BERLIN, 23 May 2019: Lecture “A noble man from head to toe”. Pavlo Skoropadsky and the first years of his emigration

We cordially invite you to our next lecture within our “Science first hand” lecture series:

Title: „Ehrenmann vom Scheitel bis zur Sohle“. Pavlo Skoropadskyj in den ersten Jahren der Emigration.

This Lecture will be given in German. Questions could also be asked in Ukrainian.

Speaker: Veronika Dyminska, research assistant, Department of Culture & History of Central and Eastern Europe, European University Viadrina

When: 23 May 2019, Thursday

Where: Embassy of Ukraine, Albrechtstraße 26, 10117 Berlin

Register by 20 May at: berlin (at) ukrainet.eu, providing your name, occupation and employer/ place of study, city, as required by security regulations of the embassy.

Announcement (in German/ in Ukrainian).

About the speaker: Ms. Dyminska is a MSc student and research assistant at the Chair of Culture and History of Central and Eastern Europe at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). She studied linguistics at the Technical University of Kiev (2012-2016), and is studying history of East Central Europe at the European University Viadrina (2016-2019). The topic of her master thesis is “Der Hetman in der Emigration. Pavlo Skoropadskyj in Berlin 1919-1926“. Veronika Dyminska is a DAAD scholarship holder. She participated in and contributed to the book project “Die vergessene Grenze. A German-Polish Trail Search from Upper Silesia to the Baltic Sea“. Her research interests are the Ukrainian emigration and the Hetman movement of Pavlo Skoropadskyj in Berlin during the interwar period.

About the lecture: Pavlo Skoropadskyj is one of the most enigmatic personalities in Ukrainian history of the 20th century: he was a Ukrainian nobleman, general of the imperial Russian army, Hetman of Ukraine 1918 and head of the conservative movement of Ukrainian political emigration in the interwar period. After his abdication in 1918, Skoropadskyj fled from Kyiv to Berlin. However, this was not the end of his political career. In Germany the new phase began when Skoropadskyj became an exile politician and leader of the Hetman movement of Ukrainian emigration and enjoyed the support of the leading German politicians. The lecture focuses on Skoropadskyj’s contacts with the German Foreign Office, the British Foreign Office, Ukrainian emigrant circles and Russian monarchists. The change in political views and the personality of Skoropadskyj in emigration will also be discussed. In addition, an overview of the activities of the Hetman movement, the cooperation with Vyacheslav Lypynsky*, the activities of the Hetman organizations in Berlin and the foundation of the Ukrainian Scientific Institute will be given. The lecture is mainly based on the results of research in German archives.

Announcement (in German/ in Ukrainian)

* If you wish to find out more about the remarkable personality of Vyacheslav Lypynsky, you might be interested to read “Blauwal der Erinnerung” by Tanja Maljartchuk (Bachmannpreis 2018), published in 2019 by Kiepenheuer&Witsch. This is a translation of her novel “Забуття”, published in Ukrainian in 2016 and chosen for the BBC book of the year 2016 Award.  Also read this article “Ukrainische Erinnerungen. Das Land, das riecht wie Morgenwind” by Isabel Metzger in Spiegel Online (15 Febraury 2019).