The Paradox of Ukrainian Lviv：A Borderland City between Stalinists, Nazis, and Nationalists

InTheParadoxofUkrainianLviv,TarikCyrilAmarrevealsthelocalandtransnationalforcesbehindthetwentieth-centurytransformationofoneofEastCentralEurope'smostimportantmultiethnicborderlandcitiesintoaSovietandUkrainianurbancenter.Today,LvivisthemodernmetropoleofthewesternpartofindependentUkraineandacenterandsymbolofUkrainiannationalidentityaswellasnationalism.OverthelastthreecenturiesithasalsobeenpartoftheHabsburgEmpire,interwarPoland,aWorldWarIRussianoccupationregime,theNaziGeneralgouvernement,and,until1991,theSovietUnion.Lviv'stwentieth-centuryhistorywasmarkedbygreatviolence,massivepopulationchanges,andfundamentaltransformation.UnderHabsburgandPolishruleuptoWorldWarII,LvivwasapredominantlyPolishcityaswellasoneofthemajorcentersofEuropeanJewishlife.ImmediatelyafterWorldWarII,LvivunderwentrapidSovietmodernization,bringingfurtherextensivechange.Overthepostwarperiod,thecitybecamepreponderantlyUkrainian―ethnically,linguistically,andintermsofitsresidents’self-perception.Againstthisbackground,Amarexplainsastrikingparadox:Sovietrule,whichcametoLvivinitsmostruthlessStalinistshapeandlastedforhalfacentury,leftbehindthemostUkrainianversionofthecityinhistory.Inreconstructingthisdramaticandprofoundchange,Amaralsoilluminatesthehistoricalbackgroundtopresent-dayidentitiesandtensionswithinUkraine.