LENINOPAD PO BUDZIACKU. DOMENY SYMBOLICZNE I PAMIĘĆ NA OBSZARZE ZAMIESZKANYM PRZEZ MNIEJSZOŚĆ BUŁGARSKĄ W UKRAIŃSKIM BUDZIAKU
SYMBOLIC DOMAINS AND MEMORY IN UKRAINE’S BUDJAK REGION, HOME TO A BULGARIAN MINORITY

Summary/Abstract: One of the effects of the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine (2013–2014) was the removal of monuments to the Soviet past from public space, including those to Lenin (the so-called leninopad). In 2015, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted decommunization laws obliging local authorities to dismantle such monuments. In Budjak, the region at the southwestern tip of Ukraine, the idea of decommunizing public space did not gain public acceptance. Local communities opposed the removal of Soviet-era monuments. When such removals occurred, representatives of the Bulgarian national minority living there sought to erect new monuments to figures important from the perspective of regional memory and identity. As a result, the process of reconstructing the symbolic space in Budjak led to a strengthening and expansion of the Bulgarian symbolic domain.

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