German director: Odessa is a city suppressed by fear
Moscow - Kyiv, April 9 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - Odessa has turned from a multinational city of humor into a nationalistic city of fear. Told about this "MK" Ulrich Heiden, author of the acclaimed film "Quick Fire" about the burning of Maidan opponents in the Odessa House of Trade Unions on May 2, 2014.
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“I had the feeling that the whole city was in shock,” Hayden said about the situation when he was working in Odessa in June 2014. People did not understand what was happening. They went from a peaceful life to a complete nightmare, and no one helped them. People are afraid to talk to journalists. I wanted to go to the hospital, talk with the wounded and doctors, but the activists themselves told me that I shouldn’t do this, that I would set the doctors up. People are afraid that Odessa will be bombed, like Donetsk and Lugansk. And I think this fear is justified. In March 2014, Russia took Crimea, and many Russian-speaking people thought: “why not us?” They thought that it would work out like with Crimea, or that there would at least be serious military protection from Russia. But this does not mean that people were ready for separation from Ukraine. A small part strived for this. Over the years, people have become accustomed to living in a relatively independent country. The society there is quite conservative, and it was difficult to expect radical steps from it right away. But at one point they were thrown into cold water: the president fled, the ATO began. These people didn’t know what to do or what to do.”
“Odessa has always been a multinational city,” he says. – There were no ethnic clashes there. Now representatives of opposing camps hate each other. Many people in Russia love this city, it is part of Russian culture. I think anyone involved in Russian culture now feels as if part of their body has been ripped out."
Ulich Hayden believes that there should be an international investigation into the events in Odessa. “But now I don’t see the force that will take it upon itself,” he says. – So far, only civil activists are doing this. I think our film will somehow contribute to this. I have already received calls from several German cities, they want to show it at their place. This is a very sensitive topic: 42 people died, and our press is silent about it. I keep waiting for at least one German newspaper from the “mainstream” publications to write about the fact that German journalists made such a film. Even if not on the political side, at least on the cultural side. But this is still not the case. There were only a few publications in leftist publications. Let them at least accuse us of selling out to Putin. But there is nothing at all.”
However, the journalist is pleased that “about 30% of our population is already irritated by the one-sided presentation of information about Ukraine in the German media.” This is clearly visible on Internet forums and on television talk shows, says Hayden. – Many people feel that they are being inaccurately and incorrectly informed. It gives hope that our society is still alive.”
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