"My uncles met in Siberia for speaking and singing in Ukrainian": the painful history of Ukrainian immigrants in Argentina

Tall, blonde, very beautiful, we saw him at dawn on Avenida Juan B. Justo. Loaded with thermos and bags, she sold coffee and bills. His usual customers – taxists, service station managers, policemen – knew that I was Ukrainian. And they commented that in her country she had been a doctor.

It was the 90s. Many similar stories populated Buenos Aires. In favor of a working visa agreement between Argentina and Ukraine, immigrants from this country began to arrive, which had just achieved independence in 1991, having been one of the 15 member countries of the USSR.

They had reached freedom, yes. But there was a lack of work and new horizons had to be found.

That's what he did Svitlana Diachenko. Today, she is a seamstress, she has her workshop Lambaré street, in Almagro. And he said to me:

-I was born in Lviv, in the west, very close to Poland. I came 19 years ago. The visa for Argentina was the cheapest, 25 dollars, I did not have the money to go to the United States or to a European country. I was divorced, my husband had gone to Canada to try his luck and stayed there. From time to time, he would send me 50 dollars, but there was a lot of crime, mafia. They discovered, they discovered me and they asked for money: "I kill you, give me the dollars".

His Spanish has a strong Slavic accent. He searches for words, but does not hesitate when he tells his heartbreaking story.

– I had four girls, I was very scared. I saw when a neighbor on the other side of the street was killed to steal an inheritance What can I expect? I had already started visa processing. In two weeks, I quickly sold my house secretly … I almost gave it, $ 5,000. And I escaped.

The contact with an evangelical church allowed him to reach Ezeiza and start a new life.

Much earlier, the first Ukrainian immigrants arrived in Argentina had done so. It was in 1897, when their land – Carpathian Galicia – was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They settled in Misiones and devoted themselves to growing maize, beans, squash, vegetables, rice and something that for them was an absolute novelty: yerba mate.

Over the years, successive waves of Ukrainians came especially from the apostles and developed this industry under their own name: "Rosamonte", from the Hreñuk family; "Romance", Gerula; "Kalena", work of Procopio; "Berjovena", Ostapowicz and "Vesna", manufactured by Alberto Spasiuk, whose one of the descendants, the accordionist Chango Spasiuk, symbolizes the musical integration between the root of Central Europe and the red earth that sheltered them.

In the early 30s, the activity of the yerba mate was consolidated in Misiones, thanks to the efforts of Ukrainian immigration. At the same time, in a distant Ukraine, the tragedy known as the Holodomor was unleashed.

This word (accented in the last "o") hides the face of Mariana Atamás, a 35 year old Ukrainian who arrived at age 15 and who is now a violinist from the Orquesta del Tango of Buenos Aires:

It was a genocide committed by Russia, which has just unveiled today. We must speak so that this does not happen again in any city.

The same says Olga Demczuk, another Ukrainian who has emigrated to our country and already has Argentine granddaughters.

-It was terrible … the city where I was born called Karkiv and it is there that most of the deaths took place. It was in 1932 and 1933. Russia wanted people who had a field and worked the land to collectivize. They were forced to give the beans to the government, to the party. Cows, everything. They confiscated everything by force Do you know what Holodomor means? "Kill with hunger". If the police found out that she had not delivered all the seeds to the state, she would go kill them. If they saw smoke coming out of a house at night, they would watch it because someone was cooking … they would move everything, remove the beans and kill them.

Anne Applebaum, chronicler of The Washington Post, published his book a few weeks ago Red Famine Stalin's war against Ukraine, where he points "the mbadacre by the hunger of nearly 4 million" Ukrainians ".

The documents indicate that the farms were expropriated and that the farmers who opposed They were shot or deported to Siberia. In Buenos Aires, the testimony of Olga adds drama to this literary content:

-People despaired and tried to escape. For years and years, there has been no mention of this. And in families, there was fear, no one wanted to talk, there was a lot of fear, to be feared to be betrayed, to be seen or to be heard . When I was small, nothing was said. My grandmother told me many years later.

The spontaneous version of Svitlana, with its marked Ukrainian accent, has all the value of authenticity:

-Holodomor … question of communist politics. In Ukraine, people had fields, cows. They took out wheat and brought it to Moscow and people died of starvation. One of my aunts is dead. And my grandmother keeps the beans in the trunk to feed the kids. To speak was dangerous. Many people do not understand. The Russians killed 7 million. You could not speak. My grandfather spoke slowly, only when it was dark. A neighbor opposite went mad and ate his little boy.

The book of Anne Applebaum He is one of the first to reveal what happened in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933:

–It was a totally planned extermination. Stalin knew that people were dying and more people were dying and not stopping him. This even worsened it, as evidenced by the death rate of the spring of 1933. The Russians wanted to weaken Ukraine and end forever the national movement. The famine was not the result of a drought or a poor harvest, but of a planned policy, which confiscated production and blocked the villages.

Natalia Shevchenko She has very clear eyes, like Svitlana, like Mariana, like Olga. And they are wet when it evokes:

-In the time of Holodomor, the end of Stalin was to kill the nationbecause the Ukrainians had a national feeling and that Ukraine was the USSR's farm. They wanted to oppress them. I have cases in my family of people who have died. It is in no way invented.

She came to Argentina in 1998 and her story is similar to all the others:

-In 1993, the open visa system between Argentina and Ukraine was set up at the time of Menem. I was 25 years old and my diploma of choral director and teacher of musical disciplines.

Natalia arrived with the illusion of working in Argentina. But his professional title did not help himcould not approve:

-I have tried to revalidate the title. I went to the Ministry of Education and Ukraine was not even on the list of countries with which an agreement had been reached. Revalidation was an inaccessible dream. I worked a year as a waitress, then another year as a nanny, and then as a girl. Then he came to study hospitality. They said "I brought you a high school diploma and that's all". But my Ukrainian title did not work … and I was already 27 years old.

What Natalia says happened to a lot, a lot.

Very shocking is the story of Valeri Shajov, at the antipodes ideological, who has his business of camping equipment in the street Rio de Janeiro to 800. He is 71 years old and arrived in Argentina in 1994:

–I was doctor and surgeon. After the fall of the USSR, it was very sad, they ruined the country in which I was born, I am from the USSR, we could not live economically. My salary was $ 13 a month. With my wife, who is a doctor in pharmacy, we thought about going to Poland. We had friends there, we spoke the language. But it was not easy. A friend told me that Argentina had an immigration program.

Valeri does not stop telling me:

-The Argentine consulate gave us some papers and told us "go to the house of the province of Neuquén in Buenos Aires … you will get a job immediately, because Neuquén needs doctors"

And here, Valeri raises his voice:

–Lie, mens, lie! I had traveled alone, because my wife had stayed to sell everything, the house, the car. And it was too late to return. Then I looked for a doctor job in hospitals. And there I knew that my title did not work. I had to play elementary school, high school, all career at the university and then residency.

The woman arrived with her little girl. Valeri worked as best he could, without knowing the language: he was cleaning supermarkets, a poultry shop. He was a cook and an illegal doctor on a fishing boat. Then he opened a company of latecomers and campers:

-But it's been a long time. We plan to close the company. My daughter has a medical degree and has already completed her second year of residency.

Even the most conventional nerdy novelty could not overcome the end of its story:

-My daughter is a doctor in Zapala, Neuquén. Finally, I will end up living there, in the same place where I could not practice the profession of doctor.

For Natalia, at age 27, returning to high school was not an obstacle:

-I did it for free, in a year. They've recognized me math and other sciences, which are the same all over the world. In the meantime, I did short courses, other things. Cosmetology, hairdressing … I worked four years in the beauty salon of the Hilton hotel. My two sons are born of all that.

One day, Natalia wanted to study hers:

–I am the music, I told myself … since I was seven, I play piano, I did art school in Ukraine, the university, I l & rsquo; Received. Then I wanted to return to mine and as in 2016, Ukraine entered the revalidation system with Argentina, I started studying again. But I have another problem because remote treatment requires study programs from my studies in Ukraine … and they no longer exist! With all the political changes that have occurred from today to today, let's find out what happened. My mother, who still lives in Ukraine, went to the archives but the programs do not exist. They've made me an official certificate, but the computer does not recognize it …

Mariana's father had a similar experience:

–He was an electronics engineer in Ukraine and wanted to revalidate his diploma upon his arrival. But they did not accept it. He worked until recently as a programmer and electronics technician. Because you will not find any Ukrainian starving. The Ukrainian people are hardworking and very enterprising. There is a lot of parallelism with the Argentines, their ability to survive and readjust.

The stories of immigrants all over the world and at any time have similarities. Fear, loneliness, lack of communication, are common pitfalls. And one way of knowing what a country looks like is how it treats immigrants. That's why it has comforted me to hear what Svitlana, the seamstress confessed:

–I thank the people of Argentina. Argentina has a heart, it helps you. There is no other like that. Once I went to England for an opportunity. I had six months and I did not want to know anything. When I got off the plane in Ezeiza, my heart was throbbing with joy."I want to be here"It was as if it had been said.

However, once, Ukrainians have returned. It was around 1952, when the USSR campaigned for the return of the Ukrainians of the world.

Now it's Olga Demczuk the one who tells a story that very few people know:

– My mom is Ukrainian and has never left Ukraine. But my father is Argentinian, he was born here. His family had come after the Second World War. And when they learned that they were invited back, they left. Then his parents – my grandparents – went there and took him away. Many people have done the same thing. They were told that they were going back to paradise, that they would be fine, that it was a great nation that was going to be reborn. When they boarded the port of Buenos Aires, there were people from the pier who shouted at them not to travel, that they were being deceived. But they did not believe it. Even the ship's crew told them "why go there, do not leave".

-And what happened when they arrived?

As soon as they stepped on the harbor, they realized that the truth was different, very different, but that it was too late. There was a plan and they designated a place for them. My father, who was already a teenager, sent him to Belarus.

The newcomers have been treated as traitors to the homeland, like criminals. Some might come back, as in the case of Olga's parents, thanks to his father born in Argentina. As can be remembered, Leopoldo Bravo, our country's ambbadador to the USSR at the time, made an almost impossible repatriation.

The families were dismembered and could only be reunited several years later. The consequences were very painful and Natalia explains it as follows:

-Many families have been divided. The policy of the USSR was to make a Soviet nation, there were 15 republics, their policy was to mix everyone. My grandmother was a doctor, she was received in Ukraine at the age of 18 years. They sent her to work 3 years obligatorily in the Ural mountains, you had to go where the party had sent you. They did it to mix the blood. My grandfather is Russian, my father was born in Russia, I am Ukrainian. Half of the family is in Ukraine, half in Russia. But it's like a fire you have inside. You do not know how not to love them. You must be a diplomatic diplomat when there is blood involved. It's a real crackyou must be very wise when it comes to family and they are pro russian and i am ukrainian … you are pro russian i am pro ukrainian and i want to kill you because you do not think like me and vice versa. You can not instill in him his feeling for his country because he grew up there, you can not convince another person.

It's a crack, really. Svitlana also feels it like this:

–Russia brings people with roots and everything. They do not care. They killed, as always … they grab and believe it's theirs … they do not care, that's their policy. Here in Argentina, there are people who were raised when the USSR was there, they were educated by them and they were brainwashed. I do not argue with these people because it makes no sense … they call us "crazy Ukrainians".

Far away, in another country, some painful differences disappear. But do not forget:

-I have several uncles who ended up in Siberia just for talking, for singing in ukrainian – says Mariana Atamás.

– Before in Ukraine, everyone spoke Russian. And the Ukrainian language has been denigrated. They tried not to talk. They said it was a language for people without education – adds Olga.

– Talking in Ukrainian was not prestigious and it was even dangerous because you could be denounced-Confirms Natalia.

A few blocks away, in his camping activity, Valeri – the frustrated surgeon – shows the gap that exists in Ukrainian immigration:

– I have nostalgia for my country, the Soviet Union. At that time, there was education for boys, work, holidays … all without money … drugs … not poverty on the street. We all had work. Not rich, no luxury … but we lived well.

The chronicler listens to all the testimonies. Also that of Svitlana:

-Aca the conflict is moved to Argentina, for a question of politics What policy! We are in Argentina. According to the policy, the Russian who had employed Ukrainian, threw him. And vice versa, the Ukrainian has launched Russian. Everything for politics. Ukraine is there, what policy. A madness. Separated families, Ukrainian wife and Russian husband separated, for politics. A madness.

The 12,816 kilometers that separate Buenos Aires from Kiev inevitably mitigate the echo of conflicts. Theto life in the new place where new goals are installed. Thus, Mariana adds to his activity as a violinist at the Orquesta del Tango of Buenos Aires as a member of the orchestra of Ariel Ardit and the Sciamarella Tango group:

-With the Sciamarella, we were in Ukraine. It was very exciting, we met a quartet of Ukrainian tango, Trinidad Arfó.

With this information, the columnist did a search on YouTube. And the discovery was unexpected.

The signs offered by the Ukrainian community in different places are also unexpected.

For example, in each kiosk of "The jevi", property of Alexander Evterev, arrived in Argentina with his parents at the age of 9 without knowing how to speak Spanish, he started his chain in 2012 in Cabrera and Sánchez de Bustamante and now has 30 branches.

Or in the paradox of locating his Church of Santa María del Patrocinio, cathedral and housing of the Ukrainian community, located at 3960, Ramón Falcón street, is the chief of the police who was killed by the anarchist Simón Radowitzky, born in Ukraine, in the current Dnipró on the banks of the Dnieper.

This river flows through the exclusion zone of Chernobyl, where on April 26, 1986, the nuclear power plant exploded, while Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. After the disaster, which spread toxic clouds all over Europe, a 30 km exclusion zone was set up. There were thousands of evacuees, for a very long time. Even today, 33 years later, the consequences of this terrible nuclear accident are unknown.

After the epidemic, 5 million Ukrainians have left their country. And 15,000 chose Argentina:

Nobody wanted to receive us, the only country not to impose restrictions to receive us was Argentina. We are very grateful – Lesia Paliuk, president of Oranta, an badociation of immigrants from Europe, told me one day in her offices on Tucumán Street.

At first, the great news did not spread. Natalia is once again appealing to her memories:

-I had 13 years old … it was chaos. To understand everything about Chernobyl, one needs to know a little more about the history of the USSR and about the mentality in which we grew up, how they educated us in this society. It was just like looking and not like it really was. The reality was not shown, many things were hidden, we did not really know the seriousness of the case.. We knew after many years.

Today, when a giant sarcophagus was installed covering the remains of the factory, many people are defying the restrictions and live in the area.

In places like Pripyat, Samosely, Steshchyna or Paryshiv, not only the ancient inhabitants continue to live, octogenarians, but recently new residents have arrived, because the houses are very cheap, almost gifted.

These are people who come from the east of Ukraine. From Donbbad, the heart of the coal industry, where the cities of Donetsk and Lugansk are experiencing a war that much of the world has not heard of.

Places bombed day and night. This is why they are installed in abandoned houses after the nuclear explosion, exposing them to the consequences of radiation.

Maryna, who fled with her daughters from Toshkivka, a large industrial city of Donbbad, confessed:

-It is better to live with radiation than with the war. In any case, it can kill us slowly, but it does not shoot us or bombard us …

Natalia points out in Buenos Aires:

– The bombing planes come from Russia.

-The Russians went to war … they fight each other. We try to bring parents here. I have released a nephew from the war.

And says Mariana, the violinist:

-Geographically, we are very far and the information that reaches us are rare. But today, 19-year-old boys die every day. They are fighting in the east of Ukraine, at the border. It's a war.

Meanwhile, other Ukrainians are news in the world. The pop singer Maruv was forced by Ukrainian television to give up its participation in the Eurovision: he was judged undecided to condemn the Russian invasion of Crimea.

For its part, the Boxing World Champion Vasyl LomachenkoConsidered one of the best pugilists in history and will be fighting on April 12 in Los Angeles, he set himself in the opposite direction: "I'm proud to be born in Ukraine, I feel happy to take a Ukrainian flag after a fight and I am a Ukrainian boy, I am Ukrainian. "

In those hours, Ukraine, this country at war, with deep political power, chooses the president. There were 44 registered candidates. In polls, the candidate with the greatest intention to vote is a person without a political past: Volodomir Zelenskiy, a television comedian.

Maybe Mariana is right: there is a lot of parallelism between Ukrainians and Argentines.