Since March 2022, our work with stories has been constantly changing.
At first, we only took stories from open sources (besides, only stories of civilians). But later they started working directly with the relatives of the victims and recorded their stories and memories. Over time, a questionnaire was launched — and people reported the loss themselves. Most of such questionnaires are filled out by the relatives of fallen soldiers who have a request for public commemoration.
We donʼt have time to process all the stories and we came to terms with it even during the battles for Bakhmut.
At that time, we received an insane number of stories about the dead in and around the city. This is how we formed a "queue" of stories every one and a half to two months. Now, our journalists can write six to ten stories of the dead in a day.
We do not count on the fact that all these stories will be read here and now.
We make short standardized biographies both to support families now and in the future 5-20 years. Over time, we want to see the Memorial as a national platform, museum or other physical space with the structured stories we record now.
The demand for commemoration in public spaces is huge.
When we first launched the video at Gulliver Shopping Center, we immediately had a queue of a hundred people. When we launched videos about the defenders of Mariupol at TSUM, their relatives from other cities came to Kyiv to see these 10-15 seconds and understand that this is not only their loss, but a memory that we experience together.
There is a problem with renaming streets in honour of the dead or creating murals.
For example, in Kyiv, it is currently being discussed that the city cannot create murals dedicated to specific people, because there simply will not be enough walls for such a large number of people. And in Irpin, they banned the renaming of streets, because there are already more dead than streets.
In Kyiv, street renaming will also be postponed until after the war. Because, for example, there are two petitions for renaming one street in honour of two heroes. Both got the required number of votes. It is very difficult to make a decision.
Spontaneous memorials, like the one on the Maidan, appear when people have a request for commemoration and they do it the way they know how. But these are temporary formats.
For it to be aesthetic, it has to be unified. Now on the Maidan, everything is the opposite: someone hangs huge banners, and someone puts up small ones. Unfortunately, we will live with this place for a long time until we figure out how to do it more correctly or how to help our relatives to honor their memory.
In addition to a street, a monument or a mural, there are other ways of commemoration.
For example, when a bookstore, a scholarship, and a charity fund were founded in memory of the deceased. This is the new culture of memory.
The guideline of how a nationwide moment of silence should look like in the city is currently being created on the example of Vinnytsia.
This is done by the initiative group Moment of Honour. But in general, an attempt to unify a minute of silence may fail, particularly in megacities.
For example, "Memorial" is a member of the advisory council on memorialization under the Kyiv City State Administration. In general, the Council supported the idea of a moment of silence in Kyiv, but there are comments regarding the traffic stop. Most likely, these will be alternative options, when the transport will run, but it will announce a moment of silence.
In the matter of memory, it is very important to be able to interact with it and incorporate it into everyday life.
For example, this summer at "Kurazh" they made a stand with the inscription "You are Missing Here". And it was possible to stick a photo of a person who is no longer there. And so it turned out a large panel with people who could not come to this event, but whom we remember.
And on August 29, 800 establishments joined the "Memory Table" campaign. This can become a good tradition in Ukraine. It is inspired by the American tradition, but also has Ukrainian roots — we have a tradition of setting a plate for a person who is no longer there. Itʼs unlikely to become something permanent, but it could become the rule on Memorial Day.
You can support the "Memorial" here: victims.memorial/supportus