Before the First World War, more than 800,000 Germans, Ukrainedeutsche, lived on the territory of contemporary Ukraine. Since medieval times, they had led a more or less happy life, changing the local maps and their own identities, and establishing different relationships with their Ukrainian neighbours. In this talk, Khrystyna Semeryn will discuss Ukrainian-German geographies of memory with a special focus on the turbulent first half of the 20th century. In the crucible of hard times, many traces and connections have been lost. Stopping at the underrepresented and overlooked pages of German-Ukrainian history, stitching together distant sites and stories, she will talk about how memory is revived and how it produces ruptures and transformations over time. Semeryn also argues that German-Ukrainian memory remains affected by empires, so the colonial lens should be removed.

The talk by Khrystyna Semeryn will take place on 11 May 2023 at 18:30. The talk will be in English and you will be able to join via Zoom. Once you have registered, you will receive your Zoom invitation by email. More information about the content and our speaker can be found here.