The People Who Shaped the History of the Ukrainian Community in Estonia: Marking the 20th Anniversary of AUOE

On 7 February 2000, the Declaration on the Establishment of the Association of Ukrainian Organizations in Estonia was proclaimed. On 30 May of the same year, the Association was officially registered.

The Association’s principal task is to unite Ukrainian organizations operating in Estonia.

Its purpose is to coordinate their activities and improve the effectiveness of their work in preserving and developing Ukrainian culture, art, and the Ukrainian language as integral parts of Ukraine’s cultural heritage.

The Association is not a structure that absorbs other organizations. It acts as a coordinating and representative body that helps them work together.

At the time this article was published, the heads of the Association’s member organizations served on its Management Board. The Board coordinated plans for joint events and discussed matters relating to the activities and funding of member organizations.

The organizations belonging to the Association retained full independence in their activities.

The Association became Estonia’s first umbrella organization bringing together organizations representing a single national culture.

Thanks to the Association’s work, the role and visibility of the Ukrainian community in Estonia increased considerably.

Experience has shown that working together encourages a healthy spirit of cooperation and friendly competition, strengthens people’s willingness to help one another and, most importantly, proves that being together is interesting, beneficial, and inspiring.

The people behind twenty years of history
History is created through people’s work, dedication, and shared effort. Every community has people whom it can regard as its pioneers – those who initiate, organize, and lead important undertakings.

This has also been true in the history of the Association of Ukrainian Organizations in Estonia. Without the active participation, personal initiative, creativity, and organizational ability of these individuals, our Association, which has now operated successfully for two decades, might never have been established.

Most of them are ordinary people who came to Estonia for different reasons. Nevertheless, each of them demonstrated the qualities of a true community leader.

The founders of the Association included Leonid Chupryna, Anatolii Voropai, Oksana Mamutova, Larysa Zhytnyk, and Vali Pralla.

Following the Association’s registration, newly established organizations began joining it. These included the Kolor dance ensemble, led by Nina Shamurova (Koort-Gez); the Gals sports club, led by O. Dubrovskyi; and the Ukrainian Youth Association in Estonia, headed by Volodymyr Palamar.

As a result of active work promoting the Ukrainian community and cultural movement in Estonia, other organizations subsequently joined the Association:

the Orfei Ukrainian Society in Tapa, led by Liubov Laur;
the Vitchyzna Ukrainian Society in Pärnu, led first by Nina Sushko and later by L. Fainytska;
the Promin Society in Tartu, led by Mykola Stasiuk;
the Stozhary Society in Maardu, led by Leonid Chupryna;
the Melodiia Society in Paldiski, led by Ivan Shchoholiev;
the Koit Society in Tapa, led by Z. Reznichenko;
the Mriia Art Studio, led by Olha Horianska;
the Spohad Society in Paide, led by Vilina Hange;
the Chervona Ruta Society in Tapa, led by T. Chuvpylo;
the Kalyna Ukrainian Society and Saturday School in Valga, led by R. Dovha;
the Kobzaryk Society in Tallinn, led by Mykola Rybchenko.
Volodymyr Yatsenko, Vasyl Koshelap, Valentyna Afanasieva, and many others also devoted considerable effort to the establishment and development of the Association. We thank them all sincerely.

We have sought to tell the story of every community belonging to the Association, the personal journeys of our fellow Ukrainians, and the most important milestones in the Association’s history – its festivals, commemorative events, and work with children – in the pages of a forthcoming book.

The provisional title of the book is “The Shore of Love”, and, circumstances permitting, we hope that it will be published soon.

Where possible, excerpts from the book will also be read during the Chervona Kalyna radio programme.

Today, on behalf of the Management Board of the Association of Ukrainian Organizations in Estonia and its Chair, Volodymyr Palamar, we address you, dear friends, with our sincere gratitude for many years of productive cooperation, for the energy and warmth that you have devoted to your communities, and for your love of Ukrainian culture, which you carry in your hearts and share with those around you.

We live in difficult times. We need patience and courage to endure the pain and suffering experienced by our people in their struggle for independence and prosperity.

As the anniversary approaches, we would also like to thank the many public institutions, academic institutions, and civil society organizations that made significant contributions to the successful work of the Association of Ukrainian Organizations in Estonia.

We express our sincere gratitude to the Embassy of Ukraine in Estonia. We remember with particular respect and appreciation the former Ambassador of Ukraine to Estonia, Mykola Makarevych, for his comprehensive support during the first and most challenging period in the Association’s development.

We also thank the Administration of the President of Ukraine, Ukraine’s ministries responsible for culture and education, and the leadership of Ukrainian institutions of higher education, including Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and the university named after Mykhailo Drahomanov.

Their organizational and financial support enabled the Association to develop its organizational, cultural, and educational activities outside Ukraine to a high standard.

We sincerely thank the Estonian public institutions that supported the Association and its member organizations throughout these years, created conditions for our development, and contributed to the successful integration of the Ukrainian community into Estonian society.

These institutions include the Estonian Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Integration Foundation, Tallinn City Government, and the local governments of other Estonian cities.

We thank our friends and good neighbours from other national minority organizations with whom we have travelled this road together. We also thank everyone who supports our work and forms today’s Ukrainian community in Estonia.

Happy anniversary to all of us!

We wish everyone continued strength and success.