Russian crimes against Galician museums at the beginning of the World War ІІ: contemporary historical parallels and Polish-Ukrainian solidarity

Abstract

Abstract. The purpose of the article is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the policy of the Soviet party authorities towards the museums of Lviv, Ternopil, and Stanislaviv in 1939–1941, and to project the Bolshevik destructive cultural policy onto the full-scale war launched by Russia against Ukraine in 2022. Particular attention is paid to the Polish-Ukrainian solidarity in saving cultural assets of Ukrainian museums from the Russian destruction. The scientific novelty of the study is predetermined by a special approach to the interpretation of the collected source material and scientific literature, which consists in forming a historical comparison of Soviet museum policy with the threats of modern Russian military aggression. Original narrative sources, such as, written in 1939–1941, the diary of the director of the Ethnographic Museum in Lviv Aleksander Prusiewicz, and a report on the state of Lviv museums, archives, and libraries in 1940, prepared by an unknown author, have been introduced into national historical science. The personal documents describe the atmosphere of the first days and months of the war, as well as the attempts of party functionaries to reorganize the East Galician museums and subordinate their expositions to Soviet ideological needs. Conclusions. With the outbreak of the World War II, the museum environment of Eastern Galicia underwent structural and organizational, personnel, thematic, and exhibition changes. In Lviv, the largest cultural center, 25 pre-war museums and 70 private collections were reorganized by the Bolsheviks into 5 state museums of historical, ethnographic, crafts, artistic and literary profiles. Private museums were liquidated, including the Lubomirski and Dzieduszycki museums, the museum of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, the Armenian and Jewish museums. Galician museums suffered considerable damage and losses not from hostilities, but from the unprofessional displacement and removal of artifacts. The cultural memory of these events consolidates Ukrainians, Poles, Lithuanians, and other European nations in the face of the Russian military and occupation threat to Ukrainian museums. launched after 2022 Polish and Lithuanian rescue initiatives were aimed at providing material and professional assistance in maintaining museum collections, financial and organizational support for Ukrainian colleagues, preserving and promoting cultural heritage through long-term museum exhibition projects.