ERASE THE NATION: A Film Screening

The “Erase the Nation” film by Tomasz Grzywaczewski premiered on Tuesday in Warsaw. It is a documentary showing the destruction of Ukraine's cultural heritage by Russian Federation troops since the invasion began on February 24, 2022.

Before the war, there were more than 5,000 museums, 65 historical-cultural reserves and about 170,000 monuments, including seven UNESCO World Heritage sites in Ukraine. During the ten months of the war, Ukraine's Ministry of Culture and Information Policy registered more than 800 cases of destruction by Russian troops on Ukraine's cultural heritage.

 

This number is growing every day, and still does not include all areas and damages.

 

“Erase the Nation” shows the deliberate destruction of Ukrainian monuments throughout the country, crimes committed against secular and sacred cultural heritage, from archaeological monuments to modern libraries and schools.

 

It also presents statements by Ukrainian cultural representatives that paint a picture of a deliberate struggle by barbaric invaders against Ukrainian identity.

 

As the National Institute of Cultural Heritage (NID), a body that commissioned the film, wrote, it also presents ways of securing and trying to protect the destroyed objects, as well as the scale of assistance that is and will be needed to protect and restore the cultural heritage located in Ukraine.

 

The picture was financed by funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and will be available for the public on the NID’s youtube channel on January 18.