Black Tulip is a volunteer organization in Ukraine whose purpose is to locate the bodies of missing Ukrainian soldiers and return them to their families in order to provide them with closure.[1] The organization was initially focused on returning the bodies of soldiers from World War I and World War II.[2] Since 2014 and the Russian invasion of Crimea, it has operated in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.[3]
The work is dangerous. Sometimes bodies are booby-trapped[4] and the group operates at battlefields close to the front line.[1] The exact number is not known, but many hundreds of bodies have been recovered and returned - for example, in July 2022 one volunteer reported having transported 300 bodies since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022.[5]
Volunteers not only exhume bodies for return to their families but also will exchange the bodies of Russian soldiers for the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers.[6] The organization maintains a database of missing persons and allows the public to report burial sites and submit missing persons and to report finding a missing person.[7]
Black Tulip was founded by Yaroslav Zhilkin[8] when he was the head of the Union People's Memory All-Ukrainian Public Organization within the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine.[9][10] Zhilkin has spent a considerable amount of his own money to support the organization, approximately $160,000 as of August 2015[11] along with contributions from others. The organization is reportedly largely self-financed by the volunteers.[12] A Ukrainian church in the United States has been a significant contributor.[13]
The organization's name was taken from the cargo planes used in the Soviet era that was used to return the bodies of dead soldiers.
References edit
- ^ a b Villarraga, Herbert (2023-01-03). "Ukrainian volunteers deliver bodies, and closure, to troops' families". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
- ^ "The body collectors of eastern Ukraine". BBC News. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
- ^ "Main". “Black Tulip” Humanitarian mission. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ "The Slow, Dangerous Work Of Recovering Ukraine's War Dead". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
- ^ "In eastern Ukraine, volunteers recover bodies of war dead". MSN. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
- ^ Kilcoyne, Clodagh. "Humanitarian mission "Black Tulip" to exhume bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers, in Yampil". Colorado Springs Gazette. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
- ^ "Main". “Black Tulip” Humanitarian mission. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ Hoping to Bring Peace to My Homeland: Yaroslav Zhilkin / Founder, Black Tulip - Direct Talk - TV | NHK WORLD-JAPAN Live & Programs, retrieved 2023-01-04
- ^ "Yaroslav Zhilkin was elected the Secretary of the Commission on cultural heritage and cultural values". Union People's Memory All-Ukrainian Public Organization of Searchers. 3 September 2016.
- ^ "HISTORY OF ORGANIZATION'S ESTABLISHMENT". Union People's Memory All-Ukrainian Public Organization of Searchers. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ "Ukraine conflict: Helping one family search for lost soldier". BBC News. 2015-08-06. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
- ^ "The Slow, Dangerous Work Of Recovering Ukraine's War Dead". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
- ^ Feuillatre, Cecile (2022-07-20). "In Eastern Ukraine, Volunteers Recover Bodies Of War Dead". International Business Times UK. Retrieved 2023-01-04.