Bohdan Kolomiychuk: Cultural figures should follow our soldiers to the destroyed cities

What kind of transformation does a person who considers themselves 100% civilian undergo when suddenly forced to take up arms? What happens to a writer who is completely deprived of the ability to write for an extended period of time? What drives the Ukrainian military, which, despite the enemy’s superior strength, breaks all stereotypes and demonstrates new ways of warfare? These are the topics we discuss in the special project Words and Bullets, implemented by Chytomo and the Ukrainian PEN, with writer Bohdan Kolomiychuk, who has been in the ranks of the Ukrainian army for eight months now.

– In just a few days before the start of the great war, you were abroad, and then within a week, you found yourself in line at the Lviv military enlistment office. What motivated your decision: a sense of civic duty, a desire to be a part of the historical events happening here and now, or a writer’s need to experience this firsthand?

– The decision seemed to be the only right one in that situation. I never imagined myself as a military person before, always considering myself 100% civilian, to whom almost all the attributes of the army were foreign and even repulsive: from the uniform to the drill. However, when I heard the news of the Russian invasion on the morning of February 24th, the first thing I did was Google where my military enlistment office was located and how to get there.

photo courtesy of Bohdan Kolomiychuk

What guided me? I think it was a simple desire to protect my home and my loved ones. At that time, I wasn’t thinking about my duties as a citizen, nor any writerly needs or intentions. All I knew, and all the “thousands like me” outside the military enlistment office knew, was that the enemy was near, and we had to prepare for their arrival. Eventually, people talk about “historical transformations” after wars are over. But at first, a person feels a sharp instinctual need to stand in solidarity with like-minded individuals.

– How do you feel now, being in your eighth month of military service?

– Over this time, there have been some changes. In particular, I was given a different military rank. Now I’m a junior sergeant. I’m unlikely to pursue a career in the army, as I am a writer, not a military person, but it’s still nice. Of course, there are also certain responsibilities that come with this. Unlike before, I cannot position myself as 100% civilian. The army is such an environment that, whether you want it or not, it gets under your skin, makes adjustments to your inner world, and it starts living in the military rhythm too.

Although, to be honest, there is a sense of temporariness, conviction, hope, and ultimately that this won’t last forever. That eventually, those of us who were mobilized at the very beginning (and here I speak not only from my own experience but also from the experience of my colleagues Artem Chapeye, who also actively writes about this on Facebook, and Artem Chekh) will be replaced by others. And we will be given the opportunity to rest, to return to our families, to our professions. Because we are first and foremost writers, and it is important for us not to abandon this literary front. The main task of an author is to write, attend festivals, and represent Ukraine on the international stage.

– If we consider a pessimistic scenario, the war will last for a long time, perhaps for years. Or, let’s say there will be a pause, and then a new phase will begin. If you had a choice, to either fight or focus solely on writing, what would you choose?

– Without a doubt, I would do the same thing again. I remember the first days when I literally arrived from Germany, where I mostly lived, just a few days before the full-scale Russian invasion. Even then, I went through all the stages of becoming a “primary Ukrainian soldier”: from confusion to acceptance.

Would I do it again? Yes. Because at that time it seemed like the only right decision. It doesn’t matter who you are: a writer, an engineer, or a supermarket salesperson — when someone breaks into your home, the natural reflex is to defend your home and your loved ones — there is no other option. That’s why it would work for me again, second, and third time. And probably will work again. If necessary, I’ll go back to the front line.

– Are you able to write now?

– I had to put literature on hold because army life doesn’t leave any time for creativity. It’s unfortunate because I had numerous plans with my Ukrainian publisher “The Old Lion”, and with the Polish one. I have a manuscript for a new novel that I occasionally revisit and materials that I sometimes sort through. However, being a novelist requires daily persistent work, and my service leaves no free time.

At the end of October, I was supposed to participate in the Krakow Book Fair, but I had to cancel my participation in advance. There is a fragile hope, but I try not to get too excited about it. Leaving the country as a military serviceman during a time of war is quite difficult. It’s unfortunate because during this time, my Polish publisher will be celebrating its anniversary. It’s an important date for the founder, Magdalena Koperska, and for the authors. Since my books have been translated into Polish, I have only been able to present them once in Poland. It was a happy period between the end of the pandemic and the beginning of the war, a small window of opportunity. After that, that space-time window closed. And now, it seems that the chance of it happening again won’t come anytime soon, unless a miracle happens.

Read also: Ihor Mitrov: A bohemian poet at war turns into an ordinary soldier

– You said that the present day will give birth to a Ukrainian Hemingway. Should a writer take direct part in military actions in order to write about war? In your opinion, how important are accuracy and imagination in creating military literature?

– You can write about war in different ways. After all, war is not just on the front lines. Remember, for example, the novel “Magnetism” by Petro Yatsenko, where events take place mainly in peaceful (or supposedly peaceful) cities. And yet the war is keenly felt there. Or Zhadan’s “Internat”, where, as we understand it, the war is literally on the next street, but the characters are not military and there are no descriptions of combat actions. And the same goes for Haska Shyian and her controversial novel “Behind the Back”. It is also a novel about war, but a different kind – the war of inner experiences. About how a person breaks down from within, trying to pass such a dose of reality through themselves.

photo courtesy of Bohdan Kolomiychuk

At the same time, since 2014, we have a well-formed layer of veteran literature where the most valuable things are the author’s own experience, the accuracy of facts and emotions experienced. After all, as history shows, the best works about war appear after the war. It must take at least a year or two. Anyway, great times await our literature. And our country.

– What other books do you consider to be examples of war literature?

– I don’t know if I’ll be original, but I really love Remarque. My Kindle finally arrived, and it’s just pure joy. I eagerly reread “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “The Triumphal Arch”. Although they are more commonly called anti-war novels. I think it is a good, significant cultural event that the Old Lion Publishing House has obtained the rights to translate Hemingway. And even before the war, I managed to buy these publications and reread some of them. In particular, I enjoyed rereading “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. Because the last time I read this novel, probably like many of us, was in the late 90s. Most likely, in Russian.

If we talk about more naturalistic prose, I also read Céline’s “Journey to the End of the Night” before the war. I don’t remember what made me do it, probably because I myself work with this period of the First World War in my own writing. One of my favorite writers is Galician Joseph Roth, whom I read, reread, and quote almost always. In particular, his unsurpassed “Radetzky March”.

I often wonder if we, the writers who are now on the front line, will be the same “Lost Generation.” Because we will definitely return from here as different people. We will write good literature, but we will lose more than we gain. However, much of this depends not so much on us as on how our readers and society as a whole perceive us. Because we will change. War changes everyone, whether they are in the midst of it or in the rear. Especially, war changes creative people. And these changes are irreversible. They will affect both our personalities and our creativity.

– Let’s talk about military service. How would you characterize the modern Ukrainian army? What changes have occurred in it?

– It’s hard for me to compare, because I didn’t do conscript service, I volunteered right away. But in my previous unit, there were many comrades who served in the Soviet army. From their stories, you understand that it’s just two different worlds. One is some kind of absolute absurdity, the other is a cohesive, motivated, and effective structure. The Soviet soldier, who was thrown into a hotspot, did not understand why he was there. And in general, why did he need this multinational Soviet army with its hazing and idiocy? I’m not saying that this has been completely eradicated in the Ukrainian army, but each of us knows why we are here and what we are here for. Therefore, clear motivation and understanding of our purpose is a defining feature of the modern Ukrainian soldier.

– What is the atmosphere in your unit like? Tell me about your relationships with your comrades. Who are these people?

– In the army, perhaps more than anywhere else, you realize that you are no longer on your own. You can no longer afford the luxury of being an independent individual or a closed-minded person. The army is a well-built mechanism where communication between people is one of the foundations of success. How well we understand each other in a critical situation will literally determine whether we and those behind us will live or not.

My comrades are just like me: mobilized or volunteers. They come from diverse professions, ranging from IT specialists to musicians and doctors. The only thing that unites us is the understanding of why we’re here.

Of course, a lot of terrible, horrible things happen in war, things that you want to forget, but a lot of funny things happen too. For example, we all have different ways of dealing with army life, especially in the fall when we have to chop wood, light the stove, or fight mice…

From the latest funny story: I managed to cook. I finally cooked bograch (a spicy soup with meat and vegetables). But I cooked it according to my own recipe, which contains a lot of spices. That is, I cooked authentic Transcarpathian bohrach, which I love very much. And so when I invited my comrades to taste the meal, it turned out that it was too spicy for them – the poor guys had tears in their eyes. My officer was “crying” as well. At that time I was ready to rename this recipe “Officer’s Tears”… After the ” demobilization” we will have to organize such evenings of memories of writers’ army days. I think that readers there will definitely not only be sad or shed a tear, but also laugh.

I post a lot of stories on my Facebook page, and it’s important to me. Before, I didn’t really pay much attention to social media, except for the necessary minimum for writers when inviting to a presentation or promoting a book. And then I appreciated them from a completely different perspective. It’s nice when your virtual audience, who used to read you in peacetime, stays with you even now. When you are not writing anymore, or at least not yet, because you are wearing a uniform and carrying weapons, you see the comments of the same people, see their hearts or likes. It’s like meeting old friends. Although I probably haven’t met most of them in real life…

Overall, this is a separate topic: how people started to perceive you since mobilization. Some people – a few, really, but still – began to avoid you. It’s as if, like in Kafka’s novel, I turned into a bug. There seemed to be a transformation, and now it’s more comfortable to keep a distance. But, at the same time, there are a lot of new people, previously unfamiliar, who now sincerely offer help. So, I have the impression that it’s like a Rubik’s cube: these times have simply put all the puzzle pieces in their places. I think every military person, especially mobilized, experienced this.

– What is the secret to the success of our army? The West had very skeptical predictions about our participation in this war. But despite everything, it often seems like we are doing the impossible. You mentioned motivation… What else makes us so successful?

– As a military person, I can say that the army is a structure that heavily depends on the personality of the commander. We have such a personality, we have a center. His name is General Zaluzhnyi. He not only defeated the entire active vanguard of the Russian army, but also shattered Western stereotypes, as you mentioned. Zaluzhnyi is simply rewriting all the textbooks that have been studied in military universities so far. You will see, this war will be studied all over the world as a model of how to counteract as a well-coordinated, motivated minority against a self-confident chaotic majority whose goal is only destruction.

photo courtesy of Bohdan Kolomiychuk

For an army, destruction is a very poor motivation. Victory requires a different goal: to defend your own, to protect what is yours. I will not be original: our children are behind our shoulders, the shoulders of the Ukrainian soldier. And we know that. What is behind the orcs’ shoulders? The toilets and washing machines they stole? I don’t know what pushes Russians forward. For me, it’s a mystery: how can you consciously move forward without understanding why you are doing it? One can understand why professional scoundrels do this: Wagnerites or Kadyrovites. Why an average Russian soldier does this, I don’t know…

– Looking at current events in a historical context, how likely is it that we will succeed this time?

Now everything is different. We have a unique historical chance to break this vicious circle of our history. Our ancestors walked this path, but we will not. We have no choice but to fulfill this historic mission. Otherwise, we will simply disappear.

We are fighting because we understand that if Russia wins, we will not exist – in a physical sense. The whole world is shocked after the events in Bucha and Izium, shocked by the modern barbarism and savagery of the Russian army. And this is not the end. They will destroy everything they can reach. This is not a civilized nation, it is a historical mistake. Russia cannot exist in such a state formation anymore. And the whole world must understand this. Otherwise, the whole world will disappear, and only Russia will remain.

– If you could go back to any previous era, which one would you choose and why? Who would Bogdan Kolomiychuk be in it? What would you like to change there, if you had the opportunity to influence historical processes?

– Despite everything, I am a man of my time, and I take full advantage of it. I like modern gadgets and cars. I like to travel by airplane and high-speed train. At least, that was the case in my pre-war life. So I wouldn’t want to be in any of the previous eras.

There’s a good novel called “Time and Time Again” by Ben Elton on this very topic. In it, the hero is sent back in time to prevent Gavrilo Princip from killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and thus saving humanity from the horrors of the First World War. He succeeded, but the world did not improve. Another war broke out, which turned out to be even more brutal and large-scale. 

Fortunately, we can only live in the here and now. In times when, as they say, even God wears the uniform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. To live and create the future, leaving the past in the past.

Read also: Valeriy Puzik: The war is when everyone does what it takes

– How would you describe the changes in Ukrainian society that have taken place over the past six months of war?

– I wouldn’t say that there have been dramatic changes over the past six months. Remember, we united back in 2013. The years 2013-2014 were the first bloody years in our modern history, our liberation history, and they also dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s. Even then it became clear who was who. There have been no major changes since then. 

Since 2014, we have learned to help the army. And now it is very useful, I feel it on myself as a military man. I have a lot of things donated by volunteers that I really needed. Because nowhere else is there such a fluidity of things and equipment as at the front. We have a well-developed mechanism of volunteering – it actually saves lives and works wonders. One of these miracles happened in my unit: we really needed transportation. And as soon as we sent a request to our volunteer friends, they raised money for a bus in less than half a day. This is fantastic. I don’t think any other country would have raised money for the army’s transport so quickly. This is our uniqueness.

At the same time, after the war, I think we will face some disappointments. In order for our entire country to become whole – in terms of values, worldview, and culture – we will need to work harder. We lost a lot of time from 1991 to 2013. This time was criminally wasted. I probably won’t be original if I say that we should have focused on Ukrainian books, adopted the experience of the Baltic countries in terms of book trade and cultural policy in general. We should have realized that Russia is an eternal enemy, and, for example, banned the import of Russian books earlier.

photo courtesy of Bohdan Kolomiychuk

Now, being in the East, I realized that although I have traveled a lot, I have been to Donetsk region only once before the great war. It was the only book fair in Mariupol. Whatever one may say, the gravity zone of the Forum or Arsenal, this magnetic field, is quite strong. It affects people. If Mariupol had hosted, say, 15 book fairs in its history, instead of just one, we would have had a completely different city. I’m not saying that it would have changed everything, but we would have had our own agents there, our own established pro-Ukrainian intelligentsia.

The same can be said about Sloviansk: there was only one “Ye” bookstore and one fighter, Viktor Razzhyvin, who was holding a mega-strong and mega-important book front there. And so on… Why, for example, was there no book festival in Kharkiv? There were only some separate events organized, for example, by PEN. Despite the fact that this is the city of Zhadan, and he is at the center of that literary solar system, he is not enough there. I won’t say that literature can change the fate of a city, but it can create a microcosm that will be reckoned with.

Therefore, after the victory, following the restoration of infrastructure, we will have to restore and consolidate the cultural field in every destroyed city. Our soldiers and construction workers who will rebuild it all must be followed by cultural figures. Moreover, they should walk with a firm, confident gait in order to gain a foothold there forever.

Read also: Andriy Lyubka: After the victory, we will become one of the centers of influence of the new Europe

Words and Bullets is the special project by Chytomo and PEN Ukraine about Ukrainian writers and journalists that joined the army or started volunteering when Russia invaded Ukraine in February this year. The name of the media project symbolizes the weapon used by the heroes and heroines of the project before Feb. 24, which they were forced to take up after the outbreak of a full-scale war with Russia. The special project is being implemented with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).