The Paradox Of Ukrainian Lviv: A Borderland City Between Stalinists, Nazis, And Nationalists
by Tarik Cyril Amar /
2015 / English / PDF
9.9 MB Download
In
InThe Paradox of Ukrainian Lviv
The Paradox of Ukrainian Lviv, Tarik Cyril Amar reveals
the local and transnational forces behind the twentieth-century
transformation of one of East Central Europe's most important
multiethnic borderland cities into a Soviet and Ukrainian urban
center. Today, Lviv is the modern metropole of the western part
of independent Ukraine and a center and symbol of Ukrainian
national identity as well as nationalism. Over the last three
centuries it has also been part of the Habsburg Empire, interwar
Poland, a World War I Russian occupation regime, the Nazi
Generalgouvernement, and, until 1991, the Soviet Union.Lviv's
twentieth-century history was marked by great violence, massive
population changes, and fundamental transformation. Under
Habsburg and Polish rule up to World War II, Lviv was a
predominantly Polish city as well as one of the major centers of
European Jewish life. Immediately after World War II, Lviv
underwent rapid Soviet modernization, bringing further extensive
change. Over the postwar period, the city became preponderantly
Ukrainian―ethnically, linguistically, and in terms of its
residents’ self-perception. Against this background, Amar
explains a striking paradox: Soviet rule, which came to Lviv in
its most ruthless Stalinist shape and lasted for half a century,
left behind the most Ukrainian version of the city in history. In
reconstructing this dramatic and profound change, Amar also
illuminates the historical background to present-day identities
and tensions within Ukraine.
, Tarik Cyril Amar reveals
the local and transnational forces behind the twentieth-century
transformation of one of East Central Europe's most important
multiethnic borderland cities into a Soviet and Ukrainian urban
center. Today, Lviv is the modern metropole of the western part
of independent Ukraine and a center and symbol of Ukrainian
national identity as well as nationalism. Over the last three
centuries it has also been part of the Habsburg Empire, interwar
Poland, a World War I Russian occupation regime, the Nazi
Generalgouvernement, and, until 1991, the Soviet Union.Lviv's
twentieth-century history was marked by great violence, massive
population changes, and fundamental transformation. Under
Habsburg and Polish rule up to World War II, Lviv was a
predominantly Polish city as well as one of the major centers of
European Jewish life. Immediately after World War II, Lviv
underwent rapid Soviet modernization, bringing further extensive
change. Over the postwar period, the city became preponderantly
Ukrainian―ethnically, linguistically, and in terms of its
residents’ self-perception. Against this background, Amar
explains a striking paradox: Soviet rule, which came to Lviv in
its most ruthless Stalinist shape and lasted for half a century,
left behind the most Ukrainian version of the city in history. In
reconstructing this dramatic and profound change, Amar also
illuminates the historical background to present-day identities
and tensions within Ukraine.