Putin’s war of aggression also threatens Ukraine’s cultural memory. Historical documents were deliberately destroyed, a new report documents. Now Ukrainian archives are calling for help.
By Felix Bohr, Spiegel Online – translated into English by JG
November 30, 2023, 3:24 p.m
Russia’s war of aggression is increasingly endangering Ukraine’s cultural memory. Since the attack began on February 24, 2022, Russian troops have destroyed millions of documents related to the country’s history. Museums, churches, monuments and archive buildings lie in ruins all over the country; according to a recent UNESCO report, a total of 329 cultural sites have been affected since the start of the war.
From the perspective of the unscrupulous amateur historian Vladimir Putin, Ukraine has no right to exist as a sovereign state – and therefore no independent history.
In the state archives of the city of Kherson, which was occupied by Russia for months, 50 percent of the documents alone were looted. This is the conclusion of a new report from the Arolsen Archives, the international center for research into Nazi persecution based in Bad Arolsen, Germany.
“We saw the extent of the destruction and looting and understood that Russia is using the erasure of historical memories as a weapon,” says Floriane Azoulay, director of the center. “Against this background, we see it as our responsibility to preserve the stocks.”
The Arolsen Archives report is based on interviews with 23 employees and experts from the state regional archives in Ukraine. Accordingly, in the chaos of the war, several archives had to rush out their inventory, which created a huge mess.
The destroyed regional archive in Vyssokopilja near Kherson is mined and cannot be entered.
Ukrainian archives launch a call for help
According to the experts interviewed, countless surviving documents in the damaged magazines are at the mercy of the winter weather. They are stored loosely on the floors of buildings and become moldy in the rain and snow. During times of war, most archives only have 50 percent of their staff, which makes saving the files even more difficult.
That’s why the Ukrainian archives are now calling for help. They urgently need financial aid and personnel support, but also donations in kind such as dehumidifiers, archive boxes and shelves. Computers, software licenses and scanners with high resolution are also particularly important.
“The remaining documents must be digitized as quickly as possible,” says Hanna Lehun, research associate at the Arolsen Archives and co-author of the now published report. The native Ukrainian traveled to Ukraine in the spring and helped secure important archive holdings.
The documents also concern German crimes
The Federal Republic bears a special historical responsibility in saving the Ukrainian archives. In many places, the documents, which are in danger of being lost, contain important information about the German occupation crimes in Ukraine between 1941 and 1944 – including the theft of Ukrainian cultural assets by the National Socialists.
Administrative files of the Wehrmacht and National Socialist associations are also affected. There are also documents relating to the Shoah as well as archived work passes and residence cards of Ukrainian forced laborers who were deported to the German Reich.
In Kherson, countless of these documents have already been stolen or destroyed by the Russians. “This is a big loss,” says researcher Lehun. “The story is lost.”
The Ukrainian archives are fighting against time. “We are trying to use our resources to support the archives in this enormous task,” says Arolsen director Floriane Azoulay. “But in order to preserve Ukraine’s cultural memory, more partners and more financial resources are needed.”