The Political Cult of the Dead in Ukraine

Traditions and Dimensions from the First World War to Today

Contributions by Andrii Liubarets Contributions by Jagoda Wierzeiska Contributions by Iryna Sklokina Contributions by Olena Petrenko Contributions by Kateryna Kobchenko Contributions by Polina Barvinska Contributions by Yuliya Yurchuk Contributions by Olena Khromeychuk Contributions by Ekaterina Makhotina Contributions by Philipp Bürger Contributions by Oleksandra Gaidai Contributions by Oksana Myshlovska Contributions by Serhy Yekelchyk Edited by Guido Hausmann Edited by Iryna Sklokina

Book cover: The Political Cult of the Dead in Ukraine

Extent: 302 pages

Publisher: V&R unipress

Subjects: Slavic Studies, Social Sciences 

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(December 2021)

ISBN: 9783847113836

6.3 x 9.25 inches

Price: $82.00

In stock

The commemoration of the dead of the Euro-Majdan in 2013-14 and the Russian-Ukrainian war in eastern Ukraine, which continues to this day, needs to be explained in the context of the history of nation- and state-building in Ukraine from World War I to the present.


The Ukrainian Euromaidan in 2013-14 and the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war in the Eastern part of the country have posed new questions to historians. The volume investigates the relevance of the cults of the fallen soldiers to Ukraine’s national history and state. It places the dead of the Euromaidan and the forms and functions of the emerging new cult of the dead in the context of older cults from pre-Soviet, Soviet and post-Soviet times from various Ukrainian regions until the end of the presidency of Petro Poroshenko in 2019. The contributions emphasize the importance of the grassroot level, of local and regional actors or memory entrepreneurs, myths of state origin and national defense demanding unity, and the dynamics of commemorative practices in the last twenty years in relation to pluralist and fragmented processes of nation- and state-building. They contribute to new conceptualizations of the political cult of the dead.

  • Contributions by Andrii Liubarets
  • Contributions by Jagoda Wierzeiska
  • Contributions by Iryna Sklokina
  • Contributions by Olena Petrenko
  • Contributions by Kateryna Kobchenko
  • Contributions by Polina Barvinska
  • Contributions by Yuliya Yurchuk
  • Contributions by Olena Khromeychuk
  • Contributions by Ekaterina Makhotina
  • Contributions by Philipp Bürger
  • Contributions by Oleksandra Gaidai
  • Contributions by Oksana Myshlovska
  • Contributions by Serhy Yekelchyk
  • Edited by Guido Hausmann
  • Edited by Iryna Sklokina