Abt. Geschichtswissenschaft

"Wörter im Krieg" / "Dictionary of War" by Ostap Slyvynsky (2023)

Ostap Slyvynsky is a Ukrainian poet, translator, essayist, and literature professor. His book Wörter im Krieg gathers short testimonies, fragments of conversations, and memories from people living through Russia’s war against Ukraine. First written in 2022, the book has since been translated into several languages, allowing these voices to reach readers far beyond Ukraine. What makes Wörter im Krieg so powerful is its quiet intensity. The texts are often brief and restrained, yet they open up deeply personal experiences of fear, loss, displacement, care, and survival. Many of the stories seem almost timeless: rather than relying on visible markers of the twenty-first century, they show how war strips everyday life down to something raw and fundamental. Slyvynsky gathers these stories with great sensitivity to the way violence changes language itself. Words become fragile, unbearable, necessary, or newly charged with meaning. Wörter im Krieg is a difficult and deeply moving book, but also a profoundly humane one. It does not allow readers in Germany to imagine that they can fully understand the experience of war — but it asks them to listen carefully, attentively, and without turning away.

Event recommendation: Slyvynsky will be presenting his book at the Stadtbibliothek Bielefeld this evening. Welcome!