Poster »Nie wieder Krieg« by Käthe Kollwitz, 1924 (source: Käthe Kollwitz Museum Köln link)

In the Cluster of Excellence ‘ROOTS – Social, Environmental, and Cultural Connectivity in Past Societies’ and the CRC 1266 ‘Scales of Transformations’, we have members and partners in and from Ukraine. Together, we have immensely profited – both scientifically and personally – from our joint work and research on cultural heritage in Ukraine. We see with horror how the areas and institutes, where we have carried out fieldwork and museum analyses with our partners over the last 10 years, are also reeling from the destruction of war. Many of our Ukrainian friends, colleagues and partner institutions are victims of totalitarian politics.

We strongly condemn the aggression of the Russian government and its military forces against Ukraine in violation of international law and humanity and would like to express our solidarity and empathy with our colleagues and all other people in Ukraine, as well as colleagues and people elsewhere, who are affected by the war.

In the interest of all people, we urgently call on the conflict parties to cease the acts of war, to break through the logic of war and to return to negotiations on solutions acceptable for all parties involved in the conflict. As we believe that war is not an acceptable way of resolving conflicts, we appeal to all responsible actors inside and outside Ukraine to work towards a non-military solution to the conflict.

At the same time, we support the Open Letter signed by thousands of Russian scientists and science journalists, among them several of our colleagues and collaboration partners, who courageously stand up against the Russian war in Ukraine and for respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state.

Find the English version here.

Find the Russian version here