukrainian independence and national heroes...Yushchenko awarded the Hero of Ukraine title to Roman Shukhevych, the supreme commander of the UPA. "Svoboda, a radical nationalist party, which won regional elections in Galicia in 2010 and won 10.5 percent of the national vote in the 2012 parliamentary elections, promoted similar policies, not only concerning the UPA but also concerning the SS “Galicia” Division...This party, which was originally called the Social-National Party, combined radical nationalism with elements of neo-Nazi ideology. Svoboda called for removal of war monuments to Soviet soldiers, and it blocked, with the help of violence, public celebrations of Victory Day in Lviv in 2011. "The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT), which was a key member of the Orange coalition and presented itself as a democratic pro-Western party, advanced a populist ideology and did not emphasize its stance on such historical memory issues as World War II. However, after the loss in the 2010 presidential elections, Tymoshenko’s Fatherland party started also to adopt a nationalist rhetoric, and publicly used a greeting that was used by the OUN-B and the UPA during the war. The greeting 'Slava Ukraini'(Glory to Ukraine) and a fascist-style hand salute were modeled by the OUN on a basis of similar greetings and salutes by other fascist and semi-fascist parties...The Fatherland Party, which was led by Arseni Yatseniuk after Tymoshenko’s imprisonment on criminal charges, formed a political alliance with Svoboda during the 2010 parliamentary elections and after the elections." They are having more success rehabilitating the fascist side with younger Ukrainians who have the least historical memory of the war, but only slightly; this cohort still expressed support for the Soviet side by a wide margin. "The respondents, ranging from 63% of the 18-29 years old to 85% of the respondents 70 years old and older, favor most the Red Army during the war...The 18-29 years old express slightly greater support for the UPA (14%) compared to the older generations (6-8%)...The youngest age group has slightly more positive views of Shukhevych (20%) compared to older generations (10-13%). The 18-29 years old are disposed much less negatively towards him compared to the other age groups." _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
