The Ukrainian Institute of National Memory (UINM, ), also translated as the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, is the central executive body operating under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Established on 31 May 2006 as a special organ for the restoration and preservation of national memory of the Ukrainian people. From 2006 to 2010, it was a central governmental institution with a special status, while from 2010 to 2014 a research budget institution.

History

On 9 December 2010, the UINR was discontinued by a decree issued by

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (born 9 July 1950) is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the prime minister of Ukraine several times between 2002 and 2007 and was a member of t ...

and on the same day the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine created the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance as a research institution instead, within the budget from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. In 2015, David R. Marples initiated an open letter addressed to Ukrainian President

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...

, calling on him not to sign the so-called anti-communism law and the law honoring the “heroes of the nation”. This letter was signed by numerous historians involved with Ukraine like

Omer Bartov Omer Bartov ( ; born 1954) is an Israeli-American historian. He is the Dean's Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University, where he has taught since 2000. Bartov is a historian of the Holocaust and is considered a leading au ...

, Mark von Hagen, John-Paul Himka and Per Anders Rudling. In response, the head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory,

Volodymyr Viatrovych Volodymyr Mykhailovych Viatrovych (; born 7 July 1977) is a Ukrainian historian, civic activist and politician. Viatrovych was the Director of the Center for Research of Liberation Movement in 2002–2010. Viatrovych is a member of the board of ...

, described the mass murders of Poles and Jews by Ukrainian nationalists as mere “individual opinions” and accused the signatories of spreading Russian propaganda. Poroshenko signed the law anyway. According to historian Georgiy Kasianov, the Institute of National Memory from 2015 was under control of Ukrainian nationalist forces, specifically Center for Research of the Liberation Movement. These forces, which were not popular in Ukraine and which never managed well in the national elections, suddenly received a significant instrument to influence Ukrainian education and politics. This influence was blown up by Russian propaganda and used as one of the pretexts of the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

Directors

* Ihor Yukhnovskyi, from 22 May 2006 to 18 July 2010. *

Valeriy Soldatenko Valeriy Soldatenko ( Ukrainian: Вале́рій Солдате́нко; born 4 April 1946) is a Ukrainian historian and professor, member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine since 2006. Soldatenko was a member of Communist Party of Ukr ...

, from 19 July 2010 to 24 March 2014. *

(), from 25 March 2014 to 3 December 2019. * Anton Drobovych (), from 4 December 2019. * Alina Shpak (acting director), 2020

Decommunization of Ukraine

In May 2015, President

signed four laws concerning

decommunization in Ukraine Decommunization in Ukraine started during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and expanded afterwards. Following the 2014 Revolution of Dignity and beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian government ap ...

. The institute's director

was involved in the drafting of two of these laws. The criminal sentences imposed by these acts and their phrasing came in for criticism within the country and abroad. The law "On access to the archives of repressive bodies of the communist totalitarian regime from 1917–1991" placed the state archives concerning repression during the Soviet period under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance.

Bibliography

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References

External links