Serhiy Ivanovych Kot (; 22 June 1958 – 28 March 2022) was a Ukrainian historian. A senior researcher at the Institute of History of Ukraine of the

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; , ; ''NAN Ukrainy'') is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine that is the main center of development of Science and technology in Ukraine, science and technology by coordinatin ...

, he focused on preservation of historical and cultural property, history of conservation and burial work in Ukraine, cultural property return and

restitution Restitution and unjust enrichment is the field of law relating to gains-based recovery. In contrast with damages (the law of compensation), restitution is a claim or remedy requiring a defendant to give up benefits wrongfully obtained. Liability ...

. He was a member of the history museum's board, and was awarded the title Merited Culture Worker of Ukraine.

Life and career

Kot was born in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. He graduated from the Faculty of History and Pedagogy of the Kyiv State Pedagogical Institute in 1980. In 1990, he was promoted to the doctorate of history, with a dissertation titled ''Охорона пам'яток історії та культури в Українській РСР (1943-поч. 60-х рр.)'' (''Conservation of Historical and Cultural Monuments in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1943–post-1960s)''). Kot was habilitated in history in 2021; his habilitation was titled ''Повернення і реституція культурних цінностей у політичному та культурному житті України (ХХ – поч. ХХІ ст.)'' (''Return and Restitution of Cultural Values in the Political and Cultural Life of Ukraine (20th–early 21st century)'').

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Kot worked at the Institute of History of Ukraine of the

. He became head of the Centre for the Study of the Problems of the Return and Restitution of Cultural Treasure in 1999, a position he held for life. In his research, he focused on preservation of historical and cultural heritage, history of establishment of heritage conservation in Ukraine, return and restitution of cultural property. From 2006, he was also "senior researcher" at the Centre for Ukrainian History and Culture, promoted to the department's head in 2012. In 2009, he researched from March to June on a

Fulbright scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

about ''The U.S. Policy of Restitution of Cultural Values After World War II''. From 2013 until his death, Kot was head of the Centre for the Study of Historical and Cultural Heritage of Ukraine at the National Academy of Sciences. In 2020, Kot was instrumental in seeking restitution of a painting by Lucas Cranach, a

diptych A diptych (, ) is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by a hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world was a diptych consisting of a pair of such plates that contained a ...

of Adam and Eve unlawfully taken to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and now at the

Norton Simon Museum The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California. It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum and displays numerous sculptures on its grounds. Overview The Norton Simon collections ...

in Pasadena, to Ukraine.

Other functions

In 1999 and 2000, Kot was a member of a group of the Supreme Council of Ukraine for Culture and Spirituality, which prepared a draft for a law "On the Protection of Cultural Heritage" submitted on 8 June 2000; he authored 35 editorial amendments and formulas which were included in the text of the law. Kot was deputy head of the editorial board of the Ukrainian Historical and Cultural Museum from 2012. From 2013 until his death, he served as a member of the scientific council of the National Sanctuary "Sophia of Kyiv". He was head of the board of the foundation for the literary work of

Oleh Olzhych Oleh Oleksandrovych Kandyba (; 8 July 1907 – 10 June 1944), better known his pen name of Oleh Olzhych (), was a Ukrainian poet and political activist. He was forced to emigrate from Ukraine in 1923 due to occupation by the Soviet Union and ...

. He was awarded the title Merited Culture Worker of Ukraine. Kot died in Iziaslav on 28 March 2022, at age 63.

Publications

Kot's publications include a 1989 book about local history in the Ukrainian SSR, and books about Ukrainian cultural values in Russia, and the problems of their return in the context of history and law, published in 1996 and 1998. He prepared a book that appeared in 2006 in London and Kyiv: ''Lancelot Lawton, Ukrainian Question. Ланцелот Лоутон Украiнське питання.'' It is a collection of articles by the British journalist Lancelot Lawton about the status of Ukraine in the 1930s; Kot spent two years tracing Lawton's original articles, held by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

in the U.S. In 2010, he published research about the destiny and legal status of the exhibits of a 1941 traveling exhibition of the State Museum in the Crimea, held in museums of Crimea. He wrote scientific works about the history of the national revolutionary movement, the

Bukovina Bukovina or ; ; ; ; , ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided betwe ...

region, and the Babyn Yar massacre.

References

External links

*
World War II / and the (Re)Creation of Historical Memory in Contemporary Ukraine
uibk.ac.at 23 September 2009
УКРАЇНСЬКО?НІМЕЦЬКІ ВІДНОСИНИ ЩОДО ПОВЕРНЕННЯ ТА РЕСТИТУЦІЇ КУЛЬТУРНИХ ЦІННОСТЕЙ (1991–2012) (Ukrainian-German Relations with Regard to Return and Restitution of Cultural Property (1991–2012)
in Ukrainian) in: ''INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF UKRAINE: SCIENTIFIC RELATIONSHIPS AND KNOWLEDGE'' irbis-nbuv.gov.ua 2012, pp 161–180
Presentation of the Concept of complex memorialization of Babyn Yar
babynyar.gov.ua 20 November 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kot, Serhiy 1958 births 2022 deaths 21st-century Ukrainian historians National Pedagogical Dragomanov University alumni Members of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Writers from Kyiv 20th-century Ukrainian historians