September 4th marked the 44th anniversary of the protest against the arrests of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, which took place at the premiere of the film “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” in Kyiv’s “Ukraina” cinema. On Friday, a memorial evening dedicated to those events was held in the same cinema. It was attended by well-known public and cultural figures: both participants in the protest and victims of the arrests.
In the early 1960s, Ukraine was practically never mentioned in the world. For various reasons, leading mass media outlets refused to publish information about what was happening on Ukrainian lands. The film by Serhiy Paradzhanov, “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors,” broke through the information blockade. However, by a twist of fate, Ukraine saw it a year later than the rest of the world. And while European and American audiences watched the film about Ukraine, arrests of the Ukrainian intelligentsia were taking place on the banks of the Dnipro.
The film discussion turned into a protest
For so-called “anti-Soviet agitation,” literary critic Ivan Svitlychnyi, art historian Bohdan Horyn, writer Mykhailo Masiutko, fashion designer Yaroslava Menkush, and others were imprisoned. Their names were announced during the premiere screening of “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” by public and cultural figure Ivan Dziuba, recalls a witness of those events, Sixtier and former political prisoner Oles Serhiienko.
“Dziuba said: ‘We have a great celebration, but also a great sorrow. Arrests of creative youth have begun in Ukraine.’ Someone from the hall, one of the KGB agents, shouted that it was about time. The cinema director, Fedir Braichenko, was bewildered, and then he pushed Dziuba away from the microphone. He nearly fell but straightened up and continued listing the names,” says Oles Serhiienko.
Witnesses say that at first, the film premiere looked like an apotheosis of official Soviet culture. But after Ivan Dziuba’s speech, the discussion of the film spiraled out of control. The spontaneous protest was joined by the then little-known Vyacheslav Chornovil and Vasyl Stus. The film's director, Serhiy Paradzhanov, also supported it, recalls Oles Serhiienko.
“Serhiy Paradzhanov also added fuel to the fire, to our national fire. He said: ‘I long resisted the translation of the film’s Ukrainian text into Russian, as I consider this text an integral part of the film's artistic fabric.’”
The destruction of the Sixtiers became the beginning of the political struggle for independence
Writer Ivan Drach was then an intern in Paradzhanov's film crew. He was running errands for the director, so he arrived late for the premiere. He saw that the cinema was surrounded by KGB officers, as if terrorists were holed up inside. “The cinema was surrounded by people in civilian clothes. The operation was led by the head of the Kyiv ideological department, Leonid Kalash. Later, he would lead the campaign against Oles Honchar's novel ‘The Cathedral.’” According to Ivan Drach, the special services expected some disturbances and intended to adjust their activities accordingly: whether to continue the secret arrests or to suspend them. But they did not expect to see this. After the film, the “KGB-ists” ran along the rows to memorize who had supported the dissidents’ speech.
It was then that the movement of civil and cultural resistance to the Soviet system began to grow into a political movement. And its new leaders, such as Vyacheslav Chornovil, already had a vision for the future of Ukraine, says the organizer of the memorial evening, the head of the Young People's Movement of Ukraine, Ivan Krulko. “That stage became iconic. From that time, the era of the Sixtiers begins, the movement that proved that Ukraine would fight and eventually win its independence.”
Many participants of those events, including Vasyl Stus and Vyacheslav Chornovil, were later imprisoned for anti-Soviet agitation. A criminal case was even opened against Serhiy Paradzhanov, who seemed to be a cult Soviet director. However, the spontaneous protest in Kyiv’s “Ukraina” cinema had irreversible consequences. It became a model for the struggle of Ukrainians for their rights, which was remembered more than once by those who later proclaimed the restoration of Ukrainian independence.