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Press release for the exhibition "The Fire of Memory Will Never Fade" to the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation and the Day of Victory over Nazism in the Second World War

In the period from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945 the territory of Ukraine was the scene of extremely bloody events. Nazi Germany and its allies, the Soviet Union unleashed World War II, and one of the theaters of operations was the territory of modern Ukraine. Ukrainians found themselves in extremely difficult conditions - many nations, including the Ukrainian one, found themselves on the brink of survival. During the bloody fighting between the two warring armies on the territory of Ukraine, infrastructure, industry, agriculture were destroyed, and civilian population was looted, which was also subject to exorbitant taxes and labor. Ukrainians fought in different armieson on the fronts of World War II.

We`ve been defending the interests of different states, thousands died in a bloody massacre of World War II. Part of the Ukrainian nation saw an opportunity to conquer and defend their own state nation in that period. Their goal was to declare the independence of Ukraine, but at that time the efforts and resources put to achieve this goal were not enough. The war that swept Ukraine from west to east and then from east to west claimed millions of lives. Ukrainians died in battle, survived famine, the Holocaust, deportation and occupation, forced deportation, the horrors of Nazi concentration and Soviet filtration camps, and so on.

The tragedy of World War II affected every Ukrainian family. The war took place on Ukrainian soil, having gathered its terrible harvest of victims, those who survived that hell, received not only physical but also moral wounds for life. The greatest tragedy for Ukraine and Ukrainians was that at some point they were forced to fight each other while in the armies of warring countries. These days in early May, we remember those who remained forever on the battlefield, giving the most valuable thing that a person has today, his own life, fighting for their own ideals. Ukrainians gather as families, go to cemeteries to lay flowers and light a candle…

The exhibition "The Fire of Memory Will Never Fade" presents an overview of works of masters of the brush, which represent the era of World War II. Artists try to show all the tragedy of events, the sacrifice of the participants. By the power of art, they convey to the modern generation of Ukrainians the essence of what happened in those terrible years. Works of art by Volodymyr Fedorov "Portrait of Naumov" (1978); Feodosia Bochkova "Front Night" (1943); Olexander Foynitskiy "Ship Sinking" (1962); Peter Kodiev's "Alarm" (1954); Sketch for the work of Peter Kodyev "Occupation" (1950s); Peter Ossovsky's "Victorious May" (1980) became the basis of the exposition presented for review. In 2014, Ukraine joined the European tradition of commemorating the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation for the first time, and the poppy became a symbol of those days. We remember how terrible the Second World War was for Ukrainians.

This memory makes Ukrainians stronger today, it is a guarantee that such a tragedy will not happen again in the future.

 

Mykola Pravda - scientific worker of the

Department of Tourism and Local Lore of the Art Museum