When Ruta Malikenaite came to Ukraine from Lithuania in 1997 to venture in Ukraine’s publishing business, the shelves of the bookstores weren’t crammed with quality books about Ukraine, let alone books in English.
Certain that she could make a difference, she founded Baltia Druk, one of the first private publishers in Ukraine, together with her husband.
Having started with a series of colorful Christmas cards that “had people standing in lines at post offices,” according to Malikenaite, they progressed to creating the first tourist guides in different languages that are now sold across Europe, in the U.S. and Canada.
She is also known for publishing a series of books on the 200 years of common history that Ukraine and Lithuania shared between 1230 and 1569, when much of modern Ukraine’s territory was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
“The common history between Ukraine and Lithuania is undervalued in Ukrainian history text books. The chapter about these two centuries portrays Lithuanians only as invaders, but there were positive developments such as the introduction of Magdeburg Rights [granting governing powers to cities] and other democratic principles,” she said.
Borys Cherkas, a historian specializing in Ukraine’s 13th to 16th centuries, explained that this is due to the fact that “Soviet history considered Lithuanians only as invaders and the government hasn’t paid attention to change this vision of history in present-day textbooks.”
The common history between Ukraine and Lithuania is undervalued in Ukrainian history text books. The chapter about these two centuries portrays Lithuanians only as invaders, but there were positive developments such as the introduction of Magdeburg Rights [granting governing powers to cities] and other democratic principles.
– Ruta Malikenaite
Starting from the 14th century, Lithuanian princes occupied Kyivan Rus lands. After the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362, where Lithuania drove out the Golden Horde, Lithuanian rule was secured in Kyiv and a large part of present-day Ukraine that they didn’t leave until 1569, when the weakened Grand Duchy united with the Polish Empire.
History book publisher Malikenaite is herself a part of Ukraine and Lithuania’s modern histories.
Malikenaite came to Ukraine for the first time in 1979 as an exchange student at Kyiv National Shevchenko University studying Russian philology. As she was working on her postgraduate degree in the mid 1980s she became actively involved in the independence movement in Lithuania and Ukraine.
Malikenaite was among the organizers of the independence protests for Lithuania’s independence in Kyiv before the country regained its independence in March 1990, the first among the Soviet republics.
“It was the time of true brotherhood. Ukrainians came to support the independence movement in Lithuania and we encouraged Ukrainians to fight for its independence also,” she said.
Having taken the stage during the protests, she urged Lithuanians in Ukraine to unite, which laid the foundation of the union of Lithuanians in Ukraine that gathers around 8,000 Lithuanians that live in the country. While their life stories vary, most of them came to Ukraine during the Soviet times, either after being released from the labor camps in Siberia, through intermarriages or for work.
Renting a tiny office at the dilapidated Pressa Ukrainy government publishing house, Malikenaite is now working on a new series of books that describe Ukraine’s traditions and landscapes. She boasted that none of the articles about restaurants or hotels in the guides were paid for, as often happens in Ukraine for “reviews” of establishments.
When asked about which of her books was most popular In Lithuania, she said that her compatriots mostly buy up her Crimean guide books.
Kyiv Post staff writer Katya Grushenko can be reached at [email protected]
