Western Ukraine

As western Ukraine generally two different sized parts of Ukraine are referred to:

  • Only the outermost western Ukraine, consisting of East Galicia with Lviv ( German: Lemberg), Ternopil, Ivano- Frankivsk and the Carpathian Ruthenia ( Uzhhorod ) or
  • Their entire western half of this side of the Dnipro (Russian: Dnepr), often including the capital, Kiev.

Center of Western Ukraine 's Lviv ( Lemberg).

Historically, ethnic, religious and political plays differently demarcated region of Western Ukraine separate from the Eastern Ukraine, but also from the capital Kiev special role.

Historical perspective

Throughout history, the east and south of Ukraine were repeated and long-term to the steppe empires of the Eurasian nomads and horsemen of the Khazars, Kipchaks ( capital Sharukhan at Kharkov) and Tatars ( Golden Horde on the Volga ), while the peasantry in western Ukraine Kievan Rus was based. Since the 14th century dominated the Lithuanians in western Ukraine.

Under Lithuanians and Poles set up a catholicization Ukraine, the first recorded by the Church Union of Brest are also large parts of western Ukraine, Kiev with the exit from the Union but in 1630 a temporary end found.

After the collapse of the Tatar and Lithuanian rule rose the Orthodox Cossacks of Eastern Ukraine in 1648 against the Catholic Poles and stood together with Kiev 1654 Russian protection. But the Western Ukraine in 1668 still remained in Poland, in 1793 and 1795 and 1809 was also the majority of the rest of Ukraine to Russia.

Parallel to the Polish territorial losses to Russia and the territory of the United Church was forced back by the Orthodox Churches. The Galicia fell to Austria in the partitions of Poland in 1772 and 1795, kept alone this far west of Ukraine before Russian influence. Isolated by the Russians and Kiev led the West Ukrainians in Galicia a bitter self-assertion fight against Poles and Austrians, Catholic and Uniate, which gradually awakened faith in them to be the only " true" Ukrainians. Stronghold of an emerging in the 19th century Ukrainian nationalism was therefore not about which is under Russian rule Kiev, but Galicia.

At the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire came Galicia against the will of Ukrainian nationalists not to an independent Ukraine, but in Poland who had settled in Lviv. After the Soviet Union had occupied in September 1939, the territory of military and affiliated state, they deported about a million Poles and Ukrainians to Siberia. Before the Wehrmacht marched into the area in June 1941, were liquidated by the NKVD 24,000 prisoners for political reasons.

Ethnic and religious approach

While the east and south dominates the Russian minority in the new regions between Kharkiv and Odessa, provide Ukrainians in the western and central regions as well as Kiev, the majority of the population - east of Kiev in Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, Kirovohrad, Cherkasy.

In contrast to the mostly atheistic, Russian Orthodox or Ukrainian Orthodox ( with commitment to the Moscow Patriarchate ) inhabitants of the eastern Ukraine, the inhabitants of Western Ukraine and Kiev are mostly Catholic, Eastern Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox with commitment to the Kyivan Patriarchate.

The Ukrainian language dominates before the Russian, in the far west, the Russian language is sometimes not at all common. In Galicia there are still a small Polish and even German minority ( Catholics ), live in the Carpatho numerous other ( sometimes even Protestant ) not Ukrainian and western Ukrainian minorities.

Political approach

After the victory of the Soviets and the suppression of the Ukrainian independence movement was initially the 1920-1934 ostukrainische Kharkiv instead of Kiev capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. The Soviets encouraged industry in the East of the country and shipping in the south against agriculture in the West, which became the " breadbasket ".

As a result of World War II in 1946 but then also Eastern Galicia and Carpatho-Ukraine Lviv under Soviet rule. By 1947, sometimes even to 1954, the religious and nationally different western Ukrainians opposed arms of Soviet rule, see Ukraiinske Wyswolne Wijsko ( Ukrainian Liberation Army ) and Ukrajinska Powstanska Armia ( Ukrainian Insurgent Army ). Even after that remained a stronghold of Lviv national and religious opposition.

Since Ukraine's independence in 1991 showed all the presidential and parliamentary elections that this division of the country continues. All Ukrainian election winners had to rely on a majority vote of the Russian-born Ukrainians in eastern Ukraine, most recently in the runoff round of presidential elections in Ukraine 2004. Repetition ballot reinforced this polarization yet. During the East Ukrainians of Russia Viktor Yanukovych supported in all nine regions of the East and the South partly achieved very substantial majorities, the western Ukrainian candidate Viktor Yushchenko finally sat through. Unlike less clear majorities in Kiev and central Ukraine Yushchenko scored in the far west majorities of over 90%.

Critique of the model of a " bipolar Ukraine"

Especially during the reporting as a result of the presidential elections in Ukraine in 2004 the image of an East- West division of the country was trying to illustrate the political separation between Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych in western media. As the territories of today's Ukraine were characterized by various multi-ethnic empires, the regions have developed culturally different, which is also reflected in language use. However, the representation of an East-West dichotomy, characterized by a Russian-speaking, sowjetnostalgischen East and a Ukrainian-speaking, nationalist and democratic values ​​oriented to the West ignores the spectrum of national and cultural identities language in Ukraine. According to the 2001 census described themselves of the approximately 48 million Ukrainian citizens 77.8 % as ethnic Ukrainians ( but with only 67.5% of Ukrainian as their native language specified ) and 17.3 % as ethnic Russians. Other minorities include Belarusians ( 0.6%), Moldavians ( 0.5%) and Crimean Tatars ( 0.5%). In addition, there are Bulgarian, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish and Jewish minorities. The population of Ukraine thus can be mainly in Ukrainian -speaking Ukrainians, Russian-speaking Ukrainians divide and Russian-speaking Russians, the transformation between the identity is often blurred. So may be accompanied by the self-definition as Ukrainians also with ties to the Russian language culture.

References and notes

  • Political Geography
  • Geography (Ukraine )
Soviet invasion of Poland Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
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