European University Viadrina mourns the death of Dr Tamila Kyrylova

"Dr Tamila Kyrylova always radiated optimism and friendliness. Maybe that's why she had such a large circle of friends. Her tragic death leaves everyone who knew this young woman with her winning smile stunned.

After the first bombings on Kyiv, German studies graduate Dr Tamila Kyrylova and her sister, chemistry teacher Laryssa, decided to leave their home country. They only took laptops and small backpags with them - they didn't have time to pack. Germany was to become their new home. Tamila Kyrylova started learning German at the age of seven. She loved the language, the country and the people. She was also fascinated by Frankfurt (Oder), which she had already got to know beforehand.

In Frankfurt (Oder), Tamila Kyrylova was able to settle in quickly and easily - thanks to great help from the European University Viadrina, in particular the Axel Springer Chair for German-Jewish Literature and Cultural History, Exile and Migration. She enjoyed a wide range of support from the team at the chair led by Prof Dr Kerstin Schoor. Thanks to a scholarship from the Volkswagen Foundation, she was able to continue her research at the Axel Springer Chair. Tamila Kyrylova then worked as a German teacher in various educational institutions - at the Mitte primary school in Frankfurt (Oder), as a language course instructor for BAMF courses at the Quirito Academy GmbH Frankfurt (Oder) and at the Kolping Bildungswerk in Fürstenwalde (Spree). She has been involved in the Oekumenisches Europa-Centrum Frankfurt (Oder) association and in municipal institutions that take care of refugees from Ukraine.

Tamila Kyrylova was born on 6 June 1981 in the Żovtneve Sumyer region (then Ukrainian Soviet Republic) - in a small town near the Ukrainian-Russian border. She began her German studies at the A. S. Makarenko State Pedagogical Institute in Sumy. After a year, Tamila Kyrylova transferred to the National Linguistic University in Kyiv, one of the best Ukrainian universities with a foreign language profile. After gaining a very good master's degree in 2005, she worked there as a German linguist. From 2009 to 2012, Tamila Kyrylova was a scholarship holder of the DAAD-funded Vladimir Admoni Programme for doctoral students, which was jointly supported by the Centre for German Studies at the Ševčenko Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Freie Universität Berlin. In her PhD, which she successfully defended in Kyiv in 2014, she focussed on the strategies of representation of female subjectivity in the prose of Herta Müller, Monika Maron and Jenny Erpenbeck. Tamila Kyrylova then worked as a chair for the theory and history of world literature at the National Linguistic University in Kyiv - until the day she had to leave Ukraine with her sister.

Many Frankfurters remember Tamila Kyrylova as an active representative of the Ukrainian community. Among other things, she was involved in the organisation of the benefit concert to strengthen Viadrina's Ukraine Aid Fund, which took place in the Friedenskirche in the summer of 2022 and attracted more than 200 guests. She helped organise a series of Ukrainian readings at the Collegium Polonicum and was the initiator of a voluntary school for Ukrainian refugee youths set up at the adult education centre. With her excellent knowledge of German, her rich intercultural experience, her openness and friendliness, Tamila Kyrylova was an invaluable help to her compatriots seeking refuge from the hardships of war in Frankfurt (Oder). And for many Frankfurters, a bridge to Ukraine.

She always responded to challenges and stressful situations with a smile and her motto: "Don't worry, we'll get through it." Even during the fatal fire to which she fell victim, she fought for her life until the last minute.

The staff of the Axel Springer Chair and the European University Viadrina, colleagues from German and Ukrainian universities, her friends in the Ukrainian diaspora, from the Association Oekumenisches Europa-Centrum Frankfurt (Oder) e. V. and from other institutions express their deepest condolences to the relatives of the deceased - her mother Olga and her sister Laryssa Kyrylova.

The memory of Tamila Kyrylova will live on in our hearts, in the hearts of her friends, her colleagues, her many pupils, her students and the participants of the integration courses. We will honour her memory."

Condolences:

Condolences can be sent by email to jwolff@europa-uni.de.

Appeal for donations:

The mother and sister of Tamila Kyrylova are currently refugees in Frankfurt (Oder). They urgently need financial support to organise the funeral. The OOekumenisches Europa-Centrum Frankfurt (Oder) e. V. is therefore calling for donations. Anyone who would like to get involved can send an email to kontakt@oec-ff.de.

To editorial offices:

A print-quality photo can be downloaded for free use here, copyright Heide Fest.

In 2021, Dr Tamila Kyrylova reported on her life and work at the European University Viadrina and in Frankfurt (Oder) in the Viadrina-Logbuch.

Dr habil. Ievgeniia Voloshchuk