Yaroslav Hrytsak, Victor Susak
(L’viv National University, Ukraine)
CONSTRUCTING A NATIONAL CITY: CASE OF L’VIV
One of the stories often told about the Central and Eastern Europe is an anecdote
of a person who happened to live in several different states without leaving his/her
city. This is perfectly true in the case of L’viv, the largest city in Western Ukraine,
where since 1914 political regimes have been changed for eight times 1. There are,
however, not that many persons in L’viv who could tell that anecdote as a story of
their own life. Only few local families could claim that their ancestors were living
in the city before the World War II, not to mention the World War I. Political
turnovers were accompanied by dramatic changes of the local population through
migration, repatriation, and destruction of its large segments. According to some
estimates, in a result of the World War II, L’viv has lost ca. 80 percent of its
population2. Those gaps in population were filled with newcomers, that come in
large masses from other places of the Soviet Union, and most of all (ca. 60%) 3
1
For a general history of L'viv see: L'viv. Istorychni Narysy, Jaroslaw Isajewych, Feodosij Steblij,
Mykola Lytwyn, eds., (L'viv, 1996); Leszek Podhorodecki, Dzieje Lwowa (Warszawa, 1993);
Lemberg - Lwów- Lviv. Eine Stadt im Schnittpunkt europäischer Kulturen, P. Fäßler, T. Held, D.
Sawitzki, eds.,(Köln, Weimar, Wien, 1993); Aloiz Woldan, "Lemberg - Modell einer
Multikulturellen Stadt", in: Ji. Nezalezhnyj kulturolohichnyj chasopys. Nova Jevropa. Problema
jednosti u rozmajitti? (L'viv 1998): 57-71. Rich bibliographic information may be found in: E.M.
Lazeba, T.O. Vorobjova, 700 rokiv m. L'vova: bibliohrafichnyj pokazhchyk literatury (L'viv, 1956);
Paul Robert Magocsi, Calicia: A Historical Survey and Bibliographic Guide (Toronto, Buffalo,
London, 1985); Zdzisław Budzyński, Bibliografia dziejów Rusi Czerwonej (1340-1772) (Rzeszów,
1990).
2 'Einführung', in: Peter Fäßler, Thomas Held und Dirk Sawitzki, eds., Lemberg-Lwów-Lviv, 14.
3 Dmytro Zlepko,'Aufbruch unter Blau-Gelb. Der Wandel von sowjetischen zum ukrainischen
Lemberg', in: Peter Fäßler, Thomas Held und Dirk Sawitzki, eds., Lemberg-Lwów-Lviv, 182.
from neighboring Western Ukrainian rural region. Evidently, those who survived
all these architectonic transformations, found themselves in a quite new city. Both
survivors and newcomers had to cope with different versions of the city history to
determine their own cultural identity and historical ancestry.
The salient issue was to integrate a rural population which had no strong national
myths of urban experience. It is believed that communities which have evolved a
much more complex, much richer set of myths, may withstand much greater stress
and turbulence (political, economic, social, and so on) than those with only a
relatively poor set of myths. When two such communities are engaged in a contest,
the weaker one may found that some of its members shift their allegiance, that is,
assimilate. This is especially true “when a the myth-poor community accepts that
upward mobility demands the abandonment of its culture, language and mythworld in exchange for something superior, for a better world. Essentially, this was
the aim of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe”4.
And this is exactly what did not happen in L'viv. While most of the urban
population in post-war Ukraine prefer the Soviet or Russian historical myths.5,
L'viv remains the largest Ukrainian city in Ukraine, both in its language and urban
culture. The Ukrainiain national identity in L'vivis highly correlated with the
4
George Schoepflin, 'The Functions of Myth and a Taxonomy of Myths', Geoffrey, Hosking,
George Schoepflin eds., Myths and Nationhood, (London, 1997), 22.
5 Zenon E. Kohut, 'History as a Battleground: Russian-Ukrainian Relations and Historical
Consciousness in Contemporary Ukraine', in S. Frederick Starr ( ed.), The Legacy of History in
Russia and the New States of Eurasia: The International Politics of Eurasia, Vol. 1 (Armonk, NY,
and London, 1994), 123-146; Andrew Wilson, 'The Donbass between Ukraine and Russia: The Use
of History in Political Disputes', Journal of Contemporary History, 30 (1995), 265-289; idem,
'Myths of National History in Belarus and Ukraine' , Geoffrey, Hosking, George Schoepflin eds.,
Myths and Nationhood,, 182-197.
strong anti-Soviet attitudes, in a strong contrast, say, to Donets'k, the largest city
in the Eastern Ukraine.6
The "strange politics of L'viv" has attracted a lot of scholarly attention, but most
often analysts are focusing on social and political aspects of "nationalization". 7
There is no analysis, however, of symbolic codification of contested urban space
in national terms. Those practices play a crucial role in the nationalization of urban
masses. They have been studied on numerous examples of uses of monuments,
architecture and urban planning. This following presentation seeks to take a
slightly different turn: it is going to focus on a special set of historical symbols
that are characteristic for modern urban culture. Those are street names that refer
to certain historical figures and events. They seem to be the most urban
widespread symbols, more than monuments or plaques. Willingly or not, people
are referring to them everyday by going to work, showing a direction to a
foreigner, taking a taxi, etc. They are very important - as the case of L’viv
confirms it - for a construction of an image of a national city. They could be read
as a text, or rather to say, as a popular textbook that focuses on the most glorious
and most tragic periods of a national history, presents heroes who evoke a feeling
pride for belonging to a certain national community or reminds of martyrs whose
personal sacrifice for a sake of a whole nation is worth of emulation. Paraphrasing
Ernest Rennan, they reflect a "social capital", upon which "one bases a national
6
Yaroslav Hrytsak, 'National Identities in Post-Soviet Ukraine: The Case of Lviv and Donets'k', in
Zvi Gitelman, Lubomyr Hajda, John-Paul Himka, Roman Solchanyk eds., Cultures and Nations of
Central and Eastern Europe. Essays in Honor of Roman Szproluk (=published simultaneously as
vol. 22 (1998) of Harvard Ukrainian Studies), 263-281.
7 Roman Szporluk, 'The Strange Politics of Lviv: An Essay in Search of an Explanation', in Zvi
Gitelman (ed.), The Politics of Nationality and the Erosion of the USSR, (London, 1992), 215-231;
Roman Szporluk, 'West Ukraine and West Belorussia. Historical Tradition, Social Communication,
and Linguistic Assimilation' Soviet Studies, 31, 1 (January 1979): 76-98; Martin Āberg, 'Putnam's
Social Capital Theory Goes East: A Case Study of Western Ukraine and L'viv', Europe-Asia
Studies, 52, 2 (2000): 295-317.
idea" and that is more valuable for conforming strategic ideas for the future than
common customs, posts and frontiers.8
The article focuses on the last wave of renamings of city streets that took place in
L'viv in 1990-1997. The previous waves (1871-1989) are used mainly for a
comparative context, and therefore are not studied in details. Such a focus to a
large extent was predeterminated by a state of source bases. Much of the archival
documents related to earlier periods of this story, are prerserved in the State
Archive of Lviv region (Derzhavnyj Arxiv L'vivs'koji Oblasti),, but they were currently
unavailable when the research was made (1999-2001). Therefore in some cases
real motives behind early renamings remain to be unknown, and they were
speculated by on a base of other documents.
LEMBERG / LWÓW / L'VOV / L'VIV:
SHIFTING NAMES AND IDENTITIES
Throughout its long history, L'viv has undergone deep changes in the structure of
its population. During the earliest Ruthenian/Ukrainian (1256-1340) and
throughout most of Polish (1340-1772) periods L’viv (Lwów in Polish
and
Lemberg in German and Yiddish) was inhabited simultaneously by five large
ethnic groups (Poles, Ukrainians, Germans, Jews, and Armenians), and hosted five
large denominations: Catholics, Orthodox Christians (later split into Byzantine
and Roman rites), Monophysists (Armenian Christians) and Jews. It is believed
8
Quoted after: Geoff Eley and Ronald Grigor Suny, eds., Becoming National. A Reader (New
York, Oxford, 1996), 52-53.
that no other city in medieval and early modern Polish state, and, probably, in the
whole Europe, was characterized by such an extreme multicultural diversity9.
The ethnic composition of the city has changed significantly over time. L'viv’s
first chronicler, Jozef Bartolemei Zimorovich (1597-1677), divided the city history
into three periods: "Leopolis Ruthenica" (Ruthenian/Ukrianian L'viv), "Leopolis
Germanica" (German L'viv) and "Leopolis Polonica" (Polish L'viv) depending on
what ethnic group dominated the city.10 From the Polish acquisition (1340) till
1550 the German influences were overwhelming: Germans made a majority of
burghers, and German was the only official language. A lack of religious and
juridical, and, later on, of language differences (with spread of official Latin
instead of German and Polish as lingua franca)
removed any barriers for
intermarriages inside the dominant Catholic community. It led to a gradual
cultural assimilation of Germans into the Polish "nation". Foundation of the
Ruthenian Ukrainian Greek-Catholic (1596) and the Armenian Catholic (1635)
churches that were under supremacy of the Vatican opened the way for a more
intensive Catholic/Polish assimilation of those two large groups too. Jews were the
only undigested community that challenged the Catholic domination in the city,
and by the end of the 16th century, Jews outnumbered both Ukrainians and
Armenians.
In the modern times, under the Habsburg rule (1772-1918) and in the interwar
Polish period (1919-1939) the ethnic structure of L’viv evolved in a rather stable
tripartite division among Poles (ca. 50-55%), Jews (30-35%) and Ukrainians (1520%). The World War II and its aftermath have erased the previous multiethnic
9
Myron Kapral', 'Demohrafia L'vova XV - pershoji polovyny XVI st.' in Jaroslaw Isajewych,
Feodosij Steblij, Mykola Lytwyn, eds., L'viv. Istorychni Narysy, 72.
10 J. B. Zimorowicz, Opera quibus res gestae urbis Leopolis illustrantur (Leopoli, 1899), 37.
character of the city. The German Nazi occupation (1941-1944) brought to a total
destruction of the local Jews (only some 2-3 per cent survived),11 while the Soviet
regime (1939-1941 and 1944-1991) deported Poles, repressed pre-1939 Ukrainian
elites or made them leave the city, and brought in Soviet ethnic groups (Russians,
Soviet Ukrainians and Soviet Jews, Belarusians, Moldavians, and others). L’viv
(L'vov in Russian [why here?]) became a predominantly Eastern Slavic city with
two large groups, Ukrainians and Russians (which in 1989 made respectively 79%
and 16% of the population), and all other groups made no more than 1,5 % (see
table # 1).
Other major transformations came with changes in a status of the city. Throughout
most of its history L’viv was an administrative center of a poorest and most
agriculturally overpopulated region in the Eastern Europe . The city developments
felt into a Eastern Europe pattern of “urbanization without industrialization”12.
This had, however, some advantages, while lack of industry eliminated an
excessive pressure of a large population on urban structures and preserved some
harmony between the size and the function of the city. Judging by the criteria of a
maximum use of city infrastructure for every day life needs and cultural
developments, by the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, L'viv
was a real modern city - possibly the only modern city within the realms of former
(pre-1772) Polish state.13 [this may be debatable. I do not know if Pawlowski is
11
Dieter Pohl, Nationalsozialistische Judenverfolgung in Ostgalizien 1941-1944. Organisation und
Durchführung eines staatlichen Massenverbrechens. 2 Auflage (München, 1997).
12 Patricia Herlihy, 'Ukrainian Cities in the Nineteentu Century', in: Ivan L.Rudnytsky (ed.),
Rethinking Ukrainian History (Edmonton, 1981), passim.
13 Krzysztof Pawłowski, 'Miejsce Lwowa w rozwoju urbanistyky europejskiej przełomu XIX i XX
wieku', in Bohdan Čerkes, Martin Kubelik, Elizabet Hofer eds., Arxitektura Halychyny XIX - XX
st. Vybrani materialy mizhnarodnoho symposiumu 24-27 travnia 1994 r., prysviačenoho 150 riččja
zasnuvannia Deržavnoho universytetu "L'vivs'ka Politexnika" (L'viv, 1996), 125-130; idem,
"Narodziny nowoczesnego miasta", in: Sztuka 2 poł. XIX wieku (Warszawa, 1973), 57-58, 61-68.
really an authority. And, to my view, there is no point to compare Lviv with other
“Polish” territories as they were, by definition, separated into different states that
used different administrative, economic and political measures to foster
urbanisation. It makes more sense to talk of similarity with say Prague or Zagreb.
And to conclude that in this comparison things did not look so great].
Under Habsburgs, L’viv owed its spectacular growth due to a special role of a
capital of the largest province of the Austrian Hungarian empire 14. With the fall of
the empire (1918) the city has lost its former prestige. To withstand this trend, in
the interwar period the local Polish governing elites elaborated special programs
that aimed to revive the former capital status of L’viv and its political, economic
and cultural importance in the reborn Poland 15. Not much, however, came out of it.
The only significant change was a creation (in 1930) of a “great L’viv” by
including neighboring villages in the city lines 16.
The Nazi occupation regime marked a further relegation of L’viv to a status of a
provincial city. The Soviet regime in 1946 has announced an ambitious plan to
transform L’viv into a big industrial center. Around the old city new Soviet-type
quarters were erected (so called New L’viv ) for engineers and workers who came
in large numbers to the city from outside regions in a result of a belated
industrialization.
Stanisław Hoszowski, Ekonomiczny rozwój Lwowa w latach 1772-1914. (Lwów, 1935).
Andrzej Bonusiak, 'Neidemokratyczna demokracja'. Rzecz o Lwowie w latach 1918-1934', in
Henryk W. Żaliński, Kazimierz Karolczak, eds., Lwów. Miasto. Społeczeństwo. Kultura. vol. 2.
Studia z dziejów Lwowa (Kraków, 1998), 215-234.
16 Jurij Kryvoruchko, Halyna Petryshyn, Uliana Ivanchko, 'Terytorial'nyj rozvytok L'vova kincia
XVIII - XX stolit' ', in: Mistobuduvannia ta terytorial'ne planuvannia (Kyiv, 1999), 144-152
14
15
As a city with a long history, L’viv had a rich material for a construction of several
national myths. Some earliest names of the city streets clearly evoked memories of
different ethnic groups who lived there in the past (i.e., Armenian, Jewish,
Ruthenian, Serbian streets). The historical records and oral tradition held
memories of famous Ruthenian princes, Polish kings, German burghers, Ukrainian
Cossacks, Russian tsars, and Jewish rabbis who were related to the medieval and
early modern history of the city. In the modern times, the city played a crucial role
in shaping of Polish, Ukrainian and Jewish nationalism, on one hand, and was
affected by a struggle among superpowers for a dominance in the region, on the
other. L’viv was a center of province that was regarded both by Poles and
Ukrainians as their “national Piedmonts”, while Jewish historiography presented
the city as “mother of Israel”17.
Though L’viv displayed a rich historical material, most of its elements have yet to
be selected and transformed to create a coherent image that would legitimate each
of national and political projects. The symbols which did not fit into an image had
to be downplayed or totally erased, according to the famous Renan dictum, that
"forgetting, I would even go so far to say historical error, is a crucial factor in the
creation of a nation..."18 As the story with renaming of the streets reveals it
explicitly, this was a concern of every political regime that took a control over the
city in the 19th and the 20th centuries.
NATIONALISING THE CITY:
FIRST WAVES OF RENAMING, 1870-1938
17
18
Majer Bałaban, Żydzi Lwowscy na przelomie XVI i XVII wieku (Lwów, 1909), XX.
Geoff Eley and Ronald Grigor Suny, eds., Becoming National, 45.
There are only few streets in L'viv that preserved their original name since the
XIX century.19 Most of them changed with an every turn of power. This process
was triggered - although not introduced - by the first Austrian bureaucrats who
came in large numbers to the city after the Habsburg annexation of L'viv and
Galicia (1772). In 1772-1825 they started a large scale reconstruction of the city
by building a large modern center outside medieval fortifications. It was carried
according to a general principle of modern European urban planning which was
“to have enough of streets”. The local situation had, however, some peculiarities:
a reconstruction of L’viv was introduced much earlier than in Vienna (1857) or
Prague (1870)20. A plausible explanation is that the first Austrian bureaucrats,
mostly Germans or Germanized Czechs, wanted to create a nice and modern city
compensating a necessity for being far away from Vienna 21. [Another could be that
they simply were true Josephinians who came to civilise this land]
For many bureaucrats who were coming to L’viv the new acquired land looked
like a “half-Asia”. They charged local Polish nobility with a direct responsibility
for low economic, political and cultural standards of Galicia and considered their
mission “to reeducate Sarmatian [Polish nobles] beasts into human beings” 22. An
implementation of these principles led to a slow Germanization of the city. By
1830s, for a German traveler, L’viv had a total German appearance, and looked
like Magdeburg, Nürnberg, or Frankfurt-an-Main. Its “Germanness” stemmed not
only from the Magdeburg planning of the old city, but from a feeling of being
See: Dovidnyk perejmuvan' vulyc' ta plošč L'vova (L'viv, 1971).
Mykola Bevz, 'Urbanistychni transformaciji central'noji chastyny mista L'vova u XIX - XX st.' in:
Arxitektura Halychyny XIX - XX st., 53, 69.
21 Olgierd Czerner, 'Przekkształcenia architektoniczne Lwowa w latach 1772-1848', in Bohdan
Čerkes, Martin Kubelik, Elizabet Hofer eds., Arxitektura Halychyny XIX-XX st., 79.
22 Quoted after: Vadym Adadurov, 'L'viv u napoleonivs'ku epokhu', in: Marjan Mudryj (ed.), L'viv:
misto-suspil'stvo-kul'tura. Zbrinyk naukovykh prats', vol. 3, (L'viv, 1999), 212.
19
20
protected by a just government, from a flawless order, and, last but not a least,
from German-like café-houses23.
This German character of the city, however, was not reflected in name of its streets
[but they were names IN German!]. New streets have gotten strict technical
names: Untere Strasse, Holz Platz, Neue Strasse, Theater Gasse, Herrn Gasse,
Wall Gasse, Zeughasse Gasse24. There were, however, few exceptions, that
referred directly to the Austrian rule. In 1821 an old fortification trench on an
order of the Governor-counselor Reizenheim was covered and turned into a
promenade.
Accordingly
the
promenade
was
called
Reizenheimowka
/Reizenheimiwka.. Later it was renamed into Governor bulwarks while a Governor
office was build there25. Naturally, there were also some names related to the
ruling dynasty (Ferdinands Platz)26. None of those names, however, evoked a
memory of the past German period in L’viv to legitimize rights of Habsburgs to
govern the new acquired land [did the Austrians feel the need to legitimise
anything? I think for them it was enough that they came to “educate the beasts into
humans”]. Austrian bureaucrats tried to impose a loyalty to the ruling house not a
loyalty to a nation. In any case, both the ruling dynasty and state clerks were
concerned with the present rather than with the past.
Despite their intentions, they provoked a rise of local nationalisms. The Polish
elites felt threaten by the growing Germanization of the city. By the middle of the
23
J.G. Kohl, Reisen im Inneren vom Rußland und Polen. Die Bukovina. Galizien. Mähren.
(Drezden, Leipzig, 1841). Vol. 3, 88, 103-105; Myxajlo Kril', 'L'viv u opysax inozemciv (kinec'
XVIII - perša polovyna XIX st.),' in L'viv: misto-suspil'stvo-kul'tura, 300.
24 See: 'Stadtplan von Lemberg, um 1850', in: Rudolf A. Mark, Galizien unter Östereichischer
Herrschaft. Verwaltung-Kirche-Bevölkerung (Marburg, 1994), 106-107.
25 Mykola Bevz,'Urbanistychni transformatsiji...', 51, 57.
26 Stadtplan von Lemberg, um 1850, 106-107.
19th century the L’viv high society were divided into “party of Schiller” and
“party of Mickiewicz” (i.e., the German and Polish parties, after names of the
poets who symbolized cultural achievements of each nation [redundant?]). The
Polish nationalism did not limited itself to the cultural activity. Actually, for the
Polish aristocracy, politics came first. It had a clear political aim which was a
restoration of the Rzecz Pospolita in its old (pre-1772) borders. During major
international political upheavals – Napoleon offensive in 1809 and the revolution
of 1848 – Polish nationalists tried to install their military control over the city. The
failure of the national insurrections both in Austrian and Russian empires finally
made them to compromise with Habsburgs. The Austrian government in 1860s
[not earlier?] was also inclined to come to terms with Polish elites, while it was
weakened by a series of military defeats and by inner tensions in the multinational
empire. Introduction of self-autonomy in 1860s and Polonization of the province
became the sine qua non of Polish elites' loyalty to Habsburgs. According to their
plans, L’viv was supposed to become of a leading center of Polish national revival
for all three lands (Austrian, Prussian, and Russian) of the partitioned Poland. The
Polish image of the city on the eve of the World War I manifested itself on
different levels, from a dominance of Polish elites in the local administration to
Polish names of the streets.
The endowing of the city streets with Polish names went through the several
stages. The first one has started on the next year after the reintroduction of the city
self-government in 1870. It has revealed several patterns that would be
characteristic for all later waves of Polish renaming. First of all, there was a clear
preference for the modern rather than ancient national heroes and cultural figures
(i.e., those that were connected with the post-1772 history: Kosciuszki street,
Miczkewicza street, Kilinskiego street and others). Secondly, there were a lot of
names that referred directly to the city history (Lwa street [this as POLISH
name?], Kazimierzowska, street, “Zimorowicza street, Fredry street, et al.)27. Both
tendencies may be interpreted as deliberate efforts to refer to those historical
symbols that might have a stronger impact because they were either relatively
“fresh” or directly connected to the local history. [Not sure about deliberate efforts
here. They might have simply be local patriots of Polish origin who might have
chosen these names because they appealed to their own local sentiments. Hence
maybe no nationalism or construction involved in this particular case] Another
tendency was a reiteration of the most famous names – they were three streets that
were related to the memory of Polish king Jan III Sobieski (Sobieskego street,
Sobieszczyzna street, Króla Jana III street) or a street and a square was named
after the famous Polish revolutionary Józef Bem.
The rebirth of the Polish state in 1919 did not bring any significant changes in the
patterns of renaming. The only major difference was an increase of the number of
streets (from 120 to 1000) that came as a realization of the “big L’viv” plan28. It
implied, among others, that a larger pool of names could be used and, by
definition, a more intensified Polish image of the city could be drawn. Especially
worth mentioning is a high frequency of names related to the recent Polish military
strivings (1914-1919), especially to the Polish victory in the Polish-Ukrainian war
(1918-1919) for a control over L’viv (Dzieci Lwowa, Legionów, Aleja Focha,
Hallera, Hallerczyków, Orląt, Obrony Lwowa, Obrońców Lwowa, Obrony
27
See: Dovidnyk perejmuvan' , passim.
Plan miasta Lwowa. Verzeichnis der Strassen, Plätze und Gärten von Lemberg. (Lwów,1916);
Skorowidz ulic Wielkiego Lwowa wraz z Przewodnikiem orientacyjnym (Lwów, 1938).
28
dworca). Naturally, the Polish names clearly dominated both in the center and in
the outskirts of the city.29
Ethnic minorities were strongly underrepresented. There were 6 streets that carried
Jewish names. Four of them were of assimilated Jews who contributed to modern
Polish politics (Dr. Emila Byka, Mojzesza Beisera, Hermana Diamanda, Maurycia
Rappaporta). Another street was named after the rabbi of the first reformed
synagogue in L’viv, who was killed by a fanatic Orthodox Jew (Rabina Kohna).
There was only one street that referred to the Orthodox Jews, who made a majority
in a local Jewish community (Starozakonna). And significantly, there was no
Zionist name, though L’viv was one of the first strongholds of Zionist
organizations30. The Jewish names (with the only exception of Diamand) were
given to the streets in the Jewish part of the city -- still, they made a minority even
there.
The number of Ukrainian names was slightly higher (Iwana Franki, Iwana
Kotliarewskego, Mykoly Lysenki, Iwana Mazepy, Petra Mohyly, Ostrogskich
Książąt, Ogonowskiego, Hetmana Sahajdacznego, Denysa Szaraniewicza,
Markijana Szaszkevicza, Tarasa Szewczenki, Szewczenki Boczna, Iwana
Wagilewicza, Wernyhory). Most of them were Ukrainian national builders and
their names attained a special meaning as symbols of the Ukrainian national
29
The Polish image of the city was supposed to be reinforced in a wake of the new mass renamings
that was scheduled in a commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Polish republic. The project was
elaborated in 1938, and had to be implemented on November 15, 1939. The World War II has put
an end to this plan ('Dovidka redaktsiji', Halyts'ka brama, Traven'-cherven'-lypen' 1995, 15).
30 For details see: Ezra Mendelson, Jewish Assimilation in L'viv: The Case of Wilhelm Feldman',
Andrei S. Markovits, Frank E. Sysyn eds., Nationbuilding and the Politics of Nationalism. Essays
on Austrian Galicia (Cambridge, Mass, 1989) 94-110; Leila P. Everett, 'The Rise of Jewish
National Politics in Galicia, 1905-1907', idem, 149-177; Jerzy Holzer, '"Vom Orient die Fantasie,
und in der Brust der Slawen Feuer..." Jüdishes Leben und Akkulturation im Lemberg des 19. und
20. Jahrhunderts' in: P. Fäßler, T. Held, D. Sawitzki, eds., Lemberg - Lwów- Lviv..., 75-91.
revival. Some of them (like a name of a fictitious Ukrainian Cossack Wernyhora31
or Ukrainian writer of a Polonophile orientation Ivan Wagilewicz) implied a
reference to a participation of some Ukrainians in Polish national strivings. Even
though the number of streets with Ukrainian names has increased (from 5 in 1916
to 13 in 1938), their ratio declined from 4,5% to 1,3%.
32
. Besides that, the
“Ukrainian” streets were placed outside of the center, in non-prestigious districts.33
In short, it clearly indicated a status of Ukrainians as a subordinated national
minority.
The existence of the “Jewish” and “Ukrainian” streets was a result of more or less
pre-1939 liberal political regimes that guaranteed some cultural rights for national
minorities. At least there were some legal practices that allowed their leaders to
apply to the city power to grant “national” names for some of the streets. Both the
Soviet and Nazi regimes have canceled even those limited practices. Starting from
the Soviet (1939) and the Nazi (1941) occupation, the new names were given
strictly under a command of new authorities. During the German occupation the
number of streets with the Polish names was severely reduced. They were
changed, however, not into German names, but rather into neutral Alleenstraße,
Dichterstraße, Hauptstrßae, Parkstraße The only significant exception referred to
Adolf Hitlerring that was given to the central promenade in the city. The number
of Ukrainian names was reduced first to six (Frankistrasse, Lysenkistrasse,
Stanisław Makowski, 'Musij Wernyhora i jego proroctwa w świetle badań polskich i ukraińskich',
in Jaroslav Isayevych, Jaroslav Hrycak eds., Druhyj Mizhnarodnyj konhres ukrajinistiv. L'viv, 22-28
serpnia. Dopovidi i povidomlennia. Istorija. Ch. 1 (L'viv, 1994), 154-161.
32 Plan miasta Lwowa..; Skorowidz ulic ...
33 The name of Taras Shevchenko, who became a central symbol of Ukrainian national strivings,
was given to a street in outskirt generally referred as to "Muddy street" (Bolotna). The Polish city
administration, however, turned down a petition of the Ukrianian Ševčenko Scientific Society to
gave this name to a central square where a headquarter of this institution was situated (Myxajlo
Hrushevs'kyj, 'Ulycia Shevchenka u L'vovi', Literaturno-Naukovyj Vistnyk 10, 4 (1900), 200-202.
31
Ogonowskiegostrasse,
Wagilewitschastrasse)
Scharaniewiczastrasse,
and
then
to
four
Schewtshcenkistrasse,
(Frankistrasse,
Lysenkistrasse,
Ogonowskiegostrasse, Scharaniewiczastrasse). In any case, they could not match
the numbers of the of Polish names left (56). Surprisingly enough [Ironically
enough?], few Jew names were preserved too (Rapoportstraße, Diamandstraße,
Starozakonna). Though, judging by new street names, the image of L’viv as of a
Polish city was undermined, the city did not get neither German, nor Ukrainian
appearance34.
MAKING OF THE SOVIET UKRAINIAN CITY, 1939-1989
The image of L’viv as an Ukrainian city was introduced by the Soviet rule. This
statement requires, however, many qualifications. Throughout 1939-1941 and
1944-1990, the process was conducted with different intensity. During the first
Soviet occupation (1939-1941) the renaming did not have a mass character. There
were only 39 out of 1000 streets and squares renamed, and all of them were in the
central part of L’viv.35 In a contrast, in 1944-1969 there were 1042 streets (85%)
renamed, and they covered all the city.36 During all the subsequent waves of Soviet
renaimings, Ukrainian names never did made the largest part. During the first
wave (1939-1941) among the 36 new street names 37, only 5 (14%) referred to the
Ukrainian history38. By 1969, they made 20 per cent. In both pre-war and post-war
34
Verzeichness der Straßen, Gassen und Plätze nach dem Stande der Umbenennungen vom Mai
1942; Alphabetische Strassenverzeichnis des Standortes "Lemberg-Mitte" der NSDAP. Lemberg,
im Dezember 1943 (Derzhavnyj Arxiv L'vivs'koji Oblasti ,F - R-35, o 9, od. zb.693, 2-11).
35 Derzhavnyj Arxiv L'vivs'koji Oblasti, F - R-6, o 1, od. zb. 2a, 18; F - R-100, o 1, od. zb. 9, 29,
30.
36 Dovidnyk..., passim. The Soviet renamings did not stop after 1969, but a lack of a systematic list
does not allow to evaluate their exact number.
37 In 1939-1941, several old streets were combined into larger units, therefore numbers of the old
and new streets did not correspond to each other.
38 Deržavnyj Arxiv L'vivs'koji Oblasti, F - R-6, o 1, od. zb. 2a, 18; F - R-100, o 1, od. zb. 9, 29, 30.
ranamings, the largest group among historical names refered strictly to the Soviet
history. (31 % in 1941 and 24 % in 1969). The dominant groups of Soviet and
Ukrainian names were followed by a pool of Russian (10%) and other (3%)
names. The Soviet image of L'viv were even more pronounced if one takes into an
account other, non-historical, street names. A major group (13%) was the one that
refered to geography -- but without a single exception, it was the geography of the
Soviet Union (including the Soviet Ukraine) and communist Eastern and Central
Europe. There was also a group of names (5%) that reflected a new, industrial
character of the city, and so implicitly reinforced the Soviet image.
Concerning Ukrainian names, they too? were carefully selected and arranged. In
that way on the Soviet maps of L'viv there appeared street with names of 17th
century Ukrainian Cossack leaders who fought against Poles for - allegedly (re)union with Russians (Bohun, Xmelnyc'kyj), of Ukrainian writers who either
contributed to the Russian culture (Hohol, Korolenko) or who were known for
their sympathy for socialism(Lesia Ukrajina, Franko, Kobylians’ka), etc. Any
name from the Ukrainian history that, however, hinted an overt anti-Russian or
anti-Soviet attitudes, was excluded. In that way there disappeared a name of
Ukrainian cossack leader Ivan Mazepa, a symbol of Ukrainian separatism from
Russia, or local XIX century Ukrainian intellectuals Izudor Sharanevych and
Omelian Ohonowskyj, known for their conservative and nationalist views.
To be sure, the practices of exclusion created certain problems for the Soviet
authorities. Say since?, they badly needed symbols that could embody indigenous
roots of their regime. And, as a matter of fact, the Western Ukraine history could
provide some names of local Marxist and communist leaders, e.g, of Western
Ukrainian Comnunist Party (KPZU). The problem was, however, that these leaders
did not fit into the Soviet paradigm. Most of them were accused of nationalist
deviations, and the party was disbanded in 1938 by Stalin. Therefore in the Soviet
L'viv there was no street of square named after them. Instead of that there were
used names of several second rank-and-file members (Kocko), of a non-affiliated
worker who felt a victim of the Polish repressions (Kozak), or of some fictitious
pro-Communist clandestine organizations conjured up by the Soviet propaganda
(Narodna hvardija im. Ivana Franka).
One Ukrainian name, however, was extremely celebrated. This was a name of Ivan
Franko (1856-1916), a Ukrainian writer and political activist, who in his youth
was an organizer of the first Galician socialist organization and was first to
translate Marx into Ukrainian. There were a street, a square, the L’viv university,
the L’viv opera house and a central park named after him, and a huge monument
in 1960-s was erected in the central part of the city. His grave of the Lychakiv
cemetery originally served as a place for the first Soviet meetings. Franko
allegedly fitted perfectly [either allegedly or perfectly: “seemed to have fitted
perfectly”?] to the Soviet paradigm: he was born in Galicia, he spent most of his
life in the city, suffered political repression from Austrian and Polish authorities,
and displayed pro-socialist and pro-Russian sympathies. The irony was that in a
more intellectually mature period of his life he turned into a harsh critic of
Marxism and became one of the first proponents of Ukrainian political
independence.39 This part of his life, however, was strictly silenced by the Soviet
regime.
39
Yaroslav Hrytsak, 'A Ukrainian Answer to the Galician Ethnic Triangle: The Case of Ivan
Franko', in Israel Bartal and Antony Polonsky, eds., Polin. Studies in Polish Jewry. Vol. 12.
Focusing on Galicia: Jews, Poles, and Ukrainians 1772-1918. (London, Portland, Oregon, 1999),
137-146.
Another part of Soviet manipulations were obliterations of memories of the preSoviet L’viv. It has affected first of all the streets with Polish names. Their
number was reduced to a minimum. The few ones preserved ( Kopernik,
Mickiewicz, Kosciuszko, Slowacki), and few ones introduced (Banach and BoyZelinski, professors of the L’viv university), hold some memories of the Polish
population that lived here. But seen otherwise, those names could be regarded as a
part of the Soviet historical pantheon, which included "progressive" figures from
different national cultures and fitted into an image of the Soviet multiethnic
nation. There was a total obliteration, however, of the old Jewish names, as if
there were no Jews in L'viv before 1939. But while streets with Jewish names even
before 1939 made a minor group, their dissapearence has not contributed to an
erasure of pre-Soviet image of L'viv to a degree, comparable to the case of Polish
names. [not clear]
A combination of dominant Soviet and Ukrainian symbols was aimed to create a
Soviet Ukrainian image of the city [was it successfu?]. This was a part of a larger
project to create a political Soviet nation. Besides Russians, Ukrainians became
the prime targets of molding a single Soviet people. These politics were willing to
tolerate some distinctive features of each group (say, as reflected in folklore) as
long as they did not imply national differences. While historical memory plays a
crucial role in shaping national identities, those manipulations were most visible in
the realm of history.40
NEW UKRAINIAN IMAGE OF L'VIV,1990-1997
40
Roman Solchanyk, 'Molding "the Soviet People": The Role of Ukraine and Belorussia', Journal of
Ukrainian Studies, 1 (Summer 1983): 3-18.
This project [which?] had some success in different regions of Ukraine, as it was
witnessed by the post-Soviet developments. But it proved to be a total failure in
the case of L'viv.The erasure of the Soviet image of the city started here already by
the last months of the Soviet regime. The first free elections in the Soviet Union
(March 1990) has brought to power in L’viv the first (in terms of all Ukraine) nonCommunist local government, both on city and regional levels. A statement of the
first session of the L'viv regional council, which elected the leading Soviet
Ukranian dissident Viacheslav Chornovil, described the L'viv region as an 'island
of freedom' which intends to 'end the totalitarian system'. The issue of a
replacement of Soviet with Ukrainian national symbols became a primary cocnern
for newly elected power. Suffice it to say, that L'viv was the first city in the
Sovitet Union that removed the momument fo Lenin (September 1990) and the
first city in the Soviet Ukraine that introduced the Ukrainian national anthem and
flag.41
[The below section seems too detailed, in comparison with your discussion on the
previous renamings. Pls explain why this is the case]
Within the Lviv city council there was founded a Committee for national and
cultural revival. Among its first initiatives were renaming of the city streets. The
committee head, Yaroslav Svatko, has addressed director of the Lviv Central
Historical Archive Orest Maciuk to make an expert group for an elaboration of
proposals. The group was made of six perons - Orest Maciuk, Ivan Svarnyk,
Andrij Dorosh, Roman Krypiakevych, Volodymyr Vujcyk, Bohdan Yakymovych.
Most of them were professionally trained historians. The only exception was
41
Taras Kuzio and Andrew Wilson, Ukraine: Perestroika to Independence. Edmonton, Toronto
(Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press), 1994, p. 127.
Roman Krypiakevych, a specialist in technical sciences. But as a son of famous
Lviv Ukrainin historian Ivan Krypiakevych, he owned an archival collection of his
father that among other has files on history of L'viv streets. In a sense, the group
reflected a dramatic history of the intellectual life in Lviv. Krypiakevych and
Dorosh were two only members who were second generation of Lviv-born
intellectuals. Families of the four others came from the outside, including (as in
case with Svarnyk) Eastern Ukraine. Because of their engagement with Ukrainian
history, they have been victimized in their academic careers by the Soviet regime.
Orest Maciuk was prohibited to defend his dissertation, and Volodymyr Vujcyk's
book has been expelled from a wide ciruclation because their findings ran against
the Soviet scheme of the Ukrainian history. Ivan Roman? Krypiakevych was
harassed several times because his involment in cultural activities and finally has
lost his job in an academic institute. Ivan Svarnyk as a student was expelled from
the L'viv University in 1970s for reading and discussing allegedly anti-Soviet
literature (this had been works of Myxailo Hrushevskyj, the dean of modern
Ukrainian historiography, a head of Ukrainian National Republic in 1917, and a
Soviet academic in 1920-early 1930s). This punishment was shared by Maryana
Dolynska, who were student of the same year at the Lviv University, and who in
1991-1993 has replaced Svatko as a head of the city Committee for national and
cultural revival.
Both Svatko and Dolynska attended meetings of the group, serving as a liason
between the experts and the city council. Each expert was preparing his own
suggestions as to new names of streets. These suggestions were discussed on a
regular monthly meetings of the group, and after a common consensus has been
reached, they were transfered to the city council. With a few exceptions, there
were no expicit tensions neither within the group, nor between the group and the
council. The experts, however, felt a constant pressure "from below", both from
civic organizations and individuals who were insisting on commemorating some
names (most often, the names of their leaders or, respectively, relatives). None of
the experts was ever paid for his work, and that fact was considered by them as
expression of their both civic responsibility and an intellectual independence.
The expert group has worked for seven years (1990-1997) and has submitted 550
proposals.42. At the very beginning the work proceeded somewhat chaotically. But
soon enough the expert elaborated several general principles
43
. Some of them
were of a non-politiical nature: names could not be repeated (to avoid
complications for post-office or taxi-service ), or refer to living persons 44. The
other principles were, however, dictated by ideological considerations. The main
aim was to remove names that made a Soviet image of the city. The replacements
were made according to some priorities. First of all, the experts sought to restore
historical names of the city. In some cases the restoration required to disentengle
large Soviet constructed streets into original pre-1939 smaller streets. Secondly,
the new names had to reflect the Ukrainian character of the city. Non-Ukrainian
names were accepted as far their bearers had a direct relation to the city history,
and/or were widely known beyond L'viv -- but on a condition that a
commemoration of these names did not harm a national pride of Ukrainians. A
choice of a name had to reflect historical reality: a street had to memorate a person
who lived there. While selecting names from suggested pools, the expert group
took also into a consideration a prestigious or non-prestigious character of the
42
The list of proposals is preserved in personal archives of Orest Maciuk and Ivan Svarnyk.
Interview with Ivan Svarnyk, L'viv, January 29, 1999.
44 For that reason, the name after the first woman cosmonaut Valentyna Tereshkova was removed
from one of the Lviv street, and shortly afterwards, a local newspaper responded to this renaming
with a article under a telling title: "We wish Valentyna Tereshkova a long life!"
43
street. The presumption was that a name of a major importance could not be given
to a street that was removed far from the city center or was in a dire condition.
And finally, there was a "clandestine" principle to leave some names of streets
unchanged, for a commemoration of contemporary politicians, intellectuals etc.
after their deaths.45 [interesting point]
For a study of the ranaming those were not just the rules, but frequent exceptions
that made a special interest. As to repeated names, they were preserved in cases
of Taras Shevchenko and Ivan Franko, the most famous Ukrainian national
figures, and of Danylo Halyts'kyj, a Ruthenian-Ukrainian prince who has allegedly
founded the city. The Franko street made an exception in another way: though it
was a large Soviet street made from original smaller streets, the expert group has
left it intact. All mentioned streets broke another principle: neither of them had
historical (i.e., pre-Soviet) names, and as such they were subjects to changes. It
was even more so with Lesia Ukrajinka street --in contrast to the previous streets,
it is placed within the oldest historical part of the city. While Shevchenko, Franko
and Lesia Ukrajinka are the main figures of Ukrainian national pantheon,
46
their
names were preserved, even though it violated several basic principles elaborated
by the expert group.
Another interesting case was that one of the Soviet marshal Konev, who has
captured the city from Nazis in Summer of 1944. He has rendered a tremendous
service to the city while due to his tactical maneuvre he has saved L'viv from a
war destruction. In the Soviet times, his name was given to one of the finest streets
45
A. Dorosh,'Zminysh im'ja - zminysh doliu', Halyts'ka brama, traven'-červen'-lypen' 1995, 15;
Inteview with Mariana Dolyns|ka; Inerview with Ivan Svarnyk.
46 See: Hryhorij Hrabovych, "Kobzar. Kameniar. Dochka Prometeja", Krytyka. Vol. III, No 12 (26)
(December 1999), pp. 16-19.
in the central part of the city. The expert group decided, however, to eliminate his
name, while he was allegedly responsible for mass human losses amon Galician
Ukrainians that were drafted to the Soviet Army at the final stage of the war 47.
The general idea was not just to create a Ukrainian image of the city, but to
promote a national version of Ukrainian historical memory as well. Preferences
were made to names of Ukrainian historical figures that were totally silenced
during the Soviet period. These names were chosen for the central and most
populated streets with an intensive transport communication (Ivan Mazepa, Petro
Doroshenko, Myxajlo Hrushevs’kyj48, Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Symon Petliura,
Stepan Bandera, and others). Another principle was to cover certain quarters with
set of names represented a separate chapter of the Ukrainian national history. Two
large neighboring streets were given names of the Kiyv Princes, "Baptizers of
Rus'--Ukraine", Ol’ha and Volodymyr; another quarter that is covered by the
names of the Ukrainian nationalist leaders in 1920-1940s, Jevhen Konovalets'–
Andrij Mel’nyk – Stepan Bandera – Roman Shukhevych). The center of the city
was turned in a symbol of unification of all Ukrainian lands in their striving for
national liberation (so called sobornist, one of the central idea of Ukranian
nationalism). The main quare (former Hitlerring and Lenin square) was named
Liberty square (prospekt Svobody) and has a monumentum of Shevchenko in the
center and a statue of Liberty, facing from a roof of large adjacing building (a
subject of pride for many Lvivites, while L'viv was allegedly the only Soviet city
that had its own statue of Liberty). This "liberty-Shevchenko" link is reinforced in
another way, while the Liberty square is neighbouring with the Shevchenko
47
A. Dorosh,'Zminysh im'ja - zminysh doliu', Halyts'ka brama, traven'-červen'-lypen' 1995, 15;
Inteview with Mariana Dolyns|ka; Inerview with Ivan Svarnyk.
48 Myxaila Hruševs'koho street was introduced by a decision of a city council in 1990, before the
expert group started to work. Idem.
square. Two ends of the Shevchenko square are connected respectively with streets
of Mykhajlo Drahomanov and Mykhajlo Hrushevs'kyj, two Eastern Ukrainian
intellectuals who had made a major contribution into Ukrainization of Galician
Ruthenians under Austrian Empire. The link between the Shevchenko square and
the Hrushevs'kyj street is marked by a huge monument to Hrushevs'kyj, as alleged
"first president of independent Ukrainian state" (which he never really was, while
the first Ukrainian independent state -- Ukrainian National Republic -- in 1918
was a parlamentary republic, and Hrushevs'kyj was a head of the parliament).
Three other adjacent streets have names of "presidents" of regional Western
Ukrainian Ukrainian states -- Avhustyn Voloshyn ( Transcarpathia), Yevhen
Popovych (Bukovyna), and Kost Levyts'kyj (Galicia). And another square,
neighboring to both Liberty and Shevchenko square, bears a name of
a
(national)Unity (Soborna Ploshcha). 49
Among all Ukrainian names, a majority refers to the modern Ukrainian history of
the XIX and XX centuries. The pre-modern national history is featured by the old
Rus' (14 names) and Cossack (32 names) history, i.e., by the periods, when
Ukrainians, according to the national paradigm of their history, either have their
own national state or fought for it. There is also a group of local historical figures
(10 names), that were born or lived in Lviv -- they were chosen to symbolize the
Ukrainian character of the city in mediaeval and early modern times. The selection
of modern names is organized along the same lines. The XIX century was
presented exclusively by activists of the Ukrainian national revival. This group is
divided in two more or less equal parts of Galicianers and non-Galicianers
[Galicians. “Galicianer” is a pejorative for Galician Jew!] (58 to 67) thus
signifying a significant input of L'viv and Galicia in modern Ukrainian nation49
Interiew with Bohdan Yakymovych.
building. The largest number (202) refers to the XX century and is dominated by
leaders and activists of Ukrainian nationalism. And again, the history of the
Ukrainian nationalism became a subject of a selection. Some important
representatives of a liberal (Milena Rudnyts'ka), social democratic (Volodymyr
Starosol'skyi) or non-Soviet communist (Roman Rozdol'skyj) trends were omitted,
while the militant nationalistic trend was presented in much larger numbers and
with much more minor figures.
The focus on the latter trend evoked serious tensions between the local and central
authorities, both in the Soviet Union and in the independent Ukraine. Suffice it to
say, that in December 1990 and June 1991, in Western Ukraine three nationalist
monuments to Yevhen Konovalets and Stepan Bandera, leaders of Organization of
Ukriainian Nationalists, and to the SS Gaicia Division (a Ukrainian force that was
trained by the Nazi Germans) were blown up, allegedly by the same KGB antiterrorist unit that was used in the Vilnius in January 1991. 50 While in Western
Ukraine the nationist figures are considered as central historical symbols of
Ukrainian movement for national independence, in Eastern Ukraine even after
1991 they are treated by many as Nazi collaborators. The expert group suggested
to rename a large street -- the one that lead from the central railway station -- after
Stepan Bandera. The idea was that every guest arriving from L'viv and taking a
tram to the city center, at one of the first stop would hear an announcement of
Bandera street. This suggestion was considered unpropriate. even by Viacheslav
Chornovil, himself born in Eastern Ukraine,
He has tried to persuade Orest
Maciuk to postpone this renaming suggesting that " [all other] Ukraine will not
understand us". The decision was postponed for several years, and this name was
introduced during one of the last wave of renamings. Still, there were a lot of
50
Taras Kuzio and Andrew Wilson, Ukraine... p. 155.
letters addressed from Eastern Ukraine to the Lviv city council protesting against
this renaming. 51
Another controversial issue was erasing of such highly estimated names for the
Russian speaking population as Aleksander Pushkin and Myxail Lermontov (as to
exacerbate the situation, the latter was replaced by the name of the fallen Chechen
leader Dzhokhar Dudaev). Both renamings were made by the city council, without
a consent of the experts; they claimed a neutral position in the former and
negative position in the latter cases.52
The expert group should be given a credit for a restoration (though to the limited
extent) of the former multicultural image of the city. The city council was pressing
the expert group to reduce a percentage of Russian names, but to no avail. 53 As a
result, the largest non-Ukrainian group is still made by Russian names though
their number has been significantly decreased (from 85 in 1986 to 33 in 1997).
Among those preserved an absolute majority is presented by pre-Soviet names
(Aleksaner Herzen, Ivan Turgeniev, Leva Tolstoy, Volodymyr Korolenko, Ivan
Pavlov and others). There is only one new name that refers to the post-1917
Russian history -- the Andrej Saxarov street, that was renamed immidiately after
his death. The Russian group is followed by a Polish pool. In a contrast to the
Russian case, it has even been slightly increased (from 9 in 1986 to 17 in 1997)
due to a limited restoration of some pre-1939 names.
Another telling example of a reconstruction of the multicutlural historical heritage
was a return of three old Jewish names (Starojevrejs'ka, Diamanda, Rapoporta),
51
Interview with Ivan Svarnyk;Interview with Mariana Dolyn'ska.
Interview with Bohdan Yakymovych.
53 Interview with Mariana Dolyn'ska.
52
that were obliterated by Soviets, and adding two new ones (Meyer Balaban and
Sholom-Alejkhem). As to the Starojevrejs'ka (Old Jewish), there was a lot of
discussion which form of the name to choose. In the local Galician (Ukrainian,
Polish, and German) tradition, the name of Jews was pronounced as "Zhydy"
(Żydzi,
Juden), while in the Russian [and contemporary Ukrainian, sadly]
language (and in the Soviet practices) this form has a distinctive pejorative
meaning in a contrast to a neutral "Jevrei". There was a long discussion among the
experts which form to choose: some were for a restoration of the original historical
name (Starozhydivs'ka), while Matsiuk insisted to modify it in Starojevrejs'ka, to
avoid any possible offense of Jews. Finally, his suggestion has won. 54
In a final result, among all the L'viv streets that have historical names (410 in
1997), mere? 20 per cent have non-Ukrainian names55. Besides Among the latter
group there streets that have names of the world famous persons. It has been
significantly reduced (from 25 to 11) by elimination those names that have been
codified by the Soviet system as precursors of the Communist ideology (e.g.,
Darwin, Marat) or were related to the Soviet history (as Afro-American singer
Paul Robson, known by his sympathy to the Soviet Union). Among new ones in
that group, curiously, there is a street named after John Lennon. It was introduced
on an initiative of local student organizations that submitted a petition signed by
several hundred L'viv inhabitants. This proposal was initially denied by a majority
of the experts, as the one that has nothing to do with either national or city history.
It was accepted only on a insistence of Ivan Svarnyk. His argumentation was
based on his own experience of the Ukrainian student dissident movement of
1970s, when John Lennon was a powerful symbol of non-conformity. After being
54
Interview with Ivan Svarnyk.
Calculated on the base: Lviv Map /L'viv. Karta- Skhema. Informacija stanom na hruden' 1997 r.
(L'viv, 1997), 2-10.
55
accepted, this case raised
protests by some
nationalistic minded former
dissidents.56
CONCLUSIONS
The whole issue of renamings was regarded by the epxert group as setting of an
exapmle to be followed later by all Ukraine. Therefore it was done "quickly,
almost without any mistakes". [maybe a critical remark here?]57 An available
material does not permit to establish to which extent the Lviv experience became
expemlary for all the post-Soviet Ukraine. Our comparison is limited, however, to
very important cases of Kyiv, capital of Ukraine, and Donets'k, the largest
industrial ubran center in the Eastern Ukraine. In Kyiv, a committee for renaming
has been formed by the last monthns of the Soviet Union, too. It has a broader
representation,
including
municipal
clerks,
architectures
and
historians.
Professional historians came forward with proposals to memorialise some of
Ukrainian national figures that were silenced during the Soviet regime. By 1997
only few proposals of that kind have been accepted, and even fewer were related
to central streets. To be sure, memory of the most notorious Soviet leaders has
been oblitaterated in Kyiv, too. Their names were replaced, however, with the ones
that refer to a local, rather than to a national history. 58 Even This was not even the
case in Donets'k, where the majority is made by Russian speaking population, who
56A.
Dorosh,'Zminysh im'ja...'; Interview with Ivan Svarnyk; Interview with Mariana Dolyns'ka.
Interview with Bohdan Yakymovych.
58 See: Kiev. Plan-sxema (Kiev, 1997); Vulytsi Kyjeva. Dovidnyk (Kyiv, 1995), 58, 59, 70, 156,
220, 239; Personal information of Dr. Ihor Hyrych.
57
tend identify themselves as "Soviets".59 All the street names of the Soviet pedigree
have been here preserved here, including those ones of Lenin, 50 years of October
(i.e., of the Soviet revolution), 50 years of the Soviet Union, et al. 60 [But why
compare with these cities? Maybe would make a better picture if one considered,
say, Poland or, maybe even more revealing would be e.g. Lithuania, Latvia or
Estonia?]
It was not hard to find a source of intellectual inspiration for the L'viv renamings:
as a member of the expert committee admitted, the city streets were thought to
become as an illustration to the Mykhailo Hrushevs'kyj scheme of Ukrainian
national history. This scheme perceives the Ukrainian past more in “ethnic”, than
in “territorial” sense61, and represents a relatively coherent narrative of a national
history than has a powerful appeal to Ukrainian speaking Ukrainians.
In historical terms, the post-Soviet renaming of the L’viv streets finds clear
parallels with some general patterns of the Polish renamings. The similarity
between "Ukrainian" L'viv of 1997 and the Polish "Lwów"of 1938 (see schemes #
2 and 3) is striking: in both cases the central part of the city is covered by an
intense network of "national" historical names. The principle "cuius regio ejus
historia" is clearly displayed here. And in both cases, the ethnic conept of a nation
prevails. Historical figures and symbols of other groups were permitted to an
extent they fitted in this paradigm (as symbol of a political or cultural assimilation
of city ethnic minorities in the dominant group), or, if they were not, they were
59
Yaroslav Hrytsak, 'National Identities in Post-Soviet Ukraine...'266-267.
See: Donetsk. 2000. Biznes-skhema. (N.p., n.d. [Donesk, 2000]).
61 We are referring here to a distinction between an "ethnic" and a "political" concepts of a nation
that became quite widespread in the contemporary literature on nationalism. See: See, e.g., Anthony
D. Smith, National Identity (Reno, Las Vegas, London, 1991), 12, 80,149-150.
60
relegated to a second-rank status. Surprisingly as it may sounds, the two the most
repressive regimes -- Nazi and Soviet -- were more inclusive in those terms. But in
the latter cases the local history became an object of more manipulations and
silencing, then it was during different waves of the Polish and Ukrainian
renamings.
The Polish and Ukrainian "nationalizing" projects are very alike to each other in
another way: they represent some similar mental structures while dealing with the
past. In both cases the historical symbols and figures of modern period (XIX-XX
centuries) clearly dominate over those from earlier times. The most famous
national names are reiterated on the city map to reinforce an image of a "national"
city. Such manipulations quite often were done on a price of sacrificing local
history, especially that one of pre-XIX century. This is quite understandable given
to the fact that the "pre-national" local history reflect an exltremely multicultural
character of the city, and, by definition, could not be succesfully integrated into a
paradigm of a national history. While none of experts ever refered to the Polish
example, it is hard to judge whether in the Ukrianian case we are dealing here with
borrowing and inheriting intellectual schemes of Polish nationalism, 62 or the
similarity between the two projects just reflects a common sense of any
nationalizing scheme.
One can not oversee, however, some internal weaknesses of the Ukrainian project.
Nationalization of masses in urban space requires some some balance between
tradition and modernity. "The politcal pedagogy of form sought to couple two
different aspects: the pround search for a founding myth of the national reality,
62
On influences of Polish nationalism on Ukrainian nationalism see: Roman Szporluk, 'Ukraine:
From an Imperial Periphery to a Sovereign State', Daedalus, Journal of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, the issue entitled "A New Europe for the Old?" 126, 3 (Summer 1997) passim.
fixed in the past, anchored to the past, nurtured by the past, and the eqully proud
affirmation of the new modernity [...]"63 None of these two were succesfully
completed. When it comes to the tradition, there are evident gaps in representation
of some periods and names. But a much more important failure deals with the
modernity. In a local Ukrainian newspaper there were angry voices raised that “the
renaming of the streets ... was a brilliant evidence of a poor capacities of
Ukrainian intelligentsia
to govern efficiently the city, not to mention the
[Ukrainian] state”64 The implication is that instead of promoting economic reforms
that could serve as a model for all of Ukraine, the city government was
preoccupied with a restoration of historical memory. The present-day city mayor
Vasyl' Kuibida, and his team, made mostly of younger and reform-minded persons,
are trying to launch an ambitious program to transform L'viv into a major
European tourist center. Due to their efforts, in 1998 the city was granted a status
of an UNESCO cultural treasure. Most likely, tourists from abroad would be most
interested to see the multicultural legacy of the city. Judging by the street names, it
would not exactly be the thing they would encounter here. It is hardly a
coincidence that the new mayor is delaying a further Ukrainization of street
names, much to a frustration of the expert group65. [interesting point]
The project of transformation of L'viv into a touristic center up to this time did not
bring any feasible results. Buildings in the historical center are falling apart, the
city lacks adequate urban infrastructure, and since 1994 it experiences a steady
depopulation. In words of an American journalist, "no Ukrainian city is more
63
Bruno Tobia, 'Urban space and Monuments in the "Nationalization of the Masses': The Italian
Case, in Stuat Woolf (ed.), Nationalism in Europe, 1815 to the Present. A Reader (London, New
York, 1996, 172.
64 Myxailo Depiak, 'No passaran!', Postup, October 14, 1999.
65 Interview with Bohdan Yakymovych, Lviv, March 2, 2000.
European or more democratic. And few are poorer"66. Recently there emerged a
group of younger intellectuals, professionals, and businessmen who tried to launch
an alternative concept of the city developments. 67 To a large extent, they are
opposed to the city council, blaming it for succumbing to post-Soviet bureaucratic
games (bribes, postponing of decisions, etc.). They are connecting perspectives of
future developments with a revival of civic initiatives "from below". One of their
iniatives refered to the John Lennon street: they called local inhabitants to bring it
in order, without an official splendour and a pomposity. 68 One wonders, if a new
wave of renamings would start in the city if this group will ever come to power.
66
Michael Wines, "Struggling Ukraine Teeters Between East and West", New York Times, 26
February 1999.
67 Kontseptsia rozvytku L'vova. Perspektyvy stratehichnoji prohramy. Materialy do konferentsiji 3
bereznia 2001 roku (L'viv, 2001).
68 Zoriana Onyshkevych, ' Pamiat' ', Postup 12-19 zhovtnia 2000.