Ems Ukaz

Ems Ukaz
Created	1876
Author(s)	Emperor of Russia Alexander II
Purpose	to prohibit the use of Ukrainian language

The Ems Ukaz, or Ems Ukase (Russian: Эмский указ, Emskiy ukaz; Ukrainian: Емський указ, Ems’kyy ukaz), was a secret decree (ukaz) of Tsar Alexander II of Russia issued in 1876, banning the use of the Ukrainian language in print, with the exception of reprinting of old documents. The ukaz also forbade the import of Ukrainian publications and the staging of plays or lectures in Ukrainian. It was named after the city of Bad Ems, Germany, where it was promulgated.

In the 1860s, a decade and a half after the Imperial Russian government had broken up the Brotherhood of Sts Cyril and Methodius in Kiev (March 1847), and exiled or arrested its founder Nikolay Kostomarov and other prominent figures, Ukrainian intellectuals were gaining further awareness of their cultural background. Hromada cultural associations (named after the traditional village assembly) started in a number of cities, and Sunday schools started in the cities and towns (the Russian Imperial administration had neglected education). The new cultural movement was partly driven by publications in both Russian and Ukrainian, including journals (such as Kostomarov's Osnova, 1861–62, and Hlibov's Chernyhosvs’kyy Lystok, 1861–63), historical and folkloristic monographs (Kostomarov's biography of the Cossack hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Kulish's two-volume folklore collection Zapiski o Yuzhnoy Rusi, Notes on Southern Rus', 1856–57), and elementary primers (Kulish's Hramatka, 1857, 1861, Shevchenko's Bukvar Yuzhnoruskiy, 1861). In Osnova, Kostomarov published his influential article "Dve russkiye narodnosti" ("Two Russian Nationalities").

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