Book about Ukrainian refugees launched at Chisinau-based museum

Chisinau, 22 September /MOLDPRES/ - One-way Suitecase (20 real stories of Ukrainian refugees) is the title of a book has been launched at the National History Museum.  ” 

The project was implemented by the Jewish organization, Agudat Israel, which accepted and hosted more than 25,000 Ukrainian refugees of various nationalities, just from the first weeks of war. The authors of the interviews are journalists Yulia Semeonova (Moldova) and Elena Zadorozhnaya (Germania). ‘’We ruled to publish the book in the English language specially for the western reader. The people who live far from hostilities, beyond the ocean, do not always understand that the war is not only geopolitics, but a human tragedy; these are broken destinies, destroyed families. I saw thousands of refugees, who lost everything at once - homes, jobs and even the beloved ones. Tens of volunteers from Moldova, Israel, Germany worked non-stop, accepted the disaster of the refugees as their own one, were rendered sensitive by the others’ pain,’’ one of the authors of this publication, deputy director of the Agudat Israel organization, Mihail Finkel, said.     

At the book’s launch, Rabin Pinchas Salzman, the head of the Agudat Israel Jewish community, referred to the way he had managed to book hotel rooms for refugees, to organize dinners and medical cares, thanked the embassies of the State of Israel and other countries who host refugees for understanding, receptiveness and cooperation.   

Culture Minister Sergiu Prodan conveyed a message. ‘’One-way Suitcase is a book title which disturbed me. I imagine this unhuman scene, when on the cold morning of 24 February, old people, mothers with small children, put the most important things in the suitcase, but especially – the hope. We must read this book, as it is about an unimaginable reality for the 21st century, so close to the border of our country, putting so much people on the road of pain. We thank the authors and the Cartier publishing house for this book, as well as the Agudat Israel Association and Rabin Pinchos Zaltzman for support. I send you a bunch of white flowers, as a token of peace, with the hope that the second volume, Return way suitcase!, will appear soon,’’ the official said.

Photo: Iiosif Snegovik