Imprisonment for Ukrainian literature: teenagers in occupation secretly gather to read books
Kyiv • UNN
Teenagers gather in small groups to discuss Ukrainian literature. Storing textbooks can result in 5 years in prison.
In the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories by Russia, teenagers secretly gather to participate in book clubs. They discuss Ukrainian prose and poetry. However, before starting, participants must make sure they are not being watched. The underground book club is written about by The Guardian, reports UNN.
Details
It is noted that before meeting at the book club, teenagers must first make sure that all windows are closed and no one is hiding near the apartment door.
As 17-year-old Mariyka (her name has been changed for security purposes) said, informants often report to the Russian special services about anyone studying the Ukrainian language in the occupied territories.
According to the publication, Ukrainian textbooks are declared "extremist" - their storage can result in five years of imprisonment.
Parents who allow their children to study the Ukrainian program online may lose their parental rights. It is known that teenagers who speak Ukrainian at school were taken to the forest for "interrogation" by bandits
The publication reports that that is why the book club "never gathers more than three people - any additional participants increase the risk of exposure".
Among the poems and plays that Mariyka's book club likes to read are the works of Lesya Ukrainka, a 19th-century Ukrainian feminist and supporter of the country's independence within the Russian Empire
"In 1888, Lesya Ukrainka also created a book club in Kyiv at a time when publishing, speeches and teaching in Ukrainian were prohibited," the publication summarizes.
Let us remind you
In the occupied Kherson region, the Russian authorities seize and destroy tens of thousands of Ukrainian books from libraries. Works by classics, history textbooks and books about the Holodomor were banned.
