Ukraine to remove Great Patriotic War mentions from textbooks – ITAR
KYIV, November 25. /TASS/. Mentions of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 (part of World War II) will be removed from Ukrainian history textbooks, director of the Ukrainian National Memory Institute Volodymyr Vyatovich told Ukrainian media.
Fotokhronika TASS
Ukraine celebrates Day of liberation from Nazi occupants
All after-effects of “Soviet propaganda and primarily a myth about the Great Patriotic War” should be dropped from educational materials and textbooks, he said.
“For us, the Second World War started on September 1, 1939, and we do not have the right to narrow it to the Great Patriotic War, as it was much more horrible and tragic,” Vyatovich said.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science did not give any comments on the National Ukrainian Memory Institute’s initiative to TASS.
Under former President Viktor Yushchenko, the term “Great Patriotic War” had already been removed from Ukrainian history textbooks, but it was brought back during Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency.
Kyiv has earlier denied the St. George Ribbon as a symbol of Victory Day. On the Day of Great Victory, official events in Kyiv passed with the use of the British symbol of red poppy in remembrance about victims of the First World War. Later, this symbol began to be used in remembrance of victims of all battles.
AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth