Plaque to teacher and NKVD officer Makarenko dismantled in Poltava
25 February 17:26
In Poltava, one of the memorial plaques in honor of Soviet teacher Anton Makarenko was dismantled.
This was reported by a representative of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory in Poltava region, Oleg Pustovgar, Komersant ukrainskyi reports citing Ukrinform.
The plaque was placed on the facade of a residential building on Semen Antonets Street. It used to be a teachers’ institute where Makarenko worked in 1914-1917. The plaque was dismantled by employees of the municipal enterprise “Housing and Maintenance Organization No. 2” on behalf of the Poltava City Council.
“The decolonization law clearly indicates the categories of people whose names cannot be perpetuated in public space. These include, among others, employees of the Soviet state security agencies of all levels. This is true: a vivid example is NKVD officer and USSR teacher Anton Makarenko,” Pustovhar said.
He noted that until recently, it was the norm in the pedagogical process not to problematize Makarenko’s cooperation with repressive authorities. Makarenko’s Pedagogical Poem (1931) contains a whole section in which he glorifies and literally glorifies the Chekists.
Three more educational institutions are to be renamed: Makarenko Poltava Lyceum of the Poltava Regional Council; Makarenko Kremenchuk Vocational Lyceum; and Makarenko Flight Scientific Lyceum.
Two more plaques are also subject to dismantling: on the facade of the Poltava National Pedagogical University on Ostrohradskoho Street in Poltava; and a plaque on 5 Gospilny Lane in Poltava.
Pustovhar also noted that it is necessary to pay attention to and remove from public space the “monuments” to the NKVD in Kremenchuk: on Mykhailo Drahomanov Street (formerly Makarenko Street); on Petrus Street and 33 Valentyna Fedko Street.
