TRAGEDY IN BAZAR IN THE COMMEMORATIVE PRACTICES OF THE ANTI-BOLSHEVIK INSURGENCY AND UKRAINIAN EMIGRATION IN THE 1920s–1930s

Abstract

The objective of the article is to investigate the commemorative practices related to the tragedy in Bazar in the context of the anti-Bolshevik insurgency and Ukrainian emigration of the 1920s–1930s. The methodology of the scientific research is based on the general scientific and special historical methods, taking into account the basic principles of historical world perception: historicism, scientific character, objectivity, systematic approach. The principles of historicism and scientific character have made it possible to reproduce the peculiarities of the commemorative practices associated with the tragedy in Bazar in all its complexity and diversity, interrelation and interdependence with the events of the time. The principle of objectivity is a helpful way to analyze the outlined problem with a critical survey of reference data. The principle of the systematic approach has enabled us to form a coherent picture of the manifestations of the commemorative practices in memory of the victims of the tragedy during the outlined period. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that it examines the events of November 1921 from the standpoint of the historical memory schools for the first time. A great variety of reference data has made it possible to examine the commemorative practices in the memory of the victims of the tragedy in Bazar in a short chronological period from the 1920s and during the 1930s. As a result of the study, the author concludes that the first attempts to commemorate the victims at their burial sites occurred in the early 1920s. The preservation of the memory of the tragedy in Bazar fostered the spread of anti-Bolshevik insurgencies in Zhytomyr region. As the Soviet authorities aimed to destroy the historical memory of the victims of the November 1921 execution, the attempts to preserve it through various commemorative practices were connected with the Ukrainian political emigration abroad (Poland, France, and Czechoslovakia) because the former Ukrainian military as well as the emigration government structures of the UNR were situated there. In the interwar period the commemoration of the tragedy in Bazar was embodied and reflected in the works of fine art. Furthermore, memoirs on both the Second Winter Campaign of the UNR Army and the tragedy in Bazar were published during this time.