Within hours of the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the IWM made a commitment to increasing our support for Ukrainian intellectuals, building on our tradition of practical solidarity with societies fighting for freedom and our longstanding engagement with Ukrainian academia and civil society. We recognized that chronicling the Russo-Ukrainian War was something that the IWM was uniquely positioned to contribute to.
When we began by offering a few emergency fellowships to scholars and cultural figures, we didn't know what scale or exactly what form our engagement would take. Now, a year later, it has grown into something we are immensely proud of. We have supported 200 projects, based in 20 of Ukraine's oblasts as well as abroad, and have begun work on the archive that will ultimately house materials gathered and produced within the program's framework. What started as an immediate response will now thus endure long beyond the end of this war, informing future generations’ understanding of what happened and what was at stake.
For the team working on Documenting Ukraine, this program goes far beyond an academic exercise: Ukrainian intellectual and cultural life is close to our hearts. The program was established by two historians whose work has centered Ukraine for decades, IWM Permanent Fellows Timothy Snyder and Katherine Younger. Project Manager Kseniya Kharchenko, a writer, translator, and culture manager, joined the team after arriving in Vienna, displaced from Kyiv in the wake of the full-scale invasion. All of us have been profoundly shaped by Ukrainian culture and scholarship, and thus we are particularly convinced of the urgency of enabling Ukrainians to bring their professional expertise and insight to bear in documenting this war.
Here you can watch the program team discuss the goals and work of Documenting Ukraine:
