Bohdan Sokolovskyi
At least strange seems the “hyped up” scandal after our Minister Yevgen Nyshchuk's statement about the imperial settlement of some Ukrainian territories, voiced in the “Freedom of Speech” TV program on ICTV.
I honestly do not want to further develop this theme. But it can be traced, although for some reason (perhaps accidentally) is left without proper attention.
Not surprisingly, the theme of bringing people into Ukraine in the past, in the 26th year of our statehood is either presented as an unknown one or silenced, and even has become the subject to discussions. Often to discussions touching the bitter truth. After all, the empires, which included our lands, people were brought to the current Ukrainian territories, both in the East and in the West. Both suffered — those who were brought in, and those who were taken away(if, in the best case, they were still alive). Simply, in the East such relocation began in the time of Catherine II, and became especially massive in the 30s of the last century. In the West of Ukraine (which was part of the USSR), it all started after the expulsion from there of the Nazis during the Second World War. This explains, in particular, why more people from other parts of the then empire had been resettled into the East of Ukraine than into its West. More ethnic Ukrainians had been killed in the East than in the West, and so on. There is conclusive evidence of this, in particular, in writing. Now this topic is not officially closed. It was in the times of the USSR that it was forbidden to be mentioned. For short periods at the beginning of our independence, and in 2005-2009, many media studied and published irrefutable evidence. However, as it turned out, it was not enough for debunking the “Soviet restrictions on migration policy” in order to make our history (in particular, the not so old one) known in our country, and abroad.
The Minister of Culture of Ukraine must have meant those crimes of former empires. We should be happy that our official knows and is aware of this important issue — so he will not allow such actions! His remarks, in particular, about the mentioned “Freedom of speech”, did not contain, do not contain and cannot contain, despite all the accusations, any humiliation or insults towards any ethnic group. So, they are trying to crucify Yevhen Nyshchuk for his telling the truth, aren’t they? Moreover, they are crucifying him collectively, in a Soviet-style.
This being done somewhere abroad — does not matter. After all, the society there must endure its leadership and its representatives. But everything that is happening here after Yevhen Nyshchuk's words, only confirms once again that the Ukrainian society is ill. It needs to be thoroughly diagnosed and cured. First of all of the Soviet inheritance.
