SOVIETIZATION OF THE GRAND THEATRE IN LVIV (1939–1941)

Анотація

Based on archival documents, periodical publications, and scholarly literature, this article examines the specific features of the establishment and development of the Lviv Opera and Ballet Theatre under the conditions of the forcible consolidation of Soviet power in Western Ukrainian lands during 1939–1941. The study emphasizes that Bolshevik ideology was intrinsically embedded in the policy of Sovietization, which relied on both overt and covert terror exercised by NKVD security structures. This policy included the compulsory imposition of Bolshevik ideology; the creation and functioning of auxiliary party institutions in the form of Communist Party, Komsomol, and trade union organizations; the dominance of the Russian language in education, culture, and the arts; ideologically controlled repertoire formation; the marginalization and humiliation of representatives of national culture; intensified surveillance of the local population; anti-religious campaigns; and the widespread practices of denunciations, arrests, repression, deportations, and other forms of political violence.

The article analyzes the process of theatre nationalization carried out by the Bolshevik authorities, the real living and working conditions of performers, and the factors that influenced staffing, financial, ideological, material, and technical support of the institution. The research methodology is grounded in the principles of historicism, scholarly rigor, objectivity, and systemic analysis, employing general scientific (analysis, synthesis, generalization), special (comparative, typological, hermeneutic), and specific (systemic and prosopographic) methods.

The scientific novelty of the study lies in introducing previously unknown archival documents, governmental decrees and resolutions of the Ukrainian SSR, little-known publications, memoirs, and press materials into scholarly circulation. These sources make it possible to reconstruct the competitive struggle among Galician theatre troupes for the theatre building, to reveal the actual position and status of actors, and to examine the activities of the theatre administration under conditions of ideological control.

Conclusions. Sovietization in the sphere of culture and art resulted in a radical transformation of ideological and worldview orientations, the dominance of the Bolshevik political and ideological system, and, consequently, arrests, repression, deportations, administrative abuses, and profound distortions in governance, artistic production, religion, and national spiritual life.