When solidarity goes beyond words, Young jewish activist’s journey to Ukraine — Interview with EUJS’s President Hanna Veiler
by Gabriel Venezia
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, young Ukrainians have remained connected to European Jewish youth life, despite the difficulties brought by the war. For EUJS, solidarity cannot be one-way. This time, the European Union of Jewish Students decided to travel to Ukraine and meet in person the people they had previously supported and stood alongside from afar.
Together with WUJS and with the support of OlamAid, a delegation travelled to Ukraine to meet young people and members of the Jewish community, listen to their experiences, and better understand their everyday life.
The visit also marked the launch of a fundraising campaign by EUJS, WUJS and OlamAid to help make the shelter of a Jewish community school in Kharkiv safer, where children seek refuge during air-raid alerts.
A few days after returning from Ukraine, HaTikwa interviewed Hanna Veiler, President of EUJS, about the trip, what she saw and the people she met along the way.
Why did you decide to travel to Ukraine, and why was it so important to be there in person?
International organisations often expect young people from regions affected by crises to travel to take part in our events.
But for us, it is important that the relationship is not one-way. Travelling is very difficult for Ukrainians, especially for men. Most people in the age group we work with at EUJS, and of course at WUJS, cannot leave the country because they have to serve. It is also very expensive and difficult for them to travel around Europe.
Instead of expecting them to come to us and tell us what they need, we decided to go to them, meet them, and learn about their reality firsthand. This helps us understand and highlight the needs of Ukrainians, especially young Ukrainian Jews.
We wanted to understand the challenges they face and how they should influence our political work and how we develop our programmes.
What are the needs of young Ukrainian Jews, and what does choosing to remain in Ukraine mean for them?
The Ukrainian Jewish community is extremely diverse, so young Ukrainians will give different answers.
We were only in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine close to the Polish border. We had planned to go to Kyiv as well, but because of the intensification of attacks in recent months, we were unable to do so.
The reality in Lviv is very different from that of young Jews living in Kyiv, Zaporizhzhya, Kherson or Kharkiv, where people are forced to spend a great deal of time in shelters.
We also asked everyone we met about antisemitism. Historically, it has been a very significant problem in Ukraine. Today, however, it plays a relatively limited role in the reality of the country’s Jewish communities.
When you have to worry about whether your loved ones will survive, whether your partner will return from the front, or whether you will wake up safe the next morning, other problems become much more urgent. The priorities are existential questions and survival.
The organisation that invited us is called Tvory, which means “to create” in Ukrainian. Their slogan is “It is not easy but move”.
I think that the slogan captures how young Ukrainians feel. Many of the people we met had the opportunity to leave the country and build a life elsewhere, but they chose to stay.
They create spaces, take part in political debate, and refuse to give up on their democracy. Even though the country is at war, there are protests and political debates about its future.
The priorities of the Ukrainian Jewish community are therefore very different from those we are used to in Western Europe. The main concern is surviving the war and preparing to rebuild the country once it ends.
The mission took place in Lviv, a city with an incredibly rich Jewish history. Who are the Jews living there today? Are they connected to the city’s historic Jewish community?
The community living in Lviv today does not descend directly from the city’s historic Jewish community.
The city is located in Galicia, historically one of Europe’s most important Jewish regions. Around 200,000 Jews lived in Lviv, and around 1,000 of them survived the Holocaust.
Today’s community largely comes from other parts of the former Soviet Union. After the Holocaust, Soviet policies led to the movement of people and the reconstitution of Jewish communities, bringing Jews from across its territory.
As a result, today’s Lviv community is, in many aspects, very different from the historic Jewish community that lived in the city before the Holocaust.
Was there any particular moment or place you saw during the trip that stayed with you?
A lot of things stayed with me. In Lviv, until an air-raid alert sounds, life can seem quite normal. The cafés, bars and restaurants are full.
We went to a festival organised by the organisation that invited us, which brought together around 6,000 young people from across Ukraine. During the day there are political programmes, and in the evening there is a concert. At times, it feels like any other festival.
For a moment, you can forget that there is a war. People try to cope with it by supporting one another, creating moments of joy and finding the energy they need to get through the winter.
Then comes the return to reality.
We visited the Unbroken Center, a rehabilitation centre in Lviv. Here, soldiers receive prostheses, learn how to use them, and receive psychological support. There are also facilities for children and civilians who have been injured in attacks.
What struck me most is that they are young. They are my age. Some have lost their legs, others their arms. You see many people with prostheses walking through the streets.
These are the moments when you remember that there is a war. Not being at the front does not mean that the war is not present.
Everyone has a story to tell about relatives or friends who have been killed. We also visited the cemetery of fallen Ukrainian heroes. You walk among the graves and see photographs on every headstone, often of very young men and women.
It was a very powerful contrast. We did not expect the city to be so alive, with people going out and celebrating life.
But, in reality, life goes on. People try to live until the war reminds them once again that it is there.
Do you see similarities between Ukrainian and Israeli society, particularly in their ability to continue living and maintain a sense of normality away from the front?
Absolutely. One of the first things we heard from everyone we spoke to in the Jewish community was that support for Israel within Ukrainian society is relatively strong. People can understand the idea that Israel is at war because it has to defend itself and because it is a matter of survival.
I think resilience is the main point of connection: continuing to live despite uncertainty, not knowing what tomorrow will bring, and becoming adults very early because, for example, you might have to serve your country at 18.
Young people are also trying not to focus exclusively on the war. They are asking themselves what comes next and what needs to be discussed today to build their future.
They are deeply concerned about democracy and their rights. They protest despite the war.
This is another important similarity between Ukraine and Israel: nothing can be taken for granted. You have to fight for your country, for your democracy and for your rights.
Is there a way for European and Western Jews to support EUJS and help move this programme forward? Are you planning further initiatives as part of your presidency?
Right now, we are trying to bring together 15 young European leaders and 15 young Ukrainian Jewish leaders for an exchange programme. The main goal would be to learn from them about resilience.
When we were developing the idea of going to Ukraine, we asked ourselves what we could bring. The truth is that, when it comes to resilience, we cannot teach anything to people who are living through a war. They know much more about it than we do.
A programme like this would be extremely valuable because we often see Ukrainians only as victims, while they are so much more than that.
More broadly, our main goal is to make sure that communities facing such high levels of risk, and who are among the most vulnerable, are seen and can feel the support of people outside the country.
EUJS is a small organisation at the European level, but whenever people hear that we are based in Brussels, you can see a spark in their eyes. They immediately start pushing for support because they need the backing of European governments.
For Jewish unions and young Jewish activists in Europe, I think EUJS wants us, whenever we have the opportunity, to stand up for Ukraine and for the Ukrainian Jewish community.
We are all Jews in Europe, and that is an important identity we share. But Ukrainians are not only fighting for their country; they are also fighting for the rest of Europe.
We need to keep talking about Ukraine and not forget the war that is taking place there. We need to learn more about its history, particularly its Jewish history.
I hope that one day, when this war is finally over, we will be able to bring an entire delegation of young European leaders to Ukraine. Maybe we will be able to do it even while the war is still ongoing.
What is your dream for the future of Ukraine and, of course, for young Ukrainians?
Freedom, life, dignity, and security. I wish that no one had to die for their country or for freedom.
These are concepts that should have been left in the past, but they have not been, because ideologies such as Russian imperialism still exist. As a result, people have to fight for their freedom.
I want them to have a normal life. My wish for Ukrainians is similar to what I want for Israelis, Jews, and any community threatened by existential dangers: I want them to be able to return to being normal people, able to worry about the ordinary things that, during a war, can seem irrelevant.
That is my greatest wish.
Laureato in storia all’Università di Firenze, studente magistrale in scienze storiche. Appassionato di politica, viaggi, calcio, letture, ed est Europa.
