Demolition of monuments to Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine

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The demolition of monuments to Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine started during the fall of the Soviet Union. During Euromaidan it has become a widespread phenomenon and dubbed by Ukrainians Leninopad (Ленінопад), a pun literally translated as "Leninfall",[1] with the coinage of "-пад" being akin to English words suffixed with "fall" as in "waterfall", "snowfall", etc.

History

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See also: Decommunization in Ukraine

The demolition of Lenin monuments in Ukraine happened in four stages. During the 1990s, more than 2,000 Lenin monuments were demolished in Galicia and Volyn, 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.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4]

In 1991, Ukraine had 5,500 Lenin monuments.[5] As of November 2015, approximately 1,300 Lenin monuments were still standing.[5] More than 700 Lenin monuments were removed and/or destroyed between February 2014 and December 2015.[5]

On 15 May 2015, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a 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.[6] On 16 January 2017, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance announced that 1,320 Lenin monuments were dismantled during decommunization.[7] Two Lenin statues in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone are the only two remaining statues of Lenin in Ukraine.[8]

A website "Raining Lenins"[9] tracks the statistics of the fall of Lenin statues in Ukraine.[4]

On 17 March 2016, the largest Lenin monument at the unoccupied territory of Ukraine, 19.8 meters high, was dismantled in Zaporizhia.[10] 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).[11][12] This statue of Lenin in Kharkiv was toppled and destroyed on 28 September 2014.[13]

Term

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 reported about numbers of Euromaidan activists who died during the power struggles in Kyiv.

In fact, several protesters claim that they are "depriving their settlements as the symbol of totalitarianism, Russian supremacy and opening the way for a new Ukraine." The police, for their part, have not launched criminal proceedings on the fact of hooliganism and vandalism.

Communist monuments toppled during Euromaidan

Euromaidan protesters toppled several statues of Vladimir Lenin in Ukrainian cities.[14][15][16] Some estimates said that more than 90 statues were toppled.[17] In December 2015, The Ukrainian Week calculated that 376 Lenin monuments were removed or destroyed in February 2014.[5]

This is a partial list:

Landmark Location Date Status Notes Image
Statue of Lenin Andrievo-Ivanove 3 January 2014 Broken in two Police launched an investigation based on a Criminal Code article entitled "Destruction of, or Damage to, Monuments of History or Culture".[18]
Statue of Lenin Berdychiv 22 February 2014 Toppled and destroyed [19][20] Statue of Lenin in Berdychiv in 2013.
Statue of Lenin Bila Tserkva Toppled and destroyed [14][21] Statue of Lenin in Bila Tserkva in 2009.
Statue of Lenin Chernihiv 21 February 2014 Toppled [22][23] "Lenin has laid down"
Statue of Lenin Chervona Sloboda 8 July 2014 Toppled According to the Ukrainian Communist Party "a criminal case has been opened over the act of vandalism".[24][25]
Statue of Lenin Kharkiv 28 September 2014 Toppled and destroyed The destruction of the Kharkiv Lenin statue on 28 September 2014
Statue of Lenin Khmelnitsky 21 February 2014 Toppled [14][21][26] Toppling of the statue of Lenin in Khmelnitsky, 21 February 2014.
Statue of Lenin Kyiv 8 December 2013 Toppled and destroyed [15] Toppled Lenin statue being broken into pieces for souvenirs
Statue of Lenin Korosten 5 October 2014 Toppled Empty plinth
Statue of Lenin Kotovsk 8 December 2013 Broken into several pieces [18]
Statue of Lenin Melitopol 5 July 2015 Dismantled by the City Council An empty pedestal of a Lenin statue
Statue of Lenin Zhytomyr 21 February 2014 Toppled and destroyed [14][21][27] Destroyed statue of Lenin in Zhytomyr

Reactions

Domestic

The removal of the monuments evoked mixed feelings among the Ukrainian population.[28] In some cases, like in Kharkiv in early 2014,[29] 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.[30] The Statue of Lenin in Kharkiv was toppled on 28 September 2014.[13] 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".[31]

In January 2015, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine announced that it would encourage any public initiatives related to the cleansing of Ukraine from monuments to figures of the communist past. According to Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, its department will initiate the removal from the State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine and all the monuments mentioned there, related to communist figures.[32]

In April 2015, the Verkhovna Rada voted in favor of the draft law "On Condemnation of Communist and National Socialist (Nazi) Totalitarian Regimes in Ukraine and Prohibition of Propaganda and Symbols", which will oblige local authorities to dismantle monuments to communist figures in Ukraine.

International

According to Blue Shield National Committee,[33] some of the monuments might be listed as national heritage sites, and therefore their dismantling requires checking if they were actually listed as such.[34]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "In lang". The first Lenin fell in 1990: how the idol of communism was dropped Archived 16 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Gazeta.ua (8 December 2018)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Volodymyr Semkiv, "Падай, Леніне, падай" Archived 9 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine ("Fall, Lenin, Fall", retrieved 9 June 2017)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Out of Sight Archived 29 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Ukrainian Week (28 December 2015)
  6. ↑ Poroshenko signed the laws about decomunization Archived 23 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Ukrayinska Pravda. 15 May 2015
    Poroshenko signs laws on denouncing Communist, Nazi regimes Archived 2 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Interfax-Ukraine. 15 May 20
    Poroshenko: Time for Ukraine to resolutely get rid of Communist symbols Archived 18 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine, UNIAN. 17 May 2015
    Goodbye, Lenin: Ukraine moves to ban communist symbols Archived 7 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News (14 April 2015)
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "In lang". Dekomunizuvaly monuments to Lenin in 1320, Bandera set 4 Archived 21 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Ukrayinska Pravda (16 January 2017)
    Script error: No such module "In lang". WITH 50 THOUSAND RENAMED OBJECTS PLACE NAMES, ONLY 34 ARE NAMED AFTER BANDERA Archived 19 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (16 January 2017)
  8. ↑ Revisiting Chernobyl: 'It is a huge cemetery of dreams' Archived 28 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian (28 February 2019)
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Ukraine crisis – Another monument of Lenin toppled in the city of Berdichev on YouTube
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Raw: Lenin Statues Toppled Across Ukraine on YouTube
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ The monument of Lenin in Chernigov has fallen on YouTube
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Statue toppled in 21 February 2014 on YouTube
  27. ↑ Statue toppled in 21 February 2014 on YouTube
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Ukraine: Kharkiv residents defend Lenin monument on Fatherland Day on YouTube
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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