I would like to share my impressions from the intermediate meeting in the city of Vinnytsia with you. The meeting took place from 15.09.2017 till 17.09.2017 within the frames of the international project “History begins in the family”, the participant of which I was lucky to become. The aim of our visit was seeing memorials and historical places of interest, which were connected with the history of World War II.
I would like to start with the description of the city. So Vinnytsia is a quite small, but modern Ukrainian and European city, situated in the west of Ukraine. First things, which attracted my attention while walking in the city were narrow streets, cycling tracks and lots of smiling faces of the passersby. Especially I was impressed by the center of the city, where the park was located. There were a lot of memorials devoted to the defenders of The Motherland in the period of World War II and the victims of the soviet-afghan war. While walking in the park we have also visited the tower museum, where we were watching the exhibition, devoted to international warriors from Vinntsia, who died in Afghanistan. Parts of their uniform, their letters to the parents and relatives before the death, posthumous awards, hygiene items and lots of other things remained unforgettable impression on me.
Our meeting, which was determined on the discussion of different historical and organizational questions, connected with our trip to Osventsim, took place in the “Hostevia Hotel”. Quite a pleasant impression I got from the hotel itself, which was located in a very picturesque place. During the quest game, which was prepared by the organization of the project “History begins in the family”, we had an opportunity to see quite big territory of the hotel. There was an Eco park, which had a lot of streams; a small Zoo, where ostrich, pony and deer, which is known to be quite rare in the nature, were kept. The atmosphere of the hotel promoted our creative activities and useful work.
Besides I and other participants of the project got unforgettable impressions from watching a German film “Two or Three Things I Know About Him”. The film was a documentary evidence of nazi crimes. It was made by the children of German officer, who used to give orders as for shooting Jewish population on the territory of Germany of that time. The children’s thoughts about the personality and the activity of their father, which were quite opposite, were described in the film. Some of them considered their father to be the victim of nazi regime; others sharply condemn his criminal activity, feeling their own responsibility for his actions. This film has given us the opportunity to realize, how a person can combine positive features of a loving father and a careful family man with sharply negative features of an awful criminal.
Our meeting in Vinnytsia encouraged me to visit this wonderful city again and probably many times. I would like to send my gratitude to the organization of the project “History begins in the family” for the given opportunity to visit Vinnytsia and meet my good friends. Now I am preparing for the trip to Osventsim. See you guys!