Octogenarian revives Ukrainian language in France after Russian invasion
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Jury Ziembicki, an 83-year-old man living in Lacanau-Océan, France, began sharing Ukrainian language and culture with others after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Ziembicki was born in 1943 in a refugee camp in Brest-Litovsk, Belarus, to a Lithuanian mother and Ukrainian father. His family fled to Bavaria after World War II, but his father never rejoined them. For many years, Ziembicki kept his Ukrainian heritage at a distance.
However, the war prompted him to connect with his family’s past, showing a flag from the 3rd Iron Division of the Ukrainian People's Army, an historical military unit led by his uncle, on his tablet. In 2023, Ziembicki started “Franco-Ukrainian conversations” in Mérignac, near Bordeaux, bringing together Ukrainians who arrived in France following the invasion and French people interested in learning the Ukrainian language. He says the war “woke him up” and reminded him of a heritage he had forgotten.
