The 1960s marked a pivotal era in world history, defined by transformative events. The Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, France's 1968 student protests, the sexual revolution, and Africa's decolonization all reflected sweeping political and social changes.
The USSR was not immune to this wave of change. The late 1950s and early 1960s ushered in the so-called "thaw" - a period following Joseph Stalin's death when political and social life in the Soviet Union became more liberal. For Ukraine, this thaw brought the gradual rehabilitation of repressed artists from the "Executed Renaissance" and the rise of a new intellectual generation: the Sixtiers
.
This article explores how Ukrainian artists rejoined the European cultural sphere, rediscovered the legacy of the "executed renaissance," and forged a creative path beyond the constraints of socialist realism.
The Sixtiers refers to a generation of Ukrainian poets, writers, artists, filmmakers and translators who emerged on the cultural stage in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Some of them were also dissidents
- people who openly criticized the USSR's official ideology and policies. In an era of weakened but still pervasive state control, open dissent was a bold and dangerous act, and not everyone was willing to take that risk. Among the most notable figures who fought against the regime were poet Vasyl Stus, literary critic Ivan Svitlychnyi, politician Viacheslav Chornovil and many others.
The relative easing of totalitarian control allowed the Sixtiers to uncover a previously suppressed layer of national culture. In 1959, Yurii Lavrynenko's book The Executed Renaissance: Anthology 1917-1933. Poetry - Prose - Drama - Essays was published in Paris. When it reached Ukraine in the 1960s, it became, in the words of literary critic Yevhen Sverstiuk, a form of "sabotage" against ideological overseers. The book was meticulously copied and passed from hand to hand, making it one of the first significant examples of samvydav
(self-publishing) in that era.
The consciousness of the new generation was less poisoned by Soviet ideological 'monotheism' and the inherited fear of their predecessors. The value system of the Sixtiers emphasized individualism, the cult of freedom of expression, skepticism, humanism free from class-based distortions, and a universal approach to cultural tastes - qualities that defied the Soviet moral code,
writes researcher Oles Obertas.
The Sixtiers were characterized by a profound commitment to humanism, starkly contrasting the socialist reality of the USSR. In Western Europe, the value of the individual gained renewed significance after World War II, and Ukrainians followed a similar path.
"Symonenko's line 'Do you know that you are a human being?' became the rallying cry for this generation. The Sixtiers movement represents a humanism deeply aligned with the European model. It reflects European culture's redefinition of itself, placing the individual back at the center of its worldview," explains Radomyr Mokryk, Ukrainian historian and author of *Rebellion Against Empire: Ukrainian Sixtiers.
During the Thaw, Ukrainian artists had their first opportunity in decades to engage with the art and ideas of what are now modern EU countries.
"In this generation, the thirst for knowledge was a defining characteristic. During the Khrushchev Thaw, Ukraine welcomed foreign artists and movie stars, and exhibitions of European art were organized. The Sixtiers eagerly embraced it all - they attended concerts, exhibitions, and sought out books - not because they were loyal to any particular style, but because they quickly grew weary of socialist realism," explains Radomyr Mokryk.
Among the Sixtiers, a distinct group of translators emerged, led by Hryhorii Kochur and Mykola Lukash. Operating under the banner of broadening Soviet perspectives, they translated works of European authors into Ukrainian, bringing with them the West's ideas, imagery, and cultural trends.
"When a belated visitor like Exupery or Hemingway, Remarque, Faulkner, or Camus came to us, they arrived as though returning home... The best minds of the intelligentsia turned to translated literature as a gateway to the West, and their efforts kept the door to Europe open, though many of them paid a painful price," wrote the Sixtiers-era writer Yevhen Sverstiuk in his article "The Sixtiers and the West."
Even the resurgence of repressions in the mid-1960s could not halt the influx of Western culture into Ukraine. Vasyl Stus
translated Goethe and Rilke while detained in a Kyiv KGB facility and later in Mordovian labor camps, with his wife sending him the originals in her letters. Meanwhile, Ivan Svitlychnyi
, from exile, worked on translations of French poets such as Ronsard, Verlaine, and Baudelaire.
The Sixtiers' embrace of Western art felt natural. It offered freedom and themes resonant with Ukrainians.
"The West is the West: no springs are dammed, no rivers run dry, and no revival is silenced by gunfire," Sverstiuk observed.
The brief period of liberalization in the USSR lasted only from about 1957 to 1962. Afterwards, the authorities resumed their crackdown on artists, leading to renewed arrests. However, even these five years of weakening totalitarianism significantly impacted Ukrainian culture. In literature, music, and painting, trends that were parallel to those observed in other European countries emerged.
The Sixtiers achieved what Ukrainian writer Mykola Khvylovyi had fervently advocated for in his time: they created a national culture with a focus on psychological Europe. It's telling that every time the Soviet system faltered, our culture instinctively turned toward the West. This is a natural and automatic expression of Ukraine's identity as a part of Europe,
notes historian Radomyr Mokryk.
Like generations of Ukrainian artists before them, the Sixtiers became vital in affirming the European essence of Ukrainian art.
