Ukraine Is Not Dead Yet. A Family Story of Exile and Return

Als dieses Buch geschrieben wurde, war es die Geschichte eines Todesfalls unter vielen im Krieg in der Ostukraine. Nach dem 24. Februar 2022 hat es eine neue Dimension erhalten – jetzt ist es nicht mehr so sehr eine persönliche Geschichte, sondern die Geschichte eines Landes, das schwersten Angriffen ausgesetzt ist. Die Ahnungen über Putins Absichten, die den Bruder der Autorin bewegten, als Soldat der ukrainischen Streitkräfte im Donbas zu kämpfen und sein Land zu verteidigen, haben sich inzwischen aufs Schlimmste bewahrheitet. Olesya Khromeychuk erzählt die Geschichte ihres Bruders Wolodymyr Pawliw, der 2017 an der Frontlinie getötet wurde, und nimmt dabei den Blickwinkel eines Zivilisten und einer Frau ein – Perspektiven, die in Kriegsberichten eher vernachlässigt werden – und konzentriert sich auf die Geschichten, die sich weit weg vom Kriegsgebiet abspielen. Durch eine Kombination aus persönlichem Erinnerungsbericht und Essay bringt Olesya Khromeychuk ihren Lesern die Ereignisse dieses nun noch brutaler geführten Krieges im Herzen Europas und die private Erfahrung des Krieges an sich näher. Dieses Buch spricht jeden an, der mit Trauer und dem Schock über den plötzlichen Verlust eines geliebten Menschen zu kämpfen hat. When Megan Buskey's grandmother Anna dies in Cleveland in 2013, Megan is compelled in her grief to uncover and document her grandmother's life as a native of Ukraine. A Ukrainian American, Buskey returns to her family's homeland and enlists her relatives there to help her in her quest—and discovers much more than she expected. The result is an extraordinary journey that traces one woman's story across Ukraine's difficult twentieth century, from a Galician village emerging from serfdom, to the "bloodlands" of Eastern Europe during World War II, to the Siberian hinterlands where Anna spent almost two decades in exile before receiving the rare opportunity to emigrate from the Soviet Union in the 1960s. In the course of her research, Megan encounters essential and sometimes disturbing aspects of recent Ukrainian history, such as Nazi collaboration, the rise and persistence of Ukrainian nationalism, and the shattering impact of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Yet her wide-ranging inquiries keep leading her back to universal questions: What does family mean? How can you forge connections between generations that span different cultures, times, and places? And, perhaps most hauntingly, how can you best remember a complicated past that is at once foreign and personal? "A painfully honest and carefully researched journey of a Ukrainian American into her family's complicated and difficult past. Anchored in the catastrophe of the Second World War and the subsequent Stalinist repression of the Ukrainian peasantry, the story flows, unexpectedly to the author herself, into the unfolding drama of the current Russian invasion. Thoughtful and beautifully written." —Jan Gross, Princeton University, author of Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland "This book is not only important, but captivating and instructive." —John-Paul Himka, University of Alberta "Megan Buskey's blend of tireless investigation with thoughtful analysis and careful prose make this book an exemplar of the best traditions in historical writing." —Wil S. Hylton, author of Vanished: The Sixty-Year Search for the Missing Men of World War II After their Shreds of Fates from the Donbas Frontline 20152019, Eperjesi and Kachura uncover in this second volume effects of the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia. Oleksandr managed to visit the peninsula not long after its occupation by Russian troops. While doing interviews with local people, he was threatened by the authorities yet managed to escape with his exclusive stories of teachers and students, pensioners, children and their parents, market vendors and businessmen, homeless people, health care employees and their patients, the so called cotton wool people, and Ukrainian patriots. Many of them told him about how hopeful they were in early 2014, and how disappointed they have become as their expectations were not met by the Russian world. This concerns the banking system of Crimea, propaganda and censorship of the Russian state, and failed tourist seasons. People still living or somehow related to Crimea tell us about the dramatic days of the illegal annexation. They explain what led to the tragedy and what mistakes were made by the Ukrainian authorities. Ordinary people, soldiers, journalists, heroes and traitors, emigrants, Crimean Tatars, Russian soldiers, Cossacks and the members of the so called Crimean Self-Defense disclose how they contributed to the historic events on the peninsula. Finally, the famous Crimean film director Oleh Sentsov shares with us how he managed to survive his illegal imprisonment by Russia and what impact it has had on his life. When Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022, academic life and other social activities in Ukraine changed drastically. Scholars who either stayed in their cities or were forced to evacuate gained first-hand participant observation experience of war. Their teaching and research have been interrupted, but they continued to reflect on social, political, and economic events in Ukraine. This book is a collection of personal reflections by scholars of different disciplines, offering a variety of perspectives on Russias war against Ukraine. We immerse in the personal experiences and stories of researchers who reflect on their academic and analytical backgroundssociology, political science, international relations, and literature. This unique collection offers not only fascinating and shocking insights from Ukrainian citizens but also the thoughts and reflections of scholars of several fields that help us better understand the situation in Ukrainian society during the war. This book tells us about how Russia fought against journalists and the freedom of speech during the occupation of Crimea and thereafter. Yuriy Lukanov, a journalist who covered these events, describes not only his own impressions, but present us also many interviews he conducted with journalists who worked in Crimea at that time. The book shows that how Russia systematically fought against free press and free reportingfrom simple restriction of access to information to physical beatings and criminal prosecution of journalist. The volume is illustrated with photos by the author and his colleagues. With a foreword by Taras Kuzio. Prologue 1. Memory Traces 2. Borderland 3. Frail Like Straw 4. In Motion 5. War 6. Womanly Silence 7. Grandfather 8. A Place Unknown 9. In the Archives 10. “Unreliable“ 11. Thorough and Brutal 12. A New Home Epilogue Afterword Acknowledgments Sources