Not everyone gets to choose a new beginning

Due to Covid-19, I left Severodonetsk already 2 months after my arrival. However, during those two months I had the chance to work with the wonderful Vostok SOS team and to meet a lot of inspiring people. For this, I am really thankful. 

    Whether in Ukraine, the Czech Republic or Germany, I enjoy listening to people's stories. Before I went to Severodonetsk, I worked as an adviser for international applicants at Leipzig University. One afternoon an Iraqi woman came with a German woman into my office. The German woman was supporting the Iraqi woman with some steps of the application process. After telling them all the necessary information on the application procedures, the German woman asked me whether she could ask me which country I was from as my accent sounded familiar to her.

    When I answered I was Czech, her eyes got bright and she started telling me stories about her childhood which she had spent during the World War II in Litoměřice, a small Czech town, and about her home, which she and her parents were expelled from. This was a very strong moment for me: Myself, having left the Czech Republic simply because I wanted to become a part of a little bit more multicultural and human system, an Iraqi refugee hoping for a better future and this German lady with Czech roots who was expelled as a child from her home. In my opinion, this afternoon meeting was the reflection of the past century and of today – the constant repeating of history. Expulsion from a home country, fleeing from a home country, taking a refuge in a foreign country. Oftentimes, for these people, their home country turns into a foreign one and the opposite way around.

    Sometimes, I dive into the melancholic world in my mind and ask myself: How many more people will be forced to leave their homes and overcome borders of their new homes?

    In Ukraine, these borders were made visible during the war in Donbas which has started in the spring of 2014. The Donbas space was always a very specific one as a lot of the region's cities were founded during the Soviet times. Moreover, the biggest Russian immigration was directed to the Ukraine´s most industrially developed cities such as Donetsk and Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine. Furthermore, in the end of 1950s, Russian was made also the language of instruction at schools. Therefore, for people born during this time, Russian was often the first language they spoke. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, these regions became part of today´s Ukraine. The differences in historical development between the eastern and western Ukrainian regions and the relativity of state borders can be observed as of beginning of the conflict between the Russian-backed separatists and Ukraine. 

    In fact, a lot of inhabitants of these regions did not feel like having one clear national identity. Parts of their families were living in Russia, parts of them in Ukraine. The language they spoke was sometimes Russian, sometimes a mixture of Russian and Ukrainian language, the so-called “surzhyk”. A lot of people were much better off during the Soviet industrialization period than after the dissolution of the USSR. But then the war came and during a conflict, you have to take a side. You must clearly set up your identity. Pro-Russian? OK, join the separatists. Pro-Ukrainian? OK, move to the government-controlled areas!   

   Nonetheless, it is a bit more complicated. I met a brilliant journalist who had to leave Donetsk because of his opinions and activism and was not allowed to come back but his parents had stayed there as they could not afford to leave everything behind and start their life from zero. They spoke Russian as their mother tongue but felt as citizens of Ukraine. Now, these people face difficulties as they live on separatist-controlled area having a Ukrainian citizenship and it is hard and sometimes impossible to reach out to their pensions.

    This conflict has been devastating for the economy, for families of the killed soldiers or imprisoned activists, but mainly for the most vulnerable people who are not able or simply cannot afford a new life. With this post, I would like to call on all people to get engaged and support all the newcomers to their countries as the new beginnings are often hard to come through and you never know when you are going to be in their position.