Zoological collections during revolutions, reforms, and wars: Ukraine’s experience in the 20th and 21st centuries

This paper provides a review of the most illustrative cases of losses sustained by natural history collections during extreme periods in the life of museums and society, particularly in times of war and revolution. It explores the principal risk factors threatening the existence and preservation of collections in their original condition and presents an analysis of losses arising from breaches of storage conditions or the relocation of collections. The particular vulnerability of small collections—most of which do not hold official museum status, such as researchers’ working collections, laboratory comparative series, and thematic cabinets of educational institutions—is highlighted. In contrast, large collections with the status of natural history museums are comparatively well protected, owing to the presence of staff and clearly defined professional responsibilities, especially where personnel are actively involved in expanding collections and curating exhibitions. During periods of crises, including wars and revolutions, such collections benefit from a relatively high level of protection and care, enabled by a range of factors: formal responsibilities of staff (particularly administrators and curators), state oversight (through administrative decisions and resource allocation, particularly for collections recognised as national heritage), and the civic engagement of individual employees (especially among collectors and researchers). Examples are provided from three historical periods: the First World War and the Ukrainian Revolution (predominantly 1914–1921), the Second World War (predominantly 1941–1946), and the ongoing Russian intervention and war against Ukraine (since 2014). The most extensive losses have occurred during the third period, due to the aggressor’s use of excessive military force, including the bombing of cities—and thus museums or nearby urban areas—resulting in the destruction of buildings, the displacement of staff, and the suspension of any form of custodianship over collections. In occupied territories, numerous instances of museum looting have been recorded, including the organised looting and forcible export of collections; however, such cases involving natural history collections have been relatively few. Based on the analysis of the documented cases, a set of measures is proposed to support the preservation of collections and their most valuable specimens.