Aggressors may deliberately destroy the physical and intellectual objects that shape national identity: archives, museums, architectural monuments, and cultural institutions. Erasing material evidence of the past, desecrating historical burial sites, and forcibly removing national symbols from public space allows the colonizer to create a cultural vacuum, which is subsequently filled, with no alternative, by the artificial narratives of the metropole.
| ID | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| C0051 | Ban on Culture and the Press Before World War I (1913–1914) |
Erasure of the memory of national heroes: «The ban on marking the 100th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko»[1]. |
| C0079 | Cultural Terror and the "Executed Renaissance" (1933–1938) |
Institutional destruction of national historical scholarship, closure of research schools, and removal of the works of Ukrainian historians from scholarly circulation[2]. |
| C0042 | Destruction of the Archives of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (1718) |
A covert operation by Muscovite emissaries disguised as monks, aimed at destroying ancient documents of the 11th–17th centuries. The fire destroyed "the written memory of the independent Ukrainian political and spiritual life of the Lavra"[1]. |
| S0008 | Government |
A campaign to erase the name of the resistance leader (Damnatio memoriae): "For two centuries, Mazepa's name and deeds were expunged... His coats of arms were chiseled off the churches he had built, and his name was blotted out in books"[3][4][5]. |
| S0008 | Government |
Issuance of an official manifesto banning the use of the very name of the Sich in any documents[4]. Physical desecration of sacred sites: "the tombs of the Sich otamans were plundered"[6]. |
| S0008 | Government |
Issuance of Catherine II's August manifesto, officially banning the very name of the Zaporozhian Sich and erasing its memory[7]. |
| S0008 | Government |
Confiscation of historical documents: "Thousands of archival materials weighing poods were taken to Moscow after the judicial reform... many documents of liquidated institutions ended up there"[1]. |
| S0008 | Government |
Erasure of the memory of national heroes: «The ban on marking the 100th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko»[1]. |
| S0008 | Government |
Distortion of historical memory through monumental art intended to replace the history of the independent Hetmanate with an imperial myth[7]. |
| C0014 | Liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich (1709) |
Issuance of an official manifesto banning the use of the very name of the Sich in any documents[4]. Physical desecration of sacred sites: "the tombs of the Sich otamans were plundered"[6]. |
| C0012 | Mazepa's Defection to Sweden and the Baturyn Massacre (1708) |
A campaign to erase the name of the resistance leader (Damnatio memoriae): "For two centuries, Mazepa's name and deeds were expunged... His coats of arms were chiseled off the churches he had built, and his name was blotted out in books"[3][4][5]. |
| C0033 | Military Liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich (1775) |
Issuance of Catherine II's August manifesto, officially banning the very name of the Zaporozhian Sich and erasing its memory[7]. |
| C0065 | Monumental Propaganda and Cultural Chauvinism (1888) |
Distortion of historical memory through monumental art intended to replace the history of the independent Hetmanate with an imperial myth[7]. |
| G0009 | Russian Empire |
Issuance of Catherine II's August manifesto, officially banning the very name of the Zaporozhian Sich and erasing its memory[7]. |
| G0009 | Russian Empire |
Confiscation of historical documents: "Thousands of archival materials weighing poods were taken to Moscow after the judicial reform... many documents of liquidated institutions ended up there"[1]. |
| G0009 | Russian Empire |
Erasure of the memory of national heroes: «The ban on marking the 100th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko»[1]. |
| G0009 | Russian Empire |
Distortion of historical memory through monumental art intended to replace the history of the independent Hetmanate with an imperial myth[7]. |
| S0017 | Secret Police and Security Services |
A covert operation by Muscovite emissaries disguised as monks, aimed at destroying ancient documents of the 11th–17th centuries. The fire destroyed "the written memory of the independent Ukrainian political and spiritual life of the Lavra"[1]. |
| S0017 | Secret Police and Security Services |
Institutional destruction of national historical scholarship, closure of research schools, and removal of the works of Ukrainian historians from scholarly circulation[2]. |
| C0046 | The Valuev Circular: Ban on the Language and Schools (1862–1869) |
Confiscation of historical documents: "Thousands of archival materials weighing poods were taken to Moscow after the judicial reform... many documents of liquidated institutions ended up there"[1]. |
| G0008 | Tsardom of Muscovy |
A campaign to erase the name of the resistance leader (Damnatio memoriae): "For two centuries, Mazepa's name and deeds were expunged... His coats of arms were chiseled off the churches he had built, and his name was blotted out in books"[3][4][5]. |
| G0008 | Tsardom of Muscovy |
Issuance of an official manifesto banning the use of the very name of the Sich in any documents[4]. Physical desecration of sacred sites: "the tombs of the Sich otamans were plundered"[6]. |
| G0008 | Tsardom of Muscovy |
A covert operation by Muscovite emissaries disguised as monks, aimed at destroying ancient documents of the 11th–17th centuries. The fire destroyed "the written memory of the independent Ukrainian political and spiritual life of the Lavra"[1]. |
| G0010 | USSR |
Institutional destruction of national historical scholarship, closure of research schools, and removal of the works of Ukrainian historians from scholarly circulation[2]. |