Cultural Terror and the "Executed Renaissance" (1933–1938)
The abrupt rollback of the policy of "Ukrainization." The start of the physical extermination and political defamation of the intellectual elite — writers, scholars, film directors, as well as the old national communists (M. Skrypnyk was driven to suicide). In parallel with the physical terror came the destruction of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, large-scale censorship, the rewriting of history, and the artificial convergence of the Ukrainian language with Russian[1][2].
Actors
| ID | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| G0010 | USSR |
Creation of an atmosphere of total paralyzing fear in society through the fabrication of cases (for example, the "Union for the Liberation of Ukraine") and the staging of public show trials[1]. |
Techniques Used
| ID | Name | Use | |
|---|---|---|---|
| T0101 | Censorship |
Mass confiscation and destruction of literature declared "nationalist," and rigid control over the printed word and the arts[1]. |
|
| T0045 | Destruction of Historical Memory |
Institutional destruction of national historical scholarship, closure of research schools, and removal of the works of Ukrainian historians from scholarly circulation[1]. |
|
| T0113 | Linguistic Assimilation |
The forced orthography reform of 1933, aimed at artificially bringing Ukrainian grammar and terminology closer to the Russian language[1]. |
|
| T0021 | Neutralization of the Opposition |
Physical annihilation and isolation of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, writers, and scholars, as well as of the party opposition (national communists), in the course of targeted repressions. Fabrication of cases (including the "UNC" case) and driving representatives of the national elite to death, including the historian Mykhailo Hrushevsky, the writer Mykola Khvylovy, and People's Commissar Mykola Skrypnyk[1]. |
|
| T0004 | Rewriting of History |
Construction of a new Soviet-imperial historical canon to supplant the Ukrainian past and deny the independence of Ukraine's history[2]. |
|
| T0100 | Seizure of Religious Institutions |
Mass closure and destruction of churches, as well as repressions against clergy, aimed at the complete destruction of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC)[1]. |
|
| T0022 | Terror |
Creation of an atmosphere of total paralyzing fear in society through the fabrication of cases (for example, the "Union for the Liberation of Ukraine") and the staging of public show trials[1]. |
|
Instruments
| ID | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| S0008 | Government |
Mass confiscation and destruction of literature declared "nationalist," and rigid control over the printed word and the arts[1]. |
| S0021 | Propaganda |
Construction of a new Soviet-imperial historical canon to supplant the Ukrainian past and deny the independence of Ukraine's history[2]. |
| S0017 | Secret Police and Security Services |
Creation of an atmosphere of total paralyzing fear in society through the fabrication of cases (for example, the "Union for the Liberation of Ukraine") and the staging of public show trials[1]. |
References
- Лариса Якубова, большая команда. (2013). Відносини держави, суспільства і особи під час створення радянського ладу в Україні (1917 – 1938 рр.).
- Михаил Зыгарь. (2023). Война и наказание: Как Россия уничтожала Украину.