Decommunization In Ukraine Watch

Decommunization is the process of dismantling the legacies of communist state establishments, culture, and psychology in the post-communist countries. It is sometimes referred to as political cleansing. Although the term has been occasionally used during the Cold War, it is most commonly applied to the former countries of the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union to describe a number of legal and social changes during their periods of postcommunism during the post–Cold War era.

In some states, decommunization includes bans on communist symbols. While sharing common traits, the processes of decommunization have run differently in different states.

Decommunization organizations

Investigators and prosecutors

* Czechia – The Office of the Documentation and the Investigation of the Crimes of Communism
* Slovakia – The Institute of National Memory – Ústav pamäti národa (Sk)
* Estonia – The Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity
* Germany – The Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records (BStU)
* Hungary – The Committee of National Remembrance
* Lithuania – The Lithuanian Center for the Research of Genocide and Resistance
* Poland – The Institute of National Remembrance — Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation
* Romania – The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania
* Moldova – The Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Moldova
* Ukraine – The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance

Prosecution of former communists

Lustration came to refer to government policies of limiting the participation of former communists, and especially informants of the communist secret police, in the successor political appointee positions or even in civil service positions.

Persecutions and prosecutions of communist state leaders

* Afghanistan – Mohammad Najibullah was never convicted of a crime, but was nonetheless tortured and executed by the Taliban in 1996.
* Bulgaria – Todor Zhivkov was initially sentenced to seven years in prison, but transferred to house arrest due to health reasons. He was later declared innocent by the Supreme Court of Bulgaria in 1996 and was released from house arrest shortly thereafter. He died as a free man one year later.
* Cambodia – Kang Kek Iew is so far the only indicted Khmer Rouge leader, despite him having died convicted in 2020, while Pol Pot and others lived free without charges.
* East Germany – Erich Honecker was arrested, but soon released and the proceedings against him were abandoned due to his ill health. He died in 1994. Several other members of the former East German government, such as Egon Krenz, were nonetheless convicted.
* Poland – Wojciech Jaruzelski avoided most court appearances, citing poor health, and was never convicted. He died as a free man in 2014 and was buried with full military honors at the Powązki Military Cemetery, attended by the incumbent president of Poland, as well as two former presidents.
* Romania – Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena Ceaușescu were sentenced to death and executed by firing squad.

Getting rid of Soviet era memorials

Ukraine

The process of decommunization and de-Sovietization in Ukraine started soon after dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, led by President Leonid Kravchuk, a former high-ranking party official. In April 2015, a formal decommunization process started in Ukraine after laws were approved which outlawed communist symbols, among other things. On 15 May 2015, President Petro Poroshenko signed a set of laws that started a six-month period for the removal of communist monuments (excluding World War II monuments) and renaming of public places named after communist-related themes. At the time, this meant that 22 cities and 44 villages would need to be renamed.Komsomolsk in any case be renamed
depo.ua (1 October 2015) In 2016, 51,493 streets and 987 cities and villages were renamed, and 1,320 Lenin monuments and 1,069 monuments to other communist figures were removed.Decommunization reform: 25 districts and 987 populated areas in Ukraine renamed in 2016
Ukrinform (27 December 2016)

Poland

Since 1989, Poland has taken down hundreds of Soviet monuments due to the negative reputation the Soviet Union has in Poland. Although some Poles see the memorials as justified in honouring those who died fighting against Nazi Germany, others seek the removal of Soviet memorials because of the decades of totalitarianism that resulted from Soviet occupation, and also because of the 1939 Nazi-Soviet pact and the Katyn massacre. Historian Lukasz Kaminski of the Institute of National Remembrance said, "Memorials in city centers and villages can send the wrong historical signal... What do you think we got, when the Soviets liberated Poland from Hitler, if not a new yoke?"

In the 2010s, Poland continued to demolish remaining Soviet monuments, some of which have been relocated to museums. The removals have attracted criticism from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who has lashed out at Warsaw officials for opposing the monuments, as has Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry.

Czech Republic

In April 2020, a statue of Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev was removed from Prague, which prompted criminal investigation by Russian authorities who considered it an insult. The Mayor of Prague's sixth municipal district, Ondřej Kolář, announced on Prima televize that he would be under police protection after a Russian man made attempts on his life. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš condemned that as foreign interference, while Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov

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