Poet of Donetsk region and all of Ukraine

The fate of one of the brightest poets in Ukraine is connected with the Donetsk region. Vasyl Stus grew up in Donetsk, taught Ukrainian language and literature in the region, and worked as a letter editor in a local Ukrainian-language newspaper. Then he moved to Kyiv, where he translated Goethe, Lorca, and Rilke and began to publish his own poetry. At the same time, he became a member of the dissident movement.

Speeches against totalitarian Soviet power became decisive for the fate of Stus. With his creativity and peaceful protests, he interfered with the authorities so much that he was imprisoned several times. Even so, he continued to write, secretly releasing his poems—a unique blend of Ukrainian literary tradition and European heritage. The combination was so talented that the diaspora even tried to nominate Stus for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

However, most of the poet’s works have been lost. Poetry seemed so dangerous to the Soviet dictatorship that intercepted poems were simply destroyed. The last publication of his works (while he was still alive) in the USSR was in the magazine “Donbas” at the beginning of 1966. The next one is only three decades later. A complete collection of the writer’s works was published only during the time of independent Ukraine.

In 1985, Vasyl Stus died in the cell under mysterious circumstances—either due to hypothermia and weakness from the announced hunger strike, or due to a cardiac arrest, or due to a blow deliberately arranged by the guards.

This happened despite the fact that famous intellectuals from all over the world repeatedly appealed to Moscow to release the poet. Among them was Nobel laureate Heinrich Böll. Judging by his answer during an interview on German radio in 1985, he understood perfectly well the real reasons for Stus’ persecution: “His so-called crime is that he writes his poetry in Ukrainian, and this is interpreted as anti-Soviet activity… Stus consciously writes in Ukrainian. This is the only criticism that I know of. Not even a criticism of nationalism, which is also easily applied, but exclusively on the basis of Ukrainian creativity, which is interpreted as anti-Soviet activity.”

Ukrainian culture has always been perceived by Russia as a dangerous manifestation of national consciousness and identity, therefore it has always been an object of repression. As early as the 18th century, they adopted the tactic of assimilation—Ukrainian cultural figures were persecuted, and language was restricted. The physical increase in the number of Russians on Ukrainian land was one of Moscow’s popular methods. For example, during the Soviet era, the number of Russians in Ukraine increased from almost 3 million in 1926 to over 11 million in 1989. People were brought to present-day Donetsk especially actively—yes, in just one day in 1933, an echelon with 3,538 Russian families arrived at the city’s railway station. The Holodomor was also organized to subjugate the Ukrainian nation and its statehood—an artificial famine that many countries of the civilized world have already recognized as the genocide of the Ukrainian people.

Despite this, in all eras, Ukraine gave birth to bright artists who continued to develop Ukrainian culture and remind people about who Ukrainians are and where they come from. The way Vasyl Stus used to do it.

From “Isolation” to isolator

One day in the summer of 2010, the most famous artists, critics, and journalists of Ukraine gathered on the premises of a semi-abandoned factory of insulating materials in Donetsk. They were present at the launch of the Isolation Platform of cultural initiatives. Over the next four years, more than two dozen projects in the fields of art, education, and creativity were implemented here—exhibitions, public discussions, lectures, and art residencies—in particular with the participation of world art stars: Tsai Gotsyan, Daniel Buren, and Boris Mykhaylov. However, in the summer of 2014, completely different people gathered here.

After seizing the territory of Isolation, the occupation authorities of the Russian Federation turned the cultural center into a concentration camp. Employees of the foundation were forced to flee, and works of art were stolen or simply destroyed. Already at the end of the summer, it became known that the occupiers use the territory of the art center as a base, a prison, a place for torture, and a warehouse for stolen cars. Terrible testimonies about this illegal prison can be found in the books of Ukrainian journalist Stanislav Aseiev, who spent several years in the “Isolation” torture chambers.

Meanwhile, the employees of the foundation were forced to evacuate to Kyiv, where they opened a new Isolation center, also in the building of the former factory. During these nine years, the platform implemented dozens of large-scale projects in the capital and became an important point on the cultural map of Kyiv. However, the employees of the foundation still remember their occupied premises and are waiting to return to Donetsk, Ukraine.

Mariupol

By 2022, Mariupol, a city on the coast of the Sea of Azov, would have approximately the following characteristics: a large port, powerful metallurgy, rapid cultural development, and 430,000 inhabitants.

In 2020 and 2021, Mariupol topped the transparency and accountability rating compiled by the Ukrainian office of Transparency International and was generally a developed city and the business card of the Azov region.

People have lived here for a long time—and they were unusual people. For example, Kalmiuske Palanka, an administrative-territorial unit of the Cossack state, was located at this very place. And later, a huge diaspora of Greeks appeared here, most of whom moved to these lands from Crimea. They relocated, bringing with them an authentic culture that was carefully preserved. So, for example, it was in Mariupol that the only university outside Greece and Cyprus was located, where since 1991, the Greek language, culture, and history have been studied as the main discipline.

However, it was “was” in the past tense. After all, after the full-scale war unleashed by the Russians, the city was practically wiped off the face of the earth, and dozens of thousands of its inhabitants died.

The Azovstal plant became one of the symbols of the Mariupol tragedy.

He was once associated with industrial power, but in 2022 he became the personification of indomitability.

It was on Azovstal that the Ukrainian fighters held their defense for several months in the complete encirclement. Some of them were eventually released from Russian captivity, but many Ukrainians are still being held by the Russian Federation. Ukraine will continue the struggle for their release—and for the release of Mariupol and all temporarily occupied territories.