Meeting of humanitarians with Winfried Schneider-Deters, German Ukrainian publicist

Guest lectures of our foreign colleagues always arouse interest among both teachers and students. Therefore, the meeting with a German publicist-Ukrainist was no exception Winfried Schneider-Deters which was visited by the students of the faculty of humanities and pedagogy of  specialties "International relations, public communications and regional studios", " Philology (English)", " Philology (German)".

    The dean of the faculty of humanities and pedagogy Inna Savytska, started the meeting and emphasized the importance of such guest lectures for students. Holding such events is particularly relevant, as they contribute to the deepening of students ' knowledge and improving the level of professional training.

    Chairman of the Supervisory board of NULES of Ukraine, doctor of political science, professor Mykola Tomenko introduced Mr. Winfried Schneicher-Detersom to the audience.

   Winfried Schneider-Deters (Winfried Schneider-Deters), publicist, founder and first head of the Ukrainian representative office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, close to the German social democrats. The author of the two-volume book "Ukrainian fateful years 2013-2019", the most detailed book in German about the recent history of Ukraine ‒ from the association agreement with the European Union and the Maidan. The book is interesting as a source of detailed description of events that changed the course of Ukraine's history.

   The first volume of the book describes how it all started ‒ the signing of the association agreement with the European Union postponed by the then president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.
   The second volume covers the events of 2014 in Ukraine – the annexation of Crimea, the beginning of the war in the Donbas and the emergence of the self-proclaimed quasi-state entities of the "DNR" and "LNR".
   Mr. Winfried Schneider-Deters began his lecture by expressing sincere words of support for the Ukrainian people in these tragic days and said that the purpose of his meeting was not to present a book, but to tell the audience about the perception of the aggressive war in Ukraine by German civil society. He is convinced that public opinion has greatly influenced the German government on the supply of weapons to Ukraine.

   Personally, as a German publicist, he wants to convey to the public that Putin's war is a war to exterminate the Ukrainian nation, similar to Hitler's war in his time. And for Ukraine, this is a war about the existence of Ukraine as a sovereign European state. But today, Ukraine defends not only itself, its borders, but also the whole of Europe and its freedom. Given these extremely important circumstances, Europe must unite and help Ukraine in every possible way on the path to victory, because due to the indecision of European countries and the United States in making decisions on the supply of weapons, russia was able to continue the war on the southern borders of Ukraine.

 
   Now Berlin and Washington are acting decisively, but there is still no consensus in making decisions on providing Ukraine with long-range weapons, which significantly slows down the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Concerns and arguments that Ukraine will use long-range weapons on the territory of russia are absolutely groundless. 

 

   Students did not remain indifferent to the speaker's speech and actively joined the discussion. Student of the specialty "International relations, public communications and regional studios" Melnychuk Vladyslav asked a question about when Mr. Winfried became interested in politics in Ukraine and what is the mood and attitude of German society to the events in Ukraine. To which Mr. Winfried replied that since the 70s of the twentieth century, he has been interested in Ukraine and constantly follows the events in Ukraine and even witnesses the revolution of dignity in 2014.  As for German society, it is divided into 2 camps – those who support Ukraine and condemn the war and those who are under the influence of russian propaganda. Mayorov Nazar, student of the specialty "International relations, public communications and regional studios", thanked Mr. Winfried Schneider-Deters for his pro-Ukrainian position and asked about Putin's motivation to start a war in Ukraine. Mr. Winfried replied that the main reason was the radical nationalism of the russian dictator.

   In his speech, Mr. Winfried Schneider-Deters thanked the students for their accurate and informative questions. He said that he was pleasantly surprised by their active civic position.
    For students of the specialty "Philology" interesting was not only the content of the lecture, but also the opportunity to listen to a native speaker of the language they are mastering.
Finally, Mr. Winfried Schneider-Deters expressed his vision for the future of Ukraine. He is convinced that Ukraine will defeat Putin's russia by force of arms.     And the future of Ukraine is membership in NATO and the EU!

Tetiana Kychkyruk,
curator of the MV-23002b group