The Odesa Theater discussed deportations, repressions, and the art of memory

The Vasyl Vasylko Ukrainian Theater in Odesa hosted an open discussion titled "Fighting Memory: Vyrii as a Meeting Place".

As Intent's correspondent reported, the event was dedicated to the Day of Remembrance of Victims of Political Repression and the anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people.

The discussion brought together artists, researchers, public figures, and officials around the play Vyrii, a profound theater production about collective memory, historical trauma, struggle, and the resilience of Ukrainians.

The participants included writer and linguist Oleksa Riznykiv, head of the NGO Crimean Tatars of Odesa Region Fevzi Mamutov, chief director of the theater and director of Vyrii Oleksandr Samusenko, actress Iryna Sheliag, PhD in Philosophy Oksana Dovhopolova, PhD in Political Science Iryna Matsyshina, and Yaroslava Riznykova, deputy director of the Department of Culture, Nationalities, Religions and Protection of Cultural Heritage at the Odesa Regional State Administration.

They talked about how art turns historical pain into an impetus for comprehension, how the memory of repression, famines, and deportations helps to shape Ukrainian identity, and how theater becomes a living space for people and meanings to meet.

The event became part of a broader cultural process of returning the truth, rooting historical memory, and affirming national dignity.

Earlier, during a live broadcastof Intent.Insight, Fevzi Mamutov , head of the NGO Crimean Tatars of Odesa Region, said that there is not a single Crimean Tatar family that has not been affected by the crime of the former Soviet Union's leadership - the deportation of Crimean Tatars 80 years ago. He reminded that back then, on May 18, 1944, for at least 19 days, people were traveling in freight cars without any facilities that were not adapted for transportation of people: it was a real genocide of Crimean Tatars. Many people - including children - died on the way. Their corpses were simply thrown out of the wagons through the windows without burial by their families.

Photo: Intent/Natalia Dovbysh

Ірина Глухова