The Slowo House: A shadow over the Ukrainian Intelligenzija

The Slowo House: A shadow over the Ukrainian Intelligenzija

A dark chapter in Ukrainian history will be illuminated on 11.11.24 at 4:30 p.m. in the new lecture hall of the University of Heidelberg! The film screening about the legendary “Slowo” house in Charkiw promises to reveal the cruel reality of the Ukrainian intellectuals and students who once lived in this building. At Albert-Teeberle-Str. 7, right next to the Stura office, the curtain is ventilated for a story that many do not know.

The “Slowo” house, built in Kulturstraße 9 in 1930, was once a creative retreat for important Ukrainian writers such as Mykola Kulisch, Ostap Wyschnia and Les Kurbas. But behind the facade of the cultural flower, a perfidious plan of the Soviet secret service NKWD was hidden. Under the guise of “Ukrainization”, the residents were lured into a trap without suspecting their conversations overheard and their movements were monitored by informants. Moscow saw the burgeoning Ukrainian identity as a threat and had the writers follow as a “counter -revolutionary activist”.

The cruel reality of persecution

Until 1938, many of the residents of the “Slowo” house experienced a terrible fate: arrests, banks and even executions were the cruel consequences of the Soviet repression. The film screening will not only tell the history of these courageous intellectuals, but also show the brutal methods with which the Soviet government tried to suffocate Ukrainian culture. The event will take place in Ukrainian with English subtitles to reach a wide audience and to raise awareness of these tragic events.