The burial grounds of fallen soldiers serve a profound social and educational function that goes far beyond ordinary commemoration. The formation of a new culture of remembrance requires a radical rethinking of approaches to the creation of memorial complexes. Public figure and journalist Darka Hirna emphasizes the need to separate military burial grounds from civilian cemeteries in order to create places of living history and shape national identity.
The meaning of memorial space and global experience
A properly organized necropolis becomes a venue for educational work and diplomatic protocol. Schoolchildren, students, and foreign delegations come here to understand the scale of historical events. The experience of the United States of America demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach. American military cemeteries in Europe are distinguished by their uniform white marble crosses and well-designed complex of buildings, including information centers, halls of military glory with mosaics, chapels, and flagpoles. Each of these buildings was constructed in the 1940s and 1950s following open architectural competitions, which allowed for a combination of a strict framework with space for art.
“A military necropolis highlights the theme of war in public space and marks the burial sites of fallen heroes as something different, something more special than ordinary civilian burials. It is important to create them so that the history of this war and the price of our independence will be remembered for centuries to come,” explains Darka Hirna.
The journalist cites the presence of visitors who have not lost loved ones on the front lines but feel an inner need to visit this space as an indicator of a successful memorial. Eighty years after the war, families with children can be seen at American military cemeteries on weekdays. This effect can be achieved when the meaning and architectural form are equally strong.
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Overcoming gloomy aesthetics and the psychology of architecture
Today, the process of memorialization in Ukraine is often accompanied by a chaotic approach. Thousands of military burials are scattered across ordinary cemeteries and can be identified mainly by national flags. The public figure draws attention to the disregard for the psychology of architecture in the design of such spaces, where the ordering of identical slabs from the nearest granite factory continues to dominate.
We still have a utilitarian approach—put up a monument and consider the memorial function fulfilled. This is a huge illusion, because an ill-chosen form buries rather than preserves memory. Our burial sectors are gloomy — gray, red, black. The forms of memorials can either heal a person and ease their pain, or drive them into hopeless grief, or deepen their feelings of guilt,” the expert notes.
The lack of systematic landscape design and inclusive solutions creates additional barriers. The large number of people with limited mobility and veterans with disabilities requires a well-thought-out barrier-free environment, which is much more complicated than simply installing a bench near a burial site.
State policy and regional initiatives
The state faces difficulties in establishing uniform standards for national cemeteries. The creation of the National Military Memorial Cemetery sparked debate due to the approval of the pseudo-Cossack cross standard without prior public discussion. At the same time, hopes are pinned on individual cities and regions that are independently seeking the right visual solutions based on their historical heritage.
Ternopil became the first city to revive the tradition of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen by installing uniform crosses made of light stone, modeled after the memorial on Mount Makivka. Lviv is also developing a project for a light-colored necropolis with Cossack crosses. The professional community is discussing the limits of unification, considering the possibility of incorporating regional history. In southern Ukraine, the use of Cossack crosses seems logical, while in the west, classic equal-armed forms are more common.
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A separate challenge is the burial of military personnel of different faiths. The use of the Cossack cross requires public reflection on its meaning in the modern context.
“We need to decide first whether the Cossack cross is important to us as a religious symbol or as a military and cultural symbol that emphasizes our centuries-old presence on this land. The diversity of monuments in military cemeteries precludes the idea of unification, which is its essence. Perhaps we should consider planning separate cemeteries for soldiers of certain faiths and develop projects for Jewish and Muslim military cemeteries accordingly,” says Darka Hirna.
The conflict between private and public memory
Responsibility for maintaining memorials lies primarily with local communities. The creation of new spaces regularly encounters a lack of consensus between professional project developers and the families of the fallen. The clash between private and public memory requires professional mediation.
“It is difficult to propose systemic changes during the active phase of a full-scale war, when we are losing people every day and the wounds are still fresh. Currently, the families of the deceased and the military have the right of first refusal. What this turns into can be seen in the example of Lviv. One family wants a gray granite cross, another wants Demnyansky limestone, and no star architectural bureau can decide. There will always be a conflict between private and public memory, and it will be impossible to convince all families,” the journalist notes.
Solving this problem requires systematic communication. Individual enthusiasts are working with the families of the fallen, explaining the advantages of burial in a military cemetery instead of home cemeteries. However, in order to achieve global change, local self-government and the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory must become more assertive mediators of complex memorialization processes.
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