Topic
Remembering in Exile
The project creates a platform for exchange in which Ukrainians living in Leipzig share and document their experiences since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The outcome will be a German-Ukrainian audio and digitally published book featuring voices from various regions of Ukraine.
Remembering in Exile: Ukrainian Perspectives on the Post-1991 Transition Period
With the extension of the Russian war since 2022, the Ukrainian community in Leipzig has grown significantly. The German-Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Association Oseredok e.V. provides a space where refugees from various regions of the country can meet and share their life stories. Besides their war experiences, their recollections of the transformation processes of the 1990s also vary greatly. This is where the project comes in: unlike the numerous documentaries on the current war, it focuses specifically on the period before 2014. It creates a space for dialogic remembrance and makes the voices of Ukrainian refugees heard in the German public sphere.
The project is realised in cooperation with the book club of Oseredok e.V. and the Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow. In open writing workshops, participants compose short prose and poetry under the guidance of writers and writing instructors. Selected texts will be translated into German and presented to the public at bilingual readings. In addition, some of the autobiographical or autofictional texts will be compiled into a virtual book for listening and reading.
