“I read it and couldn’t sleep all night”

“Good literature beats loneliness” – you recall this phrase of Den’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna whenever you see people of various statuses, ages, and walks of life in a cozy room of the Kamin-Kashyrsky raion library. A journalist, the war veteran organization chairman, an Ostroh Academy female graduate, an ATO fighter, the history museum director, the raion state administration head, raion councilors… Each (!) participant has read one or even two books of Den’s political-writing trilogy, although there are many other sources today, which can and must be read. A short tour of the Kamin-Kashyrsky raion library conducted by its director Nina Melnytska confirmed that there were so many newly-arrived materials. The director says Den’s political-writing trilogy has not just found a separate shelf in the library holdings. These books are being actively recommended here, for Den’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna wrote in the preface to Route No.1’s issue My Books: “There is so much to be read, but you should first of all read what will help you understand where you are, in what reference frame and in what condition your country is.”

The trilogy – ‘The Trap,’ or A Case without a Statute of Limitations, I am an Eyewitness. Notes from the Occupied Luhansk, and Catastrophe and Triumph. Stories of Ukrainian Heroes – was presented by Ruslana Pryimak, chief of the library’s loan division. There was a slideshow about the newspaper which, incidentally, does not need to be too much advertised because it is available in the library and has its readers. After the event, some of those present shared their impressions with us.

“SHALL WE EVER BE ABLE TO DO WHAT WILLY BRANDT DID?”

Valerii KHYTRYK, chief of staff, Kamin-Kashyrsky raion council:

“I value the book Catastrophe and Triumph… because it gives answers to many questions which far from all of us want to put to ourselves. We are evading the question why it could happen that we gave up Crimea for no apparent reason and have an undeclared war in the Donbas. It is too simple to blame this on the Russian aggression only. The book Catastrophe and Triumph. Stories of Ukrainian Heroes creates a strong impression just because it broaches these problems. It comprises essays on the living and dead Ukrainian soldiers who went to the front for the sake of Ukraine – it is the unvarnished truth. It seemed to us that material considerations and money had repressed the feeling of patriotism in society. But many people turned out to have it, and they stood up for their fatherland. We will be pondering for a long time over the events, which we were eyewitnesses to or participants in. It takes time to impartially appraise historical events, and I don’t know if we live to see the day when we will, like the Germans, understand what World War Two really meant for the world, what role Nazi Germany played in it, and whether we will be able to follow the example of a German leader, Willy Brandt, who knelt in front of a monument to the victims of Nazism in the Warsaw ghetto and apologized to those whom the Germans had caused so much pain. Therefore, we must record all that is going on around us now, and the books the national Ukrainian newspaper Den publishes are a good example of this.

“The newspaper Den already occupies a place in Ukrainian history not only as a specialist publication, which rarely occurs now, but also as a publication that openly takes a stand of its own and causes the reader to think and draw conclusions. It is a thinking society that Ukraine lacks now for various reasons. And, unfortunately, there are so few of those who, like Den’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna and her team, are aware of this and are doing their best for our history and memory to have as few ‘blank spots’ as possible.”

“UNDISGUISED AND UNVARNISHED TRUTH”

Valerii DUNAICHUK, chairman, Kamin-Kashyrsky Raion State Administration:

“It pained me to read Valentyn Torba’s book I Am an Eyewitness because a cousin of mine lives in the area the book describes. And personal attitude to this kind of books is always important. This book must become a contemporary history manual so that we all – the grassroots, politicians, and the state – draw proper conclusions. I began to understand better the people whom this undeclared war forced to leave their homes. There also are a lot of migrants in Volyn, including our raion. We don’t find it difficult to help them – to give a piece of fatback or a bottle of milk, or to deliver a truckload of firewood, and, naturally, to employ them, admit their children to schools, and give them other things of vital necessity. As the raion head, I’ll do my utmost to see to it that these people feel at home in a strange land. This is also one of the lessons of the book in which the truth is undisguised and unvarnished: one must remain human under any circumstances.”

WELL BEFORE THE DISCUSSION, DEN’S LIBRARY BOOKS FOUND THEIR NEW READERS AT KAMIN-KASHYRSKY’S RAION LIBRARY / Photo courtesy of the author

“EYEWITNESSES KNOW HISTORY”

Vitalii NESTERUK, chairman, War Veterans Organization:

“Undoubtedly, everybody must read these books, for what is described in ‘The Trap’ is about the events that led Ukraine to the current situation in Crimea, the Donbas, and all over the country. It is hard to read I Am an Eyewitness – I couldn’t sleep all night after I’d turned the last page, but if we wish our country a better future, we should read what eyewitnesses of history write. The history of Ukrainian statehood in the past 25 years is very sad. Read ‘The Trap’ and recall the Kuchma times which are still around and causing so much trouble today… What kind of people are we if we elect a new ‘Kuchma’ over and over again? Again a wrong one… These books, published by a daily (!) newspaper, should be available at every library. They must be popularized and read thoroughly, for we ought to be armed with ideas.”

“THESE BOOKS MUST BE IN EVERY MUSEUM AND LIBRARY”

Natalia PAS’, director, Local History Museum, Kamin-Kashyrsky:

“The other day our museum was visited by Kamin-Kashyrsky-born people who had moved to and successfully settled in St. Petersburg, become citizens of Russia, and their interest in the problems of their homeland is confined to occasionally asking: ‘What has YOUR Maidan given you?’ But when they saw the portrait of a classmate of theirs, who had fought as a soldier in Afghanistan, they began to take a different view of our reality. This man volunteered to the ATO zone, although he was of quite an age. He decided that his war experience would come in handy for the young and ‘raw.’ He had enjoyed such unquestioned authority back in school days that his successful Russian friends began to take a different attitude to the events in eastern Ukraine – it is not for nothing that he went to war, for he is a decent and honest person. We must record everything that is going on today. We must educate our youth and society on the examples of victories and heroes. Therefore, the book Catastrophe and Triumph. Stories of Ukrainian Heroes is what we badly need today and will need tomorrow and generally in the future. What we lack in our coverage of the war is the human factor. This book does have it. And ‘The Trap’? It isn’t worthwhile to read the previous book without doing this one first, for we must know why we have what we have.

“I value the newspaper Den very highly for its educative efforts, such as virtual tours of Ukrainian museums and photo exhibits. I can remember the photograph of a woman, a berry-picker, from our raion, and a very interesting account of the story of this picture at one of these exhibits. The books Den, a daily paper, publishes must be in every museum and library. I am grateful to our raion library for this cooperation with the newspaper, for an opportunity to tell about these books in our Polissia backwoods, for it’s a place where true patriots of Ukraine live – the people who are not indifferent to this country’s history and further destiny.”