Polska i Ukraina w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej: spojrzenie z Ukrainy

Abstrakt

Well-founded after the Second World War, the idea of a special European region founds supporters among Ukrainian diaspora historians and scientists of other countries of “soviet bloc.” After the collapse of the bloc favorable opportunities for clean public awareness of dogmatic stereotypes of the past had arisen and at the same time the understanding of the place of Ukraine and Poland and other former communist
countries in the European community of nations was forming. Ukrainian historians have made much effort to promote the concept of East-Central Europe, which on the one hand, linked Ukraine with European civilization, and on the second—emphasized the specificity of its historical development—for centuries to be the contact zone between East and West, the area of European and Asian cultures were enrichment. This concept was not without political connotations, it pointed to the European perspective of Ukraine. It allowed satisfactorily explained the traditional cultural and civilizational ambivalence consciousness of citizens of Ukraine in the past and today,
manifested in their quest to be the West and East, European and Asian, benefit from the both experiences. But it tied Ukraine to Europe, not Asia.