When Stalin Lost His Head: World War II and Memory Wars in Contemporary Ukraine

Abstract

In the last two decades Ukraine became a battleground of two post-Soviet historical narratives of World War II: the Communist narrative, based on the experiences of the veterans of the Soviet Army, and its nationalist alternative, based predominantly on the experiences of the fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. There is also a third, liberal interpretation of the war that is slowly emerging in contemporary Ukraine. This chapter examines the role that the cult of Joseph Stalin plays in articulating these three approaches to the history of World War II. It takes as its point of departure the incident that took place in the city of Zaporizhia in Southern Ukraine in December 2010 when a statue to Joseph Stalin, installed a few months earlier by the members of the Communist party of Ukraine on the doorsteps of their regional headquarters was beheaded by Ukrainian nationalists.