Features

Bias, stereotypes, and prejudices. We all strive to rise above them but history often proves to be a burden, as well as a challenge to deeper understanding. A newly published book entitled Jews and Ukrainians: A Millennium of Co-Existence forthrightly tackles sensitive and controversial topics. Two distinguished academics have undertaken a bold project to outline…

    Today we look at symbols and mythologies. When competing narratives on history clash, the battle over symbols becomes heated and emotional. Vitaliy Nakhmanovich is a Ukrainian historian who has written extensively on the formation—and manipulation—of national memory. He has been particularly incisive in analyzing the politics of memory. Nakhmanovich contributed an important essay…

Seventy-five years ago nearly 34,000 Jews were murdered at Babyn Yar over a two-day period on September 29th and 30th 1941. The location has become a poignant symbol of what is known as The Holocaust by Bullets. Some 1.5 million Jews were shot to death on the territory of what is now Ukraine in this…

It was always a very scenic area of forests and ravines. A very pleasant green zone on the edge of the city. Picturesque. It was once known as the “Switzerland of Kyiv.” Innocent and bucolic. All that changed over the course of a couple of days at the end of September 1941. Babyn Yar, on the…

It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. An astonishing new film called Shimon’s Returns proves the point in a sometimes provocative but always heart-warming manner. The documentary, directed by Slawomir Grunberg and Katka Reszke, tells the story of the now-retired Israeli history professor Shimon Redlich. In the film Shimon takes some of his…

Oksana Lyniv is an up-and-coming star on the classical music scene. She is a Ukrainian conductor currently working at the Bavarian State Opera as assistant to the General Music Director Kirill Petrenko. On September 29, 2016, she will make her debut in Ukraine, conducting a classical concert that will be held at the Kyiv Opera House, under the…