Posted at 9:00 a.m.
“Today is good and bad,” said Ohla Honchar, general director of the Territory of Terror museum in Lviv. We have had several alerts of air attacks. And the news we get from the rest of Ukraine is terrible. »
At the end of the line, Olha Honchar tries to remain cheerful. But his laughter is nervous. The thirty members of his institution work urgently to protect the jewels, objects and archives of their museum. So far, Russian attacks on Lviv, a major city in the west of the country, have been limited. But everything can change very quickly.
“In cities that haven’t been attacked by Russia yet, we pack up the exhibits, we hide them, we try to digitize everything we can,” she continues. We also cooperate with foreign foundations which help us in our efforts. We are working non-stop to save our museums. »
It is understood that the situation is even more worrying in the towns of the east of the country taken under the fire of the invader.
“People there are trying to protect collections from bombs,” says Olha Honchar. They hide everything they can. I know that the team of the Galagan Art Museum in Chernihiv stayed in the city and works under these conditions. The same is at the M. F Soumtsov Historical Museum in Kharkiv. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE TERRITORY OF TERROR MUSEUM
The director of the Territory of Terror museum in Lviv, Olha Honchar
The Territory of Terror museum, of which Mme Honchar is the general manager is a municipal institution. Its mandate is to preserve, teach and disseminate the memory of a very obscure period in the history of Ukraine, namely the middle of the XXand century, in a context of occupation by the Soviet and Nazi regimes.
The museum is built on the site of a ghetto, which was under Nazi rule (1941-1943) before becoming Transitional Prison 25 (1944-1955) during the end of the reign of Stalin, who died in 1953.
Mme Does Honchar believe that current events will fuel a new part of her museum?
“It would be logical, she replies, even if, for the moment, we are trying to survive. After the victory, we will organize interviews with people who will have been victims of the Russian offensive, who have lost their homes, who have been displaced to another region or even another country. We will have a lot to do to document these events. But for now, we must try to save the museum. »
help each other
Despite the difficult conditions, the teams from the different museums try to help each other when the conditions allow it, continues Ms.me Honchar.
“It all builds on the personal contacts and networks we’ve developed in the past,” she says. As the administrations of several museums are closed due to the situation, the funds do not come in, communications are interrupted. »
We try to find help where we can. A museum crisis center was created to raise funds from European institutions and private donors.
Olha Honchar, director of a museum in Lviv
The Berlin-based organization MitOst, dedicated to cultural and citizen exchanges in Europe, and the European Commission have contacted the Museum Crisis Center to provide assistance. Contacts are also underway in the Netherlands, France and the United States to raise funds.
Canada also announced its participation Friday in the safeguarding of Ukrainian heritage with a contribution of 4.8 million managed by UNESCO. Always Friday The Press also indicated that the Canadian Museums Association plans to lend its support to sister institutions in Ukraine.
When asked what state of mind she is in, Olha Honchar replies: “I tell myself every day that I have to do my job while thinking of myself, of my health. There is also my family who came to Lviv from Kyiv. But I have a lot of work and coordination to do. »