Center for Strategic Communications: Campaign against Lubomyr Luciuk’s book is attack on Ukrainian history and academic freedom

The information campaign against the Enemy Archives: Soviet Counterinsurgency Operations and the Ukrainian Nationalist Movement – Selections from the Secret Police Archives book by Canadian professor Lubomyr Luciuk and Ukrainian historian Volodymyr Viatrovych is an attack on Ukrainian history and academic freedom, stated the Center for Strategic Communications (CSC) affiliated with the Ukrainian government.

In January, the American Library Association (ALA) named the English-language collection of documents one of the ‘Best Historical Materials published in 2022 and 2023.’ The compilation features over 150 archival documents spotlighting less-explored facets of Ukrainian-Russian relations, particularly focusing on the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The publication features documents from both underground structures and the Soviet punitive system, providing insights into the resistance against this insurgent movement and aiming to convey previously unknown aspects of Ukrainian history to English-speaking audiences.

In March, the association removed the work from the list of best historical materials for 2023. “The reason was a publication in The Nation magazine by Lev Golinkin entitled “Why Is the American Library Association Whitewashing the History of Ukrainian Nazis?” This publication was actively distributed by a part of the Western academic environment, which consistently promotes the thesis about “Ukrainian Nazism”. The ALA did not explain in its statement the reasons of the retraction of “Enemy Archives”, but there is a high probability that it was precisely because of the publicity of Golinkin’s article that it decided to retract this compilation of documents from the Best Historical Materials List,” wrote the CSC.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security has analyzed the manipulations in Lev Golinkin’s text. “In his publication, Lev Golinkin mentions the decommunization laws package, and claims that they glorify Nazi collaborators and persons involved in the genocide of Jews. However, the author is not familiar with the decommunization laws and does not refer to them. And his statement about the glorification of the Nazis in Ukrainian legislation is a lie,” the analysis stated.

Golinkin also claims that “the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists cooperated with the Nazis in the extermination of tens thousands of Jews, while the Ukrainian Insurgent Army eliminated thousands of Jews and 70-100 thousand Poles.” “In reality, there are no testimonies and documentary evidence that would confirm the cooperation of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) with the Nazis in the mass murder of Jews,” the text reads.

Retraction of the archival documents compilation for political reasons is incompatible with the concept of freedom of speech and scientific research, emphasized the center. The complete list and debunking of Golinkin’s manipulations can be found at the link provided.