Dnipro has celebrated for the first time a new official holiday — the Day of Interethnic Harmony and Cultural Diversity, established by Presidential Decree of Ukraine No. 883/2024 on December 27, 2024.
The University of Customs and Finance was chosen as the primary venue for this year’s events. Since 2016, the university has held the local festival “Friendship Without Borders” and is home to students of many different nationalities. This year’s celebration brought together representatives of fifteen ethno-confessional communities from the Prydniprovia region.
Ukrainian authorities and local government were represented by key figures such as Natalia Pershyna, Head of the Department of Culture, Tourism, Nationalities, and Religions of the Regional Military Administration and Honored Cultural Worker of Ukraine; Stanislav Bandura, Head of the Internal Policy and Local Government Development Department of the Dnipro City Council; as well as other regional and city officials.
The event featured addresses and performances by representatives of various religious and cultural groups. From the Jewish community of Dnipro, Rabbi Shmuel Livshits — one of the leaders of the region’s Jewish revival — delivered a welcoming message. The Jewish cultural and religious heritage was represented through a moving musical performance by the “Grotesk” quartet; a sofrut workshop hosted by the National Sofrut Center and led by Menachem Mendel Margolin; and a “Reyzele” art demonstration presented by Ella Sidorenko, coordinator of the Ukrainian Jewish women’s organization “Project Kesher.” A key element of the Jewish presentation was a mini-museum exhibition featuring artifacts from the “Museum of Jewish Memory and the Holocaust in Ukraine.”
“Every visitor to the exhibition had the opportunity not only to learn about sacred objects and their symbolism and function, but also to literally taste a part of Jewish tradition — challah, matzah, kosher wine, and grape juice,” noted Dr. Iryna Radchenko, Director of the Dnipro Jewish Museum. “This mini-exhibit will remain open to the public for a month in the main hall of the university’s first building. And those who are curious about the history and culture of Jewish communities in Ukraine are warmly invited to visit our Museum directly.”
