Ukraine and UM-Dearbron

Like many of you, I have found myself riveted to the news coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Certainly, as an historian, I find myself spending much time thinking about the deep historical roots of the conflict and considering the knotted tangle of circumstances and cultural tensions that have led to this horrific moment. The images flashing across our television screens of cities on fire, of dead and injured civilians, and of terrified refugees are heartrending. It is also the case that my interest in the invasion stems from some personal familiarity with the country—I had the great privilege of travelling to Ukraine in 2017 along with my colleague, Ania Muller, and a group of UM-Dearborn students. Though safely ensconced in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv (a city which, as of this writing, has still not yet been the target of Russian attacks), we were all very aware that we were in a nation that was at war. Only three years removed from the Russian annexation of Crimea and reminded daily of the violence of the ongoing war against the Russian-backed separatists in the eastern portion of the country, the students and I had a front row seat from which to view a determined people in struggle. Indeed, the photo below was taken in Lviv and (sadly) illustrates the point. I have spent no little time wondering whether the young girl in the photo (and the rest of the group of children that she was with) might now be holding the real version of the weapon they played with on that sunny late spring day in 2017. It has been very interesting communicating with these students about their memories and about what is currently happening in Ukraine. Our thoughts, of course, are with those we came to know during our time in Ukraine. We hope for your continued safety and for the preservation of your wonderful nation. Perhaps what makes the current situation even more compelling to me, and the one that prompted this post, is my family tie to the region. Though Polish in lineage, my family traces its roots back to a region that is today part of Ukraine. The reasons for their departure from the region and any tangible links that I may still have to the area have all been lost to history but I, nonetheless, feel personally connected to the conflict and to the history that undergirds it. This last fact quickly led me back to UM-Dearborn and to our student body, so many of whom have been impacted by similar, though (sadly) much less reported, conflicts around the globe. Wars in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, conflict in Lebanon, and decades of violence in Palestine (to name but the most obvious examples but one might also mention the wars being waged in poor neighborhoods across our nation) have touched the lives of our students and their families in deep and profound ways and served as the impetus for them to leave their homes, their loved ones, and the lives that they knew to take refuge and to pursue a new life here in America. These conflicts and the bloodshed they spawn/spawned, because they involve non-European peoples, have generally not been the subject of intense news coverage or the focus of the sorts of human-interest stories we see flowing out of Ukraine and yet their impact has been equally as traumatic and devastating for many of our students and their families. The grit and determination that they’ve demonstrated as they’ve overcome these traumatic experiences inspires me every day. As we watch the situation in Ukraine unfold, please take a moment to think about others across the globe who find themselves grappling with similar circumstances and to the resiliency and spirit shown by our students and their families. I know that I speak for us all when I say that we all long for the day where no one is subjected to the horrors and terror of war.