WWII & Ukraine -Impact & Fallout

The (Un)finished Second World War

While WWII officially began in 1939 and ended in 1945, Ukraine’s experience tells a different story. This lecture explores how the war in Ukraine started earlier, continued long after 1945 through resistance movements, deportations, and repression, and how its legacy remains unfinished today.

We cover:
– Early occupation of Carpathian Ukraine before 1939
– Postwar violence, forced resettlements, and the armed struggle of the OUN and UPA into the 1950s
– The ongoing suffering of deportees and Gulag prisoners
– How Russia’s aggression since 2014 reopens unresolved WWII issues
– The manipulation of Soviet WWII memory by Russia to justify modern war
– The Western view of the USSR’s role and its limitations
– European efforts to recognize both Nazi and Communist totalitarian crimes
– Ukraine’s long struggle for independence amid global conflict
– The significance of Ukraine’s 1991 independence referendum as the final end to the Soviet “evil empire”
– Contemporary geopolitical tensions shaped by this historical legacy

📚 This lecture is part of the course Ukraine: The (Un)finished Second World War — exploring Ukraine in WWII, global conflict, historical narratives, and modern “memory wars” over the “Ukrainian question.” The full course with additional teaching materials and tests is available here:
https://www.udemy.com/course/ukraine-the-unfinished-second-world-war/?srsltid=AfmBOoqrwFcB17zFLVFpLttL_IT942c4rpfa5Anar_RlF9a6XQG2vzjx
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