From Declarations to Practice. Politics of Memory as a Means of Ensuring Justice During Wartime. White Book on the Politics of Memory
This document was prepared to provide a general vision and proposals for implementing the politics of memory in qualitatively new conditions — the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation and significant changes in relevant national legislation. It identifies the main forms that should help the state, civil society, and representatives of victims make comprehensive use of available resources and coordinate their efforts not only to honour the victims but also to ensure symbolic justice during the acute phase of the war.
This document is a White Book on the Politics of Memory — an analytical note based on the key conclusions of the Green Book, containing proposals on the logic of building and developing politics of memory in Ukraine as one of the tools for overcoming the consequences of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation.
The White Book is based on an analysis of the regulatory framework, and the recommendations and proposals it contains were tested during regional research workshops held in July and August 2025 in Lviv, Kharkiv and Kyiv with the participation of representatives of the expert community in the field of memorialisation, military personnel and veterans, victims of war and their families, representatives of local authorities responsible for memorialisation at the community level, representatives of central authorities, artists and others. In addition, 10 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in July 2025 with key experts in the field of memorialisation, business, artists and military personnel at the national level. This made it possible to identify the main expectations and obtain feedback on the extent to which these requests are being met at the local level.
