On 26 September 2023 in Krakow (Republic of Poland), the international forum “Collections in Safety – Heritage in Safety. Museums, Libraries, Archives Facing Danger” was solemnly opened.

The Head of the State Archival Service of Ukraine Anatolii Khromov, speaking on the first panel dedicated to Ukrainian archives about the coordinated work of Ukrainian archivists amid Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine, support from international partners, rapid digitization of Ukraine’s National Archival Fonds documents, and a pilot project to introduce an electronic archive, said: “We will do everything possible to preserve our history and cultural heritage for future generations.”


The same day, Anatolii Khromov held consultations with the Director General of the State Archives of the Republic of Poland Paweł Pietrzyk. Both leaders discussed further cooperation, including a five-party project with the Baltic states “Shared Archival Heritage”, Polish support for Ukraine’s nomination of documentary memory of the Holodomor of 1932–1933 for inclusion in the UNESCO Memory of the World International Register, and continued donor support by Polish archivists and other volunteer organizations for Ukrainian archives. This once again shows that Poland is one of Ukraine’s most important strategic partners.

Yaroslav Faizulin, Director of the Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine in Kyiv, also spoke at the conference about the archive’s experience in safeguarding National Archival Fonds documents in wartime. The international forum ran on 26–27 September 2023; the live stream (in Ukrainian, Polish, and English) is available at: http://surl.li/lndyd