President
Yushchenko says his country must confront its past. But critics say deeper
examination of authoritarianism and the starvation that killed millions could
be dangerous.
In 1933, Mykola Bokan
travelled across the Chernihiv Region of Ukraine taking photographs of his
starving compatriots.
These were the victims of
Holodomor, the "death by starvation" unleashed by Stalin that killed
millions across Ukraine.
The same year, Mr. Bokan was arrested and sent to a prison camp for 10 years. He
didn't survive his sentence.
"Stories like this
deepen our knowledge of our own history," says Volodymyr Vyatrovych,
director of the archives at the state security service, or SBU, the KGB's successor
in Ukraine.
"That's why we want the maximum number of people possible to get to know
these documents."
In January, Ukrainian
President Viktor Yushchenko ordered state archives to declassify, publish, and
study all documents relating to Holodomor, the Ukrainian independence movement,
and political repressions during the Soviet period from 1917 to 1991.
There's a lot of work for
Mr. Vyatrovych and his colleagues to get through: He estimates there are
800,000 documents from which to remove the "secret" seal.
"As a totalitarian
system, the Soviet Union relied on the KGB. That
means that these documents shed light on all aspects of Soviet life," he
says.
The aim of the work is to
make the documents available at digital reading rooms across the country and
the Internet, and to publish collections. Vyatrovych says the publicity drive
has already boosted interest, and not just among historians. "More and
more people are coming to find out about relatives," he says.
Unlike many ex-Soviet
states, such as neighboring Poland,
Ukraine
has seen limited attempts at lustration. The country's history, for centuries
intertwined with its eastern neighbor Russia, is politically sensitive
because of the polar opposite interpretations that people follow. The Ukrainian
Insurgent Army, or UPA, for example, which fought in World War II, was
portrayed in the Soviet Union as Nazi
collaborators. To many in Ukraine,
however, they are freedom fighters and symbols of the anti-Soviet independence
movement.
But since Yushchenko's
dramatic rise to the presidency in the wake of the Orange Revolution in 2004,
when hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets to protest a
rigged vote, he has made a concerted effort to draw attention to Ukraine's
history. His main focus has been on promoting recognition of Holodomor as
genocide of the Ukrainian people.
Although famine struck a
number of areas in the Soviet Union as a result of Stalin's initiative to
create collective farms, many historians argue that the famine was exacerbated
in Ukraine
in order to quell separatism and punish Ukrainians.
"Promoting a
reappraisal of our history is one of Yushchenko's greatest achievements,"
says Stanislav Kulchytsky, one of Ukraine's most famous historians,
who is best known for his pioneering work on Holodomor. "Sadly, it brings
his popularity down, as many people are stuck in the old views they were
brought up on."
The opening of the archives
has not passed without controversy. Olha Ginzburg, a Communist Party member and
head of the state archives committee, claims that all necessary files have
already been declassified, and has opposed the publication of archival
documents.
Vyatrovych counters that
this may be true of some archives, but certainly not of his. "Some
political forces don't want the documents to see the light of day because it
will affect their popularity."
Some pro-Russian opposition
politicians have criticized Yushchenko's drive as nationalistic and dangerous. But
Vyatrovych says fears of social tensions are exaggerated.
"My colleagues in
other ex-Soviet countries said that when they opened their secret service
archives, people also told them not to do it as it would cause a civil
war," he says. "But it didn't happen, and won't happen here. It's a
myth."
History as
politics
Yushchenko's portrayal of
Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian people has also raised hackles at the
highest levels in Russia.
Confrontations – particularly over gas – have erupted frequently since the Ukraine's Orange Revolution, as Russia has reacted angrily to what it sees as Ukraine's
realignment with the West.
When Yushchenko organized a
75th-anniversary commemoration last November, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
refused to attend, accusing his Ukrainian counterpart in an open letter of
"[using] the so-called 'Holodomor' … to achieve short-term political
goals." A number of countries, including the United States, have recognized
Holodomor as genocide.
While Yushchenko has pushed
a highly critical approach to Soviet history, Russia has in recent years gone
some way towards rehabilitating Stalin's image, portraying him in school textbooks
as an "effective manager" whose actions were "entirely
rational."
Ukrainian historians
complain that access to some Russian archives is much more restricted than it
was in the '90s, and numerous requests for cooperation have been rejected.
In February, a group of
Russian archivists and historians presented a book of historical documents that
they said showed that the famine was not directed specifically at Ukrainians. Vyatrovych
welcomed the move, saying he is not concerned by the interpretation.
"We are pleased that
we have provoked them to take this step," he says. "The most
important thing is that the documents are put out there. They speak for
themselves, and much louder than any interpretation that is attached to
them."
But not everyone is
listening. Professor Kulchytsky, the expert on Holodomor, complains that older
generations aren't open to revising their Soviet views. "It was easy to
end the economic totalitarianism after 1991," he says. "It's much
harder to end totalitarianism in people's heads."
Yushchenko's focus on
history has also irked many at a time when he is deeply unpopular at home and
the economic crisis is hitting harder in Ukraine
than anywhere else in Europe.
But Vyatrovych is adamant
that his work has more than academic significance. "The mobilization of
society to solve the many problems we have is only possible if it isn't torn
apart," he says. "And we can only achieve that if we come to a better
understanding of our past."