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“In my suitcase I have piled up our four lives and, wedged between the socks, the beloved souls of those left behind in Ukraine, in hell”

By Ariane Chemin

Posted yesterday at 7:24 PM, updated at 6:09 AM

Her red bag first sat in the corner of her room at home in Ukraine for ten days. Far from his eyes. Inside are diplomas, a school report card, a passport photo of his mother, a T-shirt and a size 70 bra, plus a fleece, a towel and a pair of socks still married by the label yarn. “A small bag for two days”, commented Anna Furman, 52, professor of Romance philology at the National University of Dnipro, a large Russian-speaking city in central Ukraine, on the banks of the Dnieper. A travel bag, not an exile bag.

“I didn’t want to leave.” Anna Furman postponed watching United News at home, a single television channel that has brought together all Ukrainian news channels since February 26, two days after the Russian offensive. Ruins of Kiev or Mykolaiv, Siege of Mariupol, Conquest of Kherson, before, today, the mass graves of Boutcha, it was like continuous horror television.

From her ninth floor, the top of the building, she began to look out for black clouds of smoke or the hum of a Russian plane. She took her bag ten times, she says in the old theater where volunteers from associations receive her, in Warsaw. “I put it down ten times. This building, my neighborhood, my city Dnipro, is my life. My apartment is my homeland,” a homeland of 37 square meters from which she rarely strayed.

Anna Furman, 52, from Kramatorsk, photographed March 25-27, 2022, in the shelter for Ukrainian refugees at the Old Theater in Warsaw.  At his feet, his little red exile bag.
Anna Furman's passport and a photo of her mother.  In Warsaw, March 27, 2022.

Dnipro, Jewish city with a million inhabitants, was home to some famous figures. It is the birthplace of Ihor Kolomoisky, the wealthy businessman who put Volodymyr Zelensky into orbit on his TV channel 1+1 at a time when European leaders regarded the future president as a Slavic copy of Europe.Italian Beppe Grillo. Previously, the city was the birthplace of Leonid Brezhnev’s mother.

Anna Furman still remembers the Soviet era well. “I was born in 1969 and outside of Ukraine I only know Russia. I love his poets, Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov [un Caucasien mort à 26 ans] and of course my favorite to death, Vladimir Vysotsky » – her guitar, her raucous songs and her untimely death in 1980. She traveled to Moscow to pray at their graves. “Now ‘Russian’ has become a dirty word. †

  • Some addresses written down and wrapped around her wallet with rubber bands: lost on a sidewalk in Warsaw, with a headscarf on her head, this old lady who came alone from Ukraine has no phone, it's rare.  WhatsApps is indeed the guide for all Ukrainians crossing the border.

    Some addresses written down and wrapped around her wallet with rubber bands: lost on a sidewalk in Warsaw, with a headscarf on her head, this old lady who came alone from Ukraine has no phone, it’s rare. WhatsApps is indeed the guide for all Ukrainians crossing the border. ariane toad

  • Daria took her satchel and a doll.  She has left the Belarusian border and is passing through the main train station in Warsaw with her older sister, her mother and her sick grandmother, who sees her sitting on a suitcase.

    Daria took her satchel and a doll. She has left the Belarusian border and is passing through the main train station in Warsaw with her older sister, her mother and her sick grandmother, who sees her sitting on a suitcase. ariane toad

  • “Women are very neat in Ukraine, very fabricated.  No question for a saleswoman like me not to get her nails done.  “Arriving from Zaporizhia with her family, Oksana found shelter in a former theater in Warsaw, set up for Ukrainian arrivals, on Kasprzaka Street.  She doesn't plan to leave: she wants

    “Women are very neat in Ukraine, very fabricated. No question for a saleswoman like me not to get her nails done. “Arriving from Zaporizhia with her family, Oksana found shelter in a former theater in Warsaw, set up for Ukrainian arrivals, on Kasprzaka Street. She has no intention of leaving: she wants to “return quickly to rebuild the country”. ariane toad

  • Many Ukrainians left with their pets, dogs, cats, hamsters or this parrot.

    Many Ukrainians left with their pets, dogs, cats, hamsters or this parrot. ariane toad

  • Her passport is proof: Lina left Ukraine on March 7.  She is an international relations student in Kiev, would like to go to London but does not have a visa yet and is patient in the refugee center on the ground floor of the Warsaw ice rink.

    Her passport is proof: Lina left Ukraine on March 7. She is an international relations student in Kiev, would like to go to London but does not have a visa yet and is patient in the refugee center on the ground floor of the Warsaw ice rink. ariane toad

  • Lina left Kiev without too many possessions or jewelry, apart from her Orthodox baptismal cross, which she always carries with her and which she took out of her turtleneck that day.

    Lina left Kiev without too many possessions or jewelry, apart from her Orthodox baptismal cross, which she always carries with her and which she took out of her turtleneck that day. ariane toad

  • The children laugh at the bags of kibble for dogs.

    The children laugh at the bags of kibble for dogs. ariane toad

  • A little Ukrainian and his teddy bear leave for Brussels, in one of the two buses chartered by the Belgian association BEforUkraine in the Wola district of Warsaw.

    A little Ukrainian and his teddy bear leave for Brussels, in one of the two buses chartered by the Belgian association BEforUkraine in the Wola district of Warsaw. ariane toad

  • All crossed dolls have blond braids.

    All crossed dolls have blond braids. ariane toad

  • Children mainly play on their laptop, but sometimes you find a puzzle on the luggage.

    Children mainly play on their laptop, but sometimes you find a puzzle on the luggage. ariane toad

  • Plenty of cat and dog cages are provided for those arriving from Ukraine to continue their journey.

    Plenty of cat and dog cages are provided for those arriving from Ukraine to continue their journey. ariane toad

  • A Ukrainian children's bible forgotten in a small coffee and pierogi (donut) snack in Medyka, one of eight border crossings between Ukraine and Poland.

    A Ukrainian children’s bible forgotten in a small coffee and pierogi (donut) snack in Medyka, one of eight border crossings between Ukraine and Poland. Ariane toad

  • A soft toy rests on a bag like a bus with Ukrainian leaves in the Wola district of Warsaw.

    A soft toy rests on a bag like a bus with Ukrainian leaves in the Wola district of Warsaw. ariane toad

  • In the stream of backpacks crossing the border of Medyka, west of Ukraine and south of Poland.

    In the stream of backpacks crossing the border of Medyka, west of Ukraine and south of Poland. ariane toad

  • A tired teddy bear on a backpack at Warsaw Central Station.

    A tired teddy bear on a backpack at Warsaw Central Station. Ariane toad

The arbitrariness of exile

For a week, in mid-March, sirens howled around her. Still haven’t looked at the bag. But the day she learns that Russian strikes liquidated shoe factory very close to her building she buys a ticket for Warsaw online. “Since my mother died, I have only been responsible for myself. † Then change your mind. Try to pay back. Calls the station, where a hoarse voice explains to him that the ticket is not exchangeable. Grab her bag, throw in her phone charger and her two passports, “one for Ukraine, the other for elsewhere”.

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