Preparation and publication of encyclopedias has a long history in Ukraine that can claim some major achievements. Among the most important earlier Ukrainian encyclopedias were Ukrayinska Zahalna Entsyklopediya (General Ukrainian Encyclopedia), Entsyklopediya Ukrayinoznavstva (Encyclopedia of Ukraine), Ukrayinska Radyanska Entsyklopediya (Soviet Ukrainian Encyclopedia), and Encyclopedia of Ukraine (in English). Ukraine's independence and the first decade of its development as a modern state, however, brought forth a need for a new Ukrainian encyclopedia, one that would reflect a comprehensive image of modern Ukraine, both for its citizens and for the world as a whole. Several reference works and specialized encyclopedias published recently seek to provide updated information and a reexamination of numerous events, individuals and ideas that are a part of the process of freeing Ukraine's society from Communist dogmas and stereotypes. Yet, because of their specialized nature and thematic selection, these publications simply are unable to cover all facets of Ukrainian reality, nor can they present a comprehensive informed picture of Ukraine's past and present. Hence, we are presenting a new corpus — Entsyklopediya Suchasnoyi Ukrayiny (Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine — EMU).
Our ultimate goal is the creation of a fundamental national encyclopedia, one that would be a result of a coordinated effort by scholars and publishers, with the financial and organizational support of the state. Such publication would complement and expand on the work done by the creators of Entsyklopediya Ukrayinoznavstva (Encyclopedia of Ukraine) published by the Ukrainian diaspora beginning in late 1940's, as well as of the Ukrayinska Radyanska Entsyklopediya (Soviet Ukrainian Encyclopedia) that, although tainted by ideological bios, was nevertheless rich in encyclopedic material. But because for the time being our state is unable to take on the financial burden of this magnitude, we have set out to publish an encyclopedia with voluntary public support. We can thus try to meet the other more immediately pressing need of a new encyclopedia that would reflect that historic period not covered in the EU or SUE.
The idea of creating an encyclopedia with public support met with a positive response in scholarly and community circles, both in Ukraine and in the Ukrainian diaspora. The Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine endorsed it, provided office space for the editorial department and partly subsidized four staff members. Everything else rested on the shoulders of a large group of enthusiastic scholars and cultural activists. It quickly became apparent that the Encyclopedia enjoyed wide support and that it ought to be a fully autonomous undertaking, in terms of the range of material to be covered, its own selection and interoperation principles, its own scholarly and creative identity.
During preparatory work, it became clear that the main interest of the public for whom the encyclopedia was intended lay precisely in the contemporary period. The framework of the project was therefore changed to reflect the stress on the modern period, hence its name: Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine. As its name suggests, this encyclopedia is dedicated to modern Ukraine, to the period of its appearance and development as an independent state. At the same time, the scope was intentionally expanded. In any periodization scheme a century stands out as a definite entity, both chronologically, and — in this case — from the point of view of actual historic events. With a view to a better understanding of modern processes of state-building, numerous entries in the Encyclopedia cover organizations and people who have exerted some past influence — both positive and negative — on the emergence of modern Ukraine. Although many of these organizations and individuals frequently come up in discussions of modern Ukraine, few contemporary Ukrainians have access to reliable information about them. This is yet another reason we extended the parameters of «modern» to the beginning of the twentieth century.
EMU places its emphasis on the current material, and special attention was paid to the phenomena, processes, ideas that characterize the independence era of Ukraine. Our goal was to seek and interpret all that is new in the life of society, and integrate it into a rich, comprehensive portrait of contemporary Ukraine in all its aspects — political, ideological, ethnic, economic, scholarly, cultural, literary, artistic, religious, sports and the like. We also aimed to include all regions of Ukraine, which is particularly important in the light of the resurgence of regional and local activities in all their dimensions. While EMU focuses on the modern Ukrainian state within its borders, Ukrainians who live beyond the country's borders, particularly in ethnic Ukrainian regions nearby are not forgotten. We also did not want to overlook the millions of Ukrainians who live in what are commonly referred to as the Eastern and Western Diaspora. And keeping in mind the idea of Ukraine's unity, the editors of EMU made an effort to cover all the Ukrainian lands and regions. Ukraine is in a sense a multinational state in which all citizens of Ukraine, regardless of their ethno—national or religious preference, are treated equally. Accordingly, we pay appropriate attention to national minorities, in particular to Crimean Tatars and victims of genocide. And because Ukraine does not exist in isolation from other European countries and the world, entries include information on Ukraine's relations with her neighbors and its strategic significance for stability and balance of power in Europe. Countries with which Ukraine maintains political, economic and cultural ties also are covered in the entries. We hope our work, by presenting a realistic picture of Ukraine, will make the country better known and better understood within its borders and beyond.
Emphasis on the current material, of course, presented additional problems for the selection principles and criteria. For example, in the economic and financial spheres new entities are emerging continually. EMU cannot disregard them, but how does one distinguish stable entities with a future from those that will disappear tomorrow, because of their ineptness or their failure to adapt to new conditions? Or: a number of gigantic industrial enterprises, once the pride of Ukraine, were reduced to mere skeletons of their former might as we prepared articles about them. These enterprises may no longer serve their purpose, but we have no right to forget their past achievements. Some enterprises and institutions have changed their names several times, and that, too, added to the complexity of the project.
These are but a few of the difficulties and incongruencies facing the editors of the Encyclopedia, whose theme is not the stabilized and systematized past, but chaotic and fluid present.
Similar problems beset us in the biographical entries. The Soviet Ukrainian Encyclopedia or the Great Soviet Encyclopedia solved such problems simply: inclusion was determined by one's scholarly degree or other titles, by membership in professional societies, by the number of honors awarded. Clearly, no encyclopedia can ignore such formal criteria, yet basic justice and common sense indicate that these must not be the absolute norm. We therefore sought to include in our selections the contributions of those young activists and artists who are determining the innovative tendencies of the future. We also have paid great attention to recognition of those leaders who had been discriminated during the Soviet era and to those events in Ukrainian life about which there had been little formal information. We provided information about those distinguished Ukrainians or other persons, who were born or studied in Ukraine, even if they made significant contributions to other cultures. Similarly, we have gathered material for biographical entries from other cultures who used their talents on Ukrainian territory. This in no way means that we were trying to subsume their national identity; we merely wished to illustrate the global context of Ukrainian heritage. In this fashion, we recognize those Ukrainians who contributed to other cultures, and express our appreciation to representatives of other nations who served Ukraine.
The same motives led us to include information in the EMU on statesmen, scholars, writers, and artists who either worked on Ukrainian subjects or popularized Ukrainian culture, or contributed to a greater or lesser extent to Ukrainian independence. They all belong in the panorama of the Twentieth Century Ukraine. At the same time, we have scrupulously avoided any political bias, or evaluation of individuals and events through an ideological prism. The encyclopedic genre demands a scholarly objectivity and balance. It also demands that everyone receive her or his due, and that historic leaders, who had caused systematic crimes against Ukrainian people, the events that had become tragic for the Ukrainian people, were characterized as such. Our attitude to the Soviet period that has dominated 70 years of our history has to be realistic and balanced.
Being independent of any institutions or sponsors and free of political, ideological or religious biases, the Editors adhered to one primary criterion: an exposition of events, facts, organizations, people as fully and objectively as possible. Our product, EMU, seeks to provide reliable information regardless of the time, the place, and the social phenomena in which it occurred. It can fulfill its goal only by striving to be as objective as possible. That has been the overarching mission of the editors.
Large staffs produce most encyclopedias. Our staff is made up of dedicated specialists who worked tirelessly on a voluntary basis. Much of the source material for the encyclopedia was not available in any systematized manner, and our authors demonstrated their skills and resourcefulness in gathering data from various sources. As the result, the editors are in possession of more material than could be included in the EMU. We therefore decided to create a database that will be available to researchers and to compilers of other encyclopedias. Eventually, in order to systematize and preserve data on Ukraine, it would be useful to establish an Encyclopedic Institute in the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
EMU is a general encyclopedia covering a limited period. Therefore the Editors sought to balance various sections to prevent any one of them — such as geography or economics or ethnography or politics — from becoming a dominant one. Since this encyclopedia is the first one to appear in independent Ukraine, the editors paid particular attention to subjects and entries dealing with a new phenomenon — the Ukrainian state and its attributes. These topics were not tolerated by foreign powers ruling Ukraine and therefore never fully presented in Ukrainian publications. This is why the editors have highlighted politics and political thought, as well as various governmental institutions and activities that either did not exist or were seen as inimical under the old regime. This category includes diplomacy, foreign affairs, armed forces, security service, parliamentary customs, as well as such previously proscribed subjects as religion and church, independence movements, national consciousness.
Our wish to present a full picture of modern Ukraine necessitated the inclusion of many more entries in EMU than had been the case with such «canonical» and «normative» encyclopedias as the Soviet Ukrainian Encyclopedia. We sought to show how rich in talent and human endeavor our country is, to provide the readers as much knowledge as possible about Ukraine and include topics that had been previously slighted. While emphasizing important and timeless subjects, the editors of the Encyclopedia nevertheless kept in mind the goal of EMU: to provide the maximum of valuable and reliable information on Ukraine of the XXth century.
We are well aware that EMU may give rise to criticism, generated both by the differences in readers' perceptions, as well as by errors and omissions made by contributors. Some of the oversights will be rectified in the addendum in the last volume of the Encyclopedia. We regard the work done in compiling the EMU as a preparatory effort for a future national encyclopedia and ask the readers' indulgence for its shortcomings.
In conclusion, we wish to express our sincere appreciation to all those who responded to our requests for information and for other assistance. We thank the staff of various scholarly and governmental organizations for providing important data. To our consultants and voluntary contributors, who did not spare their time, energy and effort working on the encyclopedia entries without compensation we offer only humble thanks. And let this introduction also serve as a quiet reminder to all those many individuals who declined their assistance, did not take our needs seriously, and to those who promised but did not deliver.
Finally, despite all the difficulties, doubts, painful shortages, EMU is becoming a reality!
Source: Preface // The Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine. Vol. 1: «A» / Ed. by I.M. Dziuba, A.I. Zhukovsky, M.H. Zhelezniak et al; NAS of Ukraine, Shevchenko Scientific Society. Kyiv, 2001. P. 7-8.