The Greek Consul General, one of the last diplomats to leave Mariupol, says in front of the cameras: “What I saw I hope no one will ever see … Mariupol will become part of a list of cities that were completely destroyed by war.” I hope he will one day testify as a witness before the International Criminal Court. However, I am afraid that Mariupol will not remain the only city in Ukraine to be leveled. The mayor of Chernihiv reports that the infrastructure has been completely destroyed. Kharkiv is bombed daily. Smaller towns, whose names many only learned during the war, will disappear from the map. And unfortunately that’s not an exaggeration.
Thousands of lives lost sounds like a statistic at first, it’s always like that in times of war. With every life, a lifeworld is wiped out. That’s easy to write down. I think my mind and psyche turn on certain protective mechanisms. My colleagues feel the same way. Otherwise you would collapse. Maybe that will come later. And yes, we also hear opinions from German-speaking countries (probably there are other places too) that say: Putting an end to the war would actually be quite easy, the Ukrainians should surrender. Some say the Ukrainians even have a “duty” to surrender. In plain language this means: The Ukrainians have the duty to surrender so that the remaining Europeans are finally no longer confronted with this annoying horror news and horror scenarios from the Third World War. The killing of civilians would then stop. Because, well, when in doubt, it’s better to be red than dead. I understand these voices, I know the background, and I don’t mean that ironically, but absolutely seriously. It’s well-intentioned advice. Only: Unfortunately, these voices do not understand what it is about us, the Ukrainian political nation.
I would also rather believe that surrender would end the horror.
This war actually dates back not to the 1990s but to 1654 and beyond. Do those who give us well-intentioned advice seriously ask what an after would mean? So if you’re not dead, but you’ve finally stopped resisting? And the Europeans behind Ukraine’s western border breathe a sigh of relief? (While there is no guarantee that the war on Ukraine’s western border would actually end then, one is inclined to believe that it will.) Please don’t think I’m being smart-witted and deliberately dramatizing. I would also rather believe that surrender would end the horror. Unfortunately, as a Ukrainian who was born and socialized in the USSR, who learned about the cruelty of the repressive system not only from books, who later dealt a lot with history and literary history, I know that the whole conjuration of peace through negotiations or ” “Surrender” can have an effect such as shamanic rituals in the fight against cancer (the latter could possibly have even more effect). Therefore, unfortunately, I have to say very briefly: We are not prepared to surrender. Please don’t think, dear Germans, that it’s easy for me to write this – given the hourly dying people, animals and collapsing buildings.
Please don’t think that we don’t feel the enormous burden of moral and ethical dilemmas. President Zelensky said a few days ago that there is “no military solution” for Mariupol, which means that the Ukrainian armed forces cannot do much to counter the Russian occupiers there. The capitulation of the city is rejected. So thousands who cannot leave the city are at the mercy of cruel fate. And I know very well that thousands of residents of this city did not want to die a heroic death. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori – It is sweet and honorable to die for one’s homeland sounds sublime for legionnaires, but not for the civilian population of a modern southern industrial city. I would like to take this opportunity to wish the decision-makers of all European states and all European peoples that none of them will ever find themselves in the position of the Ukrainian President and the Ukrainian people.
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