Monuments and Place Names
Living near an imposing statue or monument, one ceases to notice it. It never impinges on one’s thoughts. It is simply there. That does not mean to say that it has no significance—a statue’s apparent invisibility is a sign that it has done its work by becoming an unchallenged part of local history.
Monuments and statues have a unique political voice. They are symbols of power and influence.
| ● | They claim those who made them were the only significant players in history. In Ukraine, the “story” told by the vast statue of Rodina Mat is that Ukraine is only significant because Russia makes her so. It is a symbol of the insignificance of the self identity and independent value of Ukraine, literally overshadowed by the might of Russia. Everybody knows that it celebrates the Russian Rodina and not the Ukrainian Rodina. |
| ● | They enforce the status quo of those who set them up—those in power then are still in power now. They are like weights on the tablecloth of Russian culture, and the Ukrainian table that holds them is not visible. The Russians want this “monumental lie” to become the background ideology of Ukraine; an unquestioned Russian view of history. |
| ● | They teach communal values—the person, event, or sentiment celebrated is intended to draw admiration and emulation. That is why Mazepa statues are hard to find in Ukraine. |
In Kyiv there was, until very recently, an enormous sculpture depicting a Ukrainian and Russian worker dynamically upholding a sign of peace and mutual affection. In the heat of the rage against the Russian invasion of 2022, this monument was smashed to bits by angry Ukrainians. Centuries of passive aggression suddenly had a focus for public expression, and there is another story around the empty plinth—Russian power is gone, and we can step into its place. Bary has torn out the Iron Wolf’s throat.
In 2015, the Ukrainian State went on an all-out counter-offensive against Soviet era statuary—a “decommunization” drive. There was a systematic targeting of Lenin statues in what was called the Leninopad or “Lenin-topple.” Lenin’s image was disfigured by having its nose cut off and statues were knocked down, relocated, or broken up for scrap.