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On October 7 and 8, 2023, two important events organized by the Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter (UJE) initiative and united by the problem of memory of an integral part of Ukrainian national history - the tragedy - took place within the XXX Lviv Forum of Publishers the holocaust The genocide of European Jews, caused by the criminal purposeful policy of Nazi Germany, took the lives of more than 6 million people, including at least 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews.

So, on October 7, the discussion “Babyn Yar. In memory of the victims of the tragedy”, during which the second edition (in English) of the collective monograph “Babyn Yar: history and memory” was discussed. The co-editors of the book – prof. Paul-Robert Magocsi, Head of the Department of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto; member of the board of directors of the “Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter” (Toronto, Canada) and Dr. Vladyslav Hrynevych, senior researcher at the I. Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnonational Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine); one of the authors is Dr. Igor Shchupak, director of “Tkuma” Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies; Member of the International Council of Auschwitz (Poland); member of the board of directors of the “Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter” (Dnipro, Ukraine); Dr. Yehor Vradiy, Deputy Director of “Tkuma” Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies, Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine” (Dnipro, Ukraine). The discussion was moderated by Oksana Forostyna, a researcher at the Institute for Humanitarian Studies in Vienna (Kyiv, Ukraine).

The book is the result of the efforts of 15 scientists – leading researchers of the Holocaust history and other genocides from the Netherlands, Canada, the USA, Ukraine, and France. In addition to its discussion, despite the time limitation, the discussion covered the widest possible contexts. In particular, the attention of the participants was drawn to the events of the Nazi genocide during World War II, consideration of the Holocaust in the context of other genocides (the Holodomor, the Nazi genocide of the Roma, the deportation of the Crimean people), which have become an integral part of the national history of Ukraine; models of memory about the tragic past, etc.

It should not be forgotten that the public event took place against the background of alarming news about large-scale terrorist aggression against the State of Israel and its citizens. The latter, as well as the war waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, only once again emphasized the relevance of the discussed issues and the book, which will definitely become an event not only for the Ukrainian, but also for the English-speaking reader.

The next day, October 8, a presentation of the thematic issue #34 of the “Ukraina Moderna” journal “The Holocaust in Ukraine: how (not) writing the history of the crime"” took place in the walls of the Lviv Museum “Territory of Terror”. Its participants were Dr. Petro Dolganov, editor of the column "Overcoming the Past" on the website of the International Intellectual Journal "Ukraine Moderna" (Rivne, Ukraine); Dr. Ihor Shchupak; Dr. Yehor Vradii. It is worth noting that the idea of the thematic issue of "Ukraine Modern" arose even before the beginning of Russia's large-scale war against Ukraine. Currently, two scientists (Prof. Maksym Gon (Rivne, Ukraine) and Dr. Mykhailo Tyaglii (Kyiv, Ukraine)), whose materials are published in the journal, defend the Independence of Ukraine with weapons in their hands. Therefore, it is not surprising that the discussion during the presentation touched on issues relevant to each participant: the possibility of comparing the events of the Holocaust with the consequences of criminal actions of modern Russia, which contain signs of genocide against the Ukrainian people; the possibilities of applying research tools used in the study of the Holocaust and the Nazi genocide of Roma, in the analysis of crimes of the modern war against Ukraine, etc..

It is worth emphasizing that, in addition to the articles and reviews traditional for scientific periodicals, the specified number of “Ukraina Moderna” contained a kind of forum-discussion of 11 leading researchers of the Holocaust in Ukraine from Israel, Canada, Germany, the USA, and, actually, Ukraine. Each of the scientists, at the request of the editors of the magazine, offered their own view on the current state of research and problems in the methodology of researching the Nazi genocide of the Jews. One of the hopes expressed by the speakers during the presentation was the expectation of further continuation of the discussion, both in academia and in the wider public circle. After all, it is frank and at the same time professional discussion that drives further study and awareness of the Ukrainian past.

Yehor Vradii

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