(MENAFN- UkrinForm) A commemoration event for over 10 million Ukrainians who sacrificed their lives liberating Europe from Nazism was held on the site of a former factory in Berlin where Ukrainian women were engaged in forced labor during World War II.
The event took place on May 8, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
"The Ukrainian trauma of that war, with its devastated territories, millions of victims, and terrible consequences for future generations is not present in Berlin's memory landscape, not being present or discussed here," according to the Vitsche Berlin NGO that organized the event.
A commemoration of Ukrainians killed in World War 2 was held in Berlin / Photo: Olha Tanasiychuk, Ukrinform
For the second year in a row, Ukrainians choose not to hold events in Berlin around memorials to Soviet soldiers, "decorated" with quotes by Stalin and the years "1941-1945".
The "metaphorical space of memory" was created this time for a few hours in the space of the Kulturbrauerei, a former labor camp.
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Taisia Shyvaldina, 88, shared her memories with the audience. As a girl, she faced the war in Kyiv. Then, together with her mother, two sisters and a brother, she was taken to Germany, to a camp near Dresden, where she saw the day of May 8, 1945. And now the woman in a wheelchair is forced to seek protection from Russian aggression in Germany.
Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany Oleksiy Makeiev, historians, journalists, representatives of the Ukrainian-Jewish organization Jus Platforma, Ukrainian Roma, and Crimean Tatars also spoke before the audience.
The participants honored the memory of the victims with a moment of silence and lighted candles.
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