Tim Mak
Good morning to readers; #Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.
Today we're taking you on a trip to Alessandra's favorite #fleamarket in Kyiv, where the artifacts on sale tell us something profound about Ukraine's rejection of its #Sovietera past
Hi there, it’s Alessandra here!
If I were to show off Kyiv to you, our first stop would be the Petrivka flea market, where a wealth of Soviet-era relics tells an interesting story about #Ukrainian history.
Tim Mak
Despite what might be for sale at Petrivka market, the discourse around Ukraine’s traumatic Soviet past is a constant one.
On Saturday, Ukrainians gathered to put candles in front of the Holodomor monument and share a minute of silence on Holodomor Memorial Day. The Holodomor or The Great Ukrainian Famine is believed to have been caused intentionally by Stalin to break Ukrainians and their resistance to his regime.
Tim Mak
The next document Oleksandr pulls out is someone’s school grades.
“Mmm…you see she didn’t do very well in anything…” he says, analyzing the document.
“Ah! Apart from music…she must have been an artist. That explains why she was bad at math.”
Oleksandr explains that this woman, like him, was from Chernihiv and studied at the same school as he did, yet he never knew her.
They attended 1 of only 2 Ukrainian language schools in Chernihiv at the time. The second one closed after he graduated.
Tim Mak
The abundance of Soviet memorabilia that is sold at these fairs might shock those who assume that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means all Soviet memories might be destroyed.
However, it would be wrong to interpret this as an expression of political support. It is simply a reflection of the history that Ukrainians have lived through and, perhaps less profoundly, what has accumulated in their basements over the last 30 or so years.
Tim Mak
And so the evidence of nearly a century of Soviet-era human activity ended up in the trash.
…Or in these flea markets, where people sell what once had deep meaning.
As decades have passed, some of these items with strange, unknowable journeys, end up in displays like this. To some, garbage; to others, valuable artifacts!
In many ways, the phrase ‘the dustbin of history’ has never been so fitting.
Tim Mak
One stall holder making a living from the dustbin of history is Oleksandr, who shows me around his store.
Among his other wares, Oleksandr sells old Soviet documents – they no longer have any use, but can teach you some fascinating personal histories.
The first few documents that he pulls out are ‘Work Booklets’.
Oleksandr explains that a Soviet citizen would have kept this their entire life and recorded all the jobs they ever had, in order to eventually be able to receive their pension.
Tim Mak
After going through the book market, which is a complex of 20 to 30 meter deep stalls fitted out with garage doors…
You we reached the flea market, where I would encourage you to marvel at the weird and wonderful assortment of randomness laid out by stall owners, but I would also use it as a chance to teach you about #Ukrainian #history
Tim Mak
The collapse of the #SovietUnion brought new ways of living that replaced what had existed for decades.
After #Ukraine became independent Soviet technology in large part failed to compete with Western alternatives and fell into disuse; hanging up posters of Lenin no longer meant the same thing; and Marx and Engels were replaced by American novelist Jack London, who became inexplicably popular…
Photo: Book by Engels at flea market.
Tim Mak
First we would take the blue line to Pochaina station.
One of the stops on the blue line is the ‘Ukrainian Heroes’ Square,’ which was formerly ‘Leo Tolstoy Square’ but was renamed when the full-scale invasion began. (Although, confusingly, only half of the signs have been replaced…)
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