demolition of monuments to Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine
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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Expand Ukrainian|Ленінопад|date=April 2016}}
{{expand Russian|date=February 2024}}
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| image2 = Lenin Stanytsia.jpg
| alt2 = Statue of Lenin toppled near Stanytsia
| image3 = Statue of Lenin in Kharkiv (Freedom Square) after destruction2 29.09.2014.jpg
| alt3 = The statue of Lenin in Kharkiv on 29 September 2014
| image4 = Lenin monument after 8-12-2013(1).JPG
| alt4 = Lenin monument in Kyiv on 9 December 2013
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- A falling Lenin monument in Khmelnytskyi
- Statue of Lenin toppled near Stanytsia Luhanska
- The Lenin monument in Kyiv on 9 December 2013
- The statue of Lenin in Kharkiv on 29 September 2014
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The demolition of monuments to Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine began during the collapse of the Soviet Union and continued on a smaller scale throughout the 1990s, primarily in some western towns of Ukraine. However, by 2013, most Lenin statues across Ukraine were still intact. During the 2013–2014 Euromaidan protests, the destruction of statues became widespread, a phenomenon that came to be popularly known as Leninopad (or Leninfall) in English.{{cite news|first=Serhii|last=Shebelist|url=http://day.kyiv.ua/en/article/society/leninfall|title="Leninfall" – The lack of adequate commemoration policy in Ukraine provokes the new tide of the "war of monuments"|publisher=day.kyiv.ua|date=30 September 2013|access-date=9 June 2016|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019114550/http://day.kyiv.ua/en/article/society/leninfall|url-status=live}} The use of "-пад" being akin to English words suffixed with "fall" as in "waterfall" and "snowfall".
History
{{see also|Decommunization in Ukraine}}
File:Destroying of Lenin on the Independence square, Kiev.jpg" was dismantled in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukraine re-gaining independence.]]
The demolition of Lenin monuments in Ukraine happened in four stages. During the 1990s, more than 2,000 Lenin monuments were demolished in western part of Ukraine, at the turn of the 1990–2000s more than 600 Lenin monuments were removed in western and central areas, in 2005–2008, more than 600 were demolished mainly in central areas, and in 2013–2014, 552 monuments were demolished.{{cite news|script-title=uk:Від ленінізму до ленінопаду|url=https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/26770232.html|website=Радіо Свобода|date=January 2015 |access-date=17 May 2017|language=uk|archive-date=2 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160902025100/https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/26770232.html|url-status=live |last1=Свобода |first1=Радіо }}
The first wave of demolitions of Lenin monuments happened in Western Ukraine in 1990–1991. On 1 August 1990, in Chervonohrad a Lenin monument was demolished for the first time in the USSR.{{in lang|uk}} [https://m.gazeta.ua/articles/politics/_pershij-lenin-vpav-1990-roku-yak-skidali-idola-komunizmu/873618 The first Lenin fell in 1990: how the idol of communism was dropped] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416211738/https://m.gazeta.ua/articles/politics/_pershij-lenin-vpav-1990-roku-yak-skidali-idola-komunizmu/873618 |date=16 April 2021 }}, Gazeta.ua (8 December 2018) Under popular pressure the monument was dismantled, formally with the purpose of moving elsewhere. That same year, Lenin monuments were dismantled in Ternopil, Kolomyia, Nadvirna, Borislav, Drohobych, Lviv and other cities of Galicia.Volodymyr Semkiv, [http://zbruc.eu/node/40061 "Падай, Леніне, падай"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809042634/http://zbruc.eu/node/40061 |date=9 August 2016 }} ("Fall, Lenin, Fall", retrieved 9 June 2017)
In 1991, Ukraine had 5,500 Lenin monuments. In November 2015, approximately 1,300 Lenin monuments were still standing.[http://ukrainianweek.com/Society/154195 Out of Sight] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129040659/http://ukrainianweek.com/Society/154195 |date=29 January 2016 }}, The Ukrainian Week (28 December 2015) More than 700 Lenin monuments were removed and/or destroyed between February 2014 and December 2015.
On 9 April 2015, the Ukrainian parliament passed legislation on decommunization.{{cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/20/ukraine-decommunisation-law-soviet |title= Ukraine to rewrite Soviet history with controversial 'decommunisation' laws |first= Lily |last= Hyde |work=The Guardian |date= 20 April 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150516095241/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/20/ukraine-decommunisation-law-soviet |archive-date= 16 May 2015 |access-date= 17 May 2015}} On 15 May 2015, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed this bill into law that started a six-month period for the removal of communist monuments (excluding World War II monuments) and the mandatory renaming of settlements with names related to Communism.[http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2015/05/15/7068057/ Poroshenko signed the laws about decomunization] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423181130/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2015/05/15/7068057/ |date=23 April 2016 }}. Ukrayinska Pravda. 15 May 2015
[http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/265988.html Poroshenko signs laws on denouncing Communist, Nazi regimes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180802040659/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/265988.html |date=2 August 2018 }}, Interfax-Ukraine. 15 May 20
[http://www.unian.info/politics/1078854-poroshenko-time-for-ukraine-to-resolutely-get-rid-of-communist-symbols.html Poroshenko: Time for Ukraine to resolutely get rid of Communist symbols] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518092853/http://www.unian.info/politics/1078854-poroshenko-time-for-ukraine-to-resolutely-get-rid-of-communist-symbols.html |date=18 May 2015 }}, UNIAN. 17 May 2015
[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32267075 Goodbye, Lenin: Ukraine moves to ban communist symbols] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307200441/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32267075 |date=7 March 2016 }}, BBC News (14 April 2015) On 16 January 2017, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance announced that 1,320 Lenin monuments were dismantled during decommunization.{{in lang|uk}} [http://pda.pravda.com.ua/news/id_7132563 Dekomunizuvaly monuments to Lenin in 1320, Bandera set 4] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321085543/http://pda.pravda.com.ua/news/id_7132563 |date=21 March 2017 }}, Ukrayinska Pravda (16 January 2017)
{{in lang|uk}} [http://www.memory.gov.ua/news/z-50-tisyach-pereimenovanikh-obektiv-toponimiki-lishe-34-buli-nazvani-na-chest-banderi WITH 50 THOUSAND RENAMED OBJECTS PLACE NAMES, ONLY 34 ARE NAMED AFTER BANDERA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019054457/http://www.memory.gov.ua/news/z-50-tisyach-pereimenovanikh-obektiv-toponimiki-lishe-34-buli-nazvani-na-chest-banderi |date=19 October 2017 }}, Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (16 January 2017)
A website "Raining Lenins"{{Cite web |url=https://raining-lenins.silk.co/ |title="Raining Lenins" |access-date=10 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820204138/http://raining-lenins.silk.co/ |archive-date=20 August 2016 |url-status=dead }} tracks the statistics of the fall of Lenin statues in Ukraine.
On 17 March 2016, the largest Lenin monument at the unoccupied territory of Ukraine, 19.8 meters high, was dismantled in Zaporizhzhia.{{Cite web|title=В ЗАПОРІЖЖІ НАРЕШТІ ЗНЕСЛИ НАЙБІЛЬШОГО ЛЕНІНА. Фото|url=https://www.istpravda.com.ua/short/2016/03/17/149018/|access-date=29 June 2020|website=Історична правда|archive-date=19 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319075613/https://www.istpravda.com.ua/short/2016/03/17/149018/|url-status=live}} In between the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by the Russian Federation and 28 September 2014, the largest Lenin monument at the unoccupied territory was standing in Kharkiv (20.2 m high).{{Cite web|title=Харків повалив Леніна офіційно. Провокаторів попередили: до пам'ятника – зась|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/09/28/7039163/|access-date=29 June 2020|website=Українська правда|language=uk|archive-date=28 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140928231853/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/09/28/7039163/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=В Харкові звалили найбільший в Україні пам'ятник Леніну (фото, відео)|url=https://www.unian.ua/politics/990012-v-harkovi-zvalili-naybilshiy-v-ukrajini-pamyatnik-leninu-foto-video.html|access-date=29 June 2020|website=www.unian.ua|language=uk|archive-date=30 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140930095507/https://www.unian.ua/politics/990012-v-harkovi-zvalili-naybilshiy-v-ukrajini-pamyatnik-leninu-foto-video.html|url-status=live}} This statue of Lenin in Kharkiv was toppled and destroyed on 28 September 2014.{{cite web|title=Ukraine nationalists tear down Kharkiv's Lenin statue|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29405089|date=28 September 2014|access-date=22 April 2015|website=BBC News|archive-date=29 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140929075940/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29405089|url-status=live}}
In February 2019, The Guardian reported that the two Lenin statues in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone were the only two remaining statues of Lenin in Ukraine, if not taking into account occupied territories of Ukraine.[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/28/revisiting-chernobyl-cemetery-of-dreams Revisiting Chernobyl: 'It is a huge cemetery of dreams'], The Guardian (28 February 2019) In January 2021 "Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty" located three more remaining Lenin statues in three (Ukrainian controlled) small villages. This increased the number of remaining Lenin statues to five.[https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-lenin-statues/31052671.html Goodbye Lenin? Not In These Ukrainian Villages], Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (19 January 2021)
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many of these statues of Lenin, which had been taken down by Ukrainian activists, were re-erected by Russian occupiers in Russian-controlled areas.{{cite news |last1=Harding |authorlink1=Luke Harding |first1=Luke |title=Back in the USSR: Lenin statues and Soviet flags reappear in Russian-controlled cities |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/23/back-in-the-ussr-lenin-statues-and-soviet-flags-reappear-in-russian-controlled-cities |access-date=4 May 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=23 April 2022 |archive-date=4 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504233450/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/23/back-in-the-ussr-lenin-statues-and-soviet-flags-reappear-in-russian-controlled-cities |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Fink |first1=Andrew |title=Lenin Returns to Ukraine |url=https://thedispatch.com/p/lenin-returns-to-ukraine |access-date=4 May 2022 |work=The Dispatch |date=20 April 2022 |archive-date=23 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423185553/https://thedispatch.com/p/lenin-returns-to-ukraine |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Bowman |first1=Verity |title=Kyiv pulls down Soviet-era monument symbolising Russian-Ukrainian friendship |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/04/27/kyiv-pulls-soviet-era-monument-symbolising-russian-ukrainian/ |access-date=4 May 2022 |work=The Telegraph |date=27 April 2022 |archive-date=27 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427204034/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/04/27/kyiv-pulls-soviet-era-monument-symbolising-russian-ukrainian/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Trofimov |first1=Yaroslav |authorlink1=Yaroslav Trofimov |title=Russia's Occupation of Southern Ukraine Hardens, With Rubles, Russian Schools and Lenin Statues |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-occupation-of-southern-ukraine-hardens-with-rubles-russian-schools-and-lenin-statues-11651403176 |access-date=4 May 2022 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=1 May 2022 |archive-date=3 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503233746/https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-occupation-of-southern-ukraine-hardens-with-rubles-russian-schools-and-lenin-statues-11651403176 |url-status=live }}
Motivation
{{See also|De-commemoration}}
The start of the "Leninopad" in its mass was laid by the demolition of the Lenin monument in Kyiv on the Bessarabian Square. The event took place on 8 December 2013 at around 6:00 pm. Even more people began to massively destroy monuments of the Soviet past after reports about the Euromaidan activists who died during the protests in Kyiv.
In January 2015, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine announced that it would encourage all public initiatives related to cleaning Ukraine of monuments to figures of the communist past. According to Minister Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, his department will initiate the removal from the State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine of all monuments related to communist figures listed there. "The state will not oppose, but on the contrary, will in every possible way support all public initiatives that will fight for the cleansing of Ukraine from these relics of the totalitarian past," the minister emphasized.{{Cite web|url=http://kmu.gov.ua/control/uk/publish/article?art_id=247865172&cat_id=244276429|title=Урядовий портал :: Демонтаж пам'яток радянським діячам буде підтримано на офіційному рівні, - В'ячеслав Кириленко|website=kmu.gov.ua|accessdate=2016-03-13|archive-date=14 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314064124/http://www.kmu.gov.ua/control/uk/publish/article?art_id=247865172&cat_id=244276429}}
In April 2015, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted in favor of the draft law "On the condemnation of the communist and national socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the prohibition of propaganda of their symbols", which, in particular, will oblige local authorities to dismantle monuments to communist figures on the territory of Ukraine.[http://ukr.lb.ua/news/2015/04/09/301445_ukraini_znesut_usi_pamyatniki.html В Україні знесуть усі пам'ятники радянським діячам] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414233208/http://ukr.lb.ua/news/2015/04/09/301445_ukraini_znesut_usi_pamyatniki.html|date=14 квітня 2015}} // Лівий берег. — 2015. — 9 квіт.
Communist monuments toppled during Euromaidan
File:Площа, пам. Леніну 22 лютого.jpg on 22 February 2014 with the demolished monuments to Vladimir Lenin.]]
Euromaidan protesters toppled several statues of Vladimir Lenin in Ukrainian cities.{{cite web|title=Ukraine crisis: Lenin statues toppled in protest|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26306737|publisher=BBC|date=22 February 2014|access-date=21 April 2015|archive-date=5 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105123905/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26306737|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Leninopad, Ukraine's Falling Lenin Statues, Celebrated As Soviet Symbols Toppled Nationwide (VIDEOS, PHOTOS)|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/24/leninopad-falling-lenins-statues-ukraine_n_4847364.html|publisher=Huffington Post|date=24 February 2014|access-date=21 April 2015|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924200940/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/24/leninopad-falling-lenins-statues-ukraine_n_4847364.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web |author=Софія Середа |url=http://www.radiosvoboda.org/content/article/25225395.html |title=В Україні – Ленінопад: пам'ятники вождю падають один за одним |publisher=Radiosvoboda.org |date=9 January 2014 |access-date=3 March 2014 |archive-date=1 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.radiosvoboda.org/content/article/25225395.html |url-status=live }} Some estimates said that more than 90 statues were toppled.{{citation|title=Ленінопад: від комуністичного вождя звільнено вже 90 міст України|url=http://expres.ua/digest/2014/02/24/102431-leninopad-komunistychnogo-vozhdya-zvilneno-vzhe-90-mist-ukrayiny|publisher=Expres|date=24 February 2014|access-date=21 April 2015|archive-date=24 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224171350/http://expres.ua/digest/2014/02/24/102431-leninopad-komunistychnogo-vozhdya-zvilneno-vzhe-90-mist-ukrayiny|url-status=live}} In December 2015, The Ukrainian Week calculated that 376 Lenin monuments were removed or destroyed in February 2014.
This is a partial list:
Reactions
The removal of the monuments evoked mixed feelings among the Ukrainian population.{{cite web|title=Toppling of Lenin monument in Kyiv evokes mixed feelings|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/toppling-of-lenin-monument-in-kyiv-evokes-mixed-feelings-333401.html|publisher=Kyiv Post|date=10 December 2013|access-date=22 April 2015}} In some cases, like in Kharkiv in early 2014,{{YouTube|8b9L0NkNSNw|Ukraine: Kharkiv residents defend Lenin monument on Fatherland Day}} pro-Russian Ukrainian crowds protected the monuments, including members of the communist and socialist parties, as well as veterans of World War II and the Afghan wars.{{cite web|title=Crowd defends Lenin statue in eastern Ukraine city|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26313792|publisher=BBC|date=23 February 2014|access-date=21 April 2015|archive-date=13 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413035106/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26313792|url-status=live}} The Statue of Lenin in Kharkiv was toppled on 28 September 2014. Late October 2014, then Kharkiv Governor Ihor Baluta admitted that he thought that the majority of Kharkiv residents had not wanted the statue removed, but said "there was hardly any protest afterward either, which is quite telling".{{cite news | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-10-23/ukraines-second-city-kharkiv-eludes-rebel-hands | title=Ukraine's Second City, Kharkiv, Eludes Rebel Hands | work=Bloomberg BusinessWeek | date=23 October 2014 | access-date=24 October 2014 | archive-date=28 June 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150628044204/http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-10-23/ukraines-second-city-kharkiv-eludes-rebel-hands | url-status=live }}
In January 2015, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine announced that it would encourage any public initiatives related to the cleansing of Ukraine from "relics of the totalitarian past".
{{Blockquote|text="It is not by chance that the demonstrations that we saw after the annexation of Crimea in the east and southeast of Ukraine were organized in the squares around the monuments to Lenin, with red flags with a hammer and sickle. What is happening now in Ukraine, what was instigated by Russian aggression, is a clash between the new Ukraine and the old Soviet Union, to which the current Russia is trying to return with the help of Ukraine, seizing parts of its territories.
It is not clear to me why monuments to Lenin are being demolished only now in various cities of Ukraine; why all these 24 years they continued to stand; why didn't the state administration of an independent country demolish them earlier?|author=Yuriy FelshtynskyiЮрій Фельштинський: [http://glavcom.ua/articles/26384.html Путин всегда грамотно делал то, что на языке гэбешников называется «разводкой»] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218043529/http://glavcom.ua/articles/26384.html |date=18 лютого 2015 }} {{in lang|ru}} // Главком.ua. — 2015. — 7 лют.|3=|4=}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commonscat|Dismantled monuments of Lenin in Ukraine}}
- [http://leninstatues.ru/leninopad Map and lists of damaged monuments]
- [http://raining-lenins.silk.co/ Raining Lenins] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820204138/http://raining-lenins.silk.co/ |date=20 August 2016 }}
Bibliography
- {{cite book |last=Nikiforov |first=Yevhen |title= Decommunized: Ukrainian Soviet Mosaics |location = Berlin |publisher = DOM publishers |year = 2017 |isbn = 978-3-86922-583-8}}
- {{cite book |last=Nikiforov |first=Yevhen |title=Art for Architecture. Ukraine. Soviet Modernist Mosaics from 1960 to 1990 |location=Kyiv |publisher=DOM Publishers |page=300 |year=2020 |isbn=978-3-86922-601-9}}
- {{cite book |last1=Ackermann |first1=Niels |title=Looking for Lenin |last2=Gobert |first2=Sébastien |location=London |publisher=FUEL Publishing |page=176 |year=2017 |isbn=978-0993191176}}
{{Euromaidan}}{{Decolonization in Ukraine}}{{Russian intervention in Ukraine}}