On the shelves, primers, children’s books and novels. All have one thing in common: they are in the Ukrainian language and symbolize the struggle of the hundreds of displaced people to maintain “a link with the culture and the mother tongue”, explains Margarita. Based in France for twenty years, she is one of the leaders of the brand new Anne of Kyiv Librarya place inaugurated last week rue Clémence-Isaure, in Toulouse.
Every Saturday afternoon, in this small room made available to the Free Ukraine association, she welcomes with Larissa and Olesia the children and parents who left everything overnight to flee the bombs dropped on their country by the Russians. In the rush, some of their compatriots insisted on carrying a book in their meager luggage. “Because Ukrainians are great readers,” says Olesia.
This history and law teacher arrived last March from Odessa with her 18-year-old daughter, leaving behind part of her family. So, when the idea of creating this place was born, she proposed herself. “This allows us to continue working with young people, to be useful because, when you don’t speak the language of the country, you can’t work. It is also a way to keep a link with the history of Ukraine and to have a place where we can support each other, ”says the one who dreams of being able to return home.
An important bond especially for the many uprooted and sometimes completely confused young people. “The book is also a way to appease them, because when you read, you forget reality,” says Margarita, who has been accompanying students for several weeks in a college in the Toulouse area.
Looking for a place
It was difficult until now to be able to find editions in Ukrainian, the language of the enemy being proscribed. But thanks to a collection made from a bookstore in kyiv, but also donations made by the association Sous les Tilleuls, young displaced people were able to borrow classics of children’s literature last week such as the famous adventures of Harry Potter. . For the moment, 200 volumes have found their place on the shelves of this library called Anne of Kyiv, who in the 11th century married the King of the Franks, Henry 1st, symbol of the link between the two countries.
If this place has become a meeting point for the diaspora, it will have to be liberated at the beginning of December. The association is therefore looking for a new base to meet.