During 2025–2026, the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy will implement the research project «Jewish Heritage in Ukraine: Interdisciplinary Reflections through the Prism of Archival Documents, Culture, History, and Literature» in cooperation with UNESCO.
These efforts form part of a broader UNESCO initiative aimed at preserving Ukraine’s Jewish documentary heritage, commemorating collective memory, expanding knowledge and access to archival collections, and fostering intercultural dialogue, with support from the European Union.
The Jewish Heritage in Ukraine project will represent an important step in advancing Ukrainian-Jewish dialogue, supporting academic research, and creating a space for open discussion of the complex chapters of a shared past. Its significance is particularly profound today, as Ukraine continues to shape its modern civic nation while reclaiming previously neglected and silenced aspects of its history.
Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi, Head of the UNESCO Office in Ukraine:
«The partnership agreement with the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy forms part of UNESCO broader efforts to preserve and digitize Jewish documentary heritage in Ukraine. Scholarly research into these unique Judaica materials will make a significant contribution to this important initiative».
On the role and significance of the project for Ukraine, remarks were shared by Serhii Kvit, President of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and Olha Poliukhovych, Project Director, Associate Professor of the Valerii Morenets Department of Literary Studies, and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Research:
Serhii Kvit: «This UNESCO-supported project is of strategic importance for Ukraine, a country engaged in a war for its survival. Cultural arguments are often employed in wartime to strengthen one side or another, and we can see how Russia has actively and manipulatively used them in its aggression against Ukraine. At a time when Ukraine is fighting to preserve its cultural identity, it is critically important to study and present that identity in all its diversity. We are sincerely grateful to UNESCO for entrusting the scholars of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy with the implementation of this mission».
Olha Poliukhovych: «Our new project brings together the efforts of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy researchers from various disciplines in pursuit of an ambitious goal: to explore Jewish heritage in Ukraine through the lens of different fields of study and to present Ukrainian–Jewish relations, which for a long time have been distorted and burdened by propagandistic narratives, within their proper historical context. We seek to draw the attention of both the broader scholarly community and Ukrainian society to Jewish cultural heritage in Ukraine. The project will contribute to strengthening academic discourse, ensuring the preservation and accessibility of materials for future research, and will have a strategic impact on reinforcing Ukraine’s position as a multicultural state».
All publications produced within the framework of the project are organized with the financial support of the European Union. Their contents are the responsibility of the project partner and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.