BACK TO HOMEPAGE

In her recent essay From the Ashes of Empires: The New Tragedy of Central Europe, published in 2024 on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of Milan Kundera’s A Kidnapped West: The Tragedy of Central Europe (1983), Oksana Zabuzhko, a prominent Ukrainian writer and intellectual, discusses the privileges that result from popularizing a particular culture.^[1] She states that “those whose culture is known are more valuable” and thus suggests that communities belonging to known cultures have a greater chance of receiving empathy, support, trust and protection from the international community.^[2] Zabuzhko sees compelling evidence for her claim in Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, particularly in the fact that Ukraine is still (at the time of writing) prohibited from using weapons against targets on Russian territory, even though Russia keeps destroying Ukrainian cities, hospitals, playgrounds as well as humanitarian centers and remains unpunished. At first glance, Oksana Zabuzhko’s hypothesis may seem debatable; however, it is true that until 2022, the world knew very little about Ukraine, let alone its culture.

It should be noted that 2022 did not spur a “Ukrainian Renaissance”, nor accelerated the career growth of Ukrainian artists, as one might feel when observing Ukrainian culture from the outside. However, that year marked the beginning of a disastrous attack on Ukrainian culture, its systematic destruction by all sorts of political instruments of the Russian Empire. This devastation included the bombing of museums, the largest theft of cultural artifacts since World War II, murders of Ukrainian artists and activists, and the razing of entire cities using “scorched earth” tactics.^[3]

This is the reality that has been rocking the foundations of Ukrainian culture since the first Russian invasion in 2014, sadly not for the first time. For the past three hundred years, Ukraine, like other societies under the rule of imperial Russia, has been subjected to a strategy of “manipulation, invasion and extermination”.^[4] The surviving cultural heritage was often appropriated by Russia and promoted as part of Russian culture. For centuries, the history of Ukraine has been written by its oppressor and this altered form has been disseminated abroad. In the academic context, Ukrainian studies had been overshadowed by Russian studies for decades.^[5] While the world recognized some Ukrainian artists before the full Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, they often were not perceived as Ukrainians, but as part of the identity assigned to them by the Soviet and Russian empires.^[6]

Contemporary Ukrainian culture, however, has not been marked only by irreparable losses and debates about the restoration of artists’ identity. Initiatives for solidarity, integration and cooperation, which affect both internal and external dynamics, play a central role. As a result of the full-scale Russian invasion, many residency programs, special scholarships, grants and study programs for Ukrainian artists and professionals were created. Therefore, many Ukrainian cultural workers were able to flee to different countries, including the Czech Republic, where they were finally able to share the Ukrainian view of culture and the ongoing war.

UMPRUM was one of the first universities in the Czech Republic to accept Ukrainian students into a special exchange program. At the beginning of 2022, only eight Ukrainian students were enrolled at UMPRUM, but by the middle of the summer semester, after the program’s launch, there were already forty. Thanks to the Czech language course provided for new students, many of them were successfully admitted to BA programs at UMPRUM in 2023. Twenty-eight students from Ukraine continued their studies at UMPRUM in the academic year 2023/2024.

Both the students and the school have initiated a number of events in response to the Russian war. During the first week after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, UMPRUM organized a student charity event called UMPRUM for Ukraine to raise funds to support Ukraine. The event also included film screenings and lectures on Ukrainian culture. A year later, the Academy organized a series of lectures titled Three Points of View on Russian Aggression Against Ukraine, during which the historian, filmmaker and journalist Václav Velčovský, the political geographer and journalist Michael Romancov and an UMPRUM student Darja Lukjanenko shared their views.^[7] In addition to that, UMPRUM temporarily opened a kindergarten for children of Ukrainian refugees. Volunteers organized workshops, games and creative activities for the children, making it possible for their mothers to look for work, as well as dealing with all the other errands resulting from their refugee status. The Academy of Fine Arts in Prague has launched a similar study program, and a proactive student initiative, Students for Ukraine, was established at AMU.

Over time, new projects have emerged that respond to the Russian invasion, but some also mitigate the accompanying issues. These include the book Když to začalo (When It Began), published in 2024 by AVU publishing, which focuses on refugee issues. Its editors Petra Dobruská and Alice Nikitinová invited Ukrainian students from AVU and UMPRUM to share their experiences from the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The resulting book presents a varied range of experiences: from survivors of the Russian occupation to people whose homes became havens for displaced families to individuals who travelled abroad for the very first time in their lives – under the difficult circumstances of being refugees. With the onset of the full-scale invasion, the perspective of Ukrainians forced to leave their homes often remained obscured, shadowed by the survivors’ sense of guilt and other traumas. The platform provided by the book is highly valuable, as it creates a bridge for understanding – not only between Czechs and Ukrainians, but also between the Ukrainians that have fled the country and those who remain in Ukraine.

We hope that this project on Research Catalogue becomes another example of an initiative that contributes to mutual understanding and further enriches the cultural dialogue between the Czech Republic and Ukraine.

The arrival of Ukrainian students and cultural workers in the Czech Republic presents an opportunity for Czech society to get acquainted with Ukrainian culture through its direct bearers, without the distortion of an imperial lens and Russo-centric perspective. It also offers an opportunity to perceive Ukrainians beyond the stereotypes of unskilled laborers and recognize the real context behind the stereotype: their hard work and contribution to the economy. In 2023, it was revealed that Ukrainian refugees contribute more to the Czech economy than the country spends on their support. According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic, support for refugees in the first month of 2024 amounted to CZK 0.9 billion, while charges and taxes paid by the Ukrainian refugees contributed CZK 1.9 billion to the budget.^[8]

Some things can be measured by numbers, but others cannot – such as awareness of Ukrainian culture abroad. What do Czechs know about it now? Perhaps Oksana Zabuzhko’s hypothesis holds true in reverse too: it all started with empathy and support, which subsequently opened the door for cultural exchange.

A word of thanks: Thank you, citizens of the Czech Republic, my UMPRUM family, for standing up for Ukraine.

Darja Lukjanenko