Reading by Tanya Maljarchuk in the framework of the conference “1989 and the Future of Europe”

In cooperation with the Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena, the reading and conversation with the Ukrainian writer and Ingeborg Bachmann Prize winner Tanya Maljartschuk took place on July 6, 2023. The conversation took place in memory of the Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, who died in a Russian missile attack in Kramatorsk on July 1.

“I am in the midst of the new Executed Renaissance” – wrote Ukrainian writer and activist Viсtoria Amelina in the preface to Volodymyr Vakulenko’s diary, referring to the 1930s, when the Ukrainian intelligentsia was executed en masse by the Soviet Union. Volodymyr was tortured and killed by the Russians in the Kharkiv region in 2022. Viсtoria Amelina found his diary, which he had written during the occupation, and prepared it for publication. On July 1, 2023, Viktoria died in a Russian missile attack on Kramatorsk.

Tanya Maljarchuk read from her works and spoke with Kateryna Rietz-Rakul about the role of literature and language in war: How can culture survive atrocities? How did the attitude of the German cultural community towards Ukrainian culture change during the war? How can and should solidarity be shown to further integrate Ukrainian culture into European context?

Victoria Amelina was considered one of Ukraine's best-known younger writers. She documented war crimes during the Russian war of aggression with the human rights initiative Truth Hounds and worked with children near the front lines. Most recently, she worked on an English-language nonfiction book titled War and justice diary: Looking at women looking at war, in which she portrayed those women who document war crimes.
Victoria Amelina
Victoria Amelina
Lesung mit Tanja Maljartschuk im Rahmen der Konferenz "1989 und die Zukunft Europas"

The event was part of the international conference “1989 and the Future of Europe – Ambivalences and Challenges of Democratic Transformation in Central and Eastern Europe”, organized by the Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena and funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany.