Original Article 119

The renaming of streets in post-revolutionary Ukraine: regional strategies to construct a new national identity Oleksiy Gnatiuk

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine * Corresponding author: [email protected]

ABSTRACT After the 2014 revolution, a massive renaming of toponyms related to the communist ideology took place in Ukraine. The results of this renaming help understand the essentiality of Ukrainian delayed post-socialist and post-colonial transition and, in particular, national and regional identities that Ukrainians are going to build, and ideology that local and national authorities are going to impose. This study covers the 36 largest cities in Ukraine with a population of more than 100,000 and focuses on the new street names that appeared as the result of de-communization. It was found that in south-eastern Ukraine, the renaming strategy was targeted to avoid the commemorative names, especially those related to military-political events and personalities, as well as to depoliticize urban toponyms, by using non-commemorative categories of street names, like topographical or poetic ones, or restor- ing the historical toponyms. On the contrary, new toponyms in western and central Ukraine reflect the legacy of the national liber- ation movements of the 20th century. However, urban toponyms in the most eastern regions, including Donbas, continue to retain close links with the Soviet period. The memory of the Cossack era and Ukrainian Peoples Republic seems to be the well-perceived and common-shared strata of national identity. At the same time, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the Soviet legacy remain topics dividing the Ukrainian society. The street renaming process in post-revolutionary Ukraine shares some common characteristics with other post-socialist European countries, such as the appeal to the pre-socialist period in order to reinforce the national identity, replacement of political and military place-names with those related to local and national culture and heritage, and the increased importance of local and regional toponyms.

KEYWORDS urban toponymy; renaming of streets; identity; ideology; Ukraine

Received: 29 August 2017 Accepted: 20 March 2018 Published online: 18 June 2018

Gnatiuk, O. (2018): The renaming of streets in post-revolutionary Ukraine: regional strategies to construct a new national identity. AUC Geographica 53(2), 119–136 https://doi.org/10.14712/23361980.2018.13

© 2018 The Author. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). 120 Oleksiy Gnatiuk

1. Introduction

on what grounds? The findings may clarify the real state of interregional differences, indicate well-inte- After the Revolution of Dignity, Ukraine officially set grated and badly-integrated areas, and point at inclu- a political course for decommunization. This process sive values for contemporary nation-building as well includes renaming of urban toponymy, related to the as at disjunctive ones that must be avoided now in communist regime. In fact, significant share of urban interregional dialog. Certainly, is it very luckily to have place-names were renamed even earlier, since Ukrain- now a wide array of renamed place-names exactly in ian independence in 1991. However, this process was Eastern and Southern Ukraine, where national identi- non-systemic and quite uneven in regional dimen- ty may (or may not) undergo crucial changes. sion: while in Western Ukraine nearly all Soviet-orig- 2. Scientific background inated place-names have been already renamed, in Eastern and Southern Ukraine the Soviet toponymy remained practically intact. Decision about this Sovi- et legacy was totally in hands of the local authorities. Toponyms are not merely abstract names in the spa- In contrast, todays renaming of urban place-names tial structure of cities, but also represent the con- is non-discretionary and represents a part of the struct of social and power relations, through which state decommunization policy. Therefore, all cities the identity of the city and society is being formed are legally obliged to go through decommunization. (Berg and Voulteeenaho 2009). Reuben Rose-Red- Clearly identified list of urban toponymy must perish wood, Derek Alderman and Maoz Azaryahu argue from the maps. that the study of place naming has recently under- Therefore, local communities must pass through gone a critical reformulation as scholars have moved decommunization even if they wish to avoid this beyond the traditional focus on etymology and taxon- process. However, the official legislation provides omy by examining the politics of place-naming prac- no strict instructions about new place-names which tices (Rose-Redwood et al. 2010). On the one hand, should appear instead. In this respect, local commu- names are changing because society is doing so; how- nities have a large range of discretion. Local authori- ever, place names are often transformed to propose ties can choose different renaming strategies, based or bring about evolution in society (Guyot and See- on local cultural traditions together with electoral thal 2007). Place names, in line with this approach, and political situation. The ideology of erased top- are considered dually as: 1. a mirror of existing, actual onyms may be replaced by a new national ideology, identities, accepted by spatially-localized community; but the content of this ideology may be quite differ- 2. an instrument used by political regimes to trans- ent depending on the region: emphasis can be placed form or erase the existing identity and create new on different values, different historical periods, vari- one instead. The official factor must be stressed, since ous distinguished figures. There is also a scenario in identities articulated by political elites are not neces- which the new national ideology does not manifest sarily the same as in the general population; however, itself; instead, preservation of the Soviet ideology in with time, new names may become generally accept- a hidden form or addressing to a purely regional or ed: the political elite decides by whom or by which local identity may take place. institution or social events streets will be named, but Therefore, the results of street renaming in the there is not always a compromise between the elites framework of decommunization give abundant food and the population of the city when naming certain for reflection on a series of questions: streets. However, with time, new street names may be 1. What different strategies do local authorities in accepted by population (Stiperski et al. 2015; Bucher Ukraine use while implementing decommuniza- et al. 2013). tion in view of high level of cultural interregional Changes of street names constitute an important diversity? part of the process of creating new public icono- 2. What are more or less hidden geopolitical and cul- graphic landscapes in harmony with the values of the tural fault lines existing in contemporary post-Rev- new regimes, so analysing such changes may provide olution and war-affected Ukraine? important insights into the ways in which post-com- 3. In what way local authorities in certain Ukrain- munist countries alter the contours of national identi- ian regions try to construct new national and/or ties and national pasts (Stiperski et al. 2015). Graham regional identity (including how they cope with et al. (2000) emphasize that political elites, if they are discrepancies between already existing local iden- aware of the symbolic power denoted by space, erase tity and official state ideology)? symbols of previous regimes and implant their own 4. What elements (strata) of national identity inte- ones; new regimes determine new versions of history grate or disintegrate the country? and new world-views, accentuating persons, events The answers to these questions are important to and historical facts that can be useful to their rule, and understand the essentiality of Ukrainian delayed trying to erase from the population’s memory others post-socialist (and post-colonial) transition, in par- that might be detrimental to them. The toponymic ticular, what state Ukrainians are going to build, and reworkings imposed by the community’s succession The renaming of streets in post-revolutionary Ukraine 121

of political leaders reflect the goals, tactics, and, political elite can promote its ideology in relation to indeed, the ethos of each new national government the nomenclature of the street network. (Gonzalez Faraco and Murphy 1997). Kadmon (2004) A book of Sänger (1996) represents thorough even uses the term of “toponymic warfare” to describe analysis of the official memory policy in relation to the extent to which marginalized nationalities and lin- street names in former GDR. Light (2002) studied guistic cultures within countries have appropriated the changes in nomenclature of the street network of and rewritten place names on maps as part of their Bucharest from 1948 to 1965 and disclosed a wide campaigns of resistance. range of symbols and characters incorporated to the According to Azaryahu (2011), (re)naming street urban space in order to legitimise and institutionalise names is well-tried and effective way of introducing the ideology of revolutionary socialism. His further and disseminating authorized version of history that research of the mass renaming of streets in Bucharest political elite tries to implement into ordinary setting in the 1990s (Light 2004) revealed the occurrence of of “common” people’s everyday life, with the main hodonyms named after notable persons, events and intention of creating new collective memory. Both figures that evoked the memories on the time before the urban toponymy and the process of its renaming socialism. Thus, these renamings were expressions/ reflect certain needs of political elites and their abili- manifestations of a reconfiguration or restructuring ty of manipulation with the symbols of common cul- of space and history, constituting a vital and integral tural and historical heritage. Commemorative street element of the post-communist transformation. Simi- names are instrumental in the symbolic construction lar processes were noticed in the Russian capital city of national identity, mainly in terms of historical her- of Moscow (Gill 2005). itage (Azaryahu and Kook 2002), they represent an The studies of urban place names revealed the important vehicle for bringing the past into the pres- general idea of the necessity of awakening nation- ent (Alderman 2003). Gonzalez Faraco and Murphy al consciousness and identity among the citizens of (1997) claim that toponymic reworkings reflect the new-born independent state (Crljenko 2012). Com- goals, tactics, and the ethos of each new national gov- parative analysis of place names in Croatian cities ernment, and reveal distinctive mix of local, regional, indicated that regional identity was more strongly and national orientations. expressed in Istria than in the region of Kvarner; anal- Almost every regime change in XIX–XX centuries ysis of toponyms in the Croatian town of Senj proved was marked by the following widespread renam- that its historical-geographic development could be ing of urban toponymy. The most prominent exam- to a great degree reconstructed from these toponyms ples enlightened in the literature are: nascent and (Crljenko 2006). It is worth to emphasize a good state descent of right authoritarian political regimes in of toponymy studies in Croatia: the researchers tried Europe (Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal etc.); fall of to investigate the main ideas, followed by the decision the socialist system in the countries of the Central makers in the processes of renamings, in numerous and Eastern Europe; decolonization of Asian and cities of Zagreb (Rihtman-Augustin 2000; Marjanović African states; inner ethnical conflicts all over the 2007; Stanić et al. 2008), Vukovar (Crlenjak 2005), world (Ireland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel etc.). Zadar (Begonja 2006), Pula (Bertoša 2008; Krizmanić Consequentially, three main directions of research 2008), Rijeka (Malešić 2011). may be distinguished: 1. studies that rely on the Studying changes in the toponymy of the capital interests regarding the fall of the great colonial sys- of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, Robinson et al. tem; 2. studies that deal with the ethnical disputes (2001) found out that names associated with Serbia, in ethnically divided areas, which also emphasize Croatia or respective nations, even those from the the importance of (re)naming streets as the mech- Bosnian-Herzegovinian context, were replaced main- anism of symbolic demarcation of ethnic groups, ly by names associated with Sarajevo and the Bosniak as well as the significance of hodonyms in building Muslim population and culture. They make a conclu- national and local identities; 3. studies that address sion that this was an attempt to create a Bosnian-Her- the issues about changes of political regimes in the zegovina’s identity based primarily on the Bosniak Middle European, Eastern European and Southeast- element, as opposed to the identity in the previous ern European countries (Stanić et al. 2009). Yugoslav period, which was founded on a mix of Bos- The Ukrainian case belongs to the third group of niak, Serbian and Croatian elements. studies, however, also with some of post-colonial (in Balode (2012) investigated street-names coined fact, Ukraine, like other Soviet republics, was a Russian from toponyms in Riga, including the motivation colony) and ethnic (despite the annexation of Crimea of renaming and Latvians’ efforts to conserve their and Donbas conflict, Ukraine remains a multiethnic national place-names in urban toponymy. Compar- state) discourses. In this view, the results of topon- ative studies of urban toponymy at both national ymy studies from the other post-Socialist and, espe- and international levels were carried out in Slova- cially, post-Soviet countries are of large importance. kia (Bucher et al. 2013) and by the international sci- In general, different authors seek to demonstrate how, entific team (Stiperski et al. 2011). The first study through the control of state and local government, the aims to determine the intensity of local, regional 122 Oleksiy Gnatiuk

3. Ukrainian context for renaming the urban toponymy and national identity in Slovakia. The authors tried to verify the statement that the names of streets, squares or parks in the historical centre of cities serve as indicators of official views and ideological The history of Ukraine is characterized by long period impressions on the political, social and historical without own independent national state as well as the events, in the context of Central Europe. The second division of the country between neighbouring states one investigates urban place names in internation- (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Ottoman al scale and provides interesting conclusions on the Empire, the Russian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian more and less typical structure of toponyms in terms Empire, the Second Polish Republic, Czechoslovakia, of their semantics. Romania, USSR), each of which tried to impose local David (2013), studying post-Socialist renaming people own state ideology, including by the renaming in Czechia, provides arguments supporting the pres- of urban toponymy. This process has been especially ervation of the original urbanonyms in Soviet-time pronounced in the XX century, when the names that neighbourhoods, despite their ideologically motivat- did not match communist ideology were massively ed origins, and focuses on the role of toponyms as replaced by the names related to communist lead- a part of cultural heritage and elements contributing ers and organizations. Even nowadays, as Diesen and to local identity. In the other paper (2012), the same Keane (2017) emphasise, both the West and Russia author describes the structure of commemorative seek to encourage a particular historical narrative in street names and stability of urbanonyms related to Ukraine that is compatible with their interests in the different periods of Czech history. The role of urban region. toponymy in development of local identity in post-So- At the same time, the complicated history of the cialist period is described, based on rich empirical country has led to the formation of differences in the material, also in contributions by Odaloš and Majtán regional mentality, which lay from the time of ancient (1996), David (2011), Knappová (2013), David and history, but eventually formed during the Soviet Mácha (2014). Renaming process was not painless: rule. Passing over the details, it should be noted that in some countries, it came with heated discussions inhabitants of Western Ukraine has the most nation- (Palonen 2008). alist (sometimes even radical) and anti-Russian, but Also, there are many helpful studies on toponymy simultaneously the most pro-European views. The outside the region of post-Socialist Eastern Europe, activities of the Ukrainian Nationalists Organization including scientific papers representing toponymic and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (OUN-UIA), which evidence from Singapore (Yeoh 1992, 1996), Spain during the WW II had cooperated with the Nazis to (Gonzalez Faraco and Murphy 1997), Israel (Azarya- a certain moment, and then opened the struggle both hu and Kook 2002), Unites States (Alderman 2003), against the Nazis and the Communists, constitute an South Africa (Guyot and Seethal 2007) etc. integral part of local identity. The population of the As Azaryahu (2011) suggests, de-colonization of central part of Ukraine as a whole shares the same commemorative street names following independ- ideology, but it has less radical appearance. During ence may conform to three main strategies: 1. to the period of Independence of Ukraine the influence erase all “colonial” toponymy to signify a complete of Soviet propaganda has practically faded away, break from the colonial past; 2. to leave colonial com- therefore the activity of the Ukrainian Nationalists memorations in their place; 3. to implement a selec- Organization and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army is tive de-commemoration of the colonial past. Although perceived here mostly favourably, but without fanat- the discourse of Azaryahu refers to the post-colonial ical admiration. Simultaneously, in the south-east, renaming, these strategies are applicable to post-So- much more industrialized and with significant share viet renaming as well. Legacy of different periods may of ethnic Russians, pro-Russian sentiments are still be emphasized to pursue some political goals, includ- widespread even in the face of a bloody military con- ing attempts to unite a country in ideology and identi- flict in Donbas: if in the west the personification of ty. E.g. renaming the East German past in Potsdam did evil is Russia as a state, then in the east and in the not entail a return to the Prussian past: notably Prus- south it is the ruling regime and personally “Vladimir sian names, predominant before being erased by the Putin who will sooner or later go”, while the “frater- communist administration in December 1945, were nal Russian people will remain”. In addition, there is not restored to their former place (Azaryahu 2012). still widespread pro-Soviet sentiment and nostalgia After the death of Francisko Franco in 1975, the for the “great state” that built the industrial power of socialist government in the town of Almonte, Spain, this land. fashioned a crafty symbolic compromise aimed at Regional differences in geopolitical attitudes have ending the onomastic cycle of victors and vanquished affected the character of the renaming of streets in the (Gonzalez Faraco and Murphy 1997). period since the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991) to the Revolution of Dignity (2014). During this period, the renaming of streets was absolutely voluntary and depended only on the free will of local governments. The renaming of streets in post-revolutionary Ukraine 123

In particular, in the cities of Western Ukraine, espe- Due to historical circumstances, contemporary cially in Galicia, almost all names related to the com- Ukraine is quite heterogenous in terms of historical munist regime were erased during this period. Com- and cultural background. The network of historical memorative names, which had nothing to do with regions overlaps with ethnic and language polariza- communist ideology, but associated with the Russian tion from the west to the south-east. This generates culture and science, were removed as well. In the cit- high level of development of regional identities, more ies of central Ukraine, including Kyiv, the renaming or less integrated with the national (or ethnic) one. was limited and related to the streets in the central Nagorna (2008) performed a rather in-depth analysis parts of cities and streets that carried the names of of the formation and present state of regional identi- the most odious communist regime representatives. ties in Ukraine, with a focus on socio-political mani- In most cities of southern and eastern Ukraine, with festations and consequences, concluding that regional some exceptions, the renaming of streets practically identity has turned into a powerful factor affecting the did not occur, and the Soviet toponymy was preserved entire sphere of geographic, socio-economic and eth- almost entirely. nocultural life. Rewakowicz (2010) examined the rep- After the Revolution of Dignity, a lively discussion resentations of four Ukrainian cities in a few selected broke out in the Ukrainian society and politics about fictional narratives by four contemporary Ukrainian the need to erase the Soviet toponymy and symbolism, authors and found out underscored sense of belong- as propagating the values of the criminal communist ing to the local territory, yet the sense of belonging to regime, from the faces and maps of Ukrainian cities. the nation and the world is not dismissed. A series of Consequently, on April 9, 2015, the Ukrainian Parlia- regional identities were identified by Melnychuk et al. ment passed the Law “On Conviction of the Commu- (2014) using names of private enterprises as identity nist and National-Socialist (Nazi) Totalitarian Regimes markers. A number of studies (in particular, compara- in Ukraine and Prohibition of the Promotion of Their tive) are devoted to the peculiarities of the identity of Symbols”. In addition to other aspects, this Law regu- the population within certain regions (Melnychuk and lates the issue of naming and renaming of geograph- Gnatiuk 2012; Gnatiuk 2015; Gnatiuk 2016) and cit- ical objects. According to the Law, the list of obligato- ies (Mikheyeva 2008; Komarov 2008; Gnatiuk 2012). rily renamed toponyms includes place names related Strong regional effect on political values and voting to the persons who held leadership positions in the behaviour has been shown in the papers of Birch Communist Party (the position of the secretary of the (2000), Barrington (2002), Barrington and Herron district committee and above), the higher authorities (2004) and Kulyk (2016). Some regional stereotypes of the USSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and other Union and are permanently used by leading political parties in Autonomous Soviet republics (except for cases related mobilizing their electorate (Osipian and Osipian 2012). to the development of Ukrainian science and culture), Taking into account the foregoing, the study of the worked in the Soviet authorities of the state securi- new Ukrainian urban toponymy may reveal various ty, the names of the USSR, the Ukrainian SSR, other strategies used by local authorities in the renaming Soviet republics and derivatives from them, as well as process, including the desire to politicize or depolit- names related to the activities of the Communist Par- icize the toponymy, making reference to certain his- ty, the establishment of Soviet power in Ukraine or in torical epoch or deliberately avoiding some strata of its administrative units, prosecution of people strug- national identity. If the historical memory of certain gling for Ukrainian independence in the XX century. epochs or governmental powers plays consolidating The renaming of streets in Ukrainian settlements is role for a nation, then corresponding toponymy will carried out by local self-government bodies within 6 be encountered throughout the country, even where months from the effective date of the Law (until Octo- this historical memory stratum is not represented. ber 9, 2015). If no decision on renaming is taken by Conversely, if these elements of historical memory are the local government within the specified time period, unacceptable for people in a certain part of the coun- such a decision should have been taken by the village, try, we will see significant disparities in their spatial town, or city mayor within 3 month (until January 9, distribution. Also, based on the spatial distribution of 2016). If within specified time the mayor is not taking the regional-specific place-names, we may draw con- the appropriate decision on renaming, such renaming clusions about the spatial limits of the certain region- is carried out by the order of the head of the relevant al identities. regional state administration. The head of the region- 4. Data and methods al state administration is obliged to accept such an order in the 3-month period (until April 9, 2016). Thus, city councils and city mayors played a key role in renaming the urban toponymy in the majori- The study covers 36 largest cities in Ukraine with ty of cities. Special commissions were created at city a population of more than 100,000 within govern- councils, which received and studied suggestions on ment-controlled territories outside the temporarily renaming that came from the local inhabitants and occupied Crimea and part of the Donbas, and focused history experts. on the new street names that appeared as a result of 124 Oleksiy Gnatiuk

decommunization. Information on renaming was tak- Commemorative names were further classified. en from the official decisions of local governments First, they were divided between (a) political and and administrative decrees of the heads of local state military names and (b) other names. The first group administrations. We traced the renaming of streets, unites names related to political and military his- squares, lanes, passages, avenues, embankments and toric figures, events and concepts. These toponyms other similar elements of urban infrastructure. Here- were additionally divided into subgroups accord- inafter, the term “street” is used referring to all of the ing to the respective historical context: Kievan Rus; above mentioned elements of the urban landscape. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; Cossack State; Unlike many other studies, this one does not take into Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires; Ukrainian account the hierarchy of streets and is not limited to Struggle for Independence in 1917–1922; Soviet the historical centre of cities. Union; Ukrainian Insurgent Army and related liber- Toponyms that arose as a result of decommuniza- ation movements; Independent Ukraine (including tion were classified according to a number of crite- Revolution of Dignity and Donbas military conflict). ria. The employed taxonomy is similar to those used The second group includes all other commemorative in papers of Bucher et al. (2013) and Stiperski et al. names, predominantly related to the realms of cul- (2015). First, they distinguished toponyms of local, ture, science, religion etc. These names, according regional, national and international scale; second, the to their denotations, were also additionally divided set of street names was classified into basic groups: into pre-Soviet, Soviet-persecuted (prominent peo- personalities, geographical names, historical events/ ple persecuted by the Soviet authorities for several institutions, craft and trade, and the other toponyms. reasons), Soviet-favoured (prominent people having Personalities were further divided by the realms of no obvious problems with the Soviet regime), ex-So- politics, art and culture, religion, science, business viet (people, related to Ukraine but constantly living and entrepreneurship. However, out taxonomy is dif- outside of Ukraine in the Soviet epoch), and post-So- ferent as it was adapted to the country context and the viet ones. goals of this particular study. First, we distinguished Second, commemorative names were classified between the following main categories of the decom- according to their relation to the local, regional and munized toponyms: national context. If memorialized person, object or І. Restored historical names: the street was given back phenomenon has some relation to the city in which one of its previous names. the street is located, it was classified as local-specific; ІІ. Non-historical names: the street has never borne if it has no relation to the city but has some relation to such a name before. the surrounding region (administrative oblast), it was The non-historical names were divided into three classified as region-specific; if it has no relation nei- groups: ther to the city nor to the oblast, but has some relation 1. Topographical names, indicating the location of to Ukraine in whole, it was classified as nation-spe- the street relative to other elements of the urban cific. Finally, if this memorialized person, object or landscape. E.g.: Vokzalna (near the railway station, phenomenon has no relation to the city, region and “vokzal” in Ukrainian); Zakhidna (in the western nation, or this relation cannot be strictly defined, the part of the city, “zakhid” in Ukrainian); Filvarkova name was treated as non-classified. (in the historical urban area of Filvarky). Conclusions and suggestions given in this paper are 2. Commemorative names. These names immortal- based on the spatial distribution of aforementioned ize the memory of certain real historic figures, groups and subgroups of street names, as well as their organizations, events, phenomena etc. that may or proportions (structures) and mutual correlations in may not be directly related to the street. E.g.: Hru- particular cities and regions. shevskoho (after the first Ukrainian President in It should also be noted that in the cities of Lviv 1917–1918), Nezalezhnosti (in honour of Ukrain- and Ternopil very few toponyms were renamed after ian independence, “nezhalezhnist” in Ukrainian), 2014. Therefore, conclusions about these cities should Konotopskoyi Bytvy (in honour of the Battle of be taken carefully in view of the lack of sufficient sta- Konotop). tistical data set. However, in order to confirm or refute 3. Poetic (or figurative) names. This group includes some of assumptions, previous post-Socialism renam- toponyms that do not relate to the actual charac- ing history of 1991–2013 was reckoned with. teristics of the street and provide some emotion- 5. Results and discussion al load (usually positive): “Soniachna” (Sunny), “Radisna” (Cheery), “Mriylyva” (Wistful), etc. Restored historical names, topographical names and poetic names taken together may be referred as The total quantity of place-names in test cities, non-commemorative names, because they were giv- renamed since 2014, is 2897. The quantity of such en without a direct goal to memorialize somebody or toponyms per city fluctuates between a few streets something; these names rarely have certain ideolog- in the cities of Western Ukraine to several hundred ical burden. streets in the cities of the southeast. The renaming of streets in post-revolutionary Ukraine 125

Fig. 1 Main categories of renamed toponymy.

The share of commemorative urban place-names speculations were widely used not only by left-wing gradually decreases from the west to the south-east political forces, but also by the ruling oligarchic and (Figure 1), while the total share of non-commemora- pro-Russian Party of Regions to mobilize the elector- tive toponymy increases in the same direction. The ate. Therefore, the city governments, which include ratio of military-political and other commemorative also representatives of the above-mentioned polit- toponymy shows a great individuality depending on ical forces, firstly, sought to minimize the possible a particular city, but generally also decreases in the discontent of the locals with the mass appearance south-eastern direction: from the absolute majority of of such names, and secondly, implemented their renamed place-names in Galicia to 20–25% in Black own position on their inappropriateness or even Sea Region, Prydniprovya and Donbas. inadmissibility. This suggests that the renaming strategy in most 2. Alternative could be the place-names associated cities in the south-eastern Ukraine was targeted to with prominent figures of the Soviet era not prohib- maximally avoid the commemorative names, especial- ited to memorialize by the decommunization law. As ly those related to military-political events and per- will be shown below, such toponyms really appeared sonalities. The motivation for such a strategy could be after renaming and concentrated exactly in southern as follows: and eastern Ukraine. However, the city authorities 1. The toponymy associated with the Ukrainian feared to massively approve such names, given that national liberation movements of the XX century is such a step could be considered as a betrayal by patri- unfamiliar and alien to a large part of the population otically-minded citizens and as a signal of poor loyalty of the southeast, moreover, as a result of prolonged to the Ukrainian national project. communist propaganda, they are perceived by the 3. The cities of the southeast of Ukraine, where public as plainly hostile. During the Soviet era, these decommunization practically had not started before events and historic figures were marked as ideolog- 2014, had significant reserves for restoring the his- ically hostile, bourgeois, and some of them (in par- torical street names. Some cities have really gone ticular, figures of Ukrainian Insurgent Army) were this way. As a rule, these are large cities (Kharkiv, treated as criminals and collaborators of the Nazis. Kherson, and Mykolaiv), which at the beginning of Moreover, until the very Revolution of Dignity, these the Soviet era already had a significant number of 126 Oleksiy Gnatiuk

Fig. 2 Politic and military commemorative toponymy: historical cross-sections.

streets today concentrated in their historical centres. The brightest exceptions among the cities of the It is specific that the proportion of restored historical south-eastern Ukraine are Dnipro and Odessa. These street names within Donbas is considerably higher cities have a relatively large proportion of both com- in the more ancient Slovyansk, Lysychansk and Mar- memorative street names in general and military-po- iupol compared with more recently founded Kram- litical street names in particular, comparable to the atorsk and Severodonetsk. Interestingly, beyond the cities of the right-bank part of Central Ukraine. To region of the southeast, significant proportions of the understand the reasons for this situation, one must restored historical names are also observed in cities remember that in Odessa the streets were renamed with a long history: Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Kyiv, and not by a decision of the city council, but by the order Zhytomyr. At the same time, cities, having no possi- of Mikheil Saakashvili, the head of the Oblast State bility to massively restore historic names (or, e.g. city Administration. Thus, this renaming pattern does not authorities did not want to restore historical names, reflect the vision of the city government and the local since they were too closely related to the era of Rus- community; it rather reflects the position of the cen- sian tsarism), approved a large number of topograph- tral government. As for Dnipro, the key factor is the ical and/or poetic street names. role of this city as a patriotic Ukrainian outpost in the Such a strategy of avoiding commemorative names eastern part of the country and an organizational base was explained to the public by the need of deideologi- for logistical and medical support of military actions zation and depoliticization of urban toponymy. I.e., it in Donbas. is not reasonable to assign the names of new heroes As for the cities of the Western Ukraine and, to to the streets, if over time the power will change and a lesser extent, the Right Bank of Central Ukraine, the a new wave of renaming will begin. Neutral names, high proportion of commemorative names in these which will not interfere with any government, must regions is explained, firstly, by the fact that the strat- be assigned instead. However, this way of thinking egy of local authorities is directed here to immor- holds two hidden ideas: first, attitude towards the talize the memory of the characters of the national idea of Ukrainian national state as an alien phenome- liberation movement leaders (which is perceived as non, second, the perception of the current Ukrainian a normal and, moreover, a necessary phenomenon political regime as a temporary one. by both the authorities and the population), and The renaming of streets in post-revolutionary Ukraine 127

secondly, much smaller possibilities for the appari- The first factor is: how the development of each tion of non-commemorative street names, at least particular city is connected with given historical because of the fact that most of the Soviet urban top- epoch. Exactly this factor can explain the following onyms, especially in the central parts of the cities, regularities: (a) Concentration of names associated had been renamed there long before the Revolution with the Cossack epoch in Prydniprovya, where the of Dignity. Cossack Sichs (fortified military settlements) were On the map (Figure 2) it is easy to see the three located, and in Central Ukraine, which was under most represented categories of military-political com- intense and long-term control of the Cossack state; memorative street names. Firstly, these are names (b) Concentration of names related to the struggle of related to the Cossack epoch, which are present in the Ukrainian people for independence of 1917–1922 almost all test cities; they make up an especially large in the central and western parts of Ukraine, which share in the south-eastern part of the country, in par- were under the most effective and long-term political ticular in Prydniprovya. Secondly, these are names control of the Ukrainian Peoples Republic and West- related to the struggle for independence in 1917– ern Ukrainian Peoples Republic; (c) Concentration 1922. They are also distributed practically through- of names related to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in out the territory of Ukraine, but the largest share is the areas of its highest activity; (d) Concentration of observed in the cities of Western and Central Ukraine, names associated with the Russian Empire and the whereas in the south-east, especially in Donbas, their Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the areas that proportion is significantly smaller. Thirdly, these are were actually controlled by these states; (e) Concen- toponyms related to the prominent figures and events tration of urban toponyms associated with the mod- of the modern independence period, and more than ern Ukrainian history, in Western Ukraine, from where 90% of them concern the commemoration of victims the largest number of Maidan victims are descending, of the Revolution of Dignity and the current military in Donbas, where many military men and women lost conflict in the Donbas. This category of street names their lives, and in certain cities through the country, is particularly well represented in Western Ukraine, where troops, suffered heavy losses during the con- as well as in the eastern part of the country, especially flict, have their headquarters. in Donbas. However, this factor cannot fully explain all the Other categories of military-political toponyms are revealed regularities. E.g., why the names associated relatively less represented and/or have limited spa- with Kievan Rus are not concentrated in the historical tial distribution throughout the country. The names core of this state (i.e. around Kyiv, in the Middle Dnie- related to events and prominent figures of the Soviet per Region), but have the largest density in the south- era are concentrated in the south-east, especially in east of the country, which at that time was practically the cities of Donetsk and Zaporizhia oblasts, where unsettled and controlled rather by nomadic tribes of their share makes up 15–25% of the total number Torks, Cumans and Pechenegs then by Kyivan princes? of military-political toponyms. Simultaneously, in How to explain the high proportion of names related the central part of Ukraine, this figure is reduced to to the Cossack epoch in the western cities of Chernivt- 5–10%, while in the western regions this category si, Uzhhorod and Rivne, where the role of Cossacks in of toponyms is absent at all. The share of the urban local history was minimal? To a lesser extent, this is place-names associated with the Kievan Rus legacy the very issue of the seaports of Mykolayiv and Kher- is increasing from the west (where there are practi- son, as these cities were founded and intensely devel- cally absent) to the south-east (with a maximum of oped during the Russian Empire occupation without 15–20% in the cities of Slobozhanschyna, Donbas the direct participation of Cossacks. And, at the same and Prydniprovya). Street names, associated with the time, why Russian Empire are poorely commemorat- Ukrainian Insurgent Army, are very unevenly distrib- ed in Donbas, whose economic base was laid in pre- uted over country: their share reaches 15–20% in the cisely that period? Finally, why in Western Ukraine, cities of the west and north of the country and 5–10% which for the longest time was under the control of in the central part, but in the cities of the southeast, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, there are no with the exception of Odessa, Dnipro and Zaporizhia, new toponyms associated with the corresponding such toponyms are totally absent. The names associ- era? ated with the Russian Empire (predominantly of local Therefore, it is advisable to talk about the second significance) are present in small quantities through- factor: the ability of the corresponding historical out the country, except for the extreme west (Galicia, epoch to be a consolidating element of identity for all Volhynia, Transcarpathia, and Northern Bukovina) Ukrainians, regardless of their ideological preferences and the extreme east (Donbas). Finally, few toponyms, and the place of residence. related to the Polish-Lithuanian period, are located in Thus, aforementioned strange spatial distribu- several cities of the central Ukraine (Zhytomyr, Vin- tion of the names associated with Kievan Rus and nytsia, Kryviy Rih, and Dnipro). spatial sprawl of toponyms associated with the Cos- These spatial patterns are affected by the two main sack epoch is explained by the fact that these historic factors. periods are equally well perceived by residents of all 128 Oleksiy Gnatiuk

regions and representatives of different ideologies Odessa (where the renaming, as noted above, does from right to left over the spectrum. Implementing not reflect the vision of the local self-government and the renaming policy, local authorities in the south community), Dnipro (“The Eastern Outpost of Ukrain- east gave preference to Kievan Rus and Cossack leg- ians”, “The Rear of the Donbas Front”) and Kherson acy because such names are equally well acceptable (a city in the agrarian region where the proportion of by all strata of Ukrainians, regardless of ideology and the pro-Russian population is relatively small com- electoral preferences, and no one will protests. Simul- paring to the other south-east regions). taneously, it was a convenient way to minimize the The absence of the “Polish-Lithuanian” toponymy quantity of place names, negatively perceived by both in the regions of Western Ukraine may be explained pro-Russian and pro-Soviet population (e.g., related by the high level of national patriotism and hidden to the activities of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army) and but confrontation with the Poles on the grounds of pro-Ukrainian and pro-EU patriotic population (e.g., the Ukrainian-Polish war in 1918–1919 and the Vol- toponyms associated with the Soviet legacy). hyn tragedy of 1943–1944. Instead, in the Central The numerical prevalence of the toponymy associ- Ukraine, a positive assessment of the Polish-Lithu- ated with the Cossack epoch is the consequence of the anian contribution to urban development prevails, fact that this period of Ukrainian history is considered in spite of the well-known Ukrainian confrontation to be an era of struggle for national self-determina- with the Poles during the Cossack era. In addition, in tion, unlike the era of Kievan Rus, which is not directly Western Ukraine, “Polish-Lithuanian” toponyms could and exclusively identified with the Ukrainian national simply not be statistically represented, given their low state. frequency and the small number of renamed streets. The share of military-political names, which are At the same time, such toponyms occur quite often clearly not related to any specific period of Ukrain- among the streets, renamed before 2014. ian history, or do not have any relation to Ukraine As a result, the analysis of military-political at all, increases in the south-eastern direction, and names made possible to identify areas where one or this is another manifestation of the strategy for another historical stratum of national identity pre- de-politicization. vails or is currently perceived as the most important The struggle of the Ukrainian people for independ- (Figure 2). ence in 1917–1922 was anti-Soviet one, therefore it is Since the heritage of the Cossack and the Kievan negatively perceived by the part of Ukrainians, espe- Rus periods is used to depoliticize urban toponymy, cially in the south-east, where nostalgia for the Soviet while the legacy of national liberation movements of Union still persists. However, these street names are the XX century, on the contrary, to support the cur- presented in all test cities, except for Kramatorsk and rent national political course, and the inheritance Severodonetsk, and in absolute number of names they of the Soviet period – to emphasize the genetic link are only slightly inferior to the “Cossack” toponymy. with the Soviet Union, interrelations of these three Consequently, this liberation movement also becomes toponymy strata makes it possible to highlight sev- a consolidating element of Ukrainian national identity, eral hidden geopolitical and cultural spatial faults of and its values are more or less shared by people from modern Ukrainian society (Figure 3). The first fault all regions of Ukraine. However, the unifying potential separates areas with a predominance of names asso- of the Cossack heritage is still more powerful, given ciated with the national liberation movements of the the lack of nationalistic connotations. Examples of XX century and areas with a predominance of “Cos- Chernivtsi and Uzhhorod are quite illustrative here. sack” toponymy (Figure 3a). The second fault, much Corresponding regions of Transcarpathia and North- more sharp comparing to the previous one, deline- ern Bukovyna have traditionally been characterized ates areas with a predominance of names associat- by a smaller national patriotic pathos than the rest of ed with the national liberation movements of the XX the Western Ukraine. Therefore, when renaming the century and areas with a predominance of Soviet-era streets, the local authorities of these two cities decid- place names (Figure 3b). These two fault lines con- ed to appeal to the Cossack and Kievan Rus heritage ditionally divided the country into three parts, which rather than to the XX century liberation movements. can be called “nationalistic Ukraine”, where national On the contrary, the legacy of Ukrainian Nation- identity has clear anti-Soviet and pro-European ori- alists Organization and Ukrainian Insurgent Army entation, “Cossack Ukraine”, where the identity of the still remains rather disruptive than uniting factor for Cossack epoch plays a role of refined, depoliticized Ukrainian society, because it is perceived negatively in version of national identity, and “post-Soviet Ukraine”, the south-eastern part of the country. The Soviet leg- which Soviet values are still regenerated, even though acy is a very similar case: it serves as a “red cloth” for without clear ideological wrapper. Interestingly, the the population of the central, northern and, especially, limits of “post-Soviet Ukraine” roughly coincide with western regions. the area where ethnic Russians constitute significant It is also interesting that among the cities of the share of the total population and where the Opposi- southeast, the largest share of street names related tional Block, successor of the Yanukovych’s Party of to the national liberation movements, is observed in Regions, won local elections in 2015. The renaming of streets in post-revolutionary Ukraine 129

Fig. 3 Relationship between three main strata of politic and military toponymy.

In respect to other commemorative names, which the apparent desire to distance from the military-po- are not directly related to the military-political sphere litical heritage of the Soviet Union, but a radical depar- (Figure 4), the most numerous group of them is asso- ture from the cultural heritage of the Soviet period is ciated with the heritage of the pre-Soviet era, most- not observed, since it continues to be interpreted as ly the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires. This a powerful and inalienable layer of Ukrainian culture phenomenon, like in other post-Socialist countries in whole. (Crljenko 2012), marks an accentuated reference to But, perhaps, these prominent figures conflicted the pre-Soviet history in order to reinforce the nation- with the Soviet authorities, and were memorialized al identity. However, toponyms, directly related to exactly for this? In fact, we observe numerical equality the Soviet era (i.e. given in the honour of Soviet-fa- of the street names related to the Soviet-favoured and voured and Soviet-persecuted personalities) account Soviet-persecuted personalities. Place-names, given together for more than 50% of all other commemora- in honour of Soviet-favoured people, are concentrat- tive names. This leads to interesting considerations, ed mainly in the south-east, while toponymy related since the military-political names of the Soviet era to Soviet-persecuted personalities prevails in in the comprise only 10–20%, even in the most pro-Soviet central and western parts of the country; however, and pro-Russian regions. Of course, the possibility to this general rule has many exceptions. Nevertheless, introduce Soviet political and military toponyms was this spatial pattern becomes more accentuated if con- substantially limited by the decommunization law, sider the ratio of the sum of the soviet-persecuted and which is not a case of toponyms related to the realms ex-soviet toponymy to the sum of the soviet-favoured of culture and science. However, it may be supposed and international toponymy (Figure 4). This implies 130 Oleksiy Gnatiuk

Fig. 4 Other commemorative toponymy: relation to the Soviet authorities/state.

that in western and central parts of the country we The analysis of the ratio between local-specif- observe pronouncedly anti-Soviet commemoration ic, regional-specific and national-specific memorial policy, while the south-east once again shows an toponyms shows that decommunization retains the attempt to depoliticize toponymy and to maximally balance between, on the one hand, local and regional, integrate Soviet heritage into the new identity. and, on the other hand, national identities. In almost The most unevenly distributed toponyms are those 80% of test cities, the share of national-specific street given in honour of the prominent individuals who, names is in the range of 25–75%. That is, in only one due to life circumstances, including persecution by case of five we have a significant imbalance. the Soviet authorities, lived and worked outside of Significant spatial patterns of placement of cities Ukraine. These names are concentrated in the west- with an emphasis on local or national identity are not ern and central parts of the country, which means observed (Figure 5). In particular, strong preference that exactly in these parts of Ukraine the activities of for local and regional-specific place-names is typical Ukrainians in emigration is considered as an integral for certain cities from western (Uzhgorod, Lutsk), part of national history. central (Cherkasy, Vinnytsia, Bila Tserkva, Poltava), Also, there is a noticeable downfall of the share southern (Odesa, Mykolaiv) and eastern (Zaporizhia) of post-Soviet other memorial names in comparison parts of Ukraine. The only clear regularity is the with their military-political counterparts: their quan- reduced share of local-specific and, especially, region- tity is simply negligible, and they have no specific al-specific names in Donbass. This may be explained, spatial distribution. But this does not give grounds firstly, by the desire of the local authorities to inte- for arguing that the modern identity of Ukrainians has grate the local toponymy into the national context, only political and military components. The matter is and secondly, by the absence of a well-developed that in the vast majority of cases, like in the whole regional Ukrainian national narrative in Donbas. world, commemorated people are those who have The increased share of names not related to any already departed from their lives. In modern Ukraine, level of Ukrainian national identity is another charac- these are not representatives of cultural, scientific, teristic feature of the renamed toponymy in the south- or business elites, but the victims of the Maidan and east, especially in Donbas. Typically, such names are Donbas conflict. associated with outstanding figures of world culture. The renaming of streets in post-revolutionary Ukraine 131

Fig. 5 Toponymy by levels of identity.

This is a testimony of certain cosmopolitanism in the The analysis, presented in the paper, would be selection of new names, while in the rest of Ukraine incomplete and poor reasoning without giving some a clear priority is given to memorialization of the review of a public discussion related to the renaming very national culture. Interestingly, similar character- policy, procedure and regional approaches. In this istics (a high proportion of national and non-specific paper we will not pay attention to the general discus- names) are also observed in Kyiv. This corresponds sion on the feasibility/priority of the decommuniza- to the capital status of this city: here, street names tion: our focus will be on the part of the discussion should reflect the peculiarities of different regions of that is related to competition between different iden- the country and, at the same time, should have a cer- tities and layers of historical memory. tain scale of cosmopolitanism. At the local level, the debate took place during the What the spatial patterns discovered do reflect collection of suggestions on renaming specific streets more: the real identity of population or local gov- and the subsequent public discussion of new street ernment policy of constructing identity? Given the names proposed by the commissions. Often, several coincidence with the electoral fractures and the eth- variants of the new street name were presented at the nic composition of the population, it is very likely discretion of the community, and the discussion par- that the spatial structure of the new Ukrainian urban ticipants could vote for each of them. Basically, this toponymy does corresponds to the real structure was so-called calm discussion, that is, discussions and of identity, although in many cases the semantics of voting for a street name occurred smoothly and with- place names does not reflect the exact meaning of real in a defined procedure. However, sometimes there identities. E.g., if the great importance of the Ukrain- was a hot discussion, when there were sharp contro- ian liberation movements for the population of the versies regarding specific names. In this respect, there western and central parts of the country is beyond were strong regional tendencies manifested in the doubt, then excessive accentuation of the Cossack era greater public commitment to the memory of a cer- in Chernivtsi or the cities within the Black Sea region tain historical epoch or the desire to distance from is clearly artificial. This means that local authorities politicized names in favour of the neutral toponymy have proposed such street names to satisfy the locals. (topographical or figurative toponyms, or, where pos- That is, the ideology formulated in toponymy does not sible, restoration of the historical names). contradict the identity of the locals, and therefore is For example, in Cherkasy (Central Ukraine), resi- well-accepted. dents gave a steady advantage to commemoration of 132 Oleksiy Gnatiuk

the XX century national liberation movements and became a powerful industrial centre thanks to Pol and the Cossack Epoch. At the same time, in Dnipro and his followers, therefore, it is logical to commemorate Kamianske, the idea of changing the Soviet toponymy him in the name of the central avenue”. The choice in to the actual and patriotic one was questioned, given favour of Olexandr Pol means the emphasis on the the high versatility of the political situation and the industrial history of the city. Proponents of Dmytro complexity for the elderly people to get accustomed Yavornytsky (1855–1940) had their arguments: an to the change of the usual street names into radical- outstanding scientist dedicated more than 30 years ly opposite ones. The opinion was expressed that of his life to the Dnieper region; he is considered to be restored historical names, as well as timeless, non-po- the founder of archeology in Ukraine and the father litical and even non-contextual toponyms, are the best of the study of the Ukrainian Cossacks; he wrote the choice (DneprChas, 17 June 2016; Novoe Vremia, 12 first history book of the city, was the founder of a local January 2018; Disk, 15 June 2015). “The residents university, etc. The Head of the Dmytro Yavornytsky themselves expressed a desire to give politically neu- Memorial Museum said: “It is difficult to find a sig- tral place-names, and we listened to them. To avoid nificant event in the life of the then-city [Dnipro], to future renamings, we turned to names reflecting which Yavornytsky would not be involved.” Therefore, human emotions, nature, and professions” – empha- the choice in favour of Yavornytsky is an attempt to sizes Serhiy Svitlenko, a member of the renaming emphasize the continuity of the city with the Cossack working group, the dean of the historical Faculty at epoch. In fact, it was the choice of the city’s brand, the Oles Gonchar Dnipro National University. As a result, personification of its essence. Finally, Yavornytsky 130 toponyms in Dnipro have got neutral names won this toponymic battle, and toponyms associated (Dnepropetrovskaya Panorama, 29 June 2016). with the Cossack epoch constitute the relative major- It is revealing that the proposals to rename Lenin ity in Dnipro. However, another central street of the and Moscow streets in Dnipro in honour of nationalist city, Prospekt Kirova (Kirov Avenue) was renamed in leader Stepan Bandera were rejected: the preponder- the honour of Olexandr Pol (RadioSvoboda, 03 August ance was given to the historical name (Voskresenska) 2015). and to the commemoration of the Kyivan Rus Prince It is revealing that both these figures are closely Volodymyr Monomakh, respectively. Instead of Roman connected with the city of Dnipro and the surround- Shukhevych, another nationalist leader (proposal of ing region, which cannot be said about their toponym- the renaming commission), one of the streets was ic predecessors (Kirov and Karl Marx). In many cit- named after Leonid Stromtsov, director of the Dnipro ies, decommunization committees decided to strictly machine-building plant in Soviet times (1954–1983) follow the will of the community and not offer new (DepoDnipro, 14 August 2015). The inhabitants of names other than those proposed by the residents. some streets stood up against erasing the names of This led to an emphasis on the local historical and the Soviet figures and replacing them with some Cos- cultural context in cities with developed local identi- sack leaders. Residents of one of the streets created ty. For example, in Vinnytsia (where we were able to an initiative group and said they did not want to live get an official comment from a representative of the on the street named after hetman Ivan Vyhovsky, decommunization committee) there were almost no since his period of rule belongs to the Ruin period of streets renamed in honour of the OUN-UIA personal- Ukrainian history; the initiative group insisted that ities, in particular Stepan Bandera. This is not due to the street should retake its historical name instead the rejection by local community, but because their (Polihonna), which was finally done (Radio Svobo- activities are not directly related to the city and the da, 18 August 2015). However, the Prospect Kalinina surrounding region. The only exception was Omelian (Kalinin Avenue) was renamed in honour of Serhiy Hrabets, a UIA-South partisan group commander, who Nigoyan, the first of the protesters killed in Ukrainian acted precisely in Podolia, including the Vinnytsia capital during Euromaydan; this decision was sup- region. Given the overwhelming opinion of the res- ported by the community during a public discussion, idents, the former Red Partisan Street in Vinnytsia then challenged by opponents in court, but protected was renamed in honour of Vladislav Gorodetsky, due to a clear and strong position of the city authori- a Ukrainian architect of Polish origin born in Podolia, ties (tyzhden.ua, 15 December 2017). although representatives of local nationalist move- Particularly keen discussion of a somewhat differ- ments demanded that the street should be radically ent nature unfolded in Dnipro regarding the renam- renamed in honour of the UIA heroes. The approach ing of Prospekt Karla Marksa (Karl Marx Avenue), the was similar in Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhia, Lutsk, etc.; in main street of the city. Outstanding personalities have this way a number of sharp conflicts regarding new become competitors in the process of changing the street names were minimized, but urban toponymy toponymy. Olexandr Pol (1832–1890), archaeologist, was limited mostly to the local and regional context. entrepreneur, philanthropist and active public figure, Cited above Serhiy Svitlenko (from Dnipro) recog- thoroughly studied local iron ore basin for 15 years. nized this problem emphasizing that “Inventing new The director of the Olexander Pol Institute in Dnipro toponymy, we need to look beyond the Middle Dnie- believes that “the region, which was purely agrarian, per elements and reflect also the history of Western The renaming of streets in post-revolutionary Ukraine 133

Ukraine; this is very important politically” (Litza, 22 Ukrainians who may potentially be patriots but are July 2015). not (yet) ready to accept Bandera. Such renaming A striking example of the conflict between the will only increase the distance between the capital official decommunization approach and local govern- and the southeast regions. ment’s policy was the already mentioned situation in 2. True history of the OUN-UIA and biographies of Odessa, when the city council initially self-abolished their leaders have not yet been rigorously investi- from the renaming process, and then cancelled some gated: they are either idealized or demonized with of the renamings carried out according to the order political goals. Some of nationalists did collaborate of the Head of the Odessa Regional State Administra- with the Nazis, but they did want, by this medium, tion, and turned back communist toponymy to the city to create an independent Ukraine and gave their map. However, this decision of the city council was lives for this. appealed by the prosecutor’s office and investigated 3. Since the purpose of decommunization is to create by the Security Service of Ukraine. a new value matrix, new toponymy must unite soci- At the national level, the debate on decommuniza- ety rather than split it. Unfortunately, Ukraine still tion, covered in media, is confined almost exclusive- lacks an integral historical policy. A mature dem- ly to the issue of commemorating the memory of the ocratic society should seek (and preferably find) OUN-UIA, as well as other figures that contributed to for a consensus, especially in the choice of national the formation of the OUN’s ideology. This discussion heroes. In the historical pantheon of Ukraine there is quite important because decommunization legisla- are many worthy people who do not split the soci- tion prohibits to glorify both Soviet and Nazi regimes. ety, e.g., dissidents, human rights activists, and This means that if an organization or some of its rep- writers. resentatives were Nazi collaborators during Second 4. Preferably new street names should be related to World War, the streets cannot be renamed after them. local specifics, the history of the city, and its out- This moves the discussion from the standpoints of standing inhabitants. E.g. we may have different solely personal or collective preferences to the legal attitudes to Bandera, but the important thing in dimension. this particular case is that he had nothing common The official position, transmitted by the Institute with Ukrainian capital. A good example may be the of National Remembrance, is that the OUN-UIA mem- street renamed after Symon Petliura, a Head of bers were not collaborators. Some ONU leaders ini- Ukrainian Peoples Republic, who lived in Kyiv and tially sought to use the military and political power even often drove along “his” street to the railway of the Third Reich to gain an independent Ukrainian station. state (on June 30, 1941, the OUN, under the leader- 5. Since military and political regimes and dominant ship of Bandera, proclaimed the Act of Restoration of ideologies are constantly changing, it is desirable Ukraine’s Independence with numerous diplomatic to retrieve old historical toponymy or give prefer- laudations to Hitler), but for several weeks, seeing ence to neutral place-names. However, the com- the real Nazi policy towards Ukrainians, understood plete refusal to honour the national heroes will the mistake. A number of OUN figures, including interfere the building of national memory and lead Stepan Bandera, even found themselves in the Nazi to preservation of the existing fault lines in Ukrain- concentration camps soon afterwards and could not ian society. Therefore hiding head in the sand is physically control either the political or the milita- equally harmful as extremely radical renaming ristic formations of the nationalists. The soldiers of policy. UIA, created only in 1942, fought from the outset both Obviously, the main message is that new names against the Red Army and the Nazis. should consolidate Ukrainian society, and renaming However, not all citizens and experts share the offi- should not be used as a tool to erase one layer of his- cial statements. The attempt to rename some streets torical memory for the benefit of another. In a similar in eastern and southern Ukraine in honour of the manner, Yevhen Hendin, the Head of the University OUN-UIA leaders provoked public resistance. Particu- Theatre at the Oles Honchar Dnipro National Univer- larly strong discussion in media was induced by the sity, also spoke about a similar renaming attempt in renaming of Moskovskyi Prospekt (Moscow Avenue) Dnipro: “I cannot understand the stressed bending in Kyiv in 2016 in honour of Bandera. Online media across the knee, the underlined PR, sadistic from my Gordon asked for opinions of several well-known his- point of view – please, take Bandera instead of Lenin. tory experts regarding this fact (Gordon, 8 July 2016). I consider it not a conciliatory, not a compromise, but The experts had quite different, individual assess- a discreditable step. But, at the same time, I think ments, but mostly agree the following positions: that in principle such a street should be in the city” 1. This renaming in Kyiv was done in the teeth of (DepoDnipro, 14 August 2015). Russia as the OUN leader now turned into the sym- Renaming of Prospekt Vatutina (Vatutin Avenue) bol of struggle against the current Russian policy. in the honour of Roman Shukhevych, a commander The radical renaming of streets is not a mistake of the UIA, was the other, most recent and even more but rather stupidity, as this may scare away many sensitive case from Kyiv. Shukhevych studied at the 134 Oleksiy Gnatiuk

Abwehr, served in the Wehrmacht units, and was one preferences and ideological beliefs. The similar role of organizers of anti-Polish and anti-Jewish ethnic belongs to the epoch of Ukrainian Peoples Repub- cleansings (Rudling, 2016). Moreover, by a twist of lic, which is widely represented in the toponymy fate, the only synagogue and the Jewish community throughout the country, except for the extreme east. within the Left Bank Kyiv now are located on Pros- At the same time, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and pekt Shukhevycha. Avraham Shmulevich, rabbi and the Soviet legacy remain topics dividing the Ukrainian political scientist, commented this in the following society, including political elites. way: “If the name of Shukhevych were given to some The street renaming process in post-revolution- other street, this could eventually be forgotten, and ary Ukraine is both national and regional-specif- the severity of the conflict would gradually disappear. ic; however, it shares some common characteris- But now a permanent reminder has been created. tics with other post-Socialist European countries: It’s like hammering a nail into the body: it will always 1. appeal to the pre-socialist period arouse in order hurt” (Obozrevatel, 14 June 2017). Antifascist Human to reinforce the national identity; 2. the decrease Rights Legal League and Jewish Human Rights Watch of the political and military place-names in favour demanded to recognize the renaming as illegal and of connotations associated with local and national cancel it (Obozrevatel, 14 June 2017). culture and heritage; 3. increasing role of local and However, despite these isolated cases, the facts regional toponymy. point to the absence of total “banderization” of Acknowledgements Ukraine: the rush occurs about individual, isolated cases. In particular, according to Volodymyr Viatro- vych, the head of the Ukrainian Institute of Nation- al Remembrance, only 34 streets out of over 50,000 This research was made within the framework of sci- renamed in the framework of decomunization, were entific project No 16BP050-02 “Spatial Transforma- named in the honour of Bandera. As Viatrovych com- tion in Ukraine: Models of Urban Modernization and mented, “attempts to create a cult of Bandera under Planning” funded by the Ministry of Education and the canons of the cult of Lenin are harmful both for Science of Ukraine. understanding his place and role in history and for References proper commemoration. But even more harmful are attempts to invent this cult artificially and to repre- sent decommunization as “banderization”. 6. Conclusions Alderman, D. H. (2003): Street names and the scaling of memory: the politics of commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr within the African American community. Area 35(2), 163–173, https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4762 In Ukraine, there are three main regional strategies .00250. for renaming urban toponymy in the framework of Azaryahu, M., Kook, R. (2002): Mapping the nation: street decommunization, which reflect the goals and tactics names and Arab Palestinian identity: three case studies. of local governments. 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