The Executed Renaissance of our times

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Yana Kosinova

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The Executed Renaissance: a historiographical term denoting the period of crushing persecution, arrests, and executions of the Ukrainian-speaking intellectual elite by the communist party of the USSR (1920s - 1930s in the Ukrainian SSR).

Russia's attempts to destroy the Ukrainian intelligentsia are centuries old. As part of the Great Purge of 1937, we remember November 3, 1937, when more than a hundred Ukrainian elite were shot dead. The total number is unknown, reaching to thousands of Ukrainian poets, writers, and artists tortured and eliminated...

The Executed Renaissance: this is what came to my mind when I learned about the death of Veronika Kozhushko. A Russian guided bomb hit one of Kharkiv's parks when the girl was walking through it.

The talented 18-year-old Nika was a passionate artist and poet. She volunteered, she loved and dreamed of the revival of Ukrainian culture. She felt especially ardent about the subject of the Executed Renaissance.

A few days before her death, the young artist made a video about her native Kharkiv at the request of friends from the Czech Republic:

"I am sure that we must do everything so that people know about us, so that they hear about our culture. We have many voices that, unfortunately, will never speak again."

On August 30, Veronika Kozhushko's voice fell silent forever... And I have to tell you about her.

Tragic Suppression of Today's Cultural Revival

Veronika Kozhushko

" This is what existence feels like now " - Veronika Kozhushko

"Helping Hands" Veronika Kozhushko

Nika with her girlfriend

"And that's all I need... Vyshyvankas, sketchbook, work T-shirt, pencil case and hope..." Veronika Kozhushko

"From time immemorial, the motanka doll has served as a talisman in every family, a symbol of wisdom, guardian of the family, symbol of the mother-ancestor and connection between generations, one of the most ancient toys and sacred (sacred) creatures of our people, which is thousands and thousands of years old" Veronika Kozhushko

" It's going to be over soon" Veronika Kozhushko

"We have many voices that, unfortunately, will never speak again."

Nataliia Liudvychenko

The Table of Remembrance

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Nika Kozhushko's Instagram page

About The Executed Renaissance

A song in memory of Nika Kozhushko, written and performed by the MUR group. At the end of the song, Nika reads her poem.

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