FIGHTING SPIRIT
By Olia Hercules
TESTIMONY
"Dear World, The history of my homeland, Ukraine, is long and complicated. It has seen dozens of leaders, cultures, and empires come and go over millennia. You may have heard much of this already the backdrop of struggle. But let me tell you a personal one.
In the 1930s, my grandmother maternal Lusia Beschastnaya, the seven-year-old daughter of a farmer, was taken by the Bolsheviks along with her three siblings and mother from their home in Bessarabia, a region of political today's south-eastern Ukraine. By then, the revolutionaries who had seized Russia in 1917 were the Soviet Union's leading political power (Ukraine was subsumed into the USSR in 1922). My family was shoved into a cold cattle train in the middle of winter and dropped in a Siberian forest.
Every time my mother or grandmother told me this story, a jolt of electricity went through my body. I can still hear them recalling the snowstorm raging around the women, who fell to their knees and prayed. Back home in Ukraine, my great-grandfather, separated from his wife, nearly died of starvation in the Holodomor-widely regarded to be a man-made famine. Though this is contested by Russia, most people in Ukraine see it as a genocide, during which an estimated 3.5 million Ukrainians died.
In Siberia, my deported relatives eventually reached a village and started working for various Russian families, who my grandmother told me were never hostile to them. Many were probably like my beloved paternal grandmother, Vera Paskova, whose father was shot by the Bolsheviks, whose house and livestock were taken, and who was forced to scrape the remnants of condensed milk from the machinery in the factory she worked at in order to feed her children. I still feel intense guilt for asking my Vera to tell me her story. She cried so much.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June - July 2022-Ausgabe von Harper's Bazaar India.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June - July 2022-Ausgabe von Harper's Bazaar India.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Healthy Hair, Do Care
Haircare in India has evolved to include weekly champis and extensive in-clinic rituals in equal measure.
LUXURY OASIS
The Elitaire club in The Leela Ambience, Gurugram, is a sanctuary of refined elegance and privileged access.
PEP TALK
The powerhouse ingredient, peptide, could be your ticket to luscious lips.
WHAT IS ORAL SUNSCREEN?
An exploration into the potential breakthrough in sun protection.
FACE FORWARD
Injectable moisturisers are skincare's latest saviours. Bazaar India investigates its rising popularity and whether it's truly as effective as it's made out to be.
SHINING LEGACY
Charlotte Tilbury talks about leading the first female-founded brand to partner with the Fi Academy, shares her beauty secrets, and narrates tales from her journey to stardom.
LOVE POTION
Beauty rituals, steeped in tradition, are undergoing a metamorphosis for younger generations, and helping them reconnect with their roots.
POWER DRESSING
Runway shows and strong campaigns are probably the best ways to reflect the shift in society and talk about issues that matter.
UNDER THE ARMOUR
The mob wife is an official goodbye to girlhood. But the loud aesthetic conceals a dark underbelly.
ALIA UNPLUGGED
The evolution of the versatile actor has been steady and solid. She opens up to Bazaar India about what the future of Bollywood looks like, the legacy she would like to create, and how she cancels out the noise.