[umtriebig]

No comments. From Łódź.

[umtriebig]

The “German legacy”

Travelling to Eastern Poland is great: There are little tourist, the landscape is just beautiful and there are hundreds of places worth visiting.

Travelling to Eastern Poland, however, is also painful - especially for me as a German. In every city, in every village you will find traces of former Jewish life realising that those inhabitants were murdered by the Germans over 70 years ago. The very few Jews who survived the Holocaust never returned.

Shortly before the war nearly every third person in Lublin was a Jew. The city used to be a center of European importance especially for orthodoxe hasidic Jews.

Some of the great Jewish history of the city, you can find visiting one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Poland. “The Old Jewish Cemetery”. We were lucky getting the key from the guard of the synagoge, usually it is not open for “random” people.

Most of the graves are in a bad condition. The rabbi (of Warsaw who is responsible for Lublin now) needs to give permission if anything on the cemetery is moved, changed, cleaned. However, even if he did, the money seems to be missing for restoring this part of Lublin history. And this makes it even more painful.

[umtriebig]

I am regular visiting Maria. I have known her and her partner Ryszard for nearly three years now. Since then they have been living on the streets of Warsaw, their new “home” is  a tent.

I am relieved that they survived the winter without any bigger problems. However, Maria’s health is getting worse: Alcohol makes her aggressive, her body seems to be on strike - constantly.

[umtriebig]

postmaidan in Kyiv

My blog “postmaidan” went offline again. This time my exhibition is shown till the 28th of february in the center of Kyiv, in the Ukrainian House. Thanks for a nice opening!

[umtriebig]

My photo project “post maidan“

My last visit to Ukraine was in 2012. Before the war, before Maidan. I travelled to Donbass and Crimea back then, places I cannot (easily) visit anymore. Ukraine that I knew from my holidays was replaced by pictures of peaceful and violent protests and later by videos of war. Ukraine had obviously changed in those two years I hadn’t been there. But how?

October and November 2015 I spent in Ukraine and I met people: When I was shopping for some vegetables, I talked to them during my travels, staying with them on couchsurfing, I arranged meetings with “friends of friends”.

“post maidan” is a photo project where “ordinary”, random people from all kinds of parts of Ukraine tell what has changed for them two years after Maidan.

[umtriebig]

Alexander is from Luhansk, he has been living in Kharkiv for 6 years now. His mother and grandmother live in Luhansk and he hasn’t seen them for over a year and a half. His wife was pregnant during Maidan. He really wanted to go to Kiev but his wife is more important, of course, he told me.

“My mother has zombie influence on her brain. She doesn’t like our new government but she also doesn’t like how it is in the east right now. We trying our best not to phone each other…No one can hide from changes. If anyone doesn’t want these changes, nobody will ask him. These changes have come and are happening now. The older generation stopped their work in society and the now young generation has another construction of mind and they will make our society better. It is not necessarily my generation, I am 32 and was born in the Soviet Union, I am talking about the generation that was born after 1990.

I am a representative of the generation that just became older during this time.

My wife says: Ukraine must be strong without European Union but i say that Ukraine cannot be strong without the help from outside.

As for me I would rather go to Europe than stay here. I need him to have a normal life and a normal education for my son. Long distance love of one’s motherland is said to be the greatest love of motherland.

I am a journalist and mostly write about culture, especially music. We had some great bands from Donbass. But they all left. Some to Moscow and one to Israel. Culture is most important, it forms society. Culture is a tool to free the mind. To have free soul. If a society contains a lot of culture, it is a free society. Some groups made songs during Maidan but Maidan didn’t influence the mass culture.”

[umtriebig]

Oleksiy is waiting for a visa to Poland right now. He comes from Lugansk and fled to Lithuania when the fighting got to dangerous for him and his family.

„Not all people from Lugansk are separatists. We organised a Euromaidan there, we were a group of active people, who wanted to change something in our city. For two months I went to the central square. I was a professor at the university back then, we organised a street university where everyone could come and join our free lectures. We protested for a better education, for an European integration.

However, it became dangerous at some stage. Russians cleared the square in a march in 2014 and then the personal problems of activists got bigger: There was data of us on the internet. After I was threatened personally, I decided to leave with my family to Lithuania, we have friends there. We moved to Poland some months later but we didn't get a visa as political refugees. So I am applying for a business visa now because I have some ideas for an export business. There is a perspective for us.

Maidan changed everything for us. People are more free now, are closer to the European Union, Ukraine is on a different level now. People started loving their country because of the war. More of us understand now that Russia is an aggressor. Russian people think Ukraine is a part of Russia but after Maidan they understand that we have our history, our minds, our values.

Poroshenko is the best president Ukraine has had so far. But one bad step and Putin can kill Ukraine. Poroshenko needs to work very carefully, so changes can not be made quickly and that is why people are disappointed.”

[umtriebig]

Yulia is from Luhansk, she organised actions on the “Maidan” in Luhansk. When it got too dangerous, she left to Kyiv. There she and some friends founded the NGO “Vostok-SOS”. They help people fleeing from the war but also people remaining in the ATO zone with clothes and food.

“My life has changed after Maidan and after the war began. I was taught by Maidan, that we feel now that we are the country, people are the country. Maidan has altered our minds, we realised that we need to continue this transformation.

Ukrainian youth is not used to taking responsibility, people are used to saying that nothing could be changed, everything is managed by someone, things happen as they are, it's better to stand aside. But after and especially during Maidan the understanding has changed - we are the people who should do something, we live in this country, we should change it.

Many bad things are happening during war, we now know that Maidan was not the worst, not the most hurtful thing that could happen to Ukraine.”

[umtriebig]

Nazar was playing on one of the pianos standing in Kiev. Those instruments are a remainder of Maidan. 

“I learned piano on Maidan, I taught myself.

I was depressed before I started playing music. It helps me a lot. I cannot see any changes in Ukraine since the Maidan protests. But at least I learnt how to play the piano.”

[umtriebig]

Vasili is a father of five children. He seemed to be a happy person and smiled a lot even though he doesn’t seem very optimistic.

“I buy old watches, repair them and sell them to Poland or Germany. Often I buy from old ladies who need money. It is not easy for them to sell their family pieces. There are stories behind the watches, sometimes they got them from their great grandparents.I can give them 50 to 100 Hryvnia and once repaired sell them for up to 200 Hryvnia. It is little money I earn here and there. And since Maidan, not much has changed for me. There is no work. The same bandits are in the government. Roads are still bad. There are holes everywhere. And the president is an alcoholic.”

[umtriebig]

Anton for me is an example of the generation that is totally optimistic and looking forward to shaping the “new” Ukraine. He is only 17 and studies at university in Kharkiv but he’d rather have his own business than take his studies too seriously. Education is still corrupted, he says.

“Before Maidan I wanted to leave to the USA. But now I want to stay, like many other Ukrainians, too. I want to be part of the changes, I want to change Ukraine. Maybe it`s only our young generation who thinks this way. Soviet Union and the hard times during the 1990s made people depressed. Maidan showed that a change is possible and that we can influence our government, that we can improve our education. I believe that Ukraine is a big family. The new generation of post-Maidan are people of changes. Pro-Russians stay at home and don’t change our country, they don’t build new businesses or put new content on the political agenda. It’s our generation that is generating new businesses and because pro-Russian don’t built anything it is us deciding on what the changes will look like and what the atmosphere in our country will be. This will have influence on the modern children. They are growing up in new values, they are free.”

[umtriebig]

Tanja and Sasha are both 18 years old. They study at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

Sasha comes from Zaporizhia, a Russian speaking area and moved to Kyiv only three months ago. Since then he has talked only in Ukrainian. Tanja comes from Kyiv. The „language question“ is a topic for both of them.

Tanja: „After Maidan people started to love their country, their Ukraine. We realised that it cannot be in another way. We cannot go on like we have lived in the past. I want to live in peace with Russia. I don't want to be at war. If we can live in peace, only then Ukraine can be a united country. Many of my relatives are ethnic Ukrainians who live in Russia. But they don't speak Ukrainian. I read Ukrainian poems to them, to teach them our language.“

Sasha: „Every Ukrainian should speak Ukrainian. 20 percent of ethnic Russians like my grandparents, don't speak Ukrainian. However, language is the core of national identity. Sometimes I pretend not to understand Russian. I ignore Russian speaking people, because I don't like Russia. My mother is the only one in our family who understands me. I have spoken Ukrainian since the first day of coming to Kyiv some months ago. When I was a teenager I thought about why we speak Russian at home when our teacher told us we are Ukrainians. This Russification is the only problem in our family, maybe in our country. Now I speak to people in Ukrainian and they don't realise that I am russificated from home. There are many reasons to hate Russia. I know it is not tolerant but they are also not tolerant. Here in Kyiv we can defend our identity. That is one reason why I came here. I didn't believe what I saw on the news when Maidan was on. Since Maidan I had the idea of speaking only Ukrainian, to teach my children only Ukrainian. Not our generation but maybe the next or the following will only speak Ukrainian and forget about USSR.“

Tanja: „But we should know about it. It is part of our history.“

Sasha: „I know from my grandmother who was Stalin, who was Lenin. In my childhood she told me, she was scared, there were many repressions.“

Tanja: „My great grandparents also were communists, that was their lifestyle.“

Sasha: „My grandparents also like communism. They like Russia. In my hometown Zaporizhia, there is still a huge Lenin statue. It is one of the last ones remaining in a bigger city. I am afraid for Zaporozhia and it's people. They don't understand why we must have monuments of great Ukrainians like Cossaks, not of Lenin. Why Ukrainian language is so important.“

Tanja: „Okay, maybe many Ukrainians speak Russian, but they do also something for our country. They go to ATO and protect our country in the war. Of course, it would be great if all Ukrainians spoke Ukrainian but we cannot do it right now. We just have Russian people living here. We should live in peace and respect the choice of all.“

[umtriebig]

Sasha is only 11 years old. He comes from Kyiv. He came up to me as he heard that I spoke English to a friend. He was excited, started talking to me and was more than eager to talk to me about Maidan.

“Maybe Ukraine is worse than Europe, but Ukraine is finally recognized, Ukraine is treated in a friendly way and given help. And naturally, we, Ukrainians, aren’t evil people. I think that my country has changed. Because Ukraine became closer.

Sometime before even rushnyky (”rushnyky” is an Ukrainian embroidered cloth) were considered just to be cloths - there are ryshnyky, so what? There was nothing special. There were tourists in Kyiv from other Ukrainian cities – Vinnytsia, Cherkasy – but not foreigners. However, after Maidan there are people who have Ukrainian flags on their arms or emblems on their T-shirts, patriotic. Also “Slava Ukrajini” (”Glory to Ukraine”). Maybe, it is not enough to be called patriots, but Ukraine must be united, we must have spirit after Maidan. Some things, unfortunately, get worse. For instance, Donetsk and Lugansk now. They were well-developed regions. There was a comfortable life there. Like in the capital. But, unfortunately, it is dangerous there after war, all is destroyed. I hope that there won’t be war in Ukraine anymore and all will be fine and we will contact with other countries. And we all will be fine.“

[umtriebig]

I met Nikolaj in the market in Kyiv/Lisova. The first thing he told me was that he was based in Magdeburg in Germany as a soldier over 30 years ago. 

“I feel Ukrainian now. That has changed for me. I went to Maidan to change something in our Ukraine. So that people can feel they’re free, can talk about everything. Not to be afraid of politicians and other things. If they don’t like politicians – they should be able to discuss it. I wanted a better life for our children. As well as for elderly people, who worked for all of their life. So they can have a dignified life once they get a pension. Not like now, when they pay a lot for a flat, fuel… Just to change something. If we won’t try, then who will? There are little changes, but not so many as we expected. For all people, not only me. Young people and those of my age…authorities have changed. Every person expects that they will care about people, not about themselves. That they work for people, their Ukrainian nation. If someone is the president – then he must be the president, he must control. He is the main person in Ukraine. And if he doesn’t control, then what kind of economic, development can we have?“

[umtriebig]

Michal is a soldier. He looked so peaceful sitting on a bench in Kyiv’s city centre. He didn’t talk much.

“I come from Zaporizhia and I am based in Mariupol. Two years after Maidan Ukraine is still changing and we cannot notice anything right now but thanks to Maidan things have started to change.”

[umtriebig]

Alek was born in Chernivtsi and has lived there all his life. He is very active in the Catholic parish and an active part of Polonia.

“My roots lie in Poland. But I was born in Ukraine, I have spent my whole life here. In Poland I feel at home, in Ukraine I also do. I am a patriot, maybe more than some Ukrainians. They walk around with all the Ukrainian symbols but they are not fully connected to the Ukrainian country. Ukrainians don’t know how to organise a country. They love revolution but what comes then? I don’t know if the territory in the East is worth all the fighting. There will be a new Transnistria, like in Moldova. Russia will not put any money into the east of Ukraine. Our Bukovina has always been peaceful. Looking back to the Austrian-Hungarian peaceful empire with all  the different nations within.”

[umtriebig]

Karyna is a student from Kyiv. She regularly dresses up as a rabbit to earn some money on Maidan.

“Since I was little, I have wanted to become a politician. Maybe one day I will be the next minister for finance. I study economics and I will finish this year. I want to work in a country with a stable economy for a while, maybe Canada. I don’t want to learn in this corrupt system. When I return, I will bring a big backpack of experience. I love Ukraine.”