The unveiling of Tsarina Catherine’s statue in Odesa resulted in scuffles on Oct. 27
A lifelong Odesite, Viktor Sakk doesn’t see what the fuss over his city’s new monument is about. As far as he is concerned, it was Catherine II, the late 18th century Russian tsarina, who signed the historic decree establishing the Russian port city of Odesa after defeating the Turks.
As the city’s founder, “we are merely thanking her that our blessed Odesa lives,” Sakk said.
But fellow Odesite Valentyna Tovstan couldn’t disagree more.
“If our country were truly independent, and if Ukrainians were truly masters in their country, then we wouldn’t be erecting monuments of occupiers who destroyed Ukraine,” she said.
Sakk and Tovstan were on either side of the police barricade in central Odesa on Oct. 27 – the date the monument was unveiled – which separated tens of thousands of residents who were thrilled with their new landmark from about 200 protestors demonstrating their fierce disapproval.
Violence erupted during the protest, with riled Odesites first tugging at the party flags of the far-outnumbered Ukrainian nationalists, and the pushing and shoving escalated into fisticuffs.
Police quickly formed a barrier between the battling sides and prevented the protestors from disrupting the monument’s unveiling.
But they couldn’t block out the shouts of “Shame!” and “Catherine is an executioner of Ukrainians!” from the small but vocal group, which succeeded in disturbing the brief unveiling ceremony and stirring the local populace.
Myths and realities
Such conflicts are fueled by diverse interpretations of history or by historical ignorance, in the view of the empress’ critics.
In justifying the monument, Odesa residents repeatedly referred to her decree establishing the city, betraying a special affection for the port, which Catherine insisted on giving a feminine name.
That Catherine was the founder of Odesa, however, is an utter myth, according to Odesa native and journalist Leonid Kapeliushniy, who published his research in the weekly newspaper Dzerkalo Tyzhnia in August.
There was no decree, he wrote, and no evidence indicates the tsarina devoted any particular attention to the port city.
Given the apparent lack of historical underpinning, critics view the monument as a blatant political gambit. Some point out that the current conflicts over history in Ukraine are directly reflected in the country’s current political divide, which stands as a threat to the nation’s stability.
Borderland
“Ukraine is divided by two distinct models of identity – the European one that [pro-Western] Our Ukraine [political bloc] is committed to, and the Eurasian one of the Party of Regions,” former Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov said in an interview with Kontrakty magazine published Oct. 29.
“It’s these two political forces that should find a formula of coexistence on the basis of patriotism and democratic values.”
Yekhanurov has been one of the biggest advocates on the Ukrainian political scene of a broad government coalition to mend divisions.
However, Yekhanurov’s attempt at a pragmatic resolution is unlikely to fix the deep-rooted rifts that have plagued, even defined, the bipolar Ukrainian consciousness for centuries – Europe versus Eurasia, religious pluralism versus Russian Orthodoxy, Western liberalism versus Russian authoritarianism.
Regional tolerance
Some suggest a regional approach to mending the problem.
For example, Odesa residents didn’t interfere with the decisions by Lviv residents to unveil a statue dedicated to Stepan Bandera, the iconic Ukrainian nationalist leader who fought for Ukrainian independence during World War II, but who is reviled by Russophiles.
“We, Odesites, decided what to establish in our city,” said Valeriy Kaurov, leader of Unified Fatherland, an Odesa-based Russian Orthodox activist organization.
“Why do people come to us and try to teach us how to live? We don’t like, for example, the statue of Stepan Bandera in Lviv.”
Reacting to the protestors, many Odesa residents dismissed them as “banderites from the West,” who don’t understand or appreciate Odesa’s unique history.
However, nationalist Valentyna Tovstan said the majority of Oct. 26 protestors were Odesa residents, including herself. Diverse cities such as Kyiv and Odesa have significant populations of patriots and Russophiles alike.
Greatest Ukrainians
Inter television talk show host Savik Shuster, who is producing a television series examining the 100 greatest Ukrainians to air later this year, suggested establishing monuments to those Ukrainians who receive unanimous support.
“I propose building monuments throughout Ukraine for those who make up the top 10 and resolve this problem forever, because great Ukrainians are supposed to unite the country, not divide it,” he said.
