Alexander J. Motyl: Should Ukraine forget its history?
The statue of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin in Hlukhiv on Dec. 5. Just two days after, the monument was taken down by local authorities.
On Nov. 25, 2010, while on a state visit to Kyiv, Israel's President Shimon Peres stated that, "If Ukrainians were to ask me for advice, I would say: forget history." Coming from the president of a country steeped in history, the comment was at first glance bizarre. Directed at a country embroiled in seemingly endless contentious debates over its history, the advice was at second glance intriguing. But can history be forgotten? And would forgetting be desirable, even if possible? And what would forgetting mean for a country such as Ukraine, which hopes to put its Soviet past behind it while discovering the neglected pages of its history?
