War causes post-traumatic disorder, but it can also be a catalyst for growth

Vasyl Rozhko is the chairman of the «Tustan» NGO.  Since the beginning of the full-scale war, he, like all of us,  has witnessed numerous attacks on Ukrainian libraries,  schools, churches, culture, and architecture. That’s why  Vasyl Rozhko has now decided to dedicate his life to  preserving Ukrainian identity.

«This is a war against our heritage; they are trying to destroy  us as Ukrainians. Over 2,000 unique sites, as we know, have  been destroyed. We have already visited 850 and can  reliably report what has been destroyed, what has been  restored, and the current condition. These are mainly  architectural sites»,

explains Vasyl. 

Before the full-scale invasion, Vasyl Rozhko was involved in  the development of Tustan [a]in the Lviv region. In March  2022, following the start of the full-scale war, Vasyl Rozhko  met for coffee with Ihor Poshyvailo, the Director of the  National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity. The very next  day, a heritage rescue headquarters was established. 

«We wanted to do everything: assist with the evacuation of  museums, help museum staff under shelling, and handle the packing of collections. It’s extremely difficult to do everything  well. It’s impossible. So, our team focused on monitoring,  documenting heritage losses from the war, and digitizing  cultural heritage, including museum collections. During  wartime, you don’t have time to learn a new specialty from  scratch. Everything you know and can do must be  immediately and urgently applied. This allowed us to quickly  document and create the largest database of destroyed  objects in Ukraine, which we then provide to architects for  reconstruction, the military, or the prosecution for  investigations» 

At HeMo there are currently 25 people working. They focuse  on what needs to be done quickly, and to date, they have  surveyed over 850 sites. This includes more than 60  expeditions across 14 regions. The largest number of sites,  almost half, is in Kharkiv due to the local team’s constant  presence there. 

«We collaborate with the military, providing them with data.  According to international law, the military should avoid  destroying heritage whenever possible».