Poland in Greece

Both short documentaries, although differing in the way they are realized and approached, raise the issue of the threat posed by the systematic attacks of the Russian invaders on Ukrainian cultural heritage sites. The film by the Polish war journalist and director, T. Grzywaczewski, "Erase the Nation" illustrates the enormity of damage to both secular and sacral objects. Archaeological monuments, libraries and schools are subjected to attacks - the document shows the destruction done in such cities as Chernihiv, Ivankov, Kiev, Kharkiv, Izium and Bohorodychne. On the other hand, the film by the Ukrainian director, Dimitrij Tomaszpolski, entitled "Larysa Kadochnykova. The War” in an artistic way tells the story of Larysa Kadochnykova, an actress of Russian origin known and admired in Ukraine, who decided to stay in her beloved Kiev after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The film focuses on selected aspects of the actress's everyday life in conditions of constant threat of Russian attacks and touches on the problem of difficult access to high culture during the war and the challenges related to the continuation of creative activities of Ukrainian artists.

As part of the event, the ambassadors of Ukraine, Poland and Germany gave speeches in which they raised a number of important issues regarding both the protection and reconstruction of Ukraine's cultural heritage, but also the solidarity of Western countries and the need to continue supporting the Ukrainian nation in their fight against the aggressor. In his speech, Ambassador Artur Lompart drew attention to the fact that culture, as a carrier of a nation's identity, is the target of attacks just like military or strategic objects. The destruction of monuments, cultural objects, works of art - all these are barbaric actions aimed at deliberate deconstruction of the Ukrainian nation. For this reason, as an international community, we should support Ukraine in protecting its cultural heritage, because thanks to this we will preserve what is most valuable - the unique identity of a country with an extremely rich tradition, a country that gave birth to great writers and artists, and a country that is an inseparable part of our European community, and no one and nothing can ever change that.

The event gathered about 80 people from both the Greek opinion-forming community and the diplomatic corps (ambassadors of Lithuania, Latvia, Israel, UAE, Argentina, Libya and Jordan were present) as well as the Polish and Ukrainian diaspora. It was an opportunity to raise awareness among a wider audience of the ongoing war and its consequences, as well as to emphasize Poland's commitment to helping Ukraine.