YIVO's Work in Kyiv Is More Urgent Than Ever

Earlier this year, YIVO signed an agreement with the Vernadsky Library in Kyiv to preserve and digitize precious collections related to S. An-sky's Jewish Ethnographic Expedition of 1912-1914 across the Pale of Settlement. These materials (from the 15th to the 20th centuries) offer an extraordinary window into Jewish life before the devastation of the Holocaust, preserving the voices, traditions, and experiences of communities that were largely destroyed. They are among the last surviving witnesses to a rich civilization that once flourished across Eastern Europe.

Monday’s Russian drone attack in central Kyiv severely damaged the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, located only about 250 meters—a two-to-three-minute walk—from the Vernadsky Library where the An-sky collection is stored.

The severe damage inflicted on a major cultural and scientific institution so close to the Vernadsky Library demonstrates just how vulnerable these irreplaceable and unique records remain.

Digitization of these materials has already begun. Russian aggression has made this task more urgent than ever. For more than a century, YIVO has worked to preserve and safeguard the irreplaceable record of Jewish life and heritage from destruction. Today, invaluable cultural treasures in Ukraine are now at extreme risk amid the ongoing war.

Your support of YIVO’s mission is essential to our efforts.

Thank you,

Jonathan Brent
Executive Director & CEO