On December 9, the National University Lviv Polytechnic hosted a commemoration event dedicated to Iryna and Ihor Kalynets — an extraordinary couple of the Sixtiers generation, poets, and lifelong defenders of Ukrainian freedom.
The evening, organized by the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations (IECDR) — which Iryna Kalynets helped establish in 1992 and which Ihor Kalynets supported for decades — celebrated their immense contribution to Ukrainian culture, education, and spiritual renewal.
Even in the darkest years, the Kalynets openly challenged the Soviet imperial system, bore the weight of the national liberation struggle, and risked their own freedom to preserve Ukrainian identity.
A highlight of the evening was a quote from former political prisoner of the “Perm-36” labor camp, Ihor Kalynets:
What kind of dissidents were we? We were not dissidents. We were nationalists, and we criticized communist ideology not because it didn’t suit us, but because it was utterly alien — it denied everything Ukrainian.
This calm and unpretentious statement captured the essence of the Kalynets’ resistance to the totalitarian regime.
Their daughter, Zvenyslava Kalynets-Mamchur, also spoke at the event, sharing personal memories of her parents and reflecting on their spiritual legacy.
A particularly moving installation in the front row featured empty chairs with plaques reading, “Here could have sat those who gave their lives for us.” It became a symbol honoring all Ukrainian patriots who, like Iryna and Ihor Kalynets, paid for their country’s freedom with years of persecution, imprisonment, and at great cost to their health and lives, as well as those who today give their lives fighting for the freedom and independence of Ukraine.
For the team of the virtual museum Perm-36 and for all honest Russians, it is especially significant that Ukraine — even amid the inhuman conditions of war and deprivation — continues to preserve the memory of those who endured the political camp system and remained unbroken, like Iryna and Ihor Kalynets.