“And now, children, they took out their smartphones, pointed at the QR code and listened to the audio,” a history teacher with a group of schoolchildren stop near a sign in the open air....

This is how the educational project " And not only teachers can use it, but also everyone who is now rethinking the history and culture of Ukraine: our compatriots and foreigners, adults and teenagers, in groups and one by one.

Valentina Merzhievskaya, founder, teacher, author of math textbooks and podcasts about education and literature, talks about the memorial in a smartphone.

We meet Valentina Merzhievskaya in one of the establishments near the Golden Gate. She is wearing a gray hoodie with the Linguocide logo - a handcuffed " Congratulations on the new thing: for live broadcasts, stories about the project and excursions, the most!

“Yes,” Valentina agrees.. “Lingvocid is perfectly adapted for them, it can be walks with a professional guide or on their own”.

To do this, you need to download the application and build a route, going from one graphic plate to the next. They are located in the center of Kyiv. You point your smartphone at the QR code and listen to a certificate in Ukrainian, Russian or English about certain harassment of the nightingale and the related ban on Ukrainian schools, books, worship, etc..

“The idea to create Lingvocid comes, in particular, from my belief that knowing your history is a very useful asset in life,” says Valentina. - For example, the current war ceases to surprise and shock so much when you find out that this is a consequence of long-term relations between Russia and Ukraine. This knowledge does not reassure, but when we see how they were oppressed for the language before - they could shoot and imprison, and it was legalized, it becomes clear why a third of our compatriots called Russian native before the start of the current war. Understanding history provides both reasons and motivation to act.”.

I want to evaluate all the possibilities of the project, so we go out and move to the monument to the Defenders of the Fatherland Borders of all generations. It is a little unexpected that the plate " The sharovary "

“We wanted to demonstrate that in this way Aeneas, having gone in search of his homeland, did find it,” explains the founder. — Reflecting on the motivation of literary characters, we inevitably draw parallels with our own experience and the general. I heard this idea from the Ukrainian philosopher Vladimir Ermolenko, and I liked it. And the date on the plate is associated with the ban on the Kotlyarevsky Readings, where scientific achievements in the study of Ivan Kotlyarevsky's work were presented.. However, later the authorities abandoned the ban, the figure of Kotlyarevsky was returned to the cultural space, making the Aeneid another reason to “laugh at funny crests”.

I look into the application: the nearest sign is in front of the house number 10 on Bulvarno-Kudryavskaya street. It was there that the public organization "

" Its centers were the centers of Ukrainianism, recalls Valentina Merzhievskaya. – The first “Prosvita” was opened in Lviv in 1868, and after 1905 the centers spread throughout Ukraine. The initiator of its opening in Kyiv was Yevgeny Chykalenko, my youngest son and I even recorded a podcast about him.

Not as much is known about this very bright and very influential figure as we would like.. Meanwhile, a nation that has such personalities cannot feel inferior. Chykalenko was one of the richest Ukrainians of his time, he gave all his resources to the development of Ukraine, he was offered to head the Central Rada (it was headed, as we know, by Hrushevsky). Yevgeny Chikalenko had a favorite saying: " This is our Lingvocid project, in particular, and we are doing "

Valentina waved her hand in the direction of the next tablet - it is not far away, it has an eloquent illustration: the Ukrainian “Pepper” turns into “Pepper” And the application tells about the period called “Zhdanovshchina”.

“Together with the artist Sasha Komyakhov, we were looking for playful, tenacious, accurate metaphors for certain facts. I like this one the most: here you seem to be cut off what makes you special, says Valentina. - What, in fact, was the "

I confess to Valentina: I thought that “Lingvocide” was more “light”, because I doubted that our contemporaries would want to immerse themselves in historical dramas, since there are enough tragedies now. But now I understand - it is the factual approach of presenting information that captivates.

Valentina replies that " According to the founder of the interactive memorial " “You can emotionally wind people up, but this is only enough for an impulse. And changing the language, awakening interest in Ukrainian culture, immersing yourself in history is a game for a long time. So you need to work with the intellect. Knowing the facts is a very good support. Understanding Russification as a thoroughly planned policy allows you not to react emotionally (you speak to me in the language of the enemy! ), but to understand that it was a deliberate manipulative policy of the occupiers. And then the change of language is perceived as a defense, as a strengthening of oneself, as a separation from enemy influences,” says Valentina Merzhievskaya.

At the end of the conversation, she adds that she is thinking about scaling, because every city, every region has its own characteristics that local residents may not be aware of..

You can install the application for Android users here, for iPhones - here. The team plans to develop and add lesson plans along the route to the site so that teachers can lead excursions.. But they decided to abandon clear routes in order to encourage users to look for their own trajectories of knowledge..