2014 Study Trip to UkraineLast Updated On: 15/12/2015From 29 March – 6 April 2014, a group of 9 students accompanied by the Chair of History, the Director, Deputy Director and Study Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna undertook a study trip to Ukraine (Kiev and L’viv/Lemberg/L’vov). It was the 7th study trip to Ukraine, and certainly the most dramatic since 2007 when the study trip to Ukraine was introduced. The programme was organized with the support of Ambassador Wolf-Dietrich Heim, Dr. Johannes Aigner and Dr. Jakub Forst-Battaglia from the Austrian Embassy and the Austrian “Kulturforum” in Kiev.
The group stayed at “Hotel Ukraine” overlooking “Maidan” where the demonstrations of 4 months, from November 2013 – February 2014, had taken place. The barricades were still up, and along Instytutska Street – next to “Hotel Ukraine” – memorials, flowers and candles commemorated the “Heavenly Hundred” shot during the demonstrations. The students had the opportunity to discuss the current turmoil in Ukraine with government officials, members of the leading parties, academics and students. The following meetings were organized:
• At the Austrian Embassy in Kiev with MEPs Dimitri Bilozerkovets (UDAR), Volodymyr Bandurov (Party of Regions), Hryhorii Nemyria (Blok Yulia Tymoshenko)
• At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine with Vice Foreign Minister Danylo Lubkivsky and colleagues
• At the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla academy” with students; Professor Oleksandr Demyanchuk, Head of NaUKMA Political Science Department; and Professor Oleksiy Haran, member of the Maidan Council and Professor at NaUKMA Political Science Department
• At the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine with Vice Rector Tatarenko and students
• Alumni Meeting with graduates working in Kiev and L’viv
The group was also invited to an evening reception at the residence of the Austrian Ambassador, Dr. Wolf-Dietrich Heim, and the Director of the Austrian “Kulturforum”, Dr. Jakub Forst-Battaglia.
In Kiev students visited Pecherskaya Lavra, the Holodomor Memorial, St. Sophia, St. Michael and St. Wolodymyr churches, and Podil.
The study trip ended in L’viv with an excursion to Zhovkva (synagogue, the complex of churches and the castle of Jan Sobieski).