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Ukraine to remove Great Patriotic War mentions from textbooks

“For us, the Second World War started on September 1, 1939, and we do not have the right to narrow it to the Great Patriotic War," director of the Ukrainian National Memory Institute said
Memorial complex in Ukrainian State museum of the history of the Great Patriotic War TASS/Alexei Poddubny
Memorial complex in Ukrainian State museum of the history of the Great Patriotic War
© TASS/Alexei Poddubny

KIEV, November 25. /TASS/. Mentions of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 (part of World War II) will be removed from Ukrainian history textbooks, director of the Ukrainian National Memory Institute Volodymyr Vyatovich told Ukrainian media.

All after-effects of “Soviet propaganda and primarily a myth about the Great Patriotic War” should be dropped from educational materials and textbooks, he said.

“For us, the Second World War started on September 1, 1939, and we do not have the right to narrow it to the Great Patriotic War, as it was much more horrible and tragic,” Vyatovich said.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science did not give any comments on the National Ukrainian Memory Institute’s initiative to TASS.

Under former President Viktor Yushchenko, the term "Great Patriotic War" had already been removed from Ukrainian history textbooks, but it was brought back during Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency.

Kiev has earlier denied the St. George Ribbon as a symbol of Victory Day. On the Day of Great Victory, official events in Kiev passed with the use of the British symbol of red poppy in remembrance about victims of the First World War. Later, this symbol began to be used in remembrance of victims of all battles.