“It is quite easy” to topple a statue, says Hanna Bondar, the former deputy chief architect for the city of Kiev. Don’t be intimidated by what seem to be unbreakable materials — stone, concrete, bronze can all be brought down. By 1991, when the Soviet state collapsed, some 5,500 statues of the Communist leader Vladimir Lenin had been erected in Ukraine, the highest density anywhere in the U.S.S.R. In December 2013, a mob of anti-Kremlin protesters knocked over a hulking red quartzite Lenin on one of Kiev’s main squares, setting off a wave of removals that came to be known as “Leninfall.” At its peak, in February 2014, 376 Lenins were felled in a single month.

Assess your environment. “There has to be space for people to gather,” Bondar says. Don’t endanger bystanders. Climb the pedestal and lasso the statue (typically around the neck). Pull hard. “With enough angry people, you just need your hands,” Bondar says. If the effigy is particularly large or stuck fast, tie the rope to a vehicle with a tow hitch. In rural towns, it took just a few locals with a tractor to dislodge the ubiquitous concrete Lenins. In rare cases, a tool like a Sawzall or an arc welder might be required to sever the figure’s feet first.

“If it is painful for people to look at,” Bondar says, “it should be removed.” Even if you despise a likeness, though, consider keeping the statue intact. Bondar would like to see the more artistic examples collected in a museum rather than destroyed. “If we forget our history,” she says, “how will we remember our mistakes?”

The Ukrainian government bureaucratized the process in 2015, passing “de-communization” laws that officially mandate the monument purge. As part of her new job in the administration of Ukraine’s president, Bondar is involved in reimagining public spaces, which she thinks should serve living people, not historic figureheads. She has helped organize several design competitions for Kiev’s Bessarabska Square, where a large, Leninless pedestal now stands. One of her favorite ideas leaves the pedestal empty but adds a staircase. She says, “Anybody who wants to could climb up, look around and feel like a monument.”