On January 23, a public discussion, "For memory. Tragedy through the eyes of an artist," was held at the "War: Inverse Perspective" exhibition at the War Museum. It was timed to coincide with the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is celebrated annually on January 27, the date of the liberation of the prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in January 1945.
The discussion was attended by Anatolii Podolskyi, Director of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies; Roza Tapanova, Director of the National Historical Memorial Reserve "Babyn Yar"; and Hanna Sherman, Editor-in-Chief of the Art & Collecting Magazine "Antykvar." The meeting was moderated by Svitlana Demchenko, Head of the Department of Socio-humanitarian Components of War, and Roman Kabachii, Acting Head of the Department of Combat Operations of the World Wars of the 20th century.
At the beginning of the discussion, Svitlana Demchenko explained why the location of the exhibition "War: Inverse Perspective" was chosen: it exhibits several works from the Museum’s collection related to the theme of the Holocaust. In particular, Isaac Tartakovsky’s painting "The Last Way" and Valentyn Lytvynenko’s linocut "1942 in Ukraine". The participants of the event were shown a video presentation with drawings by Zynovii Tolkachov and documentary photographs by Volodymyr Yudin, which they made after the liberation of the Auschwitz and Majdanek concentration camps.
Anatolii Podolskyi drew parallels between the actions of the Nazi regime against Jews and Putin’s regime against Ukrainians: "The signs of genocide are obvious—when we remember Yahidne, Izyum, Bucha, Borodianka, Irpin, Hostomel. One Polish Jew said that "before World War II, the names Belzec, Treblinka, Chełmno, Auschwitz were simply geographical names. And now, when we remember these small towns by association, we think not of the geographical name but of the crimes that humans committed there against humans. The Italian Jew Primo Levi, who survived Auschwitz, wrote in his book, addressing everyone: since this happened in the history of humanity, it can always happen again. And the criminal russian regime demonstrates that this is so, and my country is suffering such a blow from the dictatorship," Podolskyi said. He also analyzed modern forms of artistic presentation of the truth about the Holocaust using the Auschwitz film "The Zone of Interest" as an example: "The film is interesting as an arthouse project, but once again, we show the executioners without talking about the victims."
Hanna Sherman and Roza Tapanova have presented a special issue of the magazine "Antykvar" (Issue No. 3 for 2024). This edition is dedicated to exploring how the "Babyn Yar" reserve conveys the stories of past and present tragedies through the language of art. Hanna Sherman, comparing the topic of understanding the Holocaust by artists during the Soviet era, when it was silenced and censored, noted that today there is no such problem; it exists only as an artistic one: "This is a problem of artistic discourse, what tools an artist can use, how he can find this intonation, symbolism, style of conversation with the memory of generations and with today’s society."
Roza Tapanova told the fascinating story of the return of Dmytro Klebanov’s Symphony № 1, which was considered lost. Composer Klebanov, while in Kyiv in 1945, wrote a symphony dedicated to the martyrs of Babyn Yar. It was performed in Kharkiv, after which an article was published accusing Klebanov of formalism and national influences. He was forced to rework it beyond recognition, and the old scores were considered lost.
"We found them. The first symphony in the world about the Holocaust was written by a Ukrainian. And we are restoring it in Kharkiv, which is bombed daily," summarized Roza Tapanova.
At the end of the event was a panel discussion with Svitlana Lystiuk, a journalist and historian from Kropyvnytskyi, who represents the NGO "Baba Yelka." She spoke about the expedition to the village of Berezuvatka of the Ustynivka community, which Jews and Germans inhabited before World War II. During the expedition, memories were recorded from children who witnessed the genocide of Jews in this village, and an artifact was discovered—a clay plate found in a hut where a woman, a descendant of Jews, resided. The plate is now stored in the NGO "Baba Yelka" Museum. The participants in the discussion also watched a video sequence from a film about the expedition to the villages of the Ustynivka community.
