December 2011, No. 30
Editors: Vera Ebels, Christina Zorich
Ukrainian Books for Education in Tolerance 2008 – 2011
Igor Kon: Moonlight at Dawn. Faces and masks of same-sex love
Ukrainian Books for Education in Tolerance – annotated list
Czech publishers & booksellers in Amsterdam
Ukrainian Books for Education in Tolerance 2008 – 2011
In 2011, five new translations were published, one of which, The Myth of Odessa, was presented to the public at the Literary Museum of Odessa in early June. In 2011, the books published within the project were disseminated to participants in seminars for history teachers, school administrators, staff of school libraries and public libraries, students of history and of journalism that took place in Czernowicz, Khmelnitsky, Vynnitsa, Mikolaev, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Kirovograd, Luhansk, and Ternopil. CEEBP coordinated the publication and distribution of the books. The seminars were organised by the Ukrainian coordinator, Andrei Tarnowsky, in cooperation with partner organisations under the supervision of the Anne Frank Foundation. The BETol project was developed at the initiative of Ukrainian history teachers to counter the lack of knowledge about and rampant prejudice against minorities in Ukraine, which is stirred up and exploited by various political parties and other organisations, among which a well-financed network of regional ‘universities’ (MAUP) with some 27,000 students that specializes in the large-scale circulation of antisemitic propaganda.
In total, 127 seminars were held with 2,730 participants in all 25 Ukrainian provinces. By the end of the project, more than 10 per cent of all secondary schools in the country had been reached. Moreover, BETol publications remain available in public and school libraries.
The project distributors stored 84.000 copies of 27 titles (3.000 copies of 25 book titles, and 2.000 copies of 2 teacher manuals), and disseminated 79.984 copies to seminar participants, libraries, and teacher training institutes in all 25 provincial capitals. At the end of the project, the remaining copies were distributed among the teacher training institutes and the Ukrainian project partner organisations. For the dissemination of the books, use was made of the distribution network developed with the assistance of CEEBP in the Ukrainian Book Trade Project in 2005 – 2008.
The project, co-funded by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Anne Frank House, and the CEEBP, was completed at the beginning of October 2011. The project enjoyed the invaluable support of The Netherlands Embassy in Kiev.
From the start, the Ukrainian project coordinator put a lot of effort into introducing the project among the middle echelons of the Ukrainian ministry of Education. As a result, letters issued by the Ministry in support of the project opened many doors and ensured the backing of the Teacher Training In-service Institutes.
Although after the elections in early 2010 the new Ukrainian Ministry of Education introduced a much more centralised and strict policy regarding the curriculum, the Ukrainian coordinator succeeded in organising seminars in all of the remaining provinces. This was possible because heads of the Teacher Training In-service Institutes in most of the provinces were sympathetic to the project aims and offered crucial support. Most of the university faculties of history and faculties of journalism cooperated as well.
But in Mikolaiev, for example, it was impossible to hold a seminar for journalism students. The leadership of the faculty decided against it because “the support letter for the project was signed by the former Deputy Minister of Education so we cannot assist you”. Instead, a seminar was organised for Law students who turned out to be keen participants.
In Zaporizhia it was not possible to hold a seminar for history students because the head of the History Department of the Zaporizhia University withheld his cooperation. By contrast, the Dean of the Faculty of Journalism was enthusiastic, and even arranged a second seminar in the recently established School of Journalism of Berdiansk, a Black Sea harbour town south of Zaporizhia.
The university in Donetsk was also reluctant to cooperate (“we already know enough about these topics”), and the seminar for history students could not be organised. Instead, an extra seminar was held for local librarians who were eager to participate.
In Zhitomir, the history students wrote in their evaluation forms that they had never encountered such interesting teaching methods and some suggested firing their own teachers and hiring BETol trainers instead.
At the end of September 2011, a closing event was organised at the Pedagogy University in Kiev. The Netherlands Ambassador Pieter-Jan Wolthers, assisted by the Senior Officer at the Embassy, Lyudmila Bilenko, explained the aims of the Matra program of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs to some 25 students of the History Faculty.
The meeting was also attended by representatives of several gay rights organisations. The project management donated to these organisations 250 copies of Igor Kon’s book (the last book published within the project; see the review below), to be put to good use in their educational programs.
CEEBP, with thanks to Jan Erik Dubbelman (Anne Frank Foundation) and Andrei Tarnowsky
Igor Kon: Moonlight at Dawn. Faces and masks of same-sex love
The book Lunnyi svet na zare. Liki i maski odnopoloi lyubvi by the outstanding Soviet and Russian historian, philosopher, psychologist and sexologue, Igor Kon (1928 – 2011) touches upon a theme that is still very sensitive in Eastern Europe: gay love and sex. In Soviet times, men were threatened with long-term imprisonment for buggery. In the law of independent Ukraine, homosexuality is no longer a criminal offence under the law. But wary and sometimes extremely hostile attitudes towards same-sex relationships have not disappeared. Radical anti-homosexual forces, which are not officially rebuked nor condemned by public figures, have significantly grown and intensified in Ukraine in recent years.
Taking this into account, along with the prevailing total sexual ignorance, the distorted stereotypes of same-sex love and its exponents, the importance of Igor Kon’s book Lunnyi svet na zare and its translation into Ukrainian, Svitankove Misjachne Sjaivo, cannot be overstated. It is written for a wide readership of any sexual orientation. The biological, psychological, legal, cultural, and humanitarian aspects of same-sex love are openly and comprehensively discussed. The author informs the story with many interesting historical, sociological, and biographical facts. Debunking the myths and rejecting the superstitions surrounding this subject, Igor Kon does not “promote homosexuality”. He just keeps discussing controversial and sensitive matters with his readers, as befits an honest scholar and humanist.
By Andrei Tarnowsky
UKRAINIAN BOOKS FOR EDUCATION IN TOLERANCE
I. 2nd editions of books and educational materials
Leonid Finberg, Sources of Tolerance (exhibition catalogue), Duch i litera, Kiev 2005, 2nd edition 2009
Leonid Finberg, Volodymyr Liubchenko (eds.), Sketches on the history and culture of Jews in Ukraine, Duch i Litera, Kiev 2006, 2nd edition 2009
Anne Frank, Diary, Sphera, Kiev 2003, 2nd edition 2009
Anne Frank – a History for today, Ukrainian edition of the exhibition catalogue, editor and publisher: Anne Frank House, Amsterdam
Anne Frank House, Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies, Nova Doba (eds.), Antisemitism and intolerance – teaching materials on Jewish History (part 1), Antisemitism (part 2), and Intolerance (part 3), Zovnyshtorgvydav Ukrainy, Kiev, 2nd edition 2009
David Kahane, Lvov Ghetto Diary, University of Massachusetts Press 1991; Ukrainian translation Diaries Of Lviv Ghetto. Memories of David Kahane, Duch i Litera, Kiev 2003, 2nd edition 2009
J. Komarov a.o., History of the Epoch through the Human Eyes. Ukraine and Europe 1900 – 1939, Geneza, Kiev 2004, 2nd edition 2009
Anna Lenchovskaya, Horizon of Understanding, Znak, Krakow 2006; 2nd edition Duch i Litera, Kiev, June 2010
Anatoly Podolsky, Lessons of the Past: History of the Holocaust in Ukraine, Sphera, Kiev 2007, 2nd edition with additional content, Sphera, Kiev 2009
A. Podolsky, J. Smilianska, M. Tyagliy, Children of the Holocaust, exhibition catalogue, Zovnyshtorgvydav Ukrainy, Kiev 2004, 2007, 3d edition 2009
M. Tyagliy (ed.), The Holocaust in Ukraine 1941-1944 (Glossary), Sphera, Kiev 2003, 2007, 3rd edition 2009
John K. Roth, Michael Berenbaum (eds.), Holocaust. Religious and Philosophical Implications Paragon House, St. Paul, Minnesotta, 1989, Ukrainian translation: “Beyond borders of understanding”, Duch i Litera, Kiev 2001, 2nd edition 2009
Jaap Tanja, 50 questions on Antisemitism, Anne Frank House & Duch i litera, Duch i litera, Kiev, 1st edition 2009
Teachers manuals
S. Burov, O. Voitenko, I.Kostyuk, Educating the Citizen, teachers manual on Holocaust and Tolerance Education, Vidrodzhennya, Drogobych 2006, 2nd edition 2009
J. Komarov, I. Kostyuk, Teachers manual on discrimination, Vidrodzhennya, Drogobych 2008, 2nd edition 2009
Iryna Kostyuk and Petro Kendzor, Contemporary Approaches of Teaching History (Methodology of using “History of the Epoch through the Human Eyes”, Ukrainski Tekchnologii, Lvov, 2004, 2nd edition in 2009
A. Lenchovska, N. Bakulina, M. Grinberg, K Kreyderman, Polykulturika, 1st edition, Maisternya knigy, Kiev 2010
II. New translations
Aharon Appelfeld, Sipur haim, Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1983 (Story of a Life, an autobiographical novel about hiding as a child in the Ukrainian countryside during the Holocaust, Penguin Books, 1996), Hebrew – Ukrainian translation by Victor Radutsky, Summit Book, Kiev 2011
Omer Bartov, Erased. Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia in Present-Day Ukraine, translated from English into Ukrainian by Sergii Kolomiiets, Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies and Zovnyshtorgvydav Ukrainy, Kiev 2010
Karel Berkhoff, Harvest of Despair, Life and Death in the Ukraine under Nazi Rule. Harvard University Press, 2004, English – Ukrainian translation by Taras Tsymbal, Krytyka, Kiev 2011
Norman Cohn, Warrant for Genocide, The Myth of the Jewish World Conspiracy and the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, Eyre & Spottiswood, 1967, 1999, New edition: Serif Publishing, 2006 (history of a forgery by the tsarist secret service, its use and murderous consequences), English – Ukrainian translation by Taras Tsymbal, Summit Book, Kiev, 2011
Nathan Hanover, Abyss of Despair (Yeven metzula), translated from Hebrew by Abraham J. Mesh, Transaction Books, New Brunswick, USA and London, UK, 2nd edition 2002, original edition by Bloch Publishing in 1950 (translation of Rabbi Nathan Hanover’s 17th century chronicle of the pogroms and mass killings of Jews by Cossacks under the command of Bogdan Chmelnitsky). Translated into Ukrainian, annotated and epilogue written by Natalya Yakovenko, Duh i Litera, Kiev 2010
Jan Paul Hinrichs, Lemberg-Lwów-Lviv. De fatale stad, Uitgeverij Bas Lubberhuizen, Amsterdam, 2008 © Jan Paul Hinrichs & Uitgeverij Bas Lubberhuizen, Ukrainian translation by Jaroslav Dovhopoly, Zhupansky publishing house, Kiev 2010
Jan Paul Hinrichs, De mythe van Odessa, Jan Paul Hinrichs, Dutch – Ukrainian translation from the manuscript by Jaroslav Dovhopoly, Duch i litera, Kiev 2011 (The Dutch publication appeared in autumn 2011 at Bas Lubberhuizen, Amsterdam.)
Igor S. Kon, Lunnyi svet na zare. Liki i maski odnopoloi lyubvi (Moonlight at Dawn. Faces and masks of the same-sex love). Olymp, Moskva, 2002. Revised ed. 540 pp, Ukrainian translation by Juryi Rybachuk, publication by Ukrainski Technologii, Lviv 2011
Wendy Lower, Nazi Empire and the Holocaust in Ukraine, translated from English into Ukrainian by Evgenii Rovnyi and Sergii Kolomiits, Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies and Zovnyshtorgvydav Ukrainy, Kiev 2010
David Rubinovich, Diary (Pamietnik Dawida Rubinowicza, Ksiazka i Wiedza, Warszawa, 1960),
Polish – Ukrainian translation by A. Shariy, Zovnyshtorgvydav Ukrainy, Kiev 2009
CZECH PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS IN AMSTERDAM
In late October, a group of 15 Czech publishers and booksellers visited Amsterdam. The program consisted of an overview of institutions of the Dutch book trade, including joint distribution at the Central Book House, the Dutch Foundation for Literature (NLF), the Translators House, the Foundation for the Collective Promotion of the Book, the Foundation for Reading, and Spui25 – the academic-literary centre.
Visits were also organized to several quality publishing houses, and a variety of academic and literary, general and specialised bookstores (among which a children’s bookstore, an art bookshop, a bookshop specialising in language books, an American and an English bookstore, and a bookshop with remainders). At one of the bookshops they could observe how a Printing on Demand ‘espresso’ machine works.
The Czech visitors were impressed by the great variety of bookshops, which is due to fixed book price.
The program was organised by CEEBP in cooperation with the Prague Book World of the Association of Czech Booksellers and Publishers, and the NLF. The visit was financed by the Czech participants, with contributions from the NLF and the Czech Centre in The Hague.
V.E.
In October 2011, the CEEBP awarded fourteen grants, out of which thirteen for books, and one for a Belarussian monthly. Eleven of the grants for books were awarded for West – East translations, and two for East – East translations. Six of the grants for books concern works in the humanities, seven are titles in belles letters.
The grants were awarded with the support of the Hamburger Stiftung zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Kultur.
Ivan T. Berend, Europe Since 1980, English – Serbian translation by Alen Bešić and Aleksandra Dragosavljević, Arhipelag, Belgrade
Isaiah Berlin, The Power of Ideas, English – Romanian translation by Dana Ligia Ilin, Humanitas, Bucharest
Christopher R. Browning, Remembering Survival: Inside a Nazi Slave-Labor Camp, English – Polish translation by Hanna Pustuła, Czarne, Wołowiec
José Cadalso, Cartas Marruecas, Spanish – Polish translation by Barbara Sławomirska, Sagittarius, Wadowice
Julio Cortázar, Cuentos Completos 1 y 2, Spanish – Serbian translation by Aleksandra Mančić, Službeni glasnik, Belgrade
Jean Echenoz, Des éclairs, French – Slovenian translation by Anuša Trunkelj, Sanje, Ljubljana
Saul Friedländer, Nazi Germany and the Jews 1933-1945 (abridged edition by Orna Kenan), English – Hungarian translation by Julia Lazar, Múlt és Jövő, Budapest
Edmund Husserl, Logische Untersuchungen, Zweiter Band: Untersuchungen zur Phänomenologie und Theorie der Erkenntnis. Zweiter Teil: Elemente einer phänomenologischen Aufklärung der Erkenntnis, German – Romanian translation by Mircea-Bodan Olaru, Humanitas, Bucharest
Danilo Kiš, Lauta i ozilijci, Serbo-Croatian – Bulgarian translation by Zhela Georgieva, Fama, Sofia
Yair Lapid, Memories After My Death, Hebrew – Hungarian translation by Miriam Popper, Múlt és Jövő, Budapest
Hisham Matar, Anatomy of a Disappearance, English – Polish translation by Ewa Penksyk-Kluczkowska, Smak Słowa, Sopot
Czesław Miłosz, Abecadło, Polish – Lithuanian translation by Vytautas Dekšnys, Aidai, Vilnius
Olivier Roy, L’Islam mondialisé, French – Albanian translation by Aleko Minga, Institute of Dialogue & Communication, Tirana
Arche – political and cultural monthly, Minsk. Printing costs and translator’s honoraria 2012
BOOKS PUBLISHED WITH CEEBP SUPPORT SINCE JUNE 2011
Walter Benjamin, Selected Writings I (One Way Street, Berlin Childhood, Essays on Photography and Art), German – Serbian translation by Jovica Acin, Službeni glasnik, Belgrade 2011
Walter Benjamin, Bertolt Brecht, Siegfried Kracauer, Rudolf Arnheim, Theodor W. Adorno – Texts on media selected by Stilian Yotov: Als die Medien nicht postmodern waren, German – Bulgarian translation by Sylvia Valkova, Agata-A, Sofia 2011
David Held, Models of Democracy, English – Albanian translation by Florim Canolli, Cuneus, Prishtina 2011
Edmund Husserl, Ideen zu einer reinen Phänomenologie und phänomenologischen Philosophie. Erstes Buch: Allgemeine Einführung in die reine Phänomenologie. German – Romanian translation by Christian Ferencz – Flatz, Humanitas, Bucharest 2011
Rebyia Kadeer with Alexandra Cavelius, Die Himmelstürmerin. Chinas Staatsfeindin Nr. 1 erzählt aus ihrem Leben. German – Polish translation by Urszula Poprawska, Czarne, Wołowiec 2011
Franz Kafka, Tagebücher 1910 – 1923, German – Lithuanian translation by Teodoras Četrauskas, Lithuanian Writers’ Union Publishers, Vilnius 2011
Dževad Karahasan, Noćno vijeće, Bosnian – Bulgarian translation by Paola Valerieva Ivanova, Paradox, Sofia 2011
Imre Kertész, K. dosszié, Hungarian – Macedonian translation by Paskal Gilevski, Slovo, Skopje 2011
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phénoménologie de la perception, French – Bulgarian translation by Todorka Mineva, SONM, Sofia 2011
John Stuart Mill, Autobiography, English – Croatian translation by Damjan Lalović, Disput, Zagreb 2011
Stefano Petrungaro, Pietre e fucili. La protesta sociale nelle campagne croate di fine Ottocento, Italian – Croatian translation by Jasna Rešić, Srednja Europa, Zagreb 2011
For a list of all books published with CEEBP support see under BOOKS
- Allianz Cultural Foundation, Munich
- ERSTE Stiftung, Vienna
- Hamburger Stiftung zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Kultur
- Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, The Netherlands
- Matra program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands