- Offizieller Beitrag
Ich bin froh, dass dieses Interview nun doch noch in englischer Sprache verfügbar ist. Frank Golczewski ist Professor für Geschichte hier an der Uni Hamburg, er ist u.a. Herausgeber und Mitautor des Buchs "Geschichte der Ukraine", das ich sehr lesenswert finde. Das Interview in englischer Sprache kann hier gelesen werden: http://www.ukrainianweek.com/World/18722. Hier sind ein paar Auszüge:
Über Ausnutzung der Nationalitätenfrage im ersten Weltkrieg, was laut F.G. als erstes die Deutschen, später auch ihre Kreigsgegner taten:
But the Germans never helped anyone, nor did they want to. They just behaved more wisely during the WWI than in WWII because they knew that they could lose the war. And if that happened, prisoners of war would have come in handy as they were already trained to be patriots in their own countries and would be prepared to fight against Russia. This is the first part of your question.
The other point is that, after WWI, war broke out between Poland and Western Ukraine. The Polish were trying to get the support of Western Europe and to that end they started a propaganda campaign in Paris to the effect that Ukrainians did not exist as a nation but were just something the Germans had invented.
Zur Frage, ob in Russland ein neues Weltreich errichtet werden soll:
Yes. And it’s clear why Ukraine’s desire to find its own identity rouses this reaction in Russia. It’s very simple. “Kyiv is the Mother of all Rus Cities.” Only now it’s over there, in another country our mother has been stolen! Russians have a hard time accepting this, and perhaps they can’t. This belief is very firm in the people’s minds and Russia’s leaders encourage them to think that way.
Zur Frage, angesichts dessen zivilisierte Beziehungen zwischen Russland und der Ukraine möglich sind:
Yes, of course. Such relations are possible, even necessary. But it will take some time and a lot of effort. Eastern Europe is used to a one-party system where coordination is critical, while the West, with its centuries of pluralism, needs no coordination whatsoever. There’s a nice saying: Let’s just agree to disagree. In the West, parties struggle for power: some win, others lose, but it doesn’t fundamentally change the country that much and democracy doesn’t disappear. That’s what’s missing in Russia. Everyone there has to have a common viewpoint, and only that viewpoint is correct. The viewpoint of a political opponent becomes a criminal offense. But for us, viewpoints are just viewpoints, numerous and different.
The truth is that democracy must be learned. There’s no other way. This may be the most important task facing Ukraine today. It needs to debate all urgent and painful issues and hold a dialog both internally and with Russia. Scholars should start the ball rolling because ordinary voters don’t know everything that really happened. Those over 30 today were educated in ordinary soviet schools and they still believe on some level in what they were taught there. They were not taught to analyze or that there are many truths. The truth is not invariable. It can be subjective. The values of my family are different from the values of another. And the views of different countries vary a lot, too.
Es lohnt sich, das ganze Interview zu lesen!