It sounds strange, but the history of a small settlement in Ukraine complements the European heritage in the conditions of war. The village of Ivangorod in the Cherkasy region of Ukraine shows how ordinary people, having experienced terrible historical events, do not despair. Can we call charity, respect, mutual aid, moral stability, self-sacrifice heritage? Certainly. These are values that Ukraine shows respect for today. On the example of one thousand Ukrainians devoted to European values.

Today you hear about Ukraine every day in news. But do you familiar with Ukraine as part of European heritage? Not only with its capital Kyiv or its cultural center- Lviv. I want to introduce you the smallest unit of any Ukrainian community-the village. If you have ever heard about Tripillya - that is us. We will talk about village Ivangorod, Cherkasy region with a population about 1000 people. But it was not always like that.

The average grandmother or grandfather feels dissonance: under the Soviet regime they had a job, a hospital, a bakery- the real industrial breakthrough of the 20th century! Along with this the communists knowing about Ukranians` great respect for faith in God destroyed the only church in village and hid bell tower as a symbol of excessive luxury. The church that through mention of ancestors was built in 18th century by Lithuania and Poland. According to no less interesting memories of old residents the bell tower of the church was falling and killed ardent supporter of the Bolsheviks. Soviet culture is a rare phenomenon of European heritage on Ukrainian territory. After all even now any heritage is not pleasant. Like loans of the testator.

But my native land remembers not only strict regime of enslavement and Russification. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The brave age of Cossacks. Since 1649 Ivangorod was the center of Ivangorod Cossack Sotnya as part of the Uman regiment of hetmanship. The cultural development absorbed hundred of historical phenomena, events, Western and Eastern political and social influences.

Homeland did not spare the painful Jewish question during the Second World War. Before the war several dozen Jewish families lived in village, did crafts, took their children to school and went to local synagogue that has not been preserved. Around 1942 our area become another epicenter of genocide, a concentration encampment for Jews was created. The fascists forced the prisoners build roads to Uman without rest or food. Today Uman is famous Hasidik pilgrimage center in Ukraine. Women of Ivangorod fed prisoners under the threat of being killed. They managed to save some be stealing and hiding them in attics of houses. Jewish woman Evdokia Claus survived thanks to woman named Kylyna and many years later visited Ivangorod honored the memory of victims and her rescuer. How much innocent blood was spilled on our small land, how many tears of horror and at the same time how much charity and love disadvantaged people found here. This cannot be counted. We have a monument to the victims of the concentration encampment, every year on January 27th we honor the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

That was a long time ago. This is the heritage of Ukraine. This is the heritage of Europe. In some ways it is common, in some ways it is different from other countries. In 1991 Ukraine gained independence and began a new life. But this life was for someone else, but no means for my Ivangorod. We love freedom and paid a lot for it even then. People lost their jobs, the only hospital burned down, House of Culture collapsed- everything that young people had here. Ukrainian youth leaves small communities. Maybe Ukraine is known to you as an agrarian country, solid farmers. However, this is a very outdated stereotype that does not correspond to reality. Villages slowly die. Urbanization, globalization. And empty village streets. However, this has also changed! But at what cost?

On February 24th, 2022 Russia began audacious attack on Ukraine. City residents rushed to the villages because bombing of cities. Many wealthy Ukrainians who had businesses, houses and cars arrange old rural houses now. They build a strove, get water from wells. They learn to live in a new way. Do you know what to rejoice that a military airfield was destroyed? Because it gives you a chance to survive from Russian missile. Have you spent night on the floor of country school while your house is on fire shells scattered after Russian hit an old armory? Have you ever rescued dozen of pets fleeing flocks from bombing from neighboring villages? Have you ever seen farmers trying to save livestock when blast wave destroys farm? Have you seen queues of people for humanitarian clothes and soap? People who worked, dreamed and lived recently?

Yes, we really like vyshyvankas, yellow-blue flag, Ukrainian folk songs, harem pants and Cossacks. But culture and heritage are primarily value that we form to fight threats. Architectural monuments have not been preserved in Ivangorod: churches, synagogues, antient settlement or some famous castles. But the memory of price of freedom remained even in conditions of a bloody war to strive development, to keep stability, to believe in a happy future, to love our country and our small community.

Today village replenishes Ukrainian and European heritage creative ways. Since February, 2022 Ivangorod is a volunteer headquarter that sends funds, food, homemade candles and many other necessary things to the battlefront. At the beginning of the invasion, many children's shelters suffered serious food shortages. Honestly, with the beginning of the war, the villagers, remembering the terrible Holodomor (also known as the Terror-Famine, began to stock up on food, especially cereals and canned meat, and planted more vegetables. In conditions of total fear for their lives, the entire village took responsibility for one of the children's shelters in a nearby town. Locals provided them with most of their own supplies of food and baby hygiene products. People are still constantly carrying tens of kilograms of food, organizing trips, not forgetting the most important thing - the future generation. Our strong women constantly produce canned goods, together they mold the most delicious Ukrainian dumplings, and bake sweets. Schoolchildren of a small village school visit the defenders of Ukraine in hospitals, hand them gifts, children's drawings with images of angels. Realizing at such an early age who and why is fighting for their future, local children constantly hold charity fairs, collecting funds to support the army and people who need help now. I want all of Europe to understand how much we want freedom! Even a small village can give everything for freedom. There are thousands of such villages in Ukraine!

European heritage must see war to the last time. All of us see what happens when you forget your own history. Ivangorod has not participated in the European Heritage Days, but everything ahead. Only two things remains dreams of community residents: peace and the same small church that was destroyed once…

e-mail: nulebkru9@gmail.com

European heritage is a common property of many nations (values, ideas, consciousness, customs, traditions) that arose in unique way. Even if one European country experiences a social or cultural upheaval of a positive or negative nature, the consequences of this upheaval are realized, taken into account, and developed by the whole of Europe. European heritage is a common memory of every step of every European on the way to the formation and realization of common values.