Lisa Borel

100 years ago today, as Moscow's intentions to ramp repression of Ukraine's literary world became clear, a group of young Ukrainian writers founded MARS (Workshop of the Revolutionary Word) in Kyiv, seeking artistic freedom and the right to develop Ukrainian literature independently of Moscow's ideological control. Among its members were some of Ukraine's most talented writers and poets. Within a decade, Stalin's regime had destroyed much of their generation. - Valerian Pidmohylnyi – executed in 1937. - Hryhorii Kosynka – executed in 1934. - Dmytro Falkivskyi – executed in 1934. - Volodymyr Yaroshenko – executed in 1937. - Yevhen Pluzhnyk – died in a Soviet labor camp in 1936. - Borys Teneta – died by suicide in Soviet detention in 1935. They belonged to what became known as Ukraine's Executed Renaissance – a generation of writers, artists, and intellectuals systematically persecuted under Soviet rule. Their crime was seeking the freedom to create, think, and write in Ukrainian. A century later, Russia continues its attacks on Ukrainian culture, language, and national identity. We remember the voices Moscow tried to silence. Their works and their legacy remain part of Ukraine's cultural heritage.