Gaidai O. The Soviet Heritage in the Politics of Memory and Perception of the Ukrainian Population 1991-2014. (On the Materials of Vinnytsia, Zhitomyr, Cherkassy and Poltava regions).

Addressing the communist heritage has become fundamental for historical politics in virtually all Central and Eastern European countries after the collapse of communism. In some countries the monuments of the former regime were removed from public spaces, others - left intact. In Ukraine, the multitude of challenges in the field of nationhood, regional diversity in reclaiming of the recent past and a great presence of the Soviet heritage determined the distinct path in the development of politics of memory. The 'memory war' had broken up inside the country, dividing Ukraine into nationalistic western region and the Soviet-oriented eastern region. Still, the West via East approach simplifies the understanding of processes in the politics of memory in Ukraine. Notably, it also excludes the region of Central Ukraine from the analysis. During the events of the 1990s, the political and historical orientation of the population of central region has become a determinative factor in the modern history of Ukraine Therefore, this research explains conditions under which the Soviet heritage, specifically Lenin monuments, have been interpreted, preserved and remembered in Ukraine, namely in its central regions.