O. Roman'ko’s scientific contributions

this article examines the concept of «complicated past» in relation to the history of Crimea. Using the example of discussions that took place in scientific and socio-political discourses in the post-Soviet period, the main memorial conflicts and wars of memory that are taking place since 1991 are analyzed. The main points of the Crimean «complicated past», the mechanisms of contradictions arising on its basis and the ways of their possible overcoming are shown. Based on the conducted research, it is concluded that all memorial conflicts and wars of memory on the territory of Crimea stem from the competition of three historical narratives, which can be conditionally called Imperial-Soviet, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar. Moreover, the main ones, between which the main competition is taking place, are the Imperial-Soviet and Crimean Tatar, with the almost complete disappearance of the Ukrainian narrative from the public sphere. The federal government and the Crimean republican authorities are trying to overcome these contradictions, which clearly lead from memorial conflicts to more serious contradictions, primarily interethnic ones. In this regard, a whole range of historical policy measures in this area and the results of its application are analyzed, namely: embedding the Crimean Tatar narrative into the imperial-Soviet one, the balance of narratives, etc. Using the example of the problem of collaboration during the Nazi occupation of Crimea, a new approach to solving memorial conflicts is demonstrated.