Traditionally, every year on January 27th, we gather within the framework of the seminar “Ukrainian Society and the Memory of the Holocaust” at the Goethe-Institut Ukraine to honor the memory of the victims and discuss important trends in education and memory politics related to the Holocaust. The day of January 27th, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, is associated with an annual round table for me. This event serves as an excellent summary of the past year and showcases new paths of development.
The most profound impression was undoubtedly made by incredible women, Ms. Anastasiya Huley and Ms. Nadiya Slesaryeva, who, together with Ms. Tetiana Pastushenko, presented the book “Children of War: Memories of Eyewitnesses from Ukraine and Germany.” Ms. Anastasiya leads the Ukrainian Organization of Anti-Fascist Resistance Fighters and survived Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps in her time. Ms. Nadiya, the head of the Women’s Center “Nadiya” (Women of Heavy Fates for a Just and Democratic Ukraine), also went through a series of labor camps.
The book/comic “Winks with Death: Children’s Stories about an Unchildish History,” prepared by the creative group led by Ms. Natalya Gerasim and Mr. Mykola Kushnir, the director of the Chernivtsi Museum of the History and Culture of Bukovinian Jews, intrigued me.
Mr. Pavel Kozlenko simply “fired up” everyone with his stories about the active work of the Odessa, Ukraine Holocaust Museum. And listening to Mr. Andre Usach talk about the interactive Lviv project “The City That (Did Not) Survive” / “The City (Un)remembered” (https://lia.lvivcenter.org/en/storymaps/1943/), such memorial places and enthusiasts are truly needed in every locality in Ukraine!
Our colleague, Tetiana Storozhko, presented a project dedicated to studying the experiences of survival among Romani children in the conditions of genocide, called “Their Memory through My Eyes.”
Thank you for organizing the event and inviting us to participate, Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies.
