Publication Date

2024

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Bruno, Andy

Degree Name

Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

Legacy Department

Department of History

Abstract

This dissertation examines the transformation of a Ukrainian literary and aesthetic avant-garde movement in the 1960s, the Sixtiers, into an emblem of the 1970s global human rights campaign. This historical interpretation intertwines the brief flicker of early-1960s Ukrainian art and poetry with the joyous and tragic stories of Soviet citizens fighting for human rights. The Ukrainian Sixtiers’ experience with political persecution made them ideal players in the international human rights movement in its formative years. They adopted positive foreign influences and modified them for their own situation, whether in intellectual work or human rights activism. This represents a Soviet Ukrainian identity not limited to the realm of the Soviet revolution, but one with roles and responsibilities of a global – and human – nature.

This work shows that a homegrown human rights movement developed in Soviet Ukraine. Ukrainians embraced human rights not due to Western influence, but because they directly and severely suffered from the systematic denial of human rights. The strategies they developed of cataloguing individual cases of repression and informing the global public created a lasting record of Soviet political persecution. Above all, this history uncovers the Ukrainian contributions to human rights and highlights the efficacy of international cooperation against repressive states.

Extent

175 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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