Rafal's'kyj O. National Minorities in Ukraine in the 20th Century: Historiography

Dominant tendencies and main stages in the development of knowledge on the history of national minorities in Ukraine in the 20th century are investigated on the broad historiographic background and with the involvement of many facts. The main attention is paid to historiographic analysis of the works which were published after Ukraine achieved self-rule and state independence. The thesis contains examination of the degree of reliability and fullness with which a number of key problems are presented in literature. Among these issues are ethnonational heritage of Ukraine inherited after the period of empires, institutionalization of national minorities under Ukrainian People's Republic and Western Ukrainian People's Republic, the attitude of ethnic groups to Soviet power as well as Soviet ethnic policies during various stages of the existence of totalitarian regime. Considerable place in the research is devoted to historiography of violence against national minorities, the issues of participatio n of national minorities in the movement of resistance against Nazi and Stalin. Participation of national minorities in the struggle for Ukraine's self-rule and independence as well as shaping of legal principles of ethnonational relations to date are also presented in the research. The attention is emphasized on theoretical and methodological aspects of interethnic relations and peculiarities of legal protection of ethnic groups which are relevant to scholarship and which so far have not been spotlighted and analyzed in detail in historical and ethnological literature. A number of suggestions as to further research of the subject are presented.