List of communist monuments in Ukraine

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Destroyed monument of Lenin near Bessarabsky Market in Kiev, pulled down by demonstrators on December 8, 2013
File:Destructed Lenin monument Kharkiv 2.JPG
Destroyed monument of Lenin in Freedom Square, Kharkiv, pulled down by demonstrators on September 29, 2014

In Ukraine Lenin, Stalin and other Soviet-era monuments are to be removed within a six months period that started on 15 May 2015.[1]

Since Ukrainian independence (in 1991) communist monuments where already being removed[2] and till 2014 new monuments were also erected.[3] In the aftermath of the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests many of them were recently toppled. On 15 May 2015 President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed the bill into law that started a six months period for the removal of the communist monuments.[1]

Outlawing of communist monuments

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Main articles: Fall of the monument to Lenin in Kiev and Decommunization in Ukraine

Early attempts

On 6 October 2009, addressing participants of the Second Ecumenical Week held in Ukrainian Catholic University, (then) First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko called on all Ukrainians to pull down monuments to the Communist past. According to her, the Communist regime had been consistently active in destroying the Ukrainian church. "Having destroyed age-long belief in Christ, the Communists proposed their own idols instead; the culture and faith of Ukrainians was deformed and are in need of renovation", according to Kateryna Yushchenko.[4]

Pulling down of monuments

The removal or destruction of Lenin monuments and statues gained particular momentum during the EuroMaidan movement in the beginning of 2014. Under the motto "Ленінопад" (Leninopad, translated into English as "Leninfall"), activists pulled down a dozen monuments in the Kyiv region, Zhytomyr, Khmelnitsky, and elsewhere, or damaged them.[5] In other cities and towns, monuments were removed by organised heavy equipment and transported to scrapyards or dumps.[6]

By February 25, 2014 an estimate ran of over 90 statues and monuments being pulled down, removed or relocated.[7][8] The main motive for their destruction is that they were seen as a symbol of Russian dictatorship.[9][10]

Since February 2014 and mid-April 2015 more than 500 statues of Lenin were dismantled in Ukraine, and nearly 1,700 were still standing.[11]

  • Pulled down:
    • Kiev: a statue of Lenin stood in front of Bessarabsky Market. It had been erected in 1946. On June 30, 2009, the nose of the statue and part of the left hand were destroyed.[12][13][14] The statue was restored (at the expense of the Communist Party of Ukraine)[15] and re-unveiled on November 27, 2009 by Petro Symonenko, leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine. During this ceremony two representatives of Svoboda threw a bottle of red paint at the monument,[16][17] who were then attacked by attending Communists.[15] The fall of the monument to Lenin in Kiev took place on December 8, 2013.[18][19]
    • Andriyevo-Ivanove (Odessa Oblast): Lenin statue was broken in half on January 4, 2014.[20]
    • Zhytomyr and Boyarka: Lenin statues were toppled by protesters on February 20, 2014.[21]
    • Khmelnytsky: Lenin statue was mounted from 1970 to 1992. It was designed by E. Kuntsevych, architects — O. Ihnashchenko, Ye. Perekrest. It has been relocated to the park of Culture and Recreation. On February 21, 2014 it was destroyed.[22]
    • tens of other locations
  • Relocated:
    • Odessa, the Lenin statue was mounted in 1967 to 2006. It was designed by Matvey Manizer, О.М.Manizer, architects — I.Ye.Rozin, Yu.S.Lapin, М.М.Volkov. It was relocated to the park of Lenin's Komsomol.
    • Sumy, the Lenin statue was mounted from 1982 to the early 2000s. It was designed by E.Kuntsevych, architects — O.Zavarov, I.Lanko. It has been relocated to the park at the city limits.
    • tens of other locations

Law that outlawed the monuments

On 9 April 2015 the Ukrainian parliament passed legislation, submitted by the Second Yatsenyuk Government, banning the promotion of symbols of “Communist and National Socialist totalitarian regimes” this means that be mid-2015 all communist monuments in Ukraine have to be removed.[30][31] One of the main provisions of the bill was the recognition of the Soviet Union was "criminal" and one that it "pursued a state terror policy".[32][33] On 15 May 2015 President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed the bill into law; starting a six months period for the removal of the communist monuments.[1]

See also

References

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External links

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