Musicians from Galicia and Soviet cultural policy: deconstructing the methods of artocide of Ukraine

Abstract

The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine provoked active reflections on Ukrainian identity, disassociation from Russian culture and former Soviet narratives, and the return to Ukraine of the names of repressed Ukrainian artists and cultural figures. The study deconstructs the methods of destruction of Ukrainian art by the Soviet totalitarian system and introduces a new term, the artocide of Ukraine, into scientific circulation. Using specific examples, it is proved that the Soviet cultural policy towards Ukraine was based on methods of categorical rejection and brutal suppression of Ukrainian culture and art, and the arsenal of methods of dealing with artists who were not acceptable to the totalitarian regime was diverse and inventive. Cleansing art history from Soviet propaganda mythologies and deconstructing the methods of artocide in Ukraine in the twentieth century is an important component of the decolonization and de-Russification of Ukraine, the restoration of historical truth, and the establishment of Ukrainian cultural identity.