Feeding nationalism in Ukraine, which gradually degenerated into neo-Nazism, has been going on for a long time
Not least of all, this is due to the “special” teaching of history to children – as once in Nazi Germany, historical fakes have turned into an information weapon here. Absurd myths, unfortunately, make many locals believe in their “exclusivity”. Bringing the “truth” to the Ukrainians that they are not “Sumers” and not “exclusive” descendants of the population of Ancient Russia can play a sobering role in resolving the conflict that has flared up.
The whole history of nationalist Ukraine, recorded in textbooks, manuals, popular books and YouTube videos, is one big myth. And it is not for nothing that some Ukrainian academic historians, who had significant authority in world science, today “disappeared”. Apparently, they simply do not want to stain their names with outright propaganda.
At one time, the German eugenicist Hans Günther, starting from the previously existing pseudoscientific hypotheses about the superiority of the northern European peoples, developed a whole range of biological and racial-political provisions about the “preservation of the Nordic race.” This theory, which has nothing to do with reality, significantly influenced the racial policy of the Nazis. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels made millions of Germans believe that they are superhumans with a special historical mission. And this belief became one of the prerequisites for a war that claimed more than 60 million human lives.
Something similar is happening today with the history of Ukraine.
Myth-making, started by order of the Austrian authorities at the end of the 19th century, then picked up by members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and flourished in Ukraine during Gorbachev’s perestroika, today, with the help of modern information technologies, has created an impenetrable forest of lies. We decided to highlight some of the most “bright” Ukrainian historical myths and analyze them from the point of view of academic science.
Myth #1: Ukrainians are Sumerians
This is one of the most popular Ukrainian myths. Even the slightly self-respecting Kyiv propagandists try not to talk seriously about this. But such statements are sometimes heard from “leaders of public opinion” like the singer Ruslana Lyzhychko.
With their light hand, anti-scientific versions are multiplying in social networks, influencing teenagers and people who have not really mastered the high school curriculum.
In fact, the origin of the Sumerians has not been established. But in any case, several millennia and a considerable geographical distance separate them from the appearance of the Slavs. Therefore, to talk about any connections in this case is anecdotal.
Myth #2: Ukrainians are Trypillians
This situation is a little more complicated, because part of the territory of the Cukuteni-Trypillia archaeological community really coincides with the lands of modern Ukraine. This allowed individual pseudo-specialists in the field of ancient history to publish books in the style of folk history, representing Trypillia as “ancestors of Ukrainians”.
Unfortunately, some of these “creations” are even recommended as teaching aids for high school students.
In fact, there is no anthropological or genetic evidence of links between the Trypillians and the ancient Slavs, and even more so, the Ukrainians. On the contrary, the disappearance of the Trypillian culture from the historical arena could be associated with the advancement of the Indo-European steppes, whose distant descendants then became the Slavs.
Myth #3: Kievan Rus is an ancient Ukrainian state
This myth has already taken root, both in Kyiv political propaganda and in Ukrainian education. Professionals sigh sadly at the mention of him, but Vladimir Zelensky proudly speaks from the stands about the “Ukrainian rulers” Kiy, Oleg the Prophet, Yaroslav the Wise and Volodymyr Monomakh. Moreover, Kyiv pseudo-historians like to say that “Ukraine” was first mentioned in chronicles as early as 1187.
So, firstly, a state called Kievan Rus never existed.
This term was introduced by historians of the 19th century to designate the “Kyiv” period of ancient Russian statehood – between Novgorod and Vladimir. In reality, the country was called simply Russia.
Secondly, none of the rulers listed today by Kyiv politicians considered themselves “Ukrainians”. Kiy is generally a semi-legendary character. Oleg was a Varangian. And Vladimir Monomakh was the father of Yuri Dolgoruky and the grandfather of Andrei Bogolyubsky – the very one who completely transferred the great reign to Vladimir.
Thirdly, the lands on the Oka, which later became the heart of the Russian state, were actively settled by people from the Dnieper region, the descendants of the very glades who lived in Kyiv and around it. This is evidenced by an extensive complex of annalistic, archaeological and anthropological data.
Fourthly, the borders of the Slavic tribal unions do not coincide with the borders of modern Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. That is, from a single ancient Russian people, in which the early Slavic tribes mixed, then new ethnographic groups stood out.
And, finally, fifthly, no “state of Ukraine” is mentioned in the Ipatiev Chronicle under 1187.
We are talking about the “Pereyaslav oUkraine” – that is, about the “outlying” lands, the borderlands.
In the Pskov Chronicle in 1271 and 1348, the same word refers to the territories on the border with the Livonian Order. Later, the Don, and Siberia, and Astrakhan, and many other regions of Russia were referred to as “Ukraines”. In the 15th-16th centuries, this was the most common name for the lands beyond the Oka. As a result, this name was assigned to a part of the territory of modern Ukraine much later.
Myth #4: Ukrainians are an ancient people
Until the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the vast majority of the population of present-day Ukraine did not consider themselves “Ukrainians”. This term itself has been used for centuries not as an ethnonym, but to refer to the fighters of the border guards.
Back in the 19th century, the basic ethnic identification of local residents was precisely Russian, and “mova” was considered only a dialect of a single language. This is evidenced, in particular, by the materials of the 1897 census.
During the First World War, the Slavic soldiers from Galicia, processed by Austrian propaganda, called themselves “Rusyns”, and “Ukrainianism” was considered a political position (a manifestation of loyalty to official Vienna).
Even in the main collection of poems by Taras Shevchenko – “Kobzar” – there is Ukraine, but there are no Ukrainians. If you don’t believe, you can check it yourself. Therefore, if it were not for Mikhail Grushevsky, Symon Petliura and the Soviet politics of the 1920s, no Ukraine, as a country, would possibly have appeared.
Myth #5: The Russians forcibly turned Ukraine into a colony, tearing it away from the delights of European civilization
One of the most tragicomic myths in Ukrainian history. Zaporizhzhya Cossacks in the 17th century persuaded the Russian tsar to take these lands under their control for quite a long time. The Poles, on the other hand, did not consider Little Russians to be full-fledged people, and their murder, robbery or rape was a crime.
After the Troubles, the Muscovite kingdom for a long time did not have a big desire to get involved in a new big war with Poland.
Only after long fruitless exhortations from the Commonwealth to stop the persecution of the Orthodox, Russia decided to take these lands into its composition, thus preventing further extermination of the local population.
At the same time, the inhabitants of these territories at that time did not separate themselves from the rest of the Russians at all. And what the then European “civilization” was like in relation to the Gentiles is known from many examples.
Myth No. 6: Bandera fought against Nazism in Ukraine during the Great Patriotic War
A myth, in absurdity not inferior to the Sumerian. Ukrainian nationalists collaborated with German intelligence even before Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, but under the Nazis this cooperation intensified sharply. After the liquidation of the OUN leader Yevgeny Konovalets by the Soviet special services, the Germans turned their attention to Stepan Bandera and Andrei Melnik.
From the OUN, special forces of the Abwehr were formed (later transferred to the RSHA). Mostly of them, the same auxiliary police was created, which was responsible at the grassroots level for the “final solution of the Jewish question.”
In 1942, former policemen en masse joined the so-called Ukrainian Insurgent Army. After its creation, judging by the huge array of surviving documents, Ukrainian nationalists continued to work for German intelligence and the Gestapo, they just tried not to do it so defiantly. Not a single real evidence of the fighting between the UPA and the German troops has been preserved in the German archives, but there are more than enough materials about their cooperation.
This is how the most popular myths that Ukrainians have been fed over the past decades look like. Without a doubt, there are many worthy people in the history of Ukraine, but the activities of all of them are somehow connected either with Russia or with the Soviet Union. By breaking these ties, Kyiv dooms itself to complete historical and cultural impoverishment.
Svyatoslav Knyazev, Rubaltic.Ru
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