A Lecture by Lesia Bondaruk on Ukrainians in the Gulag Held at Karazin University

On November 25, Karazin University hosted an in-person lecture by Candidate of Historical Sciences Lesia Bondaruk titled “Ukrainians in the Gulag — an example of resilience under conditions of survival.” The event brought together students, researchers, and all those wishing to gain a deeper understanding of the tragic yet heroic pages of national history.

Lesia Bondaruk is an employee of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, a journalist, public activist, educator, and scholar known for her research on the Ukrainian resistance movement in Soviet concentration camps, the history of the OUN and UPA, and Soviet repressive policies. Her scholarly works and publicistic publications — including “Mykhailo Soroka,” “Project ‘Ukraine’: Volyn 1939–1946: Occupied but Unbroken,” “Standing Upright: Ukrainians in the Special Camps of the Gulag,” “The Honcharuk Case: The Last Executed Resistance Fighter” — have made a significant contribution to shaping historical memory and understanding the experience of the struggle for human dignity.

During the lecture, the speaker emphasized the phenomenon of resilience and self-organization of Ukrainians in the camp environment, highlighting the biographies of four leaders of uprisings in the Gulag. An interesting part of the lecture was the debunking of Soviet myths and tracing the activities of the descendants of those individuals in Ukraine’s cultural and political life. Participants had the opportunity to ask questions and discuss research approaches to the history of the Gulag.

The University will continue to initiate events aimed at promoting historical truth, national memory, and the values of freedom, resilience, and statehood.