Director of the Kyiv Czech Center Lucie Řehoříková
As reported by Radio Prague, over the past year more than 100,000 Ukrainians visited the Czech Center in Kyiv. They were drawn there by a desire to get acquainted with Czech culture, history, and language.
Czech Elves of Ukraine
The Czech Center in Kyiv has been actively operating for 17 years, so all the changes and dramatic events of Ukraine's recent history have unfolded before the eyes of its staff. The director of the Kyiv Czech Center, Lucie Řehoříková, began her presentation at the Prague headquarters of the Czech Center with photographs of Kyiv's Maidan.
"In 2013, the Maidan was filled with hundreds of thousands of people who wanted to be heard, wanted to change politics, culture, and their own lives. The Czech Center in Kyiv operates in a country facing very difficult economic, political, and living conditions, because the war literally affects every person; there is no one in Ukraine untouched by it, and of course we have to take this into account in our work," emphasizes Lucie Řehoříková. "Ukraine is currently going through a very interesting stage of its development. It is a country striving to return to its roots, to finally overcome the Russocentric influence of the past, of past centuries. Therefore, I consider our main task, as well as that of our European partners, to help Ukraine in its European integration and in the overall reform of the system."
Lucie Řehoříková said that when she arrived in Kyiv in 2014, she found that the center was actively working in the capital, as well as in Kharkiv and Lviv, and set herself the goal of giving Ukrainians from other regions a chance to get acquainted with Czech culture and use the opportunities provided by the Czech Center.
The path to another culture often begins with learning the language, and interest in Czech in Ukraine is currently very high. In Ukrainian cities, the Czech Center manages to involve local authorities, the commercial sector, and civil society in organizing events.
"We manage to open our mini-centers with Czech language courses there. Our teachers – native speakers – are sent to the regions, where they receive all the necessary conditions for work – travel expenses, meals, accommodation, and even language labs, as it should be in the 21st century. We are very glad that we can actively work in Kharkiv, in the city of Dnipro. Since April, we have been operating in Zaporizhzhia; we plan to open a branch in Odesa in September this year; in Vinnytsia we have been working for a year and a half, as well as in Ivano-Frankivsk.
Well, in Lviv we feel at home, because thanks to the new expressway, you can get there from the Czech Republic in 5-6 hours. So today Lviv has become a popular tourist destination, and Czechs love to go there. Lutsk is a place in Volyn where a large Czech community lives. We plan to open Czech language courses there next year," explains Lucie Řehoříková.
The Czech Center in Kyiv has also taken Belarus under its patronage: "In Belarus, we opened Czech language courses, of course, in the capital Minsk, where we receive significant support from the diplomatic mission of the Czech Republic. This year we plan to start working in other cities of the country. We would like to hold events regularly to develop the Belarusian direction."
Czech Films on Thursdays
However, the main task remains Ukraine. The embassy of the Czech Republic provides great support to the center's work. In the period from 2014 to 2016 alone, eight million euros were allocated for various projects. Recently, the center has added an interesting format called "Czech Thursdays," when one Czech film is shown in different cities on that day of the week. This means that residents of various regions of Ukraine have the opportunity to watch films by this year's anniversary holder Miloš Forman, whose 85th birthday was dedicated to many screenings, Zdeněk Svěrák, and many other famous directors.
At the same time, language courses remain the main focus of the Kyiv center. The number of people wishing to study Czech is constantly growing, and listeners of Radio Prague, for example, complain about the lack of such opportunities. Last year, the total number of people attending language courses at the Kyiv Czech Center, including Belarus, reached a thousand, and staff have to urgently restructure the training system.
"I must note that we receive great support here from the Institute of Language and Professional Training, which helps us exchange information with Czech universities. Universities send their students of Czech and Ukrainian studies to us, who then go to Ukraine for a three-month internship and traineeship, receiving a scholarship under the Erasmus+ program. So this is also a great opportunity for Czech students to visit the country," says the director.
In addition to the language training seminar in Prague, future teachers undergo additional training at the Kyiv Czech Center. Such "humanitarian landings," which are then sent to Ukrainian regions, are the best way to maintain the country's image, believes Lucie Řehoříková. A graduate of Masaryk University in Brno, who studied Russian and Ukrainian languages and literature, she feels almost at home in Kyiv.
In the Czech Republic, Ukrainians see a 'West close in mentality'
"The Czech Republic has the advantage that in the eyes of Ukrainians we are to a certain extent the West, but a West that is very close in mentality, historically, geopolitically. As one of our students beautifully put it, in Ukraine we are seen as a kind of 'Slavic elves,' seeing in us kindness, culture – in short, something they want to get to know better. And in this respect, we are in a more advantageous position than our colleagues working in Western countries. I think this also explains the interest in the Czech language in Ukraine that we see now, and which I hope will continue in the future," says Lucie Řehoříková.
This is also linked to the boom in translations from Czech into Ukrainian of both classics and contemporary literature. This is helped by the regular holding of competitions for young translators and the allocation of grants by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic for publishing Czech authors. Since 2014, Ukraine has been on the 'map' of the literary festival 'Month of Author Readings,' within the framework of which contemporary writers from Central Europe come there. In 2015, Ukrainians, in turn, became honorary guests of the festival – 31 authors were able to present their works to readers in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland.
"These were writers directly from Ukraine, who came to represent their country and talk about what is really happening there. Their participation in the festival attracted a lot of media attention, and I consider this project very successful. By the way, this year's guest of the 'Month of Author Readings' will be Georgia, and five Czech and five Slovak writers will go to Lviv."
Among those who have come and continue to come to the Czech Center in Kyiv are names such as, for example, the leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev. As Lucie Řehoříková emphasizes, the Czech Center tries to support the Crimean Tatars by providing its platform for discussions about the situation in Crimea, human rights, and the political situation after the annexation of the peninsula. Recently, free language courses were organized for representatives of this people, which will allow young people to continue their studies at universities in the Czech Republic, where the best students can receive Czech scholarships.
The entire past year at the Czech Center was marked by the 80th anniversary of Václav Havel – publications of works, theater productions, the unveiling of a memorial plaque on the Kyiv boulevard that now bears his name. Another successful project was the tour of the legendary Czech rock band The Plastic People of the Universe, which performed in Kharkiv accompanied by a symphony orchestra in the constructivist building of the old circus, which activists are trying to save from demolition.
This year, the Czech Center is participating in the implementation of the art project 'Slavutych' by artist Kateřina Šedá. The laureate of Magnesia Litera, working in the format of social art, involved the residents of this youngest Ukrainian city, built for those who escaped from the Chernobyl disaster, in her performance. On June 3, City Day, they will hold a special action – the most massive collective visa application in history should ultimately enter the Guinness Book of Records.
"Ukrainians have to go through a long and humiliating procedure to get a visa, which seems completely unnecessary to me," Kateřina Šedá explained in an interview with Czech media, who believes that despite the abolition of short-term visas for Ukraine, the problem remains relevant for most citizens of the country due to their lack of necessary biometric passports and other documents.
Lucie Řehoříková also answered questions from Radio Prague.
– It's no secret that many Ukrainians go to the Czech Republic as labor migrants, in search of work. Probably, this explains such a boom in interest in learning the Czech language?
– Yes, of course, that's true. However, it is not our task to monitor this in any way. But we know that many of our students want to complete their education in the Czech Republic, stay here to work, or go further. Perhaps it sounds naive, but part of our work is to show Ukrainians the beauty of their own land, so that after receiving education from us, they can apply this knowledge in their homeland.
– You have been living in the country for three and a half years, traveling a lot as part of your work, and reports with you have appeared on regional TV channels. Do you already have your favorite places?
– Ukraine is a very large country, five times larger than the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, I don't have time for sightseeing trips, although I would very much like to visit, for example, the mountains. Ukrainians give me the impression of very calm and pleasant people. Of course, I try to see in people what we have in common and where we can cooperate. I see how Ukraine is searching for its new identity, and being there at this moment is a very powerful experience," said Lucie Řehoříková, who in her rare free moments likes to walk around Podil and the banks of the Dnieper.