Fighting Fascism? The Historical Roots of the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict

A public European Studies Lecture by Dr Per A. Rudling (Lund University, Sweden) organized by the TCD Centre for European Studies, hosted by Dr Clemens Ruthner (Director, CES). Dr Per A. Rudling is Associate Professor of History and 2019-2024 Wallenberg Academy Fellow at the Department of History at Lund University, Sweden. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Alberta (2009), MA degrees from San Diego State University, US, (2003) and Uppsala, Sweden (1998). He is the author of The Rise and Fall of Belarusian Nationalism, 1906-1931 (Pittsburgh, 2014) and The OUN, the UPA, and the Holocaust: A Study in the Manufacturing of Historical Myths (Pittsburgh, 2011). This public lecture is meant for all interested in the background of the current war. The speaker is an internationally renowned academic in the field of Post/Soviet history, and particularly in Ukrainian and Belorussian studies. He will give a survey of the historical roots of the conflict, the shared – and divisive – history of Russia and the Ukraine, the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s (the so-called ‘Holomodor’), and the mutual accusations: the colonial traits of Russian rule and appropriation of history vs Ukrainian involvement in National Socialism and the Holocaust. For its war of aggression against Ukraine the Russian Federation has invoked claims of neo-Nazism and a supposed genocide against the Russian-speaking majority population in Ukraine. How should we understand this disinformation? What episodes of modern Ukrainian history does the Russian regime chose to use instrumentally to legitimate its warfare, and why? This lecture aims at providing a background to the difficult and undigested past, interethnic violence and the Holocaust in Ukraine, and how it has come to be used as a political instrument to legitimise war and conquest. In-person availability is very limited, registration is essential. To register for this event and receive log-in details please email the organiser, Dr Clemens Ruthner at: ruthnerc@tcd.ie quoting the event title in the subject line.