Consistent

Giving gifts that you would like to have yourself is a good idea. Special times bring new insights. The American historian Timothy Snyder first thought of an important historical library when the government of Ukraine asked him to think about a fundraising campaign.

He changed his mind and is now the patron of a global fundraising campaign to finance a drone defense system for Ukraine.

The history of Eastern Europe is the specialty of the professor, who teaches history at Yale University and speaks 11 languages. From his point of view, the area comprising Poland, Ukraine and Belarus is an area that was and is of particular importance in history. An area whose people have paid an enormous price in blood, but which has been virtually ignored in the European consciousness to this day.

He describes this in his highly acclaimed book Bloodlands and in many of his scientific works.

Drone defense instead of a library?

By supporting a library, Timothy Snyder said in an interview with The Guardian, he had effectively given himself a gift and chosen what is familiar and dear to him.

However, he believes that the drone defense system is more important for Ukraine at the moment. According to Snyder, defeating Russia is the only way for Russia to change and ultimately win.

Timothy Snyder teaches at Yale University and has made his history course “The Emergence of Modern Ukraine” available as free lectures on YouTube. His lectures are a delight.

The humor, liveliness, lightness and subtle humor with which Timothy Snyder introduces his students to the complex history of Eastern Europe makes them want to study history themselves.

Sit down at your screen in the third row of the lecture hall at Yale and give yourself a gift with the lectures “The Making of Modern Ukraine”.

Gifts for St. Nicholas this year

You can join Timothy Snyder and not give chocolate, calvados or red wine for St. Nicholas Day, but support the fundraising campaign for the purchase of a drone defense system for Ukraine via the national initiative of Ukraine U24.

However, this is only one way of helping the people in Ukraine, who have been suffering from the war since the violent annexation of Crimea.

There are numerous initiatives and institutions in every city that help people in Ukraine or people who have fled Ukraine. Most cities have set up a coordinating body that offers a wide range of support options.

We looked at the requests for donations in kind in some major cities, and there is something for everyone. Here are a few examples: Many people are not in the mood for glittering Christmas decorations in this special year. Some aid organizations are looking for exactly these things to make the functional accommodation rooms for Ukrainian refugees a little more atmospheric in the run-up to Christmas.

That old bike gathering dust in the basement is exactly what other organizations need. Warm winter clothing that hasn’t made it out of the closet for a long time? Many organizations are looking for just that.

In this way, you can fill the proverbial Santa’s stocking with useful things for people who need exactly what many of us have in abundance.

Art for those who give a lot themselves

Since the beginning of the war against Ukraine, some of our readers have been working tirelessly to support the people of Ukraine. Neuss hilft is one example whose commitment we have been observing since the beginning of the war and take our hats off to them.

Other readers volunteer at the food bank, in clothing stores or at language courses for refugees.

They deserve a gift for St. Nicholas Day for their great efforts. Art could be a good idea here, because when you witness the grief, fear and worries of people from Ukraine on an almost daily basis, many things that are appreciated in normal times may seem a little profane.

Skateboard Edition by Louise Bourgeois

We have loved the Fondation Beyeler in Basel for years. This year, the art skateboard edition available there has been supplemented with one of Louise Bourgeois’ famous spider motifs.

The three boards with the motif “ODE À MA MÈRE” look fantastic (they are of course made of wood from certified Canadian forests) and will delight art novices as well as art connoisseurs who are already familiar with Louise Bourgeois’ work from museum visits around the world.

Subway line A, Berlin, GDR, 1986

Harald Hauswald, born in Radebeul in 1954, is one of the founding members of the OSTKREUZ agency. His work “U-Bahnlinie A, Berlin, DDR, 1986” is available as a poster. We have known the work for many years and cannot take our eyes off the faces to be seen on this work

VALENTINA / 7KM

You already know the motif “VALENTINA / 7KM” from our article about the photo artist Kirill Golovchenko. You can order our favorite motif and some other interesting prints of his photographs, which were produced in a small edition, or the books of the editions on his homepage and thus also support the humanitarian aid organization of Serhij Zhadan in Kharkiv.

Boarding school

Between the soccer World Cup, the end-of-year spurt and many other events, empathy for what people are currently having to endure in the harsh winter in Ukraine may diminish a little in some people.

Our recommendation is to put the novel Internat by Serhij Zhadan in your Christmas stocking.

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