Johannes EBERT, “Ukraine Is a Country with a Pronounced European Cultural Tradition”
Next year Kyiv’s Goethe Institute, the German cultural center, will celebrate its tenth anniversary. Like the other 128 branches of the Goethe Institute in 76 countries, it makes a contribution to cultural exchanges between Germany and other countries as well as to promoting the German language abroad.
The Kyiv Goethe Institute had been run for the past four years plus by Mr. Johannes Ebert. This young well-read person has shown himself as above all a purposeful and democratic executive. He has focused his work on the development of relations between the two countries. This is precisely what we discussed with Mr. Ebert when he visited The Day. The Goethe Institute conducted in this period a large number of cultural functions, some of them helping to spot new talents in various arts. It is worthy of note here last year’s contest organized in conjunction with The Day, Germany-Ukraine: What Was There? What Is There? What Will There Be?
Last Sunday Johannes Ebert left Kyiv in order to head Goethe Institute in Cairo. In his farewell interview with The Day the now former chief of the Kyiv Goethe Institute tells about the experience and memories with which he leaves the Ukrainian soil.
“Have you become a Ukrainian nationalist in the four years of your stay in Kyiv?”
(Laughter). “I like Ukraine very much. Unfortunately, many in Germany know practically nothing about your country. It makes me sad after four plus years of working here. So whenever I am asked in Germany “Well, how are the Russians?” I get indignant and say that I work in Ukraine, not in Russia. Yes, I can say I maintain certain emotional ties with Ukraine, but I would never call myself a nationalist.”
“What did you come to like during your stay in Ukraine and Kyiv?”
“There are a lot of things I like here. To start with, Kyiv is a very beautiful city, like, for that matter, many of other Ukrainian cities that I have had the pleasure of visiting. As to the Goethe Institute activities here, I noticed that its work arouses great interest in your country. And I gained the impression that what we were doing was in line with the ongoing cultural processes in Ukraine and even made a certain contribution to them.
“What I also like is that I met here very many pleasant and congenial people and interested partners. This is very important for me.”
“What are you going to take away with you from the experience you gained here?”
“I have recently been to Egypt, for five days only, obviously too little time to understand if I can apply there the experience I gained in Ukraine. I think it will be clear later. When I was in Cairo, I attended an opening exhibition of young Egyptian artists who presented so-called subjective photography. This exhibition resulted from a workshop organized by the Goethe Institute in Cairo. We also often applied this concept in Ukraine, especially when working with media artists. This is exactly the experience I gained here — the experience of organizing joint projects with young artists. So I can say I am sure to turn this to good use.”
“What is your impression of Ukraine’s cultural life?”
“The first thing that catches your eye is a good or very good cultural infrastructure in practically every city. I regard Ukraine as a country with a pronounced European cultural tradition. There is another, financial, problem in this sphere. What is perhaps deficient are innovative projects which would allow people to polemically address the problems of life and modern society. I think we must organize more functions of this kind. I’d like to stress again that such projects are already ongoing, but there have to be more of them for the simple reason that culture finds itself in society, and society finds itself in culture, and this is why everything that is happening now has to be reflected more actively.”
“Don’t you think Ukrainians are too skeptical about themselves when they should be proud of themselves?”
“First of all I want to say that over the past ten years very many things have happened in the field where I am directly engaged in Ukraine. I don’t think the word proud really fits here. This question would be problematic to me. Even if I was asked what Germans could be proud of, I couldn’t answer it. But if we speak about Germany, I am happy that since 1949 it has been a stable, democratic country. And maybe one should be proud that such a society exists in Germany, a society where people have a stimulus, where people are convinced that together they can do something for their country. But the word proud is too strong. I can say that I am happy about it. I can’t conceal the fact that there are numerous problems in German society. But I can’t say I feel ashamed of them. One must talk about these problems and look for ways to solve them. And it seems to me that you too should ask yourselves, “What’s gone wrong with Ukraine?” It’s very important that each and every citizen be ready and willing to do something for this society: not turn a blind eye to the existing problems, but talk about them openly and solve them if possible. It’s up to Ukrainians themselves to decide about their attitude toward their country.”
“One of the distinctive traits of Germans is believed to be their pedantry. What good, or maybe bad qualities have you learned from Ukrainians?”
“Pedantry is a quality with a good and a bad side. Germans are reputed as punctual and accurate which sounds good, and I am pleased to hear it. But I wouldn’t say about Ukrainians, at least those I work with, that they don’t have these qualities. I can completely rely on my Ukrainian colleagues. I can say the same about our Ukrainian partners. Perhaps not all and not always, but in Germany the situation is similar, you know. There are simply those you can rely on and those you can’t (laughing). I must have stayed too long in Ukraine to notice that Ukrainians have problems with punctuality or accuracy. When you walk along Kyiv’s streets, you can see that everything is clean and neat, that the snow is cleared away quickly enough. This is just what Ukrainians shouldn’t really worry about, you shouldn’t have any inferiority complex here.”
“And what Ukrainian things will you remember in Cairo? Will you feel nostalgic for Ukraine?”
“Certainly. I’ve lived some ten percent of my life in Ukraine. In a way, it has become my homeland. I’ve said enough about work, but Ukraine means a lot to me personally. My wife feels very good here. I’ve made a lot of acquaintances and good friends here. I’m going to miss them. There are moments that echo in your mind. They are connected with certain cities, countries. I will have many such memories connected with Ukraine. In the future, there will surely be situations when I’ll feel that it’s happened before. That I’ve already experienced it.”
“DОjЗ vu?”
“You put it just right, but “dОjЗ vu” in the positive sense. What I’m really going to miss in Cairo is your winter.”
“What is your wish to the readers of The Day?”
“Happiness and optimism.”
