State and Prospects for Research on the September 1939 Events in Ukrainian Historiography

The issue of September 1939 does not occupy the attention of Ukrainian scholars. Nevertheless, in the present-day Ukrainian historiography there are publications that seek to study this period in history to some extent. They do not discuss the military campaign or military operations but they show the attitudes of society, the response of the Ukrainian nationalist underground, and the activities of the newly arriving Soviet occupation authorities. With regard to the events of September 1939, the Ukrainian historians have certainly succeeded in reconstructing relatively well the organization of the Soviet terror apparatus and preparations of the Ukrainian underground to organize an uprising. It should be also emphasized that all the achievements of Ukrainian historians in the field in question are associated with the present-day Ukrainian historiography, which has been developing since the late 1980s. During the Soviet period. this subject was not studied at all, having also left a distorted picture of World War Two, which still impedes the current work of historians.