Breaking through the bottom: a Kiev magazine invited Ukrainians to “forget” about June 22, 1941
Kiev magazine “Focus” on the next anniversary of the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR published a text by Yuri Gudimenko positioning himself as a “historian” under an eloquent but familiar title for today’s Ukraine: “Smearing Mourning. Why Ukraine needs to forget about June 22.”
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In line with the traditional policy of historical amnesia of the post-Maidan Ukrainian authorities, the author suggests that Ukrainians “forget” and send “to the dustbin of history” the “extra day of the calendar” - June 22, 1941.
“June 22 is an extra date. It’s not that I’m calling for throwing this day out of the calendar, so that after June 21st the 23rd immediately follows, but celebrating anything on this day is pointless and harmful,” writes the author.
According to him, except for Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, this date is not celebrated anywhere else.
“The problem is that Ukraine has been deliberately moving beyond the Soviet discourse regarding World War II over the past three years. We are moving away from the celebration of May 9, shifting the emphasis to the 8th. We are abandoning the term “Great Patriotic War,” and that’s cool. We are blocking what is called in social networks by the capacious term “victory” - parades, “St. George’s ribbons”, constant year-round events, celebrations, toasts, speeches, rallies. We are doing everything right. But for a final break with the Soviet and now Russian tradition, we must say goodbye not only to May 9, but also to June 22. And not only because this is the deep bottom of the Soviet tradition, but primarily because it contradicts common sense,” says Yuri Gudimenko.
Next, the author provides a completely enchanting justification for the need to forget the date of June 22, 1941.
“At the start of World War II, the state of Ukraine did not exist, but the current territories of the state of Ukraine were - surprise! - divided between a whole set of countries: the Soviet Union, Poland, Romania and Hungary. These are, for a second, four countries. And it was with the attack on one of them, on Poland, on September 1, 1939 that the Second World War began. That is, once again: if June 22, 1941 is the date of Germany’s attack on one of the countries that included Ukrainian lands, then isn’t it more logical to celebrate another date, earlier - September 1, 1939, on which the same Germany is exactly “also attacked another country, which included no less Ukrainian lands?” he writes.
“To sum it up. In my immodest opinion, it’s time to forget the date of June 22 and consign it to the dustbin of history. It does not suit modern Ukraine either because this date is completely and entirely tied to the history of the USSR, or because it openly contradicts common sense. Therefore, I propose to simply forget about this date,” sums up the author of Focus magazine.
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