Lesia Hasydzhak in an interview for The Ukrainians: ‘We are an indomitable nation that has endured despite everything’

“We have collected testimonies from Holodomor victims for the future tribunal against communism:” a journalist from The Ukrainians spoke with Lesia Hasydzhak, Director General of the National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide, about the importance of museum memory, collective trauma, and national resistance.

“I believe that we are not victims. We are an indomitable nation that has survived despite everything. In fact, the second stage of the museum was supposed to contain stories of successful Ukrainians whose families survived the Holodomor. They were all born because their ancestors had not given up and had survived. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren of these people are now fighting with weapons for Ukraine’s right to exist. This is how we should realise the Holodomor: as a tragedy that strengthened the nation over several generations and prepared it for the struggle against the descendants of our eternal enemy,” Ms Lesia emphasises.

Please read the article to learn more about how the experience of famine, engraved in the collective memory, affects Ukraine’s capacity for resistance today, what a modern museum should be like, and how to develop museum work in the context of a large-scale war.