Welcome

The war

On February 24, at 5:30am Moscow time Russia President Vladimir Putin announced, what he called, a “special military operation” in the Donbas region. His mission – to “demilitarize and denazify” Ukraine.

Russian forces infiltrated the northern, eastern and southern fronts of Ukraine with air, land and sea attacks. Explosions were heard in many cities about 5:00am local time.

In the following days, resounding air raid sirens, unforgiving shelling, months in darkness, and days on foot became the lived experiences of millions of people in Ukraine.

Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel, Borodianka, Mariupol, Kherson – everyone heard those names. But there are so many others; village of Vorzel, about 50 kilometers northwest of Kyiv, Staryi Bykiv, in Chernihiv oblast, Zabuchchya, a village northwest of Kyiv… the list goes on. As the list of war crimes and atrocities committed by Russian soldiers. “The cases we documented amount to unspeakable, deliberate cruelty and violence against Ukrainian civilians,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Rape, murder, and other violent acts against people in the Russian forces’ custody should be investigated as war crimes.”

Introduction

My name is Agnieszka and I was born and raised in Poland. Being partly Ukrainian I hold Ukraine and Ukrainian people especially close in my heart. My great-grandfather and my grandfather were both born in Ukraine, in Stryi, Lviv Oblast. My grandfather lived in Ukraine, in Lviv, until he was deported to Poland by Russian army. My great-aunt was deported to Russia. My second grandfather was a Polish Jew, who survived 4 years in KL Auschwitz.  

Ukraine is a nation of brave and strong people, true heroes that defends the entire free world from tyranny and terror. They defend Poland. If it wouldn’t be for the courage and heroism of Ukrainian people, Poland would be in the same situation Ukraine is in now. And for that I am eternally grateful.

The project – Ukraine Speaks – www.ukraine-speaks.com.

The entire world has to hear the stories from people who are the victims or have witnessed horrible crimes committed by Russian occupiers. The same way the world had to hear the stories of the victims of the Nazis. There is no difference between what Hitler did 83 years ago and what Putin is doing right now.

Extermination and genocide.

Ukrainian people saw death from starvation, from bullets and military boots. They themselves met with the vision of their own death many times. And yet they survived to tell future generations about this pointless and endless hatred.

Each story is different, everyone remembers a different picture and memory of the suffering they experienced. However, all of them are accompanied by the same fear and determination that the next day they will be able to smile again, by the hope that they will be given another day of life and the confidence that this nightmare will end one day.

It’s very important to collect all those stories, still so many out there, untold. The more is collected the better case can be built now and after the war against the terror inflicted on Ukraine by Russia.

Many people would like to tell their stories, on what happened to them, on what they witnessed, but they are scared or afraid to talk to anyone in person. They would prefer to remain anonymous. Interviews usually require people to meet face to face with someone, or talk on the phone and it may be too hard / traumatizing for some people. Also, interviews are limited, in words, time and space. I believe people who went thru unimaginable should never be rushed or limited in any way. 

www.ukraine-speaks.com is a place where people can express themselves however they want. It’s a calm, safe place for everyone. A 5 year old child or a 90 year old grandma, a soldier, a civilian – everyone is equally important and every story deserves to be heard by the world.

It’s a place where people can post their war stories, without being limited to time and space.

Everyone deals with trauma in their own way. For some, it helps to talk to others who went thru similar pain, for some it helps to connect with a group therapy, for some it helps to write about it and show it to friends, relatives or others, some will tear it apart, write it again, or simply put it in a drawer and never show it to anyone. There are many ways people can work thru their pain and heal. In many cases people want to talk about what happened but they don’t want to disclose their names, identities, they don’t want to show their faces, they don’t want to meet with anyone. They prefer to remain anonymous.

Whatever they choose to do, it’s their choice; whatever they decide to do, it’s their decision.

A promise

www.ukraine-speaks.com was created to help people to deal with their pain. It’s a website focusing on stories from victims and witnesses of Russian crimes, brutalities and atrocities.

We want to connect with as many people as possible. We want to give people an opportunity to tell their stories to the world. We want to help them spread the word about what happened to them, what they witnessed, what they heard about from others.

Stories will not be changed or corrected. They will not be polished, to look “pretty” or “less shocking”. They will be published exactly the way someone will tell / write them. People can write, record, add, delete, re-write. It’s all up to them. It’s not about what words they use, it’s not about grammar and proper language. It’s only about how they felt then, how they feel now. About being able to freely express their feelings, their anger, their pain and suffering. 

There is no limit on how many stories can one person send. There is no limit on how many times a person can go back and correct, re-write, add, delete anything to their story.

If they send a story, and decide later they are not ready for it to be published, or I post it and they decide it’s too much for them to see it on the internet, we will follow their wishes.

Readers will have a possibility to comment, however, comments will checked before publishing. I will not allow and I will not publish comments that have any profanity, judgement, doubts in someone’s story, putting people down. Only nice, encouraging comments will be allowed.

With project development, as more stories will come, we will start a crowdfunding, to collect money to help those in needs. We will also contact doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists and connect them with those who should look for therapy / help, whether now or after the war, because PTSD can happen at any time, and someone who had no problems or symptoms for months, may need help at any point.

A story behind the project

The idea for the project came from a book “Numbers speak” (“Numery mówią” – original title).

It’s a collection of personal memories of former prisoners of the concentration camps in Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is also 16 stories from the time of war and extermination, when human life and all its values ​​suddenly ceased to have any meaning.

Full of terrifying stories about hunger, diseases, executions, the reigning dirt, stench, lack of drinking water and washing, murderous work, long-lasting appeals, the struggle for survival.

These stories, however, have a bit of hope in them, some are even funny. How much strength do you need to write about death and about your tormentors with a hint of humor!

The saddest stories for me were told by women in the camps. The stories about the separation from a child who was transported to another camp, about the methods of killing newborns born in the camp, about how pregnant women never experienced the happiness of being a mother because they were immediately sent to the crematorium are perhaps the most shocking.

Probably no one can imagine what happened there, the torment of these people finds no words that could describe these terrible events. I also do not know what else I could write about this book. I believe it should be read and thought through deeply.

“KL Auschwitz was built on hatred and contempt of man in the name of insane ideology. So that the times of shame for humanity may never be repeated, that the experiences of witnesses of those events may become a warning and warning…”

We keep saying “never again”, yet “again” is happening now, is repeating now, in front our own eyes, in Ukraine. Today, in 21^st century.

Memories and stories of people who survived hell are extremely moving, thought-provoking, heart-breaking. Those stories give food for thought and raise the question of what went wrong in the world that made such cruel things happen. How could one man’s obsession lead to the macabre of so many people? What did it take to be a beast to enjoy someone’s pain? It is impossible to understand what was driving these people. Education? Implanted values?

The victims and prisoners of Russian terror are still prisoners of their memories.

That is why it is very important to collect and preserve the stories of the victims and witnesses of the crimes committed by Russians in Ukraine, just as it was important to collect and preserve the stories of the victims of the Nazis committed during the Second World War.

Media / Contact

• Website www.ukraine-speaks.com
• Emails: [email protected], [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukrainespeaks_ua/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukrainespeaksua
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ukrainespeaksua
• Telegram: t.me/ukrainespeaks
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ukrainespeaks/