Ukrainian Film on the Expulsion of the Crimean Tatars 1944 "Haytarma" with the film director Akhtem Seitableiev

Ahmet Khan Sultan, a Red Army pilot twice awarded for his heroism in the Second World War, returns, on leave from the front to his hometown of Alupka in May 1944. There he witnesses the deportation of the Crimean Tartars – including his own family. Haytarma (“return” in English) is the first Crimean-Tartar film and the first feature film about this tragedy. Approximately 280 000 Crimean Tartars have returned to the Crimean Peninsula since the 1990s. Alas, for many of them Russia’s annexation of the territory has meant a resurgence of armed conflict and repression.

Akhtem Seitableiev

Akhtem Seitableiev is a Ukrainian actor, screenwriter and film director of Crimean Tatar origin. He is the director of several high-profile films, including Haytarma in 2013 and Another's Prayer in 2017. Akhtem Seitableiev joined Ukrainian Armed Forces at the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine 2022. 

Dmytro Shevchenko

Dmytro Shevchenko has served as the Chancellor of the Ukrainian Free University (UFU) in Munich since 2022. His leadership is backed by 15 years of distinguished service as a Ukrainian diplomat, with strategic postings in Kyiv, Washington, Berlin, and Munich. A native of Crimea, Shevchenko has dedicated his career to the region, which served as the cornerstone of his diplomatic mission and now forms the core of his academic research. 

Winter School 2026 “Ukrainian Migration in Europe and Globally in the 20th and 21st Century”

This event is part of the Winter School 2026 “Ukrainian Migration in Europe and Globally in the 20th and 21st Century” in Munich, organized by “Denkraum Ukraine” / “Think Space Ukraine” at the University of Regensburg, financed by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) through the funds from the Federal Foreign Office (AA), the Ukrainian Free University (UFU, Munich), the Bukovina Institute at the University of Augsburg, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Slavic Department) and the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) Regensburg.

The Winter School addresses the issue of Ukrainian migration within its manyfold dimensions. Over 25 international speakers will deepen into a larger historical perspective of Ukrainian migration in the 20th and 21st century. They will discuss how Ukrainian culture, in particular literature, mirrors migration, explore how Ukrainians have experienced flight and migration, considering their age and gender. The legal and political dimensions of the phenomenon, including the regional dynamics of migration, as well as the perception of Ukrainians and Russia’s war against Ukraine will also be in the focus of the event.