The Executed Renaissance: The Destruction of the Ukrainian Elite

What this myth claims

Russian propaganda portrays the Soviet period as a time of “friendship of peoples,” when all cultures allegedly developed freely. Regarding Ukraine specifically, it is claimed that Soviet power “granted” Ukrainians a republic, developed the Ukrainian language and culture. Repressions, if acknowledged at all, are presented as an “all-Union” phenomenon that had no national character.

In reality, the Soviet regime carried out the systematic destruction of Ukraine’s intellectual potential — a phenomenon known as the “Executed Renaissance”.

Ukrainisation in the 1920s: a brief flowering

The policy of korenisation

In the 1920s, the Bolshevik authorities pursued a policy of “Ukrainisation” — part of the all-Union “korenisation” (nativisation). This policy included:

• Transitioning official business to the Ukrainian language
• Developing Ukrainian-language education
• Supporting Ukrainian art and literature
• Promoting Ukrainian cadres to leadership positions

But this was not genuine support — it was a tactical move: the Bolsheviks understood that to maintain power in Ukraine they needed to win the support of the local population, which overwhelmingly rejected the Russian-speaking Bolsheviks.

Cultural flowering

Despite this, the 1920s became a period of extraordinary cultural renaissance:

Literature:

• Mykola Khvylovy — one of the most brilliant prose writers of the 20th century, author of the slogan “Away from Moscow!”, calling for European orientation
• Mykola Zerov — neoclassical poet, translator, literary scholar
• Valerian Pidmohylny — author of the first urban novel “The City” (1928)
• Oles Dosvitniy — prose writer and public figure
• Maik Johansen — futurist poet, polyglot, author of “The Journey of the Learned Doctor Leonardo”
• Mykhail Semenko — founder of Ukrainian futurism

Theatre:

• Les Kurbas — a genius director, reformer of Ukrainian theatre, founder of “Berezil” — one of the most innovative theatres in Europe

Cinema:

• Oleksandr Dovzhenko — one of the greatest directors in world cinema, creator of “Zvenyhora,” “Arsenal,” “Earth”

Science:

• VUAN (All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences) — established 1918, with Volodymyr Vernadsky as its first president

Fine Arts:

• Ukrainian avant-gardists: Oleksandr Archipenko, Kazimir Malevich (of Ukrainian origin), Alexandra Exter, David Burliuk

Destruction: 1930–1938

The beginning of repression

The turning point came in the late 1920s when Stalin decided to end “national deviations.” In Ukraine this took particularly brutal forms, as the Ukrainian national movement was considered the main threat to the “unity of the USSR.”

The “Union for the Liberation of Ukraine” trial (1929–1930)

The first major show trial in the USSR (before the Moscow trials of 1936–1938!). Under the fabricated “ULU” case, the following were convicted:

• 45 leading Ukrainian intellectuals — academicians, writers, teachers
• Among them — Serhiy Yefremov (Vice-President of the VUAN), Andrii Nikovskyi (linguist), Yosyp Hermayze (historian)
• The charge: preparation of “armed uprising” against Soviet power — a completely fabricated case

Timeline of destruction

1930 — Arrests in the ULU case, beginning of mass repressions against the intelligentsia

1933 — The turning point year:

• 13 May 1933 — suicide of Mykola Khvylovy (shot himself in protest against the terror)
• 7 July 1933 — suicide of Mykola Skrypnyk (People’s Commissar of Education of the UkrSSR, shot himself after accusations of “nationalism”)
• Mass arrests among writers, scholars, artists

1934 — Arrest of Les Kurbas, Mykola Zerov, and many others

1937–1938 — The “Great Terror”:

• 3 November 1937 — in Sandarmokh (Karelia), over 100 Ukrainian cultural figures were simultaneously executed: Zerov, Pidmohylny, Kurbas, Dosvitniy, Johansen, and many others
• This day is known as the “Sandarmokh massacre” — one of the largest simultaneous executions of cultural figures in history

The scale of destruction

By various estimates, during the 1930s the following were repressed:

• Over 500 writers and poets — most were shot or perished in labour camps
• 80% of the members of the Writers’ Union of the UkrSSR from its founding cohort
• Dozens of directors, actors, painters, composers
• Hundreds of scholars, lecturers, linguists
• Virtually the entire leadership of the VUAN

For comparison: no other Soviet republic suffered such a total destruction of its intelligentsia. This was not “all-Union” terror — it was the targeted destruction of Ukraine’s intellectual potential.

Consequences

Cultural wasteland

After the repressions of the 1930s:

• Ukrainian literature lost an entire generation of its most talented authors
• Theatrical art was set back by decades
• Academic schools were destroyed
• Linguistic research was placed under Moscow’s control
• Ukrainian culture was reduced to “safe” folklore — embroidered shirts and the hopak dance — stripped of its intellectual and avant-garde content

Russification

In place of the destroyed Ukrainian elite came Russification:

• Key positions in culture and science were filled by cadres loyal to Moscow
• The Ukrainian language was squeezed out of higher education and science
• The literary canon was shaped under strict ideological control
• Any reference to the “forbidden” heritage was punishable

Timothy Snyder on the scale of the tragedy

Timothy Snyder in “Bloodlands” (2010) notes that Ukraine became the “bloodland” between two totalitarian regimes. He emphasises that more Soviet citizens died in Ukraine than in any other Soviet republic — and this was not coincidental, but the result of deliberate policy.

The restoration of memory

After gaining independence, Ukraine has gradually been recovering the memory of the Executed Renaissance:

• Works of repressed authors have been published
• Memorials have been opened (including at Sandarmokh)
• Their names have been returned to school curricula
• Databases of victims of repression have been created

Russia’s attempts to portray the Soviet period as a “golden age” of Ukrainian-Russian “friendship” is a mockery of the memory of hundreds of destroyed geniuses. The Executed Renaissance is proof that Russia/the USSR deliberately destroyed Ukrainian culture — not “developed” it.