Lenin Monument (Kiev)

Coordinates: 50 ° 26 ′ 32.8 ″  N , 30 ° 31 ′ 10 ″  E

Lenin Monument in Kiev, May 2009

The Lenin Monument in Kiev was a monument to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in the Ukrainian capital Kiev . It was erected in 1946 and destroyed on December 8, 2013.

The Lenin monument

The 3.45-meter-high monument made of dark red granite was created by the Soviet sculptor Sergei Merkurow and first shown in 1939 as part of the World Exhibition in New York . On December 5, 1946, it was erected in Kiev, the then capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic , on Taras Shevchenko Boulevard near Bessarabska Square . A few quotes from Lenin were engraved on the black labradorite base, about six meters high . In contrast to the significantly larger monument of the Great October Socialist Revolution , on which Lenin was also dominant and which stood on the Majdan Nesaleschnosti until the end of 1991 , the monument was not removed after the collapse of the Soviet Union .

In June 2009 the statue was damaged by Ukrainian nationalists who invoked an order from then President Viktor Yushchenko about the "dismantling of monuments of the totalitarian past". The monument was then restored and re-erected. As a result, it was temporarily guarded by members of the Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU) to prevent further attempts at destruction.

Protesters on the plinth of the fallen Lenin statue, December 8, 2013

Destruction on December 8, 2013

As part of the Euromaidan protests , the memorial was toppled by masked demonstrators on the evening of December 8, 2013. The perpetrators had attached a steel cable to the monument in order to bring the monument down in this way. The overturned and already severely damaged statue was then further demolished by the demonstrators. The Ukrainian national flag was placed on the base of the monument. The police who were initially present had withdrawn beforehand and made no attempts to stop the perpetrators. The nationalist party Svoboda assumed responsibility for the destruction of the monument . The Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, however, called the destruction barbaric. The singer Ruslana Lyschytschko , who supports the Euromaidan, also condemned the perpetrators' actions. The KPU filed a complaint with the General Prosecutor of Ukraine, describing the perpetrators as "fascist criminals". Various politicians spoke out in favor of restoring the monument.

The Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski published a photo on his Twitter account on February 21, 2014 , showing him with a clenched right fist in front of the base of the fallen monument. Sikorski had already expressly welcomed the destruction of the monument in December 2013.

December 9: Protesters destroy the fallen statue of Lenin

Web links

Commons : Monument to Lenin (Kiev)  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lenin's nose , Tagesspiegel, March 20, 2011
2. ^ Website of the UNIAN news agency from December 8, 2013
3. ^ Website of the Zik news agency from December 8, 2013
4. ^ Protesters in Kiev Topple Lenin Statue as Rallies Grow , The New York Times, December 8, 2013
5. ^ Website of Ruslana Lyschytschko from December 8, 2013
6. ↑ KPU website from December 10, 2013 ( Memento of the original from December 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ^ Website The Voice of Russia of December 9, 2013
8. ↑ Radoslaw Sikorski's Twitter account, accessed on February 21, 2014
9. ↑ Toppling of Lenin monument in Kyiv evokes mixed feelings , Kyiv Post, December 10, 2013