Story: Nataliia Pryhornytska
Illustration: #OlenaStaranchuk
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Nataliia moved from Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine to Germany right after leaving school when she was 16 years old. She immediately felt the need to tell people a lot about Ukraine, because little was known about the country at that time. So Natalia understood, while still at the university, that her mission was to make people fall in love with Ukraine.
After the Revolution of Dignity in 2013—2014 and Russia's attack on Ukraine in 2014, the need for knowledge about events in Ukraine increased. The political context was added. People in the EU knew little about the history and internal politics of Ukraine, Russian-Ukrainian relations, and the values, culture and everyday life of Ukrainians. Among the projects undertaken by Nataliia was a letter in support of Oleh Sentsov, a Ukrainian film director, who was a political prisoner in Russia from 2014 to 2019 and went on hunger strike. In 2018, Nataliia was able to collect signatures demanding the release of Sentsov from Nobel laureates, German parliamentarians and opinion leaders which contributed to his release.
Nataliia also worked as a spokesperson for the Green Party, where she represented the countries of Eastern Europe. As part of this activity, she also reminded the parliament about Ukraine's interests.
After the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the number of Ukrainian non-governmental organizations and activists in Germany have increased significantly. They are strengthened by the unity and mutual assistance offered by Natalia and others. Donations are collected for the Armed Forces, some people engage in educational work and others help displaced people. As a result of all these activities, Nataliia, together with supporters, decided to create the Alliance of Ukrainian Organizations. The main goal of the Alliance is to speak coherently on behalf of Ukrainians and Ukrainian organizations, make joint projects and unite for the sake of victory. So far, the Alliance has already managed to unite organizations in Berlin, and now Nataliia with the team is planning to expand to the whole of Germany.