Literature Evening in Memory of Volodymyr Vakulenko & Victoria Amelina

Registration here or via E-Mail service@freiheit.org.

Speaker: Tobias Wals (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)

Reading: Lena Vogt & [...]

Language: German & Ukrainian

Organizers: University of Regensburg, Thomas-Dehler Stiftung, Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung, Deutsch-Ukrainische-Gesellschaft, Evangelisches Bildungswerk Regensburg e. V., Hromada Regensburg e. V., „Denkraum Ukraine“/ „Think Space Ukraine” funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) with funds from the German Federal Foreign Office (AA), Leibniz Institute for East- and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg 

In March 2022, the Ukrainian author Volodymyr Vakulenko was under Russian occupation in his home village close to the town of Izium. He wrote down his observations and thoughts in his diary. On March 24, he was abducted by Russian soldiers. After the liberation of the region, his maltreated body was discovered on the side of a road and initially buried in a mass grave. Thanks to to the Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, Vakulenko's notes were saved and published. Amelina lived only a few days after the book presentation; she was fatally wounded in a Russian missile attack and died from her injuries on July 1, 2023 — the birthday of the poet Volodymyr Vakulenko.

This event is dedicated to their memory. An evening of poetry, prose and historical insights. The occasion is the publication of their last, posthumous books in German: Volodymyr Vakulenko's “Ich verwandle mich - Aufzeichnungen unter russischer Besatzung” (mauke-Verlag) and Victoria Amelina's “Blick auf Frauen den Krieg im Blick” (edition.fotoTAPETA).

Volodymyr Vakulenko

Volodymyr Vakulenko (1972-2022) grew up in the village of Kapytolivka in the Kharkiv region. After serving in the Red Army, he worked in various professions before establishing himself as a writer in the early 2000s. He published poetry and children's books as well as literary magazines. In March 2022, Russian troops occupied his village of Kapytolivka, where he lived with his youngest son. The date of his death is unknown.

Victoria Amelina

Victoria Amelina (1986-2023) grew up in Lviv and spent part of her childhood in Canada. She established herself as an author in her twenties. She wrote award-winning novels, poetry collections and essays. After the Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine in 2022, she joined the NGO Truth Hounds to document Russian war crimes. With the help of Vakulenko's parents, she found his war diary, which he had buried in the garden. At the end of June 2023, a Russian missile destroyed the restaurant in the frontline town of Kramatorsk where Amelina was sitting with a group of journalists. She succumbed to her injuries four days later.

Photos: Volodymyr Vakulenko - mauke-Verlag, Viktoria Amelina – Facebook of Victoria Amelina.