FW: a Hamburg student threatened by Ukrainian nationalists in Kyiv - petition project

Fri Mar 16 20:56:12 UTC 2012

FYI
Ruth

Ruth Wodak, PhD, Dr. Habil.
Distinguished Professor
Chair in Discourse Studies
Department of Linguistics and English Language
Lancaster University
Lancaster, UK LA1 4YL
Tel: xx44 1524 592437
Fax: xx44 1524 843085
http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/profiles/265/
http://www.wittgenstein-club.at<http://www.wittgenstein-club.at/>

From: Per Anders Rudling [mailto:rudlingp at uni-greifswald.de]
Sent: 16 March 2012 20:35

Dear colleagues,

those of you in the field of Ukrainian studies have probably followed the scandal surrounding our colleague Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe of the University of Hamburg. (For those who have not followed the story, there are a couple of links with background.) My colleague Professor Delphine Bechtel at Paris IV Sorbonne is currently collecting signatures for an open letter in support of academic freedom in Ukraine.

I have myself just signed the letter of protest, and would like to invite you to do the same, if you agree. Please respond directly to delphine.bechtel at wanadoo.fr<mailto:delphine.bechtel at wanadoo.fr>, with your name, title, and academic affiliation.

Thank you for your attention,

Per

---------------------------
Per Anders Rudling, Ph.D
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter
Historisches Institut
International Research Training Group 1540
Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald
Soldtmannstrasse 15
D - 17487 Greifswald
Germany

Tel: +49-3834-8533085

rudlingp at uni-greifswald.de<mailto:rudlingp at uni-greifswald.de>

Begin forwarded message:

From: Delphine BECHTEL <delphine.bechtel at wanadoo.fr<mailto:delphine.bechtel at wanadoo.fr>>
Date: March 16, 2012 6:14:27 PM GMT+01:00
To: JurgenHensel <jhensel at jewishmuseum.org.pl<mailto:jhensel at jewishmuseum.org.pl>>,  FriedhelmBoll <Friedhelm.Boll at fes.de<mailto:Friedhelm.Boll at fes.de>>, bkg at nyu.edu<mailto:bkg at nyu.edu>,  zvigitel at umich.edu<mailto:zvigitel at umich.edu>, KatrinSteffen <katrin.steffen at gmail.com<mailto:katrin.steffen at gmail.com>>,  ManfredSapperRedaktionOSTEUROPA <sapper at dgo-online.org<mailto:sapper at dgo-online.org>>,  CatherineGousseff <gousseff at ehess.fr<mailto:gousseff at ehess.fr>>, Mark.Vonhagen at asu.edu<mailto:Mark.Vonhagen at asu.edu>,  karadyv at ceu.hu<mailto:karadyv at ceu.hu>, "millermceu.hu" <millerm at ceu.hu<mailto:millerm at ceu.hu>>
Cc: "rudlingp  [rudlingp]" <rudlingp at uni-greifswald.de<mailto:rudlingp at uni-greifswald.de>>
Subject: tr: a Hamburg student threatened by Ukrainian nationalists in Kyiv - petition project
Reply-To: Delphine BECHTEL <delphine.bechtel at wanadoo.fr<mailto:delphine.bechtel at wanadoo.fr>>

Dear friends and colleagues,

I am forwarding to you a message with photos I received last week from Grzegorz Rossolinski, who is a Polish doctoral student working under the direction of Prof.
Golczewski at the University of Hamburg, in Germany, on the myth of Stepan Bandera. He was scheduled to give a series of lectures in Ukraine, upon invitation by the
DAAD, the Germany Embassy and the Boell Foundation, on the life and memory of Bandera.

The right wing nationalist party Svoboda organized a huge demonstration in front of the Embassy, with banners calling him a "fascist", "nazi", "provocteur" and "grand
son of Goebbels" (see pictures below). Various forms of pressure were exerted on institutions so as to have his other talks cancelled, he had to hide in an anonymous
appartement under the protection of the Embassy and police, and left the country under threats to his person.

The "affair" has since then launched a real "Historikerstreit" on the internet, but in Ukraine, nobody dares defending what is actually under attack here: the freedom of
opinion and expresson, the freedom of research, the independance of academic institutions and ultimately, of the researchers themselves. Grzegorz Rossolinski is
attacked because he calls Bandera a "fascist", which is unconceivable to the large public especially in Western Ukraine and central ukraine, who considers him a
national hero.

More information on the situation can be found here :

the SVOBODA demonstration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7zhI5QMnAs
http://revizor.ua/news/elections/20120301_national_socialists
commentary on the events by Per A. Rudling
http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/03/01/ukrainian-academic-freedom-and-democracy-under-siege/
same in Polish:
http://www.kresowianie.info/artykuly,n124,list_otwarty.html
the reaction of the Böll Stiftung:
http://www.boell.org.ua/web/index-482.html
Here some reactions of the Ukrainian nationalist circles
http://www.day.kiev.ua/3042312
http://ukraine-nachrichten.de/offener-brief-botschafter-deutschlands-ukraine_3556_meinungen-analysen
(A. Lozinski is well known for his anti-Semitic diatribes, he and the co-signer Borys Potapenko both deny participation of Ukrainians in pogroms)

I am writing to you now because in the face of this, a number of us are thinking of publishing an open letter or petition about the terrible situation.
The petition will make a claim about the freedom of speech only, so one doesnt even need to consider Bandera a fascist to sign.
Please forward this project to your colleagues who would be interested in joining.

Back in 2010, a number of Ukrainian intellectuals appealed for signatures to protest the interrogation of Ruslan Zabilyi (who is a nationalist who doesnt even recognize
Ukrainian collaboration during WW2 in his Tiurma museum in Lviv), on the basis of the freedom of opinion and research.

Shouldn't we react all the more as here, it is a graduate student who hasnt even yet defended, who hasnt got a position, who is subjected to a horrendous treatment,
out under extreme pressure both physically and emotionally ? The claims by Ukrainian historians that he is not a researcher, or "out for scandal", or responsible for this,
that he is either a "provocateur" or a puppet manipulated by the German Embassy, are not sustainable.

More, several students and colleagues have attested privately that they have been intimidated and received threats so as not to voice any support on his behalf, less
they lose stipends, invitations to Ukrainian institutions and the like. There is a huge lobby at work behind the demonstration and the intimidation of Grzegorz.

Please tell me what you think about this proposal of a petition,which has been written collectively by several colleagues from different countries,

With best wishes from Paris,

Yours,

Delphine Bechtel

Université Paris IV Sorbonne
UFR d'Etudes germaniques
et CIRCE - Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherches Centre-Européennes
http://www.circe.paris-sorbonne.fr/

Message du 02/03/12 19:23
De : "Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe"
A : "Andreas Umland" , "Arnd Bauerkämper" , dannik at gmx.de<mailto:dannik at gmx.de>, "David Marples" , "Delphine BECHTEL" , Dieter.Pohl at uni-klu.ac.at<mailto:Dieter.Pohl at uni-klu.ac.at>, "Dovid Katz" , "Frank
Golczewski"

,
"translate" , pickhan at zedat.fu-berlin.de<mailto:pickhan at zedat.fu-berlin.de>, "Grzegorz Motyka" , "Hermann Beyer-Thoma" , "Jared McBride" , "Johannes Florian Kontny" , "John-Paul Himka" , "Klemens
Kaps" , "Marco Carynnyk" , "Mariana Hausleitner" , mmlynarz at ualberta.ca<mailto:mmlynarz at ualberta.ca>, "Per Anders Rudling" , "Kracht, Peter" , "Stachel, Peter" , "Ray Brandon" , "Regina Fritz" ,
"Simon Hadler" , "Susanne HEIM" , "Tanja Penter" , "Torsten" , j.burds at neu.edu<mailto:j.burds at neu.edu>, "Harald Binder" , michael.wildt at geschichte.hu-berlin.de<mailto:michael.wildt at geschichte.hu-berlin.de>
Objet : parade kiev: liberalnyi fashyst

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I send you some material depicting the demonstration yesterday in Kiev. It took place in front of the German embassy on account of my lecture in this building. My
three
other lectures in universities and institutes in Kiev and Dnipropetrovsk were canceled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7zhI5QMnAs

http://old.nr2.ru/kiev/375623.html

http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/03/01/ukrainian-academic-freedom-and-democracy-under-siege/

Best,

Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe

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