By Walter Kish

Ukrainians are part of a larger Slavonic family of peoples that includes amongst others, Russians, Byelorussians, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenians, Serbs, Croats, Macedonians and Bulgarians. Within Europe, Slavs constitute the single most populous component of what the anthropologists define as the Indo-European race. Their origin is still uncertain and subject to much debate in archaeological circles, though they started making their presence known in the latter part of the first millennium in the vast steppe area north of the Black Sea. Over the centuries, they diverged linguistically and culturally, until by the time of what we now call the Middle Ages, they had formed into the distinct ethnic groups that we recognize today.

Early in the 19^th century, stirred by the revolutionary idealism awakened by the French Revolution and fed by the prevailing spirit of Romanticism among the intellectuals of that day, a cultural and political movement known as Pan-Slavism was born. It sought to bring together all the Slavic people of Eastern Europe into a political federation that could counteract the imperialistic designs of the Germans, as well as the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires. Pan-Slavism enjoyed a fair bit of support among prominent Ukrainians of the day including the influential Brotherhood of St. Cyril and Methodius. Despite its popularity among many of the smaller and the oppressed Slav nations who were struggling to either maintain or establish themselves as viable nation states, the movement had little success, primarily because the two most powerful Slavic states of the day, namely Poland and Russia were more concerned with their territorial and imperialistic ambitions. Eventually, the Russians co-opted what had original been an idealistic movement and turned it into a cynical propaganda tool intended to mask their chauvinistic ambitions to convert Eastern Europe into a monolithic Russified state.

Yet power politics in itself was not the only factor that made Pan Slavism a non-starter. While their European counterparts, the French, the Germans, and the Italians eventually evolved politically from competing, warring tribes, clans and feudal groupings into unified and relatively culturally homogenous nation states, Slavs have remained antagonistically divided, and have ironically been their own worst enemies. The Russians, Poles and Ukrainians have been engaged in almost constant warfare with each other for some six or seven centuries. The enmity is visceral and deeply imbedded into their cultures and traditions. The feuding and genocidal histories of the various Balkan Slav peoples have made this corner of Europe notorious and synonymous with wanton bloodshed. Even in the so-called civilized twentieth century, the viciousness and barbarism of the events that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia, demonstrated the deep-seated hatreds that divide what should be closely related ethnic cousins.

Though it would be simple to attribute this sad history to some essential cultural or ethnic “character flaw”, this would only be succumbing to a racist and biased interpretation of history. The reality is a complex mixture of factors that includes geographical vulnerability, religious manipulation and oppression, totalitarian politics, and repressed political and cultural evolution. History is what it is and does not lend itself well to deterministic analysis and tidy, logical explanations.

Unfortunately, much of what passes for historical analysis is really a disguised attempt at assessing blame, which often creates the seeds for further conflict and cross cultural enmity.

What is needed is a more thorough and unbiased assessment of what transpired, an acknowledgement of the shortcomings and sins of all our predecessors, and a focus on creating the kind of constructive dialogue and co-operation that will lead to a peaceful co-existence of neighbours that have much in common and much to share.

In the city of Lviv, in a quiet corner of the verdant and serene Lychakiv cemetery, two significant new memorials stand within a stone’s throw of each other. One is a monument that commemorates many of the Ukrainian patriots that died during the original post-revolutionary struggles to liberate the city and Ukraine from Polish rule. Right beside it, is a newly renovated Polish military cemetery where lie buried the Polish soldiers that died defending Lviv, or Lemberg as it was then called, from the Ukrainian freedom fighters. In death, they lie besides each other as peaceful neighbours. This symbol of a more peaceful and co-operative co-existence is a hopeful sign that the process of reconciliation has begun, at least between the Ukrainians and the Poles. The Polish government has even acknowledged and expressed regret over some of the atrocities committed against Ukrainians during the first half of this century.

The Russians so far seem a little less inclined to confront or apologize for their past, yet the longer Ukraine maintains its independence and continues to forge its own future, the stronger the hopes that it too will someday realize that there is more to be gained from being a good neighbour than from being an exploiter and oppressor. After all, the past five centuries of history should have shown that despite all their best efforts, they have failed to turn Ukrainians into Russians.