A monument to the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev was demolished in Kalush city, Ivano-Frankivsk region of western Ukraine as part of the “derussification campaign” in the country.

18 comments

  1. “Mendeleev (1834 – 1907) is known for formulating the Periodic Law and creating a version of the periodic table of elements”.

  4. De-imperialization campaign. Mendeleev had f*ck all to do with Ukraine – just like dozens of other Russians whose monuments were imposed on the conquered territories.

  5. I remember when my country went through this, so stupid and idiotic, in 30 years they’ll regret erasing part of their history. But oh well.

  8. Mendeleev has not a slightest connection to Kalush. So Kalushers finally decided to get rid of an ugly bearded (?) man in the center of their city.

    If Russians want they can put Mendeleevs in every village in Russia, but they have no right to demand Mendeleevs in Ukraine or complain about Mendeleevs removal in Ukraine.

  9. Allow me to call this supremely dumb. Mendeleev was a major contributor to humanity’s knowledge of science and everyone should be able to appreciate his memory.

    And yeah, Ukrainians have a right to remove the statue. Doesn’t mean it is any less stupid to do so – a lot of Ukrainians seem to confuse **having a right** with being correct or sensible.

  10. So the guy who created the periodic table and helped to recognize the importance of petroleum as well as a whole slew of other things is bad? Seems really stupid to tear it down, especially since he is well known for having becoming a professor in Ukraine.

  11. So before all the cultural couch warriors get enraged on behalf of a deceased chemist, here is some context for you.

    During Soviet times, Kalush became one of the big hubs for building chemical processing plans. We are talking dangerous and complicated chemical processing: fertilizers, paints, cleaners and so on. The factories were packed densely, built grandly, and had no environmental safeguards to speak of. As a result of 70 years of Soviet chemical management, Kalush is the second most polluted place in Ukraine, beaten only by Chornobyl. The level of pollution is known in the entire country and is included in school curriculum for middle-schoolers.

    All the while, as the soil, air, and water were being destroyed, the natives of Kalush had to pass by the statues of Mendeleev and Lenin and watch over their shoulder for KGB searching for “nationalists.”

    So yes, they took it off. Should have taken it off in 1991 in my opinion.

  12. That’s a very sad moment. It’s an unjustifiable violence towards science in the name of retaliation towards your aggressor.

    I understand that Ukrainians can feel this way towards anything related to Russia, but destroying monuments in memory of non-political figures, especially those that were tied to your country (he was a professor in Ukraine) is ludacris. It’s nothing more than blind violence and national radicalism. This will not end good if you abandon all reason and start attacking anything Russian. Today it’s monuments, tomorrow it will be everyday Russian civilians.

    I just hope this title was a clickbait and monument was only “removed and stored” for the time being. Only not to irritate those less understanding citizens.

    It’s not my place to judge, I’m a simple polish citizen, but hatred towards Russians is greatly rooted in my country as well. And it doesn’t bare anything good. If you have to hate someone – hate the Russian state, it’s crooked aparatus and broken regime, not the ppl and especially not the great historical figures contributing to humanities advancement.

    I just hope this war ends asap, so we can save as many lives as possible.

  13. I hope they are putting this somewhere safe so it can be restored to a museum in the future. I understand why they might not want to have it now, but don’t erase the past on account of the present.

  14. a version of the periodic table of elements.

    We can only advise the city authorities to cancel chemistry classes in its schools because chemistry apparently has a strong Russian twist.

    -Slavyangrad

  16. Fucking Ukrainians, lol. This statue is in Kalush, which is a Polish town that was annexed by the USSR when they invaded Poland in the 1930s.

    So…If Ukraine is so serious about their “derussification campaign” then they should return Kalush and most of western Ukraine back to Poland.

  17. That looks like they took it down with a crane.

    “Demolished” kind of suggests more like a wrecking ball to me.

  18. This isn’t de-Russification. This is just Russophobia. This guy wasn’t some Soviet demagogue, he legitimately contributed to humanity’s understanding of chemistry.

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