This is a topic I wanted to cover for a while. Ukraine is a place where historians are not safe, especially if they cover certain sensitive topics such as WWII or national identity. Often for these individuals it means ostracism, and denied employment opportunities. However, some have paid the ultimate price…
The Case of Vitaly Maslovsky:
Vitaly Maslovsky was a historian educated in the Marxist Leninist tradition during the days of the Soviet Union. He worked in the Institute of Social Studies in Lvov until the early nineties, when he was sacked for publishing the book The Land Accuses about the deeds of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in his native Halychyna, Western Ukraine. From then on, Maslovsky lived on a meagre disability allowance.
Nevertheless, he continued to work on monographs. In 1999, he published a book called: With whom and against whom did the Ukrainian nationalists fight during WWII, he published it in Moscow. Maslovsky was allegedly getting death threats because of his publications. On 26 October 1999, he was found dead in the staircase hall of the house he lived in. The death was caused by falling off the stairs. Some were wondering how the disabled Maslovsky was able to do such a jumping feat. Due to threats, his wife did not press charges. In 2005, the Jewish fund of Ukraine, posthumously published Maslovky’s monograph about Holocaust in Ukraine: The Holocaust of the Jews of Ukraine. the Beginning. Halychyna.
The Case of Oles’ Buzyna
Oles’ Buzyna is the most prominent individual listed here (he even has an English language Wikipedia entry). He was a moderately popular book author, journalist, and tv producer in Ukraine. Buzyna opposed Russophobia and held the opinion that Ukrainians are a regional variant of the Russian people, and the Russian element in Ukraine is not foreign, or a residue of a colonial rule. Buzyna is the author of The Resurrection of Little Russia, and I have a copy in my library.
Buzyna was shot outside his home by Neonazis. His murderers are known but nobody ever went to prison for it.
The Case of Vladimir Shchukin
Vladimir Shchukin investigated the Holocaust in Ukraine. He was found dead in his flat in Nikolaev.
Insomniac Resurrected 