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Ukraine Independence Day
My grandfather never liked this holiday. For me this was all the more surprising since he lived almost his entire life in Ukraine and gave decades of hard work and energy to its revival after World War II. He and his family endured many harsh trials. He survived the German occupation, and from the age of 15 he worked transporting firewood (in winter) on a horse-drawn sled from the forest to a German-occupied village. After World War II, many things changed, of course. My grandfather married my granny and moved to the north of Ukraine. The country began to recover quickly, becoming one of the economically prosperous regions of the Soviet Union.
Grandpa took the successes and failures of Soviet Ukraine to heart, as he was well versed in economic processes, having worked at a large enterprise. At the same time, in his own words, he “always criticized the Communists”.
In 1991, after the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine’s economy was in a systemic crisis. The standard of living dropped dramatically, many people lost their jobs due to total deindustrialization. Factories and plants were closing down. My grandfather did not welcome the new changes. He was always convinced that Ukraine and its hard working people deserved better. He cited the Chinese experience and argued that the reforms of the first years of independence had brought much disappointment to millions of Ukrainians.