Myroslav Marynovych, who endured 10 years in Soviet prisons for his human rights activism, argues in his foreword to Euromaidan Press’ first book: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is rooted in unpunished Soviet crimes, which, left unchecked, have festered and fueled the new act of aggression.
The Ukrainian defense against Russian military aggression has been unfortunate in that it does not have a single unified narrative in the world. It is described differently depending on political and ideological preferences.
However, there is one radar on which the chronicle of this war is being reflected most accurately: the radar of the human spirit. It is on this screen that courage to stand against obliteration shines brightest, and only on this screen does the suffering of the innocent gain a higher meaning.
The collection of stories presented here is literally transcribed from these radars of the spirit. For only the human spirit can convince ordinary young men to rush to evacuate the wounded and desperate civilians, ignoring the constant bombardment.
It is the spirit that encourages a warrior to remain on the battlefield and cover his brothers-in-arms, realizing that he may be seeing daylight for the last time. It is the human spirit that prompts farmers to sow bread amidst hidden mines, not knowing if they will be able to harvest it. When you stand on the side of Light, the possibilities of your inner strength become virtually limitless.
In each of these stories, we see the blatant and triumphant evil of the occupier who has been given the command: “Attack!” I want to believe that all these documents will one day be laid on the table of the International Tribunal, which Ukrainians now confidently call “Nuremberg 2,” although this name is probably unfair to the current residents of this peaceful German city.
For Ukrainians, however, this name is important. It reminds the whole world that the actions of the communist regime in the USSR were not qualified as crimes, the perpetrators were not held accountable, and those who supported this regime did not repent.
And the seeds of these unatoned crimes have today borne terrible fruit in the regime of Putin’s “Rashism.” Thus, it is not surprising that Putin acts according to Stalinist textbooks.
Until the world finds the strength to condemn the latest crimes, punish the criminals, and incline Russian society to repentance, the 21st century will not advance beyond the streak of “dark times.”
This was and is quite obvious to me, a human rights activist and political prisoner of the Brezhnev era, as well as to all my companions in the infamous Gulag, who shared with me the title of “especially dangerous criminals against the state.”
Those of us who are still alive today warn the world in one voice against the temptation to quickly reconcile the Ukrainian and Russian peoples, allegedly for the sake of saving people, by exempting aggressors and war criminals from responsibility.
It is not for nothing that the saying goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
I write these words in the days when the master of the Kremlin has come out with new and cunning “peacemaking” initiatives, which are an undisguised ultimatum to Ukraine. And once again, there are so many politicians and just good people who have forgotten Clausewitz’s warning that “the aggressor is always peace-loving;” he seeks to conquer only “peacefully.”
The world has sufficiently researched how Nazism originated and has placed clear warning red flags along this path. Today, humanity must decode how Rashism originated and what it does. After all, it again combines the triad of drivers: deception, hatred, and violence.
And behind the “Russian world” doctrine, the ambitions to reincarnate the Russian Empire, which is impossible to imagine without Ukraine, are already openly manifesting.
That is why the national identity of Ukrainians, which Russians have been distorting or simply uprooting for centuries, is a recurring theme in many of the stories in this book. However, the world saw only the effects of this trauma: at best, the identity of Ukrainians was undefined for it.
That is why in 2020, one of the documents of the Munich Security Forum proposed something unprecedented — to “launch a new national dialogue about identity.” “This dialogue should include opinion-makers, top scholars, and internationally recognized experts.
And the sad irony is that Russia took it upon itself to fulfill this wish of Western experts in its own way, by sending troops to reinforce its claim that “Russians and Ukrainians are one people.”
Thus, Ukrainians had to make a sacrifice to prove that they indeed have a national agency. And the manifestation of it amazed even themselves. After 24 February 2022, in an instant and without any command from above, society turned into one huge hive of people who managed to protect the state itself.
This book invites readers to rethink many long-standing stereotypes, as it will give them the opportunity to see how significant Havel’s “power of the powerless” is — and how shameful a people becomes when it seeks its “greatness” in “forcing love.”
Russia’s war against Ukraine will make world democracies wonder whether they retain, in an age of post-truth and new weapons of mass destruction — fakes — their ability to distinguish truth from deception, and therefore good from evil.
However, my eye as a former Gulag prisoner sees not only the crimes of the occupiers, who are responsible for numerous graves of the murdered, cars with the inscription “Children” shot at, entire cities leveled to the ground, people expelled from their homes, widespread torture, the numbness of orphaned children and helplessness of mothers locked with their infants in the basement — and this list is far from exhaustive.
In the introduction to my camp memoirs, I wrote:
“For surely the chronicle of Satan’s deeds is not as majestic as the shining traces of God’s light, which warmed my soul in bondage. His light can brighten the darkness of any prison.”
So I invite all readers to feel the truth of this conclusion, which is also reflected in these stories. I can only admiringly note that both of its authors — Orysia Hrudka and Bohdan Ben— managed to capture and highlight new “shining traces of God’s light” in the grim days of war.
This book accurately conveys the truth of Erich Maria Remarque’s famous quote: “In dark times, bright people are clearly visible.” Through their self-sacrifice, these bright people are defining the history of Ukraine today. And the light they radiate is capable of overcoming the greatest darkness of dark times.
Editor’s note. The opinions expressed in our Opinion section belong to their authors. Euromaidan Press’ editorial team may or may not share them.
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