This isnāt atypical, professors email their students a lot and I personally donāt have a problem with it. The reason why Iām writing here is because of the contents of said email. Donāt worry, itās nothing illegal.
Some of you might remember me writing about a library display where some of the posters had the OUN flag. I went to two of my professors about it (history and political science) to see if they knew anything about the display itself and the flag. To make a long story short the answers I got were disappointing, they didnāt know anything. I went the slightest extra mile with my history professor as he actually looked up what the flag was during our meeting. I went to him the next day to push a bit more on how it might be inappropriate to display neo-Nazi images in our school. I donāt want to go over every detail but if you are new and want to know everything or just need a refresher here are the posts: Part 1 and Part 2
So, resuming after that, it has clearly been a little while since Iāve had this conversation with my history professor and I honestly thought this would be the end of such a shitty saga, but yesterday he emailed me about it. At the end of our last meeting he claimed he wasnāt an expert on Ukraine so he is not the best authority to be asking, I brought up Ivan Katchanovski as an authority saying maybe Iād just read his works. He was unfamiliar with Dr. Katchanovksi so I spelled out his name as my professor seemed curious (he even wrote it down) and in turn he told me to look into Timothy Snyder. Our chat ended there and I thought that was it, but it wasnāt.
When I looked at my school email yesterday I saw one from him (special notifications for my professors so I donāt miss anything important) and the subject line referenced Katchanovski and the red and black flag. I wont write the email verbatim but i will do my best to give an accurate retelling:
āHello SpaceDogs,
Because of our last office hours together when you brought up issues about the red and black flag and Ivan Katchanovski, I wanted to take them to the head of the Ukrainian āclub.ā I made sure not to out your name or class so you can be certain none of this will connect back to you. I directly pasted his thoughts below, and because I am not an expert on this topic I cannot help much but I encourage you to read far and wide and critically. Context is important. Scholars like William Risch have issues with Katchanovskiās arguments. Of course, we should listen to fringe ideas, but one must be careful with them and consider differing perspectives.
Regards,
Professorā
So Katchanvoski is fringe, huh? Well, as you can see this isnāt the greatest start and I was honestly shocked when I saw this email in my inbox, I donāt remember ever alluding to wanting him to investigate for me, but I guess my pathetic attitude made him pity me. I will be honest, when I read the subject line I was a little excited, thinking he had contacted Katchanovski for me, but when I read the full email I saw that wasnāt the case.
I am sure you are all curious about what the head of the āclubā said. Again, I cannot write verbatim but I will summarize:
The head of the club has many issues with Katchanovksiās perspective. He claims that Katchanovksi is very in line with the Russian governmentās narrative and those on the academic left are eating it up. He (the head of the club) rejects both the idea that Ukraine is a proxy for NATO and that the US planned the Maidan coup. He says Katchanovskiās sniper argument is interesting. But he has many issues with all of this stuff. He cites William Rischās critique of Katchanovski and links it: https://commons.com.ua/en/rozstrili-na-majdani/
for a shorter piece he gives this one: https://kyivindependent.com/euromaidan-murders-case-why-is-the-verdict-criticized-and-why-is-it-about-russia/
This next part is difficult for me to write but he goes on to compliment Rischās piece as it acknowledges that the whole ordeal was very complicated and messy, he even makes a little comment about Katchanovski making a big deal over one supposed sniper. Some state actors and academics are taking advantage of the situation to form their own narratives.
He asserts that other things Katchanovski has written about are completely wrong, especially when it comes to the Donbas: it wasnāt a civil war, they were Russian backed separatists who had so little public support that they only gained ground after Russian soldier boots hit the ground. He cites Serhy Yekelchyk for the Russian troops in Crimea and other parts of eastern Ukraine. There is no incident of Ukrainians ever wanting to separate and join Russia. He says it is more similar to Quebec and Albertaās issues with the Canadian feds. There is a right wing presence in Ukraine but it is not that pervasive, especially not in the military and government. There are more far right wingers in Western Europe and North American than in Ukraine.
About the flag, he links this article: https://kyivindependent.com/everything-you-didnt-know-about-ukraines-flag/
He summarizes the article, how back then it had nothing to do with fascism and was more about resistance. Resistance to who? Itās not clear as it was the 12th century and both Russian and Ukraine did not exist. It is correct that the UPA uses the flag, it is not intended to be fascist, although some divisions did fight alongside the Nazis. But they only did that because they wanted to be free from the Soviets (he then brings up the holodomor as a reason why). But they eventually turned away from the Nazis as they saw that they (Nazis) didnāt actually care about Ukraine. He doesnt know about any anti-Semitism from the group but cites Snyderās Bloodlands as a piece to read. Some of the UPA were in line with the fascists but that did not last. Even with such a messy history it is safe to assume that those who wear the flag do not align with fascists and just want to express Ukrainian resistance to imperialism (which it has a long history of fighting against).
Thatās it. Thatās the email.
Iām going to be completely honest with you all, this was the catalyst for me. This is what finally did me in and caused me to break down. I havenāt cried in so long but this is what did it. I couldnāt hold it in anymore and just let the tears and sobs out.
I know I sound pathetic and a passerby liberal or conservative will read this and look down on me, call me a psychotic tankie who canāt handle the truth. I get it, I do. But this moment just cemented the fact that I am in a horrible institution and am truly alone.
Iām fringe, just like Katchanovski, and I have no one else here like me.
I donāt know why he would email me this. He had good intentions, I know, but god does it suck. I thought our conversation was done. I knew I was alone and I was the only person i could ever rely on, but this just for some reason made it worse. This is so much more than an uphill battle for me, Iām practically scaling a steep cliff.
Rest assured I did not respond, and from what I can tell he sent it after our class. I wonder if he noticed how off Iāve been this week. Who knowsā¦
The last thing Iāll do is drop out, so donāt worry about that, but this has just gotten a lot more complicatedā¦
Honestly, I probably would have just groaned rather than cried upon reading that email, because itās so typical of how antisocialists mishandle serious accusations: finding a couple of āissuesā with the accusation and then shutting the case as soon as possible, never worrying about it again. Putting more than a marginal effort into researching this would quickly reveal that finding examples of the OUNās xenophobic violence is easy. Has your professor ever heard of Grzegorz RossoliÅskiāLiebe?
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/16E526E005BCAD7A8B34D15EE3D243DA/S0269889719000048a.pdf/eugenics-and-racial-anthropology-in-the-ukrainian-radical-nationalist-tradition.pdf
https://sci-hub.ru/10.1080/00905992.2011.570327
https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=C449CEBBF426E7765A5BDA8BA8E96731
https://carlbeckpapers.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/cbp/article/download/164/160
Ooooof, Gādā¦ I swear, that historiaster has laid waste to the field of WWII studies.
I would recommend reading Blood Lies as a refutation, but I am sure that most antisocialists would dismiss it out of hand saying that Grover Furr isnāt a real scholar, so I donāt see the point in recommending it to them. While Iāll be the first to admit that I do have certainā¦ problems with Furr, I think that in this case most of his sources would stand up to peer review. Good luck trying to convince one antisocialist to read it with an open mind, though.
You are much stronger than me, but then again I am a very sensitive person, I have been my whole life. Hopefully one day I can have the same reaction as you. I think being incredibly sleep deprived (pulled two all-nighters in a row to finish a paper) made it easer to break me down. I think I also just got protective over Katchanovski too even though heās a grown man who can defend himself just fine, Iām sure he knows about what certain people think of him and it doesnāt bother him, but him being called fringe hit me personally because I guess I am too. It also cuts that this is all coming from two authority figures, two people (probably more) that can do so much and I canāt. It just proved to me that I am unsafe no matter where I go in this school.
My professor seems to be a big fan of Timothy Snyder, and I guess the Head of the Ukrainian āclubā is too considering they both mention him as an authority. My professor told me to look into Snyder during our meeting, he references him in our class about the holodomor (this was on Wednesday) and he gets mentioned again by the Ukrainian āclubā leader. People seem very attached to him. I do have Grover Furrās book but I havenāt had the time to read it, but I might have to soon.
Thank you for linking so many sources, Iāll try to get through them too.
I would hesitate bringing up Furr, they will assuredly label you a tankie and likely irrationally discriminate against you.
I definitely wonāt bring him up, Iāll just read him on my own time. Iām already in a precarious situation and donāt want to rock the boat anymore than I already have. My history paper might be the tipping point but Iāll at least be done with the semester by then.