“When the work you do truly matters, that helps you endure”

Natalia Svitla, you had to cancel the opening of the #StolenMemory exhibition at your library on February 2. Could you explain why?

Since January 9, when Ukraine’s infrastructure suffered severe damage, especially to the power grid, we’ve been experiencing serious electricity shortages. Every working day, we can only hope that there will be at least some power, because the work of the library and our staff are entirely dependent on it. Our library is heated by electric boilers. When there’s no electricity, there’s no heating, and the temperature in the building drops very quickly.

Without power, our landline phones, computers, and server don’t work, and users have no access to information resources. We do have a portable charging station, but it can’t meet all our needs. And, sadly, night-time shelling has also caused damage to the library. The blast shattered windows and damaged parts of the ceilings in some rooms. However, the most important thing is that none of the staff were injured and our collections were not damaged. These circumstances have forced us to change our plans for the exhibition, but they haven’t weakened our resolve. We’ll do everything in our power to hold the opening of the exhibition in the near future.

So, the library is still open?

Yes. In almost four years of war, this has been the greatest challenge for us. We come to work at 9:00 a.m. and stay in the cold until 3:00 p.m., often without electricity for many hours — sometimes for up to eight hours a day. Unfortunately, when people go home at the end of the day, there’s often no electricity there either. Still, no one has lost hope. When the power comes back, even just for a couple of hours, we feel as happy as children, and everyone gets down to work like busy bees.

What does this mean for your work, for your personal everyday life?

This is what life is like in Ukraine today. Some people are defending the front lines, while others are working in the rear: We work every day, from Monday to Friday. It‘s painful that the war constantly disrupts our plans and our work, that meetings and presentations have to be postponed again and again. However, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the library has never stopped its work. We understand how important our library and its information resources are, especially at a time when Ukraine’s cultural and architectural heritage is being destroyed on a daily basis.

So, we continue working, and our readers keep coming. They use our traditional card catalogues and order books. The reading room has large windows, so as long as there’s enough daylight outside, people can still work with the books. This is how we live—with hope and with faith that all this will end soon. The safety of our staff and our readers is the most important thing right now.

What about your personal safety, if I may ask?

I don’t really know how to protect myself. My husband is at war, and my son will soon turn 25 and will also defend our country. I worry much more about them than about myself. That’s why I try to focus more on my work.

As an architecture and construction library, you safeguard valuable cultural heritage. How do you protect your sensitive archive collections under war conditions?

The library preserves unique materials on architecture, construction, and art, so we’re trying to digitize our collections. The library is located in a modern building; the storage facilities are inside, equipped with air conditioning and ventilation systems. Whenever electricity is available, these systems operate at full capacity.

Despite the extreme stress caused by the ongoing war, why is telling these Ukrainian #StolenMemory stories from the past so important to you at this moment in time?

When I first learned about the #StolenMemory project, I was deeply moved. Perhaps when you live in a time of war that brings death, pain, and human suffering every day, you truly understand what the exhibition is really about: the horrors of war, the value of human life, the memory of what is most precious, and the possibility of redemption. This is a profoundly humane project, one that has no expiration date; its purpose is to restore what has been lost and to reunite what has been separated.

The #StolenMemory exhibition isn’t only about the past. It also reflects the desire to right wrongs, to return things that were extremely precious to those they were taken from. For me, it is also about the present – about the horrors of war and its terrible consequences, about pain and loss, crimes against humanity, shattered destinies, and stolen lives. I don’t know how many years it will take for this pain to fade. I hope it never does.

You’re organizing the exhibition together with the Arolsen Archives and TolerSpace. How does the collaboration work under conditions where communication and logistics are constantly interrupted by blackouts?

When hourly blackout schedules were in place, it was easier to plan the working day more effectively. Now we have to constantly adapt. When there is no electricity, we focus on tasks that do not require power or internet access. Fortunately, our partners understand the conditions we live and work in, and that sometimes I cannot respond to emails or phone calls immediately. We’re very grateful to them for their understanding.

Still, this is not our first joint project during the war. A dedicated team of professionals is working on it. Everything has been carefully coordinated: the exhibits and additional materials are already in the library. All that remains is to endure the harsh winter and proceed with the exhibition opening.

What are your next steps for making the exhibition accessible to the public, and what gives you the strength to continue in these difficult times?

I dream of having a generator to ensure uninterrupted operation of the server, so that users and exhibition visitors can always access our information resources. The exhibition will soon be open to the public, without any doubt. When the work you do truly matters, it becomes the main driving force that helps you endure, stand firm, and keep moving forward. We must keep going, because those who are defending us on the front line are enduring so much more.

#StolenMemory is an invitation to search for traces. What do you hope to achieve among the people of Kyiv when the exhibition can be opened?

I hope that the exhibition presented in the library will leave no visitor indifferent and will inspire continued efforts to recover and return what has been lost. It’s hard to imagine the emotions of people who, after so many years, receive their personal belongings back. For the sake of such an important and moving moment, every effort is truly worthwhile.