THE FRANCISCAN MISSION OF GIOVANNI DA PIAN DEL CARPINE 1245: THE COMPANIONS OF THE PAPAL LEGATE IN BOHEMIA AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO RUS’

The article aims to analyze the participation of Franciscan missionaries from Bohemia in the embassy of Giovanni da Pian del Carpine to the Mongol khan in the context of Rus’-Czech relations in the middle of the XIIIth century. Research methodology. The research methodology is based on a systematic approach to the study of socio-political, military, and socio-economic phenomena in their development and relationships, based on the principles of scientificity, objectivity, systematicity, and historicism. In the study, general scientific and special historical methods were used, namely: comparative-historical, critical, problem-chronological, source-based, and analytical methods. The scientific novelty of the article is that historiography has not yet paid attention to the bohemian origins of the two members of the Carpine mission. In addition, this fact did not fit into the broader background of Rus’-Czech relations at the time. The role of the Pope in resolving the international situation in Central and Eastern Europe is highlighted, as well as how this relates to the policies of the Czech Przemyslids and the Galician-Volynian Romanovychi. Conclusions. It was noted that the factor of the emergence of nomads and their threat to Europe was crucial for the Czech-Rus’ contacts, which became part of the eastern policy of the Apostolic Capital. Since, in the conditions of the Mongol threat, both the Przemyslids and the Romanovychi actively communicated with the Pope, the Czech-Rus’ communication became inevitable. With this in mind, the article draws attention to the following points. First, the amount of knowledge about Rus’ in Bohemia at that time was analyzed. Secondly, the preconditions that contributed to the Czech-Rus’ rapprochement with Rome, despite the unfavorable policy of the German emperor, were highlighted. Third, the Rus’-Czech relations of the middle of the XIIIth century and their manifestation in the form of the Galician-Czech union in the following decades were interpreted in the international context. The events of the war for the inheritance of the Babenbergs in 1246–1278 and the Czech-Rus’ relations in their context should be considered as a continuation of the political line initiated by the Pope and executed by the Franciscans.

THE CRIMINAL SITUATION IN UKRAINE DURING THE NEP

The purpose of the study is a comprehensive analysis of the measures taken by the relevant Soviet authorities in the USSR during the period of the new economic policy (NEP) in order to eliminate the manifestations of organized crime. Objectives of the study: to determine the main causes of banditry and its manifestations in Soviet Ukraine in the NEP; to explore the ways and methods of struggle of the Soviet power against it. The methodological basis of the study are general scientific (logical, comparative), and special historical methods (problem-chronological). They allowed to determine this period, in which the problem of organized crime is studied specifically, in chronological and logical order. Comparative analysis was used to study individual phenomena of this process. The study is also based on the principles of scientificity, historicism and objectivity. The scientific novelty of the study is that for the first time a comprehensive analysis of the manifestations of organized crime in Soviet Ukraine in 1921-1928 and ways to combat them was carried out. New archival documents on this issue and materials of periodicals of those years were put into scientific circulation. An attempt has been made to give an objective, unbiased assessment of these phenomena and the actions of the Soviet authorities in those years. Conclusions. The new economic policy of the Soviet state during the 1920's was implemented against the background of increasing manifestations of various social anomalies. The struggle against them took place in a difficult socio-economic situation in which the society found itself after the First World War. According to the analysis of the archival sources, the Soviet authorities attached great importance to these measures, and first of all to their termination. These problems were caused by various factors, but primarily by the destructive processes in society itself and the struggle of the Bolsheviks for the establishment of their power. This also applies to the events of the recent Civil War in the former Russian Empire and the state liberation struggle in Ukraine in 1917-1921. One of the main reasons for the growth of organized crime was a difficult economic situation caused by the effects of military communism. In the period under study, namely in the first half of the 1920's, the process of formation of the law enforcement system of the Soviet power took place. The main burden of responsibility for the state of the criminogenic situation in the country rested with the local police.

EVENTS OF THE “SECOND BAZAAR” AND THE FINAL SOLUTION OF THE JEWISH ISSUE IN THE TOWN OF BAZAAR BY THE NAZI OCCUPATION AUTHORITIES

This study supplements factual data on the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the execution of the UPR army soldiers by Bolshevik troops, identified in historiographic sources as the “Second Bazaar”. Another issue considered in the paper is the execution of the local Jewish population, carried out exactly on the day of commemoration of the victims of the Bazaar tragedy. The methodological basis of the study is constituted by the methods of source heuristics. By detecting, processing, and introducing a new set of archival sources – archival and criminal cases – into scientific circulation, the existing factual basis on the specified events has been expanded. The contradictory and subjective nature of the given sources also necessitates the use of appropriate methodological tools. Therefore, the method which Robin George Collingwood once described as “cross-examination on the bench” is utilized, when the historian “cross-interrogates the sources to extract information that they did not disclose in their previous testimony, or because they did not want to give it, or because they did not have it”. To fully cover and reconstruct the specified events, a descriptive method is employed. The scientific novelty of the paper lies in the fact that it presents a comprehensive account of specific details of the preparation and commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Bazaar tragedy, and in fact, it is the first in modern Ukrainian historiography generalized study of the local Jewish population’s execution on the day of the Bazar anniversary. Conclusions. The events of the “Second Bazaar” have become one of the symbols of the Ukrainian national struggle for statehood, representing another tragic page in the history of the Ukrainian and Jewish peoples. Further research might be conducted to personalize the members and sympathizers of the OUN, participants of the commemoration events of the “Second Bazaar”, victims of Nazi repressions and determine the exact number of Jewish people killed.

THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN THE HISTORICAL MEMORY OF UKRAINE AND POLAND: CHANGING APPROACHES AND DISCOURSE

The purpose of this study is to analyze the research on the First World War, specifically focusing on changing topics and new discourses, clarifying the place and role of the Great War in the historical memory of Ukrainian and Polish peoples over the centuries and analyzing the means of its actualization and memorialization. The research methodology is based on comparative studies aiming to shed light on convergence and divergence in the historical memory of the First World War in Ukraine and Poland over the past hundred years. The historical-analytical method is employed to characterize the Ukrainian and Polish historiography on the Great War and analyze the information space to identify current trends in representing war events, new discourses, and commemorative practices. The scientific novelty. The study highlights new approaches to the study of the First World War by historians and demonstrates the growth of its role and importance in the historical memory of Ukraine and Poland in the first decades of the XXI century. Conclusions. The First World War, though being an epoch-making event in the history of mankind for decades, was considered a "forgotten" war and received little attention in the historical research of Ukrainian and Polish scholars. In Soviet historiography, it was positioned as the war of the imperialists and did not arouse much interest. Polish historians mainly focused on studying the solution to the Polish issue during the war, the activities of Polish socialist political parties, and the revival of Polish statehood. Only in the late 90's of the twentieth century, a number of studies on the Great War appeared in Poland and Ukraine, with topics of research and discourses revealing such global phenomena as refugees, showing economic, social, and cultural aspects of the war, clarifying the personal, emotional, and psychological level of its perception by the population of warring countries. On the 100th anniversary of the beginning and end of the Great War, the popularization of knowledge about the war was intensified through the creation of special programs, documentaries and feature films, a series of interviews, TV and radio programs with famous historians discussing the main events and consequences of the war, reflecting on its lessons and prevention of future military conflicts. In Poland, the jubilee anniversaries of the war facilitated the resumption of activities to perpetuate the memory of the war participants through the installation of monuments, memorials, and the creation of museum exhibits.

IMPERIAL AND SOVIET DIMENSIONS OF THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL ISSUE IN O. LOTOTSKY’S JOURNALISM

This paper aims at studying O. Lototsky’s journalistic works during the revolutions of 1905-1907, 1917-1921 and the emigration of 1920-1930. The main focus is on the analysis of the position of Ukrainian lands in the imperial era and the Soviet period, as well as the vision of key problems and political prospects proposed in the articles of O. Lototsky. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism and objectivity. Both general scientific and special-historical methods are used in the study, namely: historical and comparative, problematic, research tools of the history of ideas (intellectual history) and biographistics. The scientific novelty of the research is determined by its focus on the analysis of the content of Lototsky’s journalistic works in the context of opportunities to solve the Ukrainian national issue in the conditions of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. Conclusions. O. Lototsky’s creative legacy contains a significant amount of journalistic material. Their topics are diverse: from reviews of the economic situation of Ukrainian lands to the analysis of the state of educational institutions in the Russian Empire and the problems of the clergy. Considerable attention in these materials is devoted to the Ukrainian national issue. Due to O. Lototsky’s active social activity from 1906 to 1917, the topics of his essays frequently intertwined with the problems in which he was directly involved (for example, the status of the Ukrainian language and the abolition of bans on its use). The position of the Ukrainian lands as part of the Russian Empire and other states in the specified period was of his particular concern. During the emigrant era, the publicist continued to express his vision of the situation of Ukrainian territories within the USSR. The leading idea expressed in most of O. Lototsky’s materials of that period was that the state policy of both the Russian Empire and the USSR did not provide for the creation of an independent Ukrainian state, let alone support for Ukrainian culture. Given the historical experiences of the Ukrainian lands, O. Lototsky in the 1920s and 1930s was an active supporter of the creation of an independent state. O. Lototsky’s diverse creative legacy, his active social and political activities leave many more aspects for further elaboration, analysis, and determination of the significance of his heritage in the intellectual history of Ukraine and the Ukrainian movement.

MISSIONARY AND CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES OF ST. VOLODYMYR’S BROTHERHOOD OF KYIV PROVINCE (THE SECOND HALF OF THE XIX - EARLY XX CENTURIES)

This article analyzes the charitable and missionary activities of St. Volodymyr’s Brotherhood. These areas were of primary importance in the Brotherhood’s activities and reflected the intentions of the Russian authorities to consolidate the Orthodox religion on the territory of Right-Bank Ukraine and Galicia during World War I. The methodology of the paper is based on the principles of historicism alongside the general scientific and special-historical methods: critical, analytical, synthesis, and generalization. Scientific novelty. On the basis of the little-known archival documents, the missionary activity of the Brotherhood among the Jews was analyzed, the quantitative indicators of the so-called “christenings” were introduced into scientific circulation. The main aspects of philanthropic activities of the Brotherhood during World War I were revealed. Conclusions. The new economic conditions associated with the results of the reform in the Russian Empire and the rapid pace of modernization demanded additional investments and the presence of the most loyal population in rather troublesome “neighborhoods”, which included Kyiv as part of Right-Bank Ukraine, from the authorities. The revival of religious institutions, perceived as “foreign” in the first half of the century, was part of the imperial plan to build a new model of loyalty and identity in the “Russian world” in which Orthodoxy had a prominent place. The desire of some Jews to go beyond the traditional constraints associating with Judaism and turning them into “foreigners” proved to be in tune with the tasks assigned to the brotherhoods in the context of their missionary activities. The charity of the brotherhoods during World War I had a completely pragmatic basis. In this way, the Russian authorities relied on the loyalty of Galician Greek Catholics (with far-reaching prospects for their conversion to the Orthodox faith).

ZHYTOMYR NEWSPAPER “THE VOICE OF VOLYN” IN THE GERMAN INFORMATION SPACE (OCTOBER 1941-1943)

This paper aims to consider the newspaper “Voice of Volyn”, published in Zhytomyr in 1941-1943, as part of the German information space during the Second World War. The methodology of the study incorporates general scientific and special historical methods alongside with the fundamental principles of historical research: historicism, scientificity, objectivity, and systematicity. The principles of historicism and scientificity have contributed to the complex representation of the history of the newspaper “Voice of Volyn” in interconnection and interrelation with the events of that period. The principle of objectivity has facilitated the analysis of the discussed issue considering the objective historical regularities based on a comprehensive analysis of the existing specialized literature and sources. The principle of systematicity has allowed to obtain a holistic picture of the Zhytomyr newspaper “Voice of Volyn" as a component of the German information space on the occupied territory of Ukraine. The scientific novelty of the paper is conditioned by the fact that it is the first research discussing the history of the newspaper “Voice of Volyn” in the context of the German information space in 1941-1943 on the basis of a comprehensive range of historical sources. The author concludes that the activities of the newspaper “Voice of Volyn” can be divided into two periods: from October to the second half of November 1941, and from the second half of November 1941 until the end of the Nazi occupation. At the first stage, under the German military administration, the newspaper was controlled by the representatives of the independence movement, who exploited the newspaper to promote their own ideas. In the second stage, after the establishment of the German civil authorities, the newspaper “Voice of Volyn” was deprived of the independence movement’s influence and turned into an important information and propaganda press organ of the occupation authorities. The newspaper “Voice of Volyn” represented three directions of German propaganda: anti-Soviet propaganda; anti-Jewish propaganda; and propaganda aimed at supporting the occupation economic activities.

SOVIET PERIOD OF HISTORY AND HOLOCAUST IN ORAL HISTORY STUDIES: BETWEEN OFFICIAL AND PERSONAL MEMORY

The aim of this paper is to examine the mechanisms of action of individual and collective memory on the features of remembering/ forgetting / interpreting complex pages of history. The use of oral historical memories has allowed to trace the level of influence of stereotypes and dominant (official) historical narratives that were formed both in the Soviet period and in the independence era. The methodological basis of the study is the tools of oral, social history and the history of everyday life. Scientific novelty. The article is written on the basis of oral historical evidence. The article focuses on the issues that break stereotypes about Jews formed during the Soviet period. The collected evidence constitutes an important source of information that explains the peculiarities of the formation of social memory and political factors that determine the agenda of historical policy in a given period. Conclusions. The article considers several blocks of problems that reflect the most typical stereotypes, fixed at the level of consciousness, behavioral attitudes, partially presented (or omitted) facts from history, which to some extent destroy them. The memoirs used in the article, which were collected in the framework of the project "Voices" in 2020 in Zhytomyr region (in which the author has participated), reflect the similarity of general ideas, assessments, tone, and memory stereotypes about anti-Semitism, the legitimacy of the Holodomor’s status of the genocide directed exclusively against ethnic Ukrainians, the role and place of Jews in the victory over Nazism, the peculiarities of evacuation, and the issues of preserving and honoring the memory of those killed during the Holocaust. At the same time, those memoirs demonstrate the differences between collective and individual memory, which preserves plots that to some extent destroy stereotypical attitudes that have long been ingrained in the mind and, accordingly, influenced the formation of social memory. The analysis of the interviews shows that oral history has significant source potential for studying various issues and sections of Soviet and modern history that await their researchers.

SOVIET REPRESSION AGAINST REFUGEE JEWS FROM THE TERRITORY OF POLAND AND CZECH-SLOVAKIA BEFORE AND AT THE BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR II

Purpose: to analyze a set of documents stored in the funds of the State Archives of Kherson region – cases of repressed refugees from Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1938-1941. Based on historiographical and source studies on this topic, to outline the general grounds for arrest and persecution of refugees by Soviet authorities and to find out why Jews – former citizens of Poland and Czechoslovakia – found themselves in the focus of repression. Research methodology. The main research methods were general and special-historical, as well as methods of archival heuristics and scientific criticism of sources. Scientific novelty. Previously unpublished documents are introduced into scientific circulation: cases of repressed refugees from Poland and Czechoslovakia, analysis of the Soviet government's policy towards Jews who tried to escape from the Nazis in the USSR and the Union Republics in southern Ukraine, including Kherson. The forms of repression applied by the NKVD to refugee Jews are analyzed, and the consequences of such a policy for the German government's policy of genocide in the occupied territories are examined. Conclusions. The study found that the formal reason for the persecution of Jewish refugees was the illegal crossing of the border with the USSR, since the Soviet Union, like many countries in the world, refused to accept Jews fleeing the Nazi persecution. The Soviet government motivated this by the fact that refugee Jews spread mood of defeat and panic, spied for Germany, Britain, and Poland, had anti-Soviet views, and conducted anti-Soviet campaigning. As a result of the arrests and deportations of Jewish refugees, the Jewish population, particularly in southern Ukraine, was unaware of the persecution of Jews in lands occupied by Nazi Germany. In fact, the Jewish refugees sent to the concentration camps, along with the Germans of Ukraine and the Volga region, were the only groups of people thus "evacuated" by the Soviet authorities on ethnic grounds. However, due to the enemy's rapid offensive, refugees who did not fall into the hands of the NKVD shared the tragic fate of Ukrainian Jews during the Holocaust.

THE MANAGEMENT OF AGITATION AND PROPAGANDA ACTIVITIES IN IZMAIL REGION UkrSSR IN 1944–1945

The work aims to study the formation of a system of ideological influence on the Izmail region’s population in 1944–1945. Based on archival sources and materials of the regional press, the tasks of agitation and propaganda activities, the general forms and methods used by the Communist Party to spread ideology among the population of the annexed region were revealed. The author paid particular attention to determining the role of the regional party leadership in managing and conducting agitation and propaganda. The methodology. The study is based on the principles of historicism, scientificity, objectivity, systematics, specificity, and reliance on historical sources. With the aid of the historical-typological method, it was possible to determine the main tasks, forms, and methods of agitation and propaganda. The historical-comparative method opens the way to reveal the peculiarities of ideological work with various categories of the citizens and to determine the specific features of the Communist Party’s agitation and propaganda activities in the Izmail region. The application of historical-systemic and historical-genetic methods contributed to the consideration of various measures to ideologize the population in co-relation, to identify the causal links between the methods and results of propaganda policy. The scientific novelty. For the first time, a comprehensive analysis of agitation and propaganda activities in the Izmail region after the territory was returned to the USSR has been carried out. The conclusions. The analysis of the party documentation of the Izmail regional committee of the Communist Party gives reason to assume that immediately after the region returned to the USSR, the Soviet leadership launched active information and propaganda activities among the population. During 1944–1945, a network of agitation teams, groups of lecturers and speakers was formed to spread communist ideology among various segments of the population, a system of party propaganda bodies was created, events to celebrate new Soviet holidays were organized, and radio broadcasting and adaptation for the cinema were organized. The media, cultural and educational institutions, Komsomol organizations, and pioneers played a significant role in propaganda activities. Propaganda and agitation departments established at the region, city, and district committees of the Communist Party were constantly monitoring the ideological activity progress.