07 May 2011, 14:20
Volodymyr Lytvyn, Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, calls for an unbiased and impartial assessment of the events of the Great Patriotic War in the territory of Ukraine.
In the article "War which is always with Us" published in the Holos Ukrainy newspaper on Saturday, V.Lytvyn raises the question whether all the key issues connected with the war have been fully analyzed by the academic community, leading to proper conclusions.
"Unfortunately, there are no grounds for a positive answer," stated the Head of the Parliament. "However, this matter is turned into a political issue, an attempt to use this period for the purposes of particular parties, and a desire to impose one´s own assessments and views. It seems to be a loss of the national immunity against such wide-scale tragedies."
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine analyzes political, economic and humanitarian aspects of the war in the territory of Ukraine, which was the main battleground, where the local population and war prisoners were exterminated, labour and material resources were unmercifully exploited, and historical-cultural and spiritual heritage of our nation was appropriated.
According to the Chairman of the Parliament, the young generation of Ukraine should remember the ordeals of its predecessors. "Moving towards democratization and consolidation of universal values, we must remember our fellow citizens who fell victims to the disastrous war," he stated. "Collective memory is the most effective preventive measure against the new global armed conflict."
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine calls for an in-depth, impartial and unbiased assessment of the past events. "Opponents of the Ukrainian-centered historians, should mind that the case in hand is not formation of an exclusive version of the warfare, but a multi-faceted, comprehensive, in-depth image of the war that synthesizes fundamental concerns of the Ukrainian nation, perception of the global conflict by different social groups and their participation in it, political and social strategies, consolidated actions or altercations between the involved parties, victims of the war, understanding and reasoning, and also historical memory and memorialization of the war," stressed V.Lytvyn.
The Head of the Parliament underscores that as there is nothing "unnecessary, secondary and redundant" in history, scholars should not only "immortalize all the aspects of social life, but also teach people to calmly accept their history as it is."
Dwelling upon the present, V.Lytvyn drew attention to the inevitable transformation of the character and content of inter-state relations, balance of forces, and means of settlement of conflicts and confrontations. "We should be ready for new challenges, exerting every effort to prevent the undesirable development of events. It is our duty before the future generations to prevent escalation and dissemination of violence and war," he summed up.