‘Geo Perspektive’ Dedicated To Ukraine
“Geo Perspektive” is the title of the once yearly monothematic, highly visual spin-off of the German “Geo” magazine. This year, the issue is dedicated to Ukraine and reports about life before the war, Ukrainian culture and the Ukrainian people. Selected articles in the magazine are available online in Ukrainian and Russian.
Once a year, the “Geo” spin-off “Geo Perspektive” – a monothematic, highly visual magazine – is published. This year, the RTL Deutschland magazine with the title “Schaut auf dieses Land” (Look at this country) is dedicated to Ukraine. However, it not only looks at the death and destruction of the war but, above all, life before the war, the culture of Ukraine, its people and their stories. Photographers captured in their pictures what made Ukraine and still makes the country special. Authors tell about the historic origins of Ukraine, the fight of Ukrainians for freedom and sovereignty, the search for identity, and their very personal view of their home country. The “Geo” editors had five selected articles from the magazine translated into Ukrainian and Russian. The translated reports are available as a free e-paper at geo.de/ukraine. The editors aim to paint an objective picture of Ukraine with verified quality journalism.
“If you believe Russian president Vladimir Putin, Ukraine ‘never possessed its own statehood’, its own history or culture,” says “Geo” Editor-in-Chief Markus Wolff. “This bizarre view of a man suffering from territorial pain of loss has produced the biggest tragedy since the second world war in Europe. The contributions compiled in this issue of ‘Geo Perspektive’ make Putin’s understanding of history even more grotesque. We hope this issue will help our readers understand Ukraine. How did it emerge and develop? What influenced the country and what makes it special? ‘Geo Perspektive 2022’ is neither intended as a story collection nor a highly visual obituary. Instead, this issue aims to paint the picture of a country whose wealth and diversity in times of peace has really come to the awareness of many of us only due to the war.”
For this year’s issue, the editors tried to enlist as many Ukrainian or ethnic Ukrainians as possible. For example, Alisa Sopova, who comes from the Donbas, writes about “The Forgotten War” that has been underway there since 2014. Photographer Mikhail Palinchak contributed his work about the cult around Stepan Bandera, and illustrator Nika Pjaschanka portrayed Ukrainian national poet Taras Schewtschenko. Russians, including the former editor-in-chief of “Geo Russia”, Vladimir Esipov, also contributed to the magazine. “We tried to let as many authors from Ukraine or ethnic Ukrainians have their say in our magazine and to tap into their expertise,” said Diana Laarz, “Geo” magazine editor. “Most colleagues were eager to explain their situation and country; therefore, we have included many personal essays. Together, we managed to produce a magazine that portrays Ukraine in a positive and varied way, not only showing conflict and war but all sides of this country.”
