Occupants didn’t touch anything — the director of the library in Trostyanets

Trostyanets is a small town in the Sumy region, famous for a chocolate factory and a museum of a sugar producer Leopold Koenig and recently also for a renewed and very modern regional library. In February 2022 the town was occupied by the Russian troops, and remained so for over a month. Chytomo has spoken to Lyudmyla Yefremova, the director of Trostyanets Public Library about how Trostyanets survived this period, if the library was damaged and how they managed to make it one of the most popular places for locals.

Life in occupation, and after

According to Lyudmyla, Trostyanets Public Library started its development in 2018 when Trostyanets town community was founded. They started renovation of libraries, one or two a year, ever since. In 2022 they were going to renovate 2 village libraries.

“Because of all these worries and concerns I didn’t actually pay attention to news about future full-scale invasion. On February 24th, when I realized the invasion started, I came to the library, saw all the equipment and computers prepared for work, thought about their possible destiny and called my colleagues, saying: “Come here, we’ll hide everything.” I was afraid of looting. We have hidden all the computers, took plasma display off the wall. We had packed computers, projectors and screens that were in the library and were ready to be sent to village libraries where renovation was planned. Where do we hide all this? We took away things we could, and did everything we could,” — the director said.

She said they didn’t hide books because equipment, that cost many thousands, was the priority. “I realized that looting is not about taking the books away. They will definitely steal computers that were packed in boxes. Just grab by the handle and take it away,” — Lyudmyla Yefremova added.

On Feb 24 when everything that could be done had already been done, she was informed that Russian tanks were already at Trostyanets bus station. The woman said that after that Russians were constantly moving around Trostyanets, shooting fire, and missiles were flying over the town (Trostyanets was under occupation from Feb 24 to Mar 26 2022).

“On the third or fourth day of the occupation I went to the library for the first time. I was there all the time till 12th of March. I hid food, tea, coffee (there’s a social café in the library), some plants and documents. I myself decided what to do, I had no instructions or recommendations. I clearly remember I was in the library on March 12th, this date is in documents. Then the electricity went off. When I was returning back home, I was under mortar fire. After that I stayed at home because I was afraid for my life. I was in town during the time of occupation because I was afraid to use “the green corridor” because the Russian army shot people there,” — the director says.

Lyudmyla tells that before the liberation of Trostyanets, it was more like hell: Russians shoot fire on town, 93rd separate mechanized brigade was shelling chocolate factory where the enemy hid their self-propelled multiple rockets “Grad”. The Ukrainian army was trying to liberate the town and destroy Russian armament. It continued till Mar 26th.

On 13 of March, a Russian tank drove into the street where the library is located, so neither Lyudmyla Yefremova nor other employees could enter the library any more. On March 14, neighbors posted on social media that they had seen Russians enter the library. “I thought that was it, the library was finished. Before Trostyanets was liberated, I didn’t know what actually happened. I only knew that the Russians had gone inside and I could only guess about the rest,” — she recalls.

As to the other libraries in the district, the library in Soldatske village was greatly damaged. The Russians carried out an air raid on the village, a bomb fell near the library and the blast wave damaged the windows and ceiling. But thanks to librarian Valentyna Hantseva, the property and books were saved. According to Lyudmyla Yefremova, before the shelling, Hantseva took books, computers, even sofas and a boiler out. She and her husband went to the library and back twenty six times, taking everything out. Thanks to this, the library’s “inside” was not damaged. The library has been completely repaired now, and there is no sign of the shelling.

Trostyanets Public Library was much more lucky. “On the third day after de-occupation I came to the library and saw the door broken down. I could not get inside until field engineers checked everything and deactivated trip wires. The library was flinged open. I was surprised but the occupants touched nothing: neither books, nor equipment. I think God saved the library because Russians took nothing, neither did looters. The library completely survived, there was only glass missing in the door. We were very lucky,” — the director reminds.

On April 6, the 10th day after the de-occupation, the library opened its doors again. According to Lyudmyla Yefremova, there was a deluge of people from the very first day: even though there was no electricity or internet, people mostly came just to communicate with each other. The librarians listened to the stories of the townspeople and acted as a kind of psychological support. “Later, we started helping elderly and internally displaced people fill out applications in Diia online service for the restoration of damaged property and to receive IDP status. We submitted more than 2,000 applications. All the efforts of our library were directed to helping people. Then representatives of NGOs began to come to the library to provide psychological assistance. More than 200 people have used these services in our library,” — she says.

Later, on 26th of May, training with practical psychologists began to help people to cope with grief and loss, as there were tortured and captured people during the occupation, as well as those who lost their beloved ones. The international organization UK-Med started functioning at the library. Every Tuesday, British doctors provided specialized care to the residents of Trostyanets.

At the same time there were renovation works of damaged libraries, first of all in Soldatske village. Thanks to the help of benefactors it started its work in June. In July the community solemnly opened village libraries in Nytsakha and Bilka, it was their renovation that was planned before the full-scale Russian invasion. On September 30 the renewed Derniv town library subbranch started its work. “This was a huge relief for these villages, as many displaced people came there, including children, and this is a modern library in the village with computers, new books, etc. These are centers of cultural and educational work and they are more important than ever,” — Lyudmyla notes.

The help of benefactors and initiatives of locals

As we have already written, the Trostyanets Amalgamated Territorial Community was established in 2018, and great changes began. The local library was renovated to make it modern and European. In January of the same year the Charter of the library was adopted, in February big repair began and in September the renovated children’s library was opened (the Trostyanets library houses both adult and children’s libraries). The ceremony was attended by Mrs Sibylle Strack-Zimmermann, a German philanthropist and great-great-granddaughter of Trostyanets sugar producer Leopold Koenig. The same year the collection of books for the children’s library was completely renewed. Even before the opening, an electronic book system and an electronic reader’s card were already in place. Since then, the library has been very popular in the community.

The library for adults was also renovated in 2019. At the same time, we opened projector rooms, a youth coworking space, a social cafe, which is quite innovative among Ukrainian libraries, and a children’s play room. At that time, Sibylle Strack-Zimmermann also came to visit — she provided great funding to purchase new books.

In 2020 a new library subbranch was opened near the chocolate factory. Between 2017 and 2023, 9 libraries were restored in the Trostyanets community by the common efforts: 3 urban libraries (Trostyanets Public Library, children’s library subbranch, library subbranch of the sugar factory district) and 6 village library subbranches (Kamyansk, Soldatsk, Lyudzhansk, Nytsakha, Bilka and Dernivka).

“Cooperation with Sibylle Strack-Zimmermann began thanks to our mayor. In 2018, she presented us with literature for children for almost UAH 40,000 and provided funds for the museum. When the philanthropist visited us, she said that it was not the first time she had donated books to Ukrainian libraries, but our desire for renewal inspired her the most. So, our cooperation with Sibylle Strack-Zimmermann continues, and we have shown that we can appreciate good deeds and are committed to further development,” — says Lyudmyla Yefremova. After Russia’s full-scale invasion, Sibylle Strack-Zimmermann also sponsored the creation of a “warm space” in the library, the purchase of a powerful generator, fuel and Starlink.

As for the replenishment of the library collection, it was a complex process. “We received a great amount of books from the Ukrainian Book Institute, and also had much help from patrons, philanthropists, publishers and ordinary people who cared, especially after the library in Soldatske village was damaged. Library Country Charitable Foundation and the Ukrainian Library Association also joined in. We even received a parcel from a man from Bucha, just as all the Russian atrocities became known. It was so poignant,” — says Lyudmyla.

The library purchased books for UAH 50,000 in 2021 for the funds of the city, and the same plans were made for 2022, but the Russian full-scale invasion prevented this plan from implementation.

When we asked Lyudmyla Yefremova about russian books, she replied that first of all they removed all the chauvinist literature from the library, which, fortunately, was almost non-existent, but there were publications by banned russian publishers. “We sorted out all the russian literature during the modernisation of the library and, of course, we don’t need 54 copies of Mumu or Pushkin. We left one copy of each, and there’s no decision to ban all russian literature. I think that everything must have a balanced approach. But all these books, if they are there, are on the furthest shelves. If the Ministry of Culture issues an order to ban all russian literature, we will hide them as well. They don’t even have that in village libraries, renovated later,” — Lyudmyla Yefremova said.

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