“Defenders of the Fatherland”
The Militarisation of Schools in Donetsk and Luhansk
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Parts of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk have been occupied by Russia since 2014. The occupiers there are trying to bind the people to their regime. One means is to ideologically influence young people in schools. They are to be reared as „defenders of the fatherland, their Ukrainian sense of self to be erased. The regions’ schools have been integrated into the Russian school system. Moreover elements of Soviet schooling have been reintroduced. This can be seen in the canon of subjects such as literature, history, and social studies, which are intended to instil Russian patriotism and loyalty to the “people’s republics”. Physical education has been militarized, and a new subject, military education, has been introduced.
(Osteuropa 10-11/2023, pp. 75–84)