Application form Relief Fund Ukraine

Dear members and relatives of the JLU,

It is almost a month since the start of the war in Ukraine - and we are still stunned by the fact that another war of aggression is being waged in the middle of Europe. These are horrific images that reach us every day. Nobody knows where and when there might be a way out of this messy situation.

Many of us feel powerless in the face of this news. Yet JLU members show us every day what is possible. For example, the Giessen University Society has very quickly and unbureaucratically agreed to support the students from Ukraine. These days, we are also hearing about numerous decentralized support campaigns for the people from Ukraine. The fact that so many JLU students and employees are offering their help of their own accord is a sign of hope for me.

Against this background, I would like to ask you today to support the JLU relief fund for students, researchers and lecturers from Ukraine with donations. In view of the great demand, it is already clear after just a few days that the basic amount of 100,000 euros, which the Presidential Board has made available from freely available funds, will not last long. We are receiving many applications for support - especially from students who have had to leave their country because of the war and want to continue their studies in Germany.

It goes without saying that we want to make this possible for the students of our Ukrainian partner universities - National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA) and National Technical University of Ukraine (Kyiv Polytechnic Institute). The news that our International Office continues to receive from Kyiv is depressing. The staff at the two universities there are doing their utmost to keep their students safe. At the same time, the situation on the ground is becoming increasingly difficult.

We would be extremely grateful if you would support us in enabling as many students, teachers and researchers as possible to stay at a safe university. You can make an online donation quickly and easily using the form on our homepage: www.uni-giessen.de/ukraine/hilfsfonds-spende.

In this situation, it is a matter of course for the Executive Board to follow the recommendations of the German science organizations and suspend institutional cooperation with Russian science and mobility from Germany to Russia. In doing so, the following guidelines are decisive for us - incidentally also in our dealings with Belarus: on the one hand, we support the overall strategy of the Federal Government and the EU to isolate and sanction the Russian state. On the other hand, however, it is also important to keep the channels of communication open at an individual level wherever this is justifiable and responsible. Against this background, I would like to emphasize that we will not tolerate discrimination against Russian students and employees on the JLU campus under any circumstances. We must show that we are better than those who spread hatred and violence.

 In order to bundle the various activities at JLU, we have set up a task force in the Presidential Administration consisting of the Chancellor's Office and the International Office, which can be reached via the central e-mail address ukraine@uni-giessen.de .The new websitee www.uni-giessen.de/ukraine provides relevant information. In addition to offers of support and the link to the donation form, you will also find an overview of JLU research on the war in Ukraine. Our experts - including those at the Giessen Center for Eastern Europe (GiZo) - have been in great demand in the media in recent weeks. And this despite the fact that many of our researchers are also personally affected due to their close ties to Ukraine. I would like to thank everyone involved for their commitment.

I hope that you will not lose heart in the face of the news from Ukraine and after two exhausting years of the pandemic. Despite everything, we can look forward to the warm season and the anticipated summer semester in presence. As usual, you will receive further information on this in our next newsletter update at the end of the week.

Best regards

Prof. Dr. Joybrato Mukherjee

President