Hola. This is Barbara, your curator of news from the Hispanic cultures. Do you still know the relevant figures of the Corona situation in your country? Rest assured, they probably remain very high. However, the war in Ukraine does not leave room for many other topics. Nothing is more important than awareness of this war right now. Along with my own college I wish to express my solidarity with the Ukranian people and wish that a peace, which deserves this name, will be established as soon as possible. In the meantime, we are all here to help those in need.
In this newsletter, I wish to draw your attention to the fate of my colleagues working in the hispanic or cultural studies department in Ukraine. To accomplish this, I am sharing the letter of solidarity of the German association of hispanists to our colleagues in Ukraine with you. It’s directed to Oleksandr Pronkevych, president of the Ukranian Association of Hispanists, and all our colleagues:
Estimado Presidente de la Asociación Ucraniana de Hispanistas, querido Oleksandr:
Hoy, en nombre de la Asociación Alemana de Hispanistas, queremos transmitirles nuestra más sincera solidaridad, puesto que nos unen numerosas y fructÃferas cooperaciones académicas con nuestros colegas de Ucrania.
Consideramos la invasión rusa como un ataque a los valores elementales de la libertad y la democracia, en los que se basan la libertad académica y la cooperación universitaria.
Nos agradarÃa continuar nuestros contactos y la intensa cooperación con nuestros socios ucranianos en todos los ámbitos, tanto en los intercambios estudiantiles como en los proyectos de investigación bilaterales.
Queremos ofrecer nuestro apoyo a los estudiantes, académicas y especialistas que tienen que abandonar su paÃs como consecuencia de la agresión rusa.
Por favor, no dude en ponerse en contacto con nosotros a este respecto.
Con un saludo solidario de la junta directiva de la Asociación Alemana de Hispanistas, Susanne Zepp-Zwirner, Andreas Dufter, Jannis Harjus, Silke Jansen y Natascha Pomino
Translation: «Dear President of the Ukrainian Association of Hispanists, dear Oleksandr: Today, on behalf of the German Association of Hispanists, we would like to convey to you our heartfelt solidarity, as we are united by numerous fruitful academic cooperations with our colleagues in Ukraine. We regard the Russian invasion as an attack on the elementary values of freedom and democracy, on which academic freedom and academic cooperation are based. We would like to continue our contacts and intensive cooperation with our Ukrainian partners in all areas, both in student exchanges and in bilateral research projects. We would like to offer our support to students, academics and specialists who have to leave their country as a result of the Russian aggression. Please do not hesitate to contact us in this regard. With kind regards from the board of the German Association of Hispanists, Susanne Zepp-Zwirner, Andreas Dufter, Jannis Harjus, Silke Jansen and Natascha Pomino»
Furthermore, I encourage you to read the war time diary of a colleague from Ukraine, the above-mentioned president of the Association of Ukrainian Hispanists. Oleksandr Pronkevych, professor of Spanish literature at the University of Mykolyiv, has started to write a war diary in the Galician newspaper La voz de Galicia.
Follow him and his daily assessments of the situation. Let’s hope he and his family remain safe.
I’ll be back in two weeks.