Lesia Hasydzhak participated in the school seminar

On May 19, 2024, Acting General Director of the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide Lesia Hasydzhak participated in the school seminar “Learning from the past – acting for the sake of the future. Learning about the history of the Holocaust and human rights” at the invitation of the director of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies, Mr Anatolii Podolskyi.

The seminar is a joint event of the Institute named after Olga Lengyel (The Olga Lengyel Institute, New York) and the Ukrainian Center for the Study of the History of the Holocaust. It is funded by Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights.

As part of the seminar program, Lesia Hasydzhak took part in a discussion with Mr. Anatolii Podolskyi on the topic “Commemoration of the Holocaust today. Historical parallels, relevance of commemoration, changing perception of the Holocaust as a result of the Russian war and full-scale invasion.” She spoke about the stages of formation of commemorative practices of the Holodomor, about the work of the museum and its actualisation due to a full-scale invasion. Together with Mr Anatolii Podolskyi, the discussants talked about the challenges facing the research of the Holodomor and the Holocaust – two genocides that were committed in the territory of modern Ukraine in the 20th century, and also discussed the problem of scientific terminology and the so-called “war of numbers” – the issue of defining demographic losses during the Holodomor and the Holocaust.

Additionally, from the National Museum of the Holodomor-genocide, she presented the publication “We were killed because we are Ukrainians” and the museum guide for children “Museum Stories,” to 23 participants from 16 regions of Ukraine, and in fact, to history teachers.