UW-Milwaukee professor Maria Haigh, who was born and raised in Ukraine, likened the current Russia-Ukraine tension to Nazi Germany occupying Kiev, Ukraine; the country’s capitol, in 1941.
“People are expecting Nazi to come,” Haigh said. “Kiev was occupied in 1941 with German occupation and now this is what’s happening again.”
She said traffic is much worse in Kiev, gas stations are running out gas and ATMs are running out of money. But that doesn’t mean citizens are bolting the country.
“I’m amazed how calm and how defiant they are,” Haigh said. “The main message is that they’re not leaving because this is their city. What my family is saying is that everyone cannot leave because who are we leaving the city to? People need to stay and defend it.”
According to Haigh, the people leaving are most likely not originally from Kiev. She said Putin started the war back in 2013, so there were many refugees that moved to Kiev. Those refugees still have habitats to dwell in outside of Kiev.
Growing up in Ukraine, Haigh said she was taught the Soviet Union was peaceful and that it was America who was always ready to attack them. She said “people are prepared” because we were “engrained” with that mindset.
“We were taught on this; on the stories, on the films,” Haigh said. “It always was scary to see and hear the military airplanes above us. In Milwaukee, I’m still scared when there is a military show with airplanes and now it’s real.”