Peter Dickinson: Ukraine’s unique totalitarian trauma offers key to historic healing

Across the former Soviet Union, May 9 is traditionally the date for Victory Day celebrations to mark the end of World War II. In Ukraine, it can often feel as if the war never actually ended. Ever since Ukraine gained independence in 1991, World War II has served as a proxy battleground for Ukrainians as they fight over the past in order to determine the future. In this historically arrested society, the symbols and slogans of the conflict continue to retain the full potency of the 1930s and 1940s. Contemporary political and geopolitical arguments routinely descend into the gutter of World War II analogies. Most alarmingly, the Russian hybrid war in Crimea and eastern Ukraine relies heavily on Kremlin efforts to portray Ukrainians as the modern-day successors to Hitler's legions. These never-ending memory wars are a symptom of the larger totalitarian trauma that defines today's Ukraine—a land scarred by the tragic distinction of having been at the epicenter of both Hitler and Stalin's worst crimes against humanity. Understanding this unique totalitarian legacy in its entirety is the key to resolving Ukraine’s identity crisis and bringing about a settlement with the past that will make sense to the entire nation.