The Perception of Germany in the Kyivan Press: From Ukrainian People’s Republic to the Hetmanate (November 1917 — December 1918)

• Main Author: Ivan Basenko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy 2017-11-01
• Series: Kyiv-Mohyla Humanities Journal
• Subjects: image of the germans; kyivan press; ukrainian revolution; nationalism; first world war; ukraine; revolution; russia; germany; 1917; 1918
• Online Access: http://kmhj.ukma.edu.ua/article/view/106717/101752

The 1917 February Revolution led to the reshaping of the war-era image of the German enemy. Focusing on the former imperial borderland province of the Southwestern Krai, this article unveils the national, political, and cultural considerations of the local Ukrainian and Russian-language media that affected their attitude towards the Germans. It argues that the developments of the 1917–1918 Ukrainian Revolution presented a unique case of constructing the image of the Germans due to the ongoing rivalry between the respective Ukrainian and Russian national projects. The study is based on the materials of prominent Kyivan daily newspapers, thus rendering the spectrum of the region’s political thought. Built upon the concept of imagology, the article apprehends the images of “otherness” in conjunction with the actor’s own identity.