Documenting Ukraine

What does it mean to live in a war zone? How has the war changed the country? How do people live their daily lives in occupied territories? It is difficult to imagine life in Ukraine from afar. By supporting “Documenting Ukraine”, we want to give a human face to the war in Ukraine. It is particularly important to us that Ukrainians and their everyday lives are at the center of the project. In this way, we strengthen people who are directly experiencing this war. The project offers the local grantees the opportunity to contribute to making the war accessible and understandable to the public. In addition, they can process their experiences through their reports, the collection of testimonies or through their art.

The aim of the project is to document the war in Ukraine from the personal perspective of local people, thus making it more tangible. The works contribute to raising public awareness of the war in an artistic way and to preventing it from being forgotten. Furthermore, the diversity of testimonies – from photos and videos to podcasts, films and literature – shows the richness of Ukrainian culture.

The project is aimed at scientists, journalists, intellectuals, artists and archivists. They are invited to submit a project idea for “Documenting Ukraine” through regular calls. If their application is successful, they will receive a one-time grant of €5,000 to realize their project. The grantees retain full intellectual property rights to their works. Through the network of the Institute for Human Sciences (Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, IWM), they receive additional opportunities to present their works to the public. In 2023, over 200 people in Ukraine were supported by the program.