Representatives of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance and the Srebrenica Memorial Center discussed today in Kyiv the possibilities of developing joint activities, exchanging experiences and connecting institutions and experts from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ukraine who work in the fields of memory culture, memorialization, research and education. The meeting was held as part of the first official working visit of representatives of the Memorial Center to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
The focus of the conversation was on concrete models of future cooperation, including the exchange of experts and knowledge, joint educational and public programs, as well as opportunities to connect institutions, researchers and organizations from the two countries.
Special attention is paid to the experiences of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the institutionalization of the culture of memory after the war, as well as to the ways in which in Ukraine, in the conditions of the ongoing war, new approaches to documenting, marking and presenting the experiences of victims are being developed.
Today’s program also included a visit to the National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide, where they discussed approaches to museumization, working with archival and documentary material, educational programs and presenting the experiences of the victims to the general public.
Experiences were exchanged about the role of memorial and museum institutions in connecting research, education and public memory.
During the visit to the Vshanui organization, which works to preserve the memory of people whose lives were lost during the Russian invasion, the importance of documenting individual life stories and preserving the identity of the victims was discussed.
This approach represents an important point of connection with the experience of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, which through its archives, oral history and other programs strives to preserve the personal stories of the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica.
The program continued with a visit to the Babin Jar Holocaust Memorial Center, where contemporary approaches to memorialization, research and the use of archival, witness and digital content were presented. The possibilities of future professional exchange and connection with institutions and organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina were also discussed.
During today’s program, Kateryna Kyrychenko, an international legal expert working in Kyiv, and Nedim Jahić, consultant for the development of programs and initiatives of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, also participated in the Ukrainian Minute of Silence, a daily tribute to people who lost their lives in the war.
“For the Memorial Center, it is especially important that cooperation with institutions in Ukraine acquire a concrete and long-term character. There is space for exchanging experiences, joint educational activities, connecting experts and presenting the experiences of Bosnia and Herzegovina to partners in Ukraine. At the same time, the ways in which Ukrainian institutions today document events and build memory mechanisms in real time represent an experience from which institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina can also learn,” Jahić said.
Today’s meetings are part of a multi-day program in Kyiv that includes state institutions, memorial institutions, human rights organizations, the media and organizations that work on documenting war crimes, accessing justice and working with the families of victims and the missing.
The visit is realized as part of a broader initiative for advocating cooperation in the field of education and access to justice, which the Srebrenica Memorial Center implements with the support of the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Srebrenica Memorial Center Potočari announced.
