After a quite exhausting trip from Hannover (GER) to Lviv, our week in Ukraine has finally started. First of all, I have to say that I had the chance to meet inspiring and interesting people from three different countries, all different yet somehow connected: through our histories, our interests or our ability to laugh.
Not only have we learned about our the histories of our families but also a lot about the countries. Now I can better understand their feelings, reactions to certain topics and how things are dealt with today due to the history of the countries.
The stories I’ve heard were sad, funny, encouraging and meaningful all at once. They have brought things that happened and have now become history, so much closer to me because there finally were real examples, so much more valuable than any essay written in our history books.
Meeting the witness Stephan Horetchyj has only strengthened this feeling. I have never become tired of listening to his experiences and was amazed by how he still has hope for our world and his ability to look towards a better future for all of us.
I am now looking forward to a probably even more valuable week in Poland, where we are about to explore histories of our families more deeply and visit the Auschwitz concentration camp.