Reconstructing the past: narratives of Soviet occupation in Ukrainian museums

This article examines narratives of occupation in portrayals of the Soviet past in Ukrainian museums. The paper analyzes the juridical, historical, and ideological usage of the term "Soviet occupation" in the Ukrainian context to illuminate the political and cultural circumstances that favoured the creation of Ukrainian museums of occupation. A separate section is devoted to the narrative of occupation found in the museums of other post-Soviet countries, in order to distinguish Ukrainian peculiarities. The article focuses on the Museum of Soviet Occupation and the Kyiv Occupation Museum to discuss the institutionalization of the occupation narrative within Ukraine, examining the main memory actors, dominant narratives, and visitors' experiences in the establishment and further development of such institutions. This research reveals the essentially anti-Soviet and anti-Russian pathos of narratives of occupation in Ukrainian museums, emphasizing the ways in which they reproduce the Soviet style of history telling.