Shadows of a Forgotten World

This post is dedicated to EuroMaidan and the Ukrainians’ never-ending struggle to be free. These past few months, as I experienced a revolution and war for Ukraine’s freedom and integrity, I have often thought of my ancestors and how they must have felt during WWII (and earlier liberation movements) and the partisan struggle to liberate Ukraine from totalitarian powers. I’ve always been fascinated by WWII and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), but never in my life did I think I would feel what they felt, get a taste of war, death, and the fight for freedom, such uncertainty, and love for Ukraine in a context similar to theirs. Tying into the theme of my blog, this particular “shadow of the past” is one that I have felt rather than seen. I have encountered what I will call “feelings from the past.” These sentiments which were felt by Ukrainians in WWII have been transferred to a new generation of Ukrainians who are reliving the liberation movement, re-struggling for a free, prosperous...

I read an interesting article in Ukrainian, in which the author uncovers the original purposes of the layout of an old Kozak village and the design of the houses. Below is my translation of most of it. The link to the original article and a few more photos can be found here . Among the modern mining settlements in the far eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, the author of the article found an ancient village called Naholno-Tarasivka. Its official founding date is 1775. “…in place of fences the old streets of the village have solid stone walls, interrupted only by the houses. Houses here were built on the outer part of the plot with façades directly overlooking the street. As such, fences and buildings created a continuous stone wall along the street. “To understand the reason for this and other arrangements, which will be discussed further, let us return to a time when the Ukrainian steppe was an undeveloped Dyke Pole (Wild Fields), on which only a small number of ...