May 18th - A day a morning

photo credit (not mine!):  RFE/RL

May 18th of this year marked the 66th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars.  Every year thousands march to the center of Simferopol, many walking for miles or travelling from far corners of Crimea and Ukraine, and even countries such as Romania, Turkey, and the United States.  Due to the extremely high level of casualties during and immediately after the deportation, every family has someone for whom to mourn.  The photo above (taken from here) was taken in Simferopol's Lenin square on Tuesday.

This day follows two other important days in Ukraine:  Victory Day, which is celebrated on May 9th with much fanfare, and the commemoration of the victims of the communist regime.   In a recent column, Mariana Karapinka writes these days and what it means for national identity in today's Ukraine:

The beginning of May is a challenge for Ukrainians: during this time the conflict of memories, which is always at stake in Ukrainian history and thus projected onto the present, becomes the most harsh and painful. May 9 and May 16 – two important dates of commemoration – present two myths of Ukraine and two visions of its future. May 9 is a holiday of Soviet legacy – the day of the Great Victory in the Great Patriotic War  (commonly known as World War II) and May 16 is day of commemoration of the victims of the communist regime.  The fact that these two opposite holidays are so close in the Ukrainian calendar is rather symbolic than accidental. We live like this.

Since Ukraine gained independence 19 years ago, Ukrainian intellectuals as well as ordinary people have been trying to understand their history. Which facts were glorious and which were shameful? Who are our heroes and who are inglorious bastards?  What was victory and what was defeat? The dichotomy (this is a simplification because there are more than two general opinions) in the perception of historical facts and thus in building a national identity is the sign of modern Ukrainian times. 

Adding May 18th to the 9th and 16th gives us even more to think about this month.