Emblems of the Post-Soviet Donetsk Region: Official Ones «From the Bossmen», Upgrades «From the People», Alternatives From the «Russian World» Supporters

Abstract

The purpose of the article is the analysis of the development of Donetsk region emblems (official heraldry and vexillology of Donetsk Oblast, reflection of historical themes in commercial nomenclature, reinterpretations of official symbols by individuals) in 1991–2015, identifying the main trends in the development of emblems, their connections with the views of customers and authors on history and politics, transformations of symbolics. The methodology of the research is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, and systematics. General scientific and special-historical methods were used, such as content analysis, generalization, chronological, retrospective methods. The scientific novelty is based on it being the first attempt to generalize various elements of emblem studies of the Donetsk region, for the first time going beyond the official heraldry and vexillology of the Oblast, while considering their transformation in the hands of non-state actors. Conclusions. The post-Soviet era emblems of Donetsk and the Donetsk Oblast were developed in a unique situation: on the one hand local elites wanted to move away from Soviet symbols and modernize Donetsk as a “brand”, and on the other hand, due to the peculiarities of these elites’ education, origins and political preferences, did not perceive the region’s history. outside of the Soviet stereotypes about “Donbas as the economic center.” As a result, local elites ignored Cossack history of the Donetsk region in contrast to the perpetuation of industrial achievements of the Russian Empire (such as the Oblast’s coat of arms motto with a quote from Dmitri Mendeleev, “The Mertsalov Palm Tree”, as well as various “John Hughes/Yuz” nomenclature). Over the decades, there has been a divergence of traditions of Donetsk emblem use: official, business, and national-patriotic. At the same time, pro-Moscow organizations have been developing and imposing a separate emblem tradition since 1991, based on historical myths around the Donetsk-Kryvyi Rih Soviet Republic, but detached from both the old Soviet symbols and the new official Donetsk emblems. The latter were developed to symbolize the “uniqueness” of eastern Ukraine, the “separateness” of Donetsk region, but did not actually intersperse with Russian symbols (with the exception of the Russian-language motto). In this form, it did not meet the goals of Moscow’s agents of influence, but was accepted and reworked by pro-Ukrainian patriotic forces. Thus, the use of one or the other version of Donetsk region symbols indicates a person’s political beliefs, their understanding of regional history and “memory politics” around it.