Monuments and Territory: War Memorials in Russian-Occupied Ukraine - Instytut Pileckiego

Book Launch and Discussion

"Monuments and Territory: War Memorials in Russian-Occupied

Ukraine"

Book Launch and Discussion

 Friday, 14 March, 6:30 PM
 Pilecki Institute, Pariser Platz 4A, 10117 Berlin

Register here: https://forms.gle/tpSzvZ2sKiY6T5v27

From the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, occupying forces actively targeted war memorials, focusing on monuments from both the Soviet era and independent Ukraine. Why did they prioritize these memorials amidst a massive war? Why were some destroyed, others preserved, and new ones built? And what do these actions reveal about the use of past wars to justify new conquests?

In their new book, Monuments and Territory: War Memorials in Russian-Occupied Ukraine (CEU Press, 2025), Mischa Gabowitsch and Mykola Homanyuk explore these questions through extensive fieldwork and a systematic analysis of monument policies during the first year of the occupation.

The Berlin book launch marks the first discussion of Monuments and Territory following its publication in print. In conversation with historian Bert Hoppe, Gabowitsch and Homanyuk will discuss their research process and reflect on the latest developments surrounding Soviet war memorials in Ukraine and other European countries.

Speakers:

 Eva Yakubovska (Pilecki Institute) – Researcher and curator specializing in memory culture, disinformation, and artistic resistance.

 Mischa Gabowitsch – Historian and sociologist, Professor of Multilingual and Transnational Post-Soviet Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.

 Mykola Homanyuk – Sociologist, geographer, and theatermaker, Associate Professor at Kherson State University, Ukraine.

 Bert Hoppe – Historian specializing in Soviet history and the Holocaust in the German-occupied USSR, currently writing a book on Kyiv in the 1930s-40s.