THE STRUGGLE FOR HISTORICAL MEMORY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE FORMATION OF THE NATIONAL IDENTITY OF UKRAINIANS IN BUKOVINA IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES

Abstract

The article analyzes the formation of historical memory among Ukrainians in Bukovina in the context of the emergence of national identity in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. It notes that the initial level of historical memory among Ukrainians in the region was low. Medieval ideas about ethnic affiliation prevailed, and there was no scientific knowledge about the past. However, from the middle of the 19th century, the Ukrainian national movement emerged and developed rapidly in the region. One of the foundations of this movement was the construction of the historical memory of the people, which was to ensure the formation of national identity. At the initial stage of this process, disputes with Romanian politicians and scholars who promoted the idea that Ukrainians were not an indigenous people of Bukovina were of great importance. Ukrainian public figures made considerable efforts to prove the falsity of such claims. Other erroneous views of the historical past were propagated by Muscovites, who portrayed the Rusyns of Bukovina as part of a single Russian people and closely linked the history of Bukovina with the history of Russia. However, from the mid-1880s, the dominant force among the Ukrainians of Bukovina became the Narodovtsy, who consistently refuted the theories of the Muscovites, emphasizing that Ukrainians were a separate people with their own history. The Narodovtsy paid great attention to shaping the historical memory of the local population. It is emphasized that the collection and popularization of Ukrainian folklore and oral folk art, as well as the emergence and development of new Ukrainian literature, played a significant role in this. Work on the dissemination of historical knowledge was carried out on several levels. In particular, scientific works on the history of Ukraine by well-known Ukrainian historians V. Antonovych, M. Hrushevsky, and others were popularized. For a less educated audience, small books were published, which presented knowledge about the history of Ukraine in a form accessible to ordinary people. Cultural, educational, scientific, and artistic societies played a significant role in the dissemination of historical knowledge. Active work quickly yielded positive results. Before World War I, the level of national consciousness among Ukrainians in Bukovina had grown significantly. This was manifested in the transition to the self-designation “Ukrainian” instead of “Rusyn”, in the strengthening of ties with Ukrainians in the Dnieper region and Galicia, in the widespread celebration of national holidays such as the anniversary of T. Shevchenko's birth, in the loss of popularity of Muscovite ideas about the region's past, and so on