Bukovina is a historical region characterised by a multicultural and multireligious life, marked in part by peaceful coexistence, but also by confrontation, which sometimes escalated into extreme violence. Northern Bukovina, which belongs to Ukraine as part of the Chernivtsi Oblast, remains a heterogeneous region with several minorities to this day. A summer school organised by the Universities of Münster and Chernivtsi and funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) took place from 7 to 16 September 2025. It examined how these forms of coexistence have been remembered in the past and present from the perspective of various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Current developments, reactions to and consequences of Russia's war of aggression were also taken into account, as reflected in Chernivtsi, for example, in the cityscape, in the removal and re-erection of monuments, and in the changed population structure resulting from the influx of many internally displaced persons. The travelling exhibition "Space, Time, People. Diversity and Change in the Cityscape of Chernivtsi‘ documents this change. The exhibition, organised in cooperation with the NGO ’Ukrainian-German Cultural Society Chernivtsi" at the Gedankendach Centre and the association ‘Begegnung in Falkensee e.V.’ with the support of the RAZOM/RHIZOM programme as part of the initiative ‘Cooperation with Civil Society’ organised by the Federal Foreign Office, can be seen in the foyer of the Studiobühne until 24 September (Wednesday).

The evening will present the results of the joint DAAD summer school organised by the Universities of Münster and Chernivtsi, Cultures of Remembrance in Bukovina. Pluricultural and pluri-religious life in the historical region of Bukovina was characterised in part by peaceful coexistence and in part by confrontation and extreme violence. Northern Bukovina, which belongs to Ukraine as part of the Chernivtsi Oblast, remains a heterogeneous region with several minorities to this day. The interdisciplinary summer school deals with ways of approaching the remembrance of these ways of coexistence in the past and present. It also takes into account current developments, reactions to and consequences of Russia's war of aggression, as reflected in Chernivtsi, for example, in the cityscape, in the removal and re-erection of monuments, and in the changed population structure resulting from the influx of many internally displaced persons. The travelling exhibition ‘Space, Time, People: Diversity and Change in the Cityscape of Chernivtsi’, which will open in the foyer, documents this change.

The summer school is funded by the DAAD with funds from the Federal Foreign Office (AA) and is part of Ukrainian Studies in Münster (USiM).

The exhibition is a project of the NGO ‘ Ukrainisch-Deutsche Kulturgesellschaft Tscherniwzi’ (Ukrainian-German Cultural Society Chernivtsi) at the Gedankendach Centre in cooperation with the Verein Begegnung in Falkensee e.V. (Association Encounter in Falkensee). The project was made possible by the support of the RAZOM/RHIZOM programme as part of the ‘ Zusammenarbeit mit der Zivilgesellschaft’ (Cooperation with Civil Society) initiative organised by the Federal Foreign Office. The programme was coordinated in 2024 by the Ukrainian Institute in Germany and the Artsvit Gallery.

Admission: free

Moderator: Dr Valentin Peschanskyi (Slavic Studies, University of Münster)

11 September 2025, 7 p.m.

Akademie Franz Hitze Haus, Kardinal-von-Galen-Ring 50, 48149 Münster

‘Since the war, I have no idea what language actually is ... I carry a language within me like a crime, and yet I love it, despite all the guilt.
In his deeply political new novel “Russische Spezialitäten”  (Russian Specialities), Dmitrij Kapitelman writes about family and the (im)possibility of understanding in times of old and new wars: a family from Kiyiv sells “Russian” specialities in Leipzig. Vodka, pelmeni, SIM cards, sailor shirts — and an Eastern European “sense of belonging”. But the latter has been unavailable since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The mother stands by Putin. And her son, who loves no language more than Russian, no person more than his mother, but also no city more than Kiyiv, despairs at this situation. It is not wise of him to return to Ukraine in the middle of the war. But what else can he do when there is no other way to bring his mother back from fascism and the lies on Russian television?  Today he works as a freelance journalist. In 2016, his first successful book, “Das Lächeln meines unsichtbaren Vaters” (The Smile of My Invisible Father), was published, for which he won the Klaus-Michael Kühne Prize. This was followed in 2021 by “Eine Formalie in Kiew” (A Formality in Kiyiv), for which he was awarded the Ravensburger Verlag Foundation's Family Novel Book Prize. Dmitrij Kapitelman has read from both novels at the Franz Hitze Haus Academy in recent years.
A joint event organised by the Franz Hitze Haus and the Institute of Slavic Studies at the University of Münster.
 
Registration and programme

The Institute of Slavic Studies at the University of Münster is pleased to announce that it will once again be offering two Ukrainian language courses in the coming academic year.

The introductory course ‘Ukrainian I’ will begin in the coming winter semester and will teach the basic phonetic, lexical and grammatical structures of Ukrainian without requiring any prior knowledge. By the end of the course, students should have reached language level A1.

Based on these skills, the language course ‘Ukrainian II’ will be offered in the summer semester of 2026, which will deepen the knowledge already acquired and expand communicative skills.

Panel discussion: ‘Why should I care about Ukraine?’

9 July 2025, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., Johannisstr. 4, J 101

Dr Franziska Davies, Co-President of the German-Ukrainian Society (DUG), and Dr Kateryna Rietz-Rakul, Director of the Ukrainian Institute in Germany, will discuss German positions on Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, moderated by Prof. Dr Ricarda Vulpius. In addition to the failings of German society with regard to Ukraine, the discussion will also focus on the differences in perception between East and West Germany.

An event organised by the AOEG in cooperation with the DGO Münster branch and USiM (Ukrainian Studies in Münster).

The Lives of Secret Soviet Agents. Religion and Police Survaillance in the USSR

When internationally recognised experts gathered for an online symposium in October 2021 to discuss the infiltration of religious organisations by the secret services in the Soviet Union, none of them had any idea that their lives would soon change radically. In February, Russia invaded Ukraine, changing the work of historians from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Russia, Germany and Ireland in profound, albeit different, ways. It is therefore nothing short of a minor miracle that this collection of essays has seen the light of day.

The texts collected here are based in part on untapped KGB archives and shed light on the surveillance of religious actors. Dr Vitalij Fastovskij from the University of Münster will discuss the Lives of Others in the Soviet Union with Dr Nadezhda Beliakova from the University of Bielefeld, Philipp Schwarz Fellow and co-editor of the volume, and Prof. Dr Katya Tolstoj from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, author of the afterword.The event is organised by the Department of Eastern Church Studies and Ecumenism (Prof. Dr. Regina Elsner), the Department of Eastern European History (Prof. Dr. Ricarda Vulpius) and the Cluster of Excellence Religion and Politics.

When: 18 June 2025, 6 p.m.

Where: Johannisstr. 4, Room J 101, University of Münster

In the short, fertile period after the First World War, the literary landscape of Ukraine included a circle of poets who, committed to the classical European heritage, described themselves as neoclassics. The German-Ukrainian Oswald Burghardt, alias Jurij Klen, is one of them - along with Maksym Ryl's'kyj, Pavlo Fylypovyč, Mykola Zerov and Mychajlo Draj-Chmara. With the anthology Poetry of the Damned (bilingual German and Ukrainian), which has now been published for the first time, Burghardt wanted to memorialise his companions in 1947. The book has now been edited by Nataliia Kotenko-Vusatiuk and Andrii Portnov in a co-operation between the German Cultural Forum for Eastern Europe and Arco-Verlag. Oswald Burghardt worked as a lecturer for Russian and Ukrainian at the University of Münster from 1934 to 1942. His teaching duties were subsequently taken over by his sister Josefine. 

The panel discussion with Nataliia Kotenko (Ukrainian Studies) and Prof. Dr Andrii Portnov ( Historical Studies) and Dr Katharina Biegger (German Studies) will be moderated by Dr Klaus Harer (German Cultural Forum for Eastern Europe). Members of the Münster theatre ensemble will read poems from the anthology in Ukrainian and German. A cooperation event between the Institute for Slavic Studies at the University of Münster and the German Cultural Forum for Eastern Europe and the Münster Theatre.

Events in Münster to mark the 3rd anniversary of the large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine

24 February 2025 marks the third anniversary of the large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine. To ensure that this date, and with it the horrors to which the people of Ukraine have now been exposed for three long years, do not get lost in the German election campaign, a broad alliance of various organisations and institutions is marking this day in Münster with a series of events. 

In the days leading up to the anniversary, a public rally in front of the historic town hall on 22 February will draw attention to the fact that the war in Ukraine is also a serious challenge for our Western democracies and also remind us that the fighting there has been going on since 2014.
11 a.m. to 1 p.m., title: ‘Defence of democracy in Europe. 11 years of war in Ukraine.’

Afterwards, you can head to the neighbouring public library, where the artists' collective “Vierwärts” will be reading excerpts from Oxana Matiychuk's “Ukrainian Diary” starting at 3 pm. More information can be found further down on this page. 

On Sunday, 23 February, a Ukrainian service will be held in the Überwasserkirche at 3 pm, followed by a candlelight procession. 

A comprehensive programme has been put together for the anniversary itself, in which the Institute of Slavic Studies at the University of Münster is involved twice:

At 16:45, the Schlosstheater will be showing the documentary film ‘In the Rearview’ by Maciek Hamela, which portrays the experiences of a Ukrainian family fleeing the war. An event organised by the City of Münster in cooperation with the associations Ukrainian Language and Culture in Münster, UAre Greven and the Institute for Slavic Studies. 

Two events will take place at 8 pm: 
Firstly, a church service with an ecumenical prayer for peace in the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche. 
Secondly, there will be a reading from Serhij Zhadan's new volume of poetry ‘Chronik des eigenen Atems - 50 und 1 Gedichte’ in the Theatertreff, to which Prof. Dr Irina Wutsdorff will give an introductory lecture. The play will be read by the Münster Theatre ensemble. Serhij Zhadan writes that it was to be yet another volume of poetry about the eastern landscape in winter, the approaching snow, the voices in the air, the vineyards, the city on the horizon filling with noise and light. But on 24 February 2022, with the large-scale invasion, time stopped and the poetry fell silent. Only months later did language return: ‘Time to write new poems / No one cries anymore with the old ones.’ 

Münster is to host the 7th German-Ukrainian municipal partnership conference

Münster will host the seventh German-Ukrainian municipal partnership conference from 16 to 18 June 2025 together with its Ukrainian partner city Vinnytsia.

The partnership conferences have been held at different locations since 2016 on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The city of Münster writes: ‘The aim of the conference is to strengthen the network of German-Ukrainian municipal partnerships, to identify opportunities for cooperation between Ukrainian, German and other European partner municipalities in times of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and to send a signal of solidarity with the Ukrainian municipalities.’

One of the reasons why the twinning conference is being held in Münster this year is the good cooperation between the two twin cities. Their partnership began in 2022 and was sealed in 2023 thanks to the close mediation of the Polish twin city of Lublin. Since then, the Münster-Lublin-Winnytsia trio has organised several aid deliveries to Ukraine.

The City of Münster is now looking for honorary staff to carry out the partnership conference and, in particular, to provide linguistic and organisational support for the participants. Please find the job advertisement here.

Reading from the ‘Ukrainian Diary’ by Oxana Matiychuk

On Saturday, 22 February 2025 at 3 pm, the artists' collective Vierwärts is organising a reading from the “Ukrainian Diary” by our project partner from the University of Czernowitz, Oxana Matiychuk, in the reading room of the Münster City Library.

The artists' collective Vierwärts was founded spontaneously after the Russian attack on Ukraine on 22 February 2022 in order to send a message of solidarity and hope through cultural means. Last year and the year before, it organised art projects in front of the Fürstenberghaus on the anniversary of the full-scale attack.

The artists' collective and the Association for Ukrainian Language and Culture in Münster collect leftover candles for the “1,000 Lights for Ukraine” campaign. These are melted by the association's candle-moulders and turned into tinned candles. This brings light and warmth to Ukraine.
A collection basket from the initiative is located in the foyer of the city library on Alter Steinweg and is emptied regularly. Collection period 13 January to 15 February.

Ukraine on its way to itself and to Europe. From perestroika to the present day

Guest Lecture

Professor Dr Klaus Gestwa (Tübingen):

Ukraine on its way to itself and to Europe. From perestroika to the present day

14.01.2025, 10 c.t. (10-12 h)

Schloss, Senate Hall (Room No. 102)

Klaus Gestwa is Professor of Eastern European History and Director of the Institute for Eastern European History and Regional Studies at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. He has repeatedly addressed the general public with numerous contributions (interviews, videos, magazine articles and lectures) on the background, course and consequences of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in order to provide equally vehement and well-founded information and to identify false claims and narratives of Russian propaganda circulating in German debates. He was awarded the 2024 Prize for Science Communication by the University of Tübingen. The jury praised the tireless commitment with which he has used his extensive knowledge of the history, society and politics of Eastern Europe in recent years to educate the German public about the causes of the Russian war of aggression against the neighbouring country and to counter widespread assumptions and misconceptions. In doing so, he has shown courage and has not avoided public controversy and hostility.

In his contribution, Klaus Gestwa focusses on the recent history of Ukraine. By interweaving contemporary history and current events, he presents a problematic history of the present. The guest lecture is part of a General Studies seminar led by Elena Glökler (Institute for Slavic Studies at the University of Münster). It is aimed at students of all departments and an interested public! 
You can download the poster for the event here. 

Online webinar: "The Role of Religion in post-Soviet Ukraine and the Russo-Ukrainian War"

On Thursday, 12 December, a webinar on ‘The Role of Religion in post-Soviet Ukraine and the Russo-Ukrainian War’ will take place in English from 18:00 - 19:30. Regina Elsner (USiM, University of Münster), Oleksandr Lysenko (Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev) and Frank Sysyn (University of Alberta) will discuss the consequences of Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine for the Orthodox churches in Ukraine, the state-church relationship in Ukraine and the current disagreements between the Orthodox churches under the direction of Ricarda Vulpius (USiM, University of Münster).

Further information can be found on the website of the German-Ukrainian Historical Commission. 
You can download the notice of the webinar in either English or Ukrainian.

Registration for the webinar is possible here.

Exhibition: ‘From afar to my Ukraine’. Letters of the forced labourer Hanna Pastuch from Gelsenkirchen 1942-43 , 21.11.-14.12.24

In cooperation with the Ukrainian NGO Після тиші / After Silence, the Department of Eastern European History and Ukrainian Studies in Münster (USiM) is showing the exhibition ‘From afar to my Ukraine’, letters of the forced labourer Hanna Pastuch from Gelsenkirchen 1942-43 on the history of Nazi forced labour using the example of the fate and first-person documents of Hanna Pastuch, a Ukrainian ‘Eastern worker’ in Gelsenkirchen.
With this exhibition, which was conceived by After Silence in Gelsenkirchen and brought to Münster by Dr Kateryna Kobchenko, a postdoctoral researcher in our department, we would like to commemorate the fate of Ukrainian forced labourers in Germany. Far too rarely are these fates recognised from the subject's perspective, which is often not least due to the language barrier. This exhibition has now been conceived in German and Ukrainian.
We cordially invite you to the opening ceremony on 21 November 2024 at 6 pm in the Studiobühne of the university (Domplatz 23)! The one-and-a-half-hour event will be led by Dr Kateryna Kobchenko and Daria Reznyk, M.A., part of Після тиші / After Silence and associated researcher at the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) in Leipzig.
The exhibition will also be on display in the foyer of the Philosophikum (Domplatz 23) from 22 November to 14 December.
The creation of the exhibition and its transport to Münster was financed by Після тиші / After Silence with the support of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung.

Talk with the Holocaust survivor Dr Boris Zabarko (Kyjiv)

On the evening of 30 October 2024, the Ukrainian historian, recipient of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and Holocaust survivor Dr Boris Zabarko spoke at St Paul's Cathedral in Münster. 
After a welcoming address by the University of Münster's representative against anti-Semitism, Ludger Hiepel, and a presentation by Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Hubert Wolf on the Jewish letters of petition that reached Pope Pius XII and the blatant failure of the Holy See to intervene despite internal church sources on the persecution of Jews in Eastern Europe, the audience was welcomed Dr Zabarko. He first greeted his large audience in German. In his address, he called for further support for the Ukraine in its struggle against the russian aggerssion, but also found warm words of thanks for the help already given and emphasised that, unlike the Jews during the Shoah, the Ukraine did not stand alone, but had strong allies at its side. He continued his report in Ukrainian, which was simultaneously translated into German. He told of his childhood in a Transnist village, a Jewish Shtetl, that was surrounded by the Wehrmacht and became a wall-less ghetto for the Transnist and Romanian Jews. He told of those who could no longer find room in the overcrowded houses and who had to freeze to death on the streets in winter, but also of how his family was spared because the Wehrmacht commander had chosen his family's house as his residence. In particular, he emphasised the violent murders of children by the German troops. However, most of the deaths were caused by an outbreak of typhus in the village. 
The energy and willingness to tell his story to as many people as possible was palpable at every point in his talk.

Lecture and discussion on the situation at Münster's partner university in Ukraine

10 July 2024, 18h, BB 401

Research, teaching, voluntary service. The situation at Münster's partner university in Chernivtsi.

Lecture and discussion evening with Dr Oxana Matiychuk (Yuriy Fedkovyč University of Chernivtsi), moderated by Prof Dr Irina Wutsdorff

The University of Münster has maintained a partnership with the Jurij-Fedkovyč University of Černivci since 2023, with Dr Oxana Matiychuk playing a key role in its conclusion. She may be known to many as the author of a diary that she has published at irregular intervals in the Süddeutsche Zeitung since the beginning of the full-scale Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.  Since February 2022, she has been a member of the volunteer staff at Černivci University and is committed to the internally displaced persons and frontline issues. She was and is also head of the ‘Ukrainian-German Cultural Society Chernivtsi’, which is based at the university's ‘Gedankendach’ centre and is dedicated to preserving the heritage of German-language and Jewish literature and culture in Bukovina and Chernivtsi. She is also co-editor of the Handbook of Literature from Chernivtsi and Bukovina, which will be published by Metzler Verlag in December 2023.

Dr Matiychuk will report on the current situation at the university between research, teaching and voluntary service and will talk to lrina Wutsdorff about the perspectives of Ukrainian Studies and the study of the German-speaking and Jewish heritage of Bukovina.

The Vice-Rector for International Affairs, Transfer and Sustainability, Prof Dr Michael Quante, will open the evening with a welcoming address.

An event organised by the USiM network (‘Ukrainian Studies in Münster’), the Cluster of Excellence ‘Religion and Politics’, the Institute for Jewish Studies and the Institute for Slavic Studies at the University of Münster

Author reading ‘Liberation War. Nation building and violence in Ukraine’ with Anna Veronika Wendland, 18.06.24

On 18 June 2024, the DGO Münster branch and the Network Ukrainian Studies in Münster (USiM) cordially invite you to a reading in the Studiobühne. Historian Anna Veronika Wendland, who works at the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe, will read from her latest book ‘Befreiungskrieg. Nation building and violence in Ukraine’. Afterwards, guests will have the opportunity to ask questions in a panel discussion.

‘Liberation War’ is one of a limited list of German-language overviews of Ukrainian history. The thesis that wars of liberation are a common thread running through Ukrainian history invites discussion.

18 June 2024, 7.00 pm

Studio stage in the Philosophikum, Domplatz 23 (entrance to the Siegelkammer)

Moderation: Prof. Dr Ricarda Vulpius

War of Liberation at Campus Verlag

Lecture and panel discussion: ‘Ukraine and Europe. Prospects for EU accession’, 24.02.24

On 24 February 2024, the second anniversary of the Russian invasion, USiM is hosting a panel discussion on the prospects of Ukraine's future EU accession. Nathanel Liminski, NRW's Minister for European Affairs, will give an introductory speech before the panellists come together for a joint discussion. Other invited guests include Prof Dr Niels Petersen, Professor of European and International Law at the University of Münster, Dr Dariia Opryshko, media law expert and Prof Dr Irina Wutsdorff (USiM). Prof Dr Ricarda Vulpius (USiM) will moderate the event

The event will take place in the auditorium of the University Palace (Schlossplatz 2, Münster) and will begin at 19:00.

All interested parties, especially students and non-university members, are cordially invited!