From Ukraine, with Stories to Share
Updated: 6 days ago
Father Nestor, president of our museum, has returned from Ukraine. He brought back photographs from Lviv, where he took part in gatherings marking Belarusian Military Glory Day on September 8.
On that day in 1514, an army led by Konstantin Ostrogski defeated the Muscovite army at the Battle of Orsha. Its ranks included people from the lands of present-day Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, as well as Polish units. More than five centuries later, this history has become relevant once again.
At Lviv Polytechnic, the screen shows the faces of Polish and Lithuanian volunteers who died defending Ukraine. At the House of Free Belarus, we find the stories of Belarusian fighters for
whom defending Ukraine also meant fighting for a free future for their own country.
Behind every portrait is a whole life. A home, loved ones, plans. People who were waiting for them to return.
The photograph shows Father Nestor at Lychakiv Cemetery, beside the monument to the insurgents of Kastus Kalinouski. In the foreground is a flag bearing the colours of Poland and Ukraine.
Behind the history of resistance to state violence are individual people, their choices, losses and hopes. This is what memory is made of.
