'This Happened to Us for the Second Time': War-preparedness, Risk, Responsibility and the Evacuation of Donbas Museums in 2022

Abstract

Museums in Ukraine’s Donbas region have endured a protracted war since 2014: many were occupied, looted, and re-established in Ukrainian government-controlled territory, leaving behind collections. Against the backdrop of the events of 2014, this paper offers a brief analysis of how museums attempted to safeguard and evacuate their collections when Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Identifying key factors behind the widespread lack of successful evacuations, the paper touches on the social and financial cost of contingency planning, the distribution of responsibilities and resources, institutional bottlenecks, and altered perceptions of risk in war-affected areas.