Sodium Hydroxide

These newspapers and newsreels were compiled by The Countryhumans Research Archival Project, in conjunction with countryhuman experts Ailbhe O’Brien, Dr. Professor Zagajewski Zuboly, and Aili Vuorenmaa to draw attention to a little-known modern campaign to deny the existence of certain countryhumans. 

The subject of these propaganda newsreels and newspapers is condemned by everyone involved, and the experts would like to draw attention to the long documented histories of indigenous countryhumans.

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Published in the Правда, 15 April 1933, Translated from Russian by Anastasiya Volkova of the Countryhumans Research Archival Project

WESTERN SPY CAUGHT IMPERSONATING PERSONIFICATION IN PLOT TO KILL KARELIAN ASSR AND LENINGRAD OBLAST

On 13 April 1933, the Militsiya discovered two women in the Leningrad Oblast, claiming to be the personifications of nations meant to replace the Karelian ASSR and Leningrad Oblast. The women were attempting to incite riots and bring about an uprising meant to kill the Leningrad Oblast and the Karelian ASSR. A search of their home discovered capitalist leaders supported the plot as a land grab for capitalist nations, allowing them to gain a foothold inside the USSR. The two women and over a thousand co-conspirators were arrested.  

The Militsiya think this is only the first of many plots to try to assassinate personifications and replace them with human fakes. They encourage anyone with information on “personifications” not recognized by the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to bring the information to the Militsiya so they can prevent more of these plots. 

The Karelian ASSR and Leningrad Oblast have been brought to Moscow under the protection of their Father, the Russian SFSR, in order to prevent any attacks from succeeding. When questioned, they expressed their disgust at the plot.

“We expect to be targeted by capitalist plots from Finland, but what we don’t expect is these spies to have the audacity to impersonate nations to add legitimacy to their claims. It is a disgusting tactic that insults all countryhumans, as well as a dangerous plot and one that I will ensure is prevented to the full extent of my power.” Karelian ASSR stated, voice strong despite the recent threat to his life. He showed no fear and encouraged his people to do what they could to turn in more false personifications.

“The plot was so disgusting in its lack of respect for all countryhumans. I’m surprised by the gall to go through with it. We will do everything we can to prevent this, not only for the safety of our people but to preserve the integrity of the real nations born to ensure Russia a prosperous future.” Leningrad Oblast testified to the government as he called for a new law to prevent the impersonation of personifications.

The USSR says that the imposters will most likely try to pretend to be personifications of ethnic groups personified by the subdivisions of the USSR as a way to undermine the USSR’s subdivisions and gain control of large amounts of land. He encouraged the nation to stay strong and said that this plot, now that it has been discovered, will no longer pose any significant threat to any personifications.

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Published in the Правда, 20 April 1933, Translated from Russian by Anastasiya Volkova of the Countryhumans Research Archival Project

CAPITALIST PLOT TO DESTROY SOVIET PERSONIFICATIONS FOILED

Another co-conspirator in the plot to assassinate countryhumans has failed, and another arrest was made in the Karelian ASSR. The woman was found with many plans to assassinate the Karelian ASSR, stolen weapons, and a letter to Finland asking for the nation to annex the Karelian ASSR. The Militsiya have begun investigating her neighbors to see if they can discover more information on the plot or the locations of any more impostor countryhumans.

The threat has been contained to the Karelian ASSR and the Leningrad Oblast. However, officials warn that the plans could spread to other parts of the USSR and warn people to look out for their communities and personifications. 

The Karelian ASSR personally assisted in the arrest, claiming that he was not going to be intimidated by the threats to his life, and once again called for a law banning people from impersonating personifications.

“It is not the threat to my life that concerns me, but the insult to countryhumans worldwide. We live and struggle through so much pain to provide for our people, and people take our existence as a tool to attack each other. It is the vilest plot, and I strongly encourage my brother’s government to pass a law banning this action.”

The USSR was not available for comment, although the Russian SFSR and Moscow Oblast hinted that the government had plans to enact the law all personifications of the USSR have been calling for. 

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Published in the Правда, 20 May 1933, Translated from Russian by Anastasiya Volkova of the Countryhumans Research Archival Project

NEW LAW BANNING IMPERSONATIONS OF ANY PERSONIFICATIONS-REAL OR FAKE

A law heavily supported by the personifications of the USSR has just been passed, protecting the countryhumans from the rise of imposters who have been attempting to assassinate them for control of their land. The law states that anyone caught impersonating a countryhuman, regardless of their intention, will be convinced of treason and can face life in prison or even a death sentence. While it is a harsh punishment, the government hopes that this law will provide the countryhumans with the security they need.

“The punishment is harsh, yes, but that is because these people have done nothing but attempt to hurt my family.” the Russian SFSR said, “This law allows our country to protect my family and further us secure ourselves as a nation against the capitalist threat that seeks to hard to destroy us.”

The three imposters arrested last month will now face trial under this new law. All three have confessed to their plots and will be tried in a few days. More reports of imposters have come in, and under the new law, the Militsiya has begun investigations.

The Militsiya warns that just because this law is in place does not mean the threat is over and encourages citizens to keep an eye out for more imposters.

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Newsreel from Центральное телевидение СССР, aired 11 December 1933, Transcribed and Translated from Russian by Anastasiya Volkova of the Countryhumans Research Archival Project, with descriptions of the video to provide for easier understanding.

The video starts with a line of three men with faces painted to look like countries. 

(Transcribers Note: The flags are not ones any of the experts were able to track down as belonging to any known Russian indigenous personification, and to their best understanding, the flags were invented for the purpose of this propaganda video)

A hose sprays down the three men, washing off the paint and revealing human faces. The camera then pans away from them to the Crimean Oblast and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. 

(Transcriber’s Note: now known today as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Ukraine. At the request of Ukraine, they will be called by their Soviet-era names for the rest of the transcript) 

Their faces are blank and emotionless. Despite their well-made clothes, both look skinny and underfed, a result of Holodomor.

Ukrainian SSR [stepping towards the humans, voice confident]: This attempt at the lives of me and my people, my family, is a terrible and disgusting plot. You show no shame nor any dignity towards the lives of your countrymen or your countries.

Crimean Oblast just stands there, but her right-hand shakes. The camera then pans to another human, standing tall and proud with a large smile. 

Ukrainian SSR [off-screen]: This brave citizen reported your actions and provided us with the information we needed to catch you. I thank her not only for her service to her country but also for saving the lives of my daughter, Crimean Oblast, and me.

The camera then turns back to the humans pretending to be countries where they have been handcuffed and are being carried away by the NKVD.

Ukrainian SSR [off-screen]: May our country stay forever strong against capitalist threats!

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Recording of an Interview with Ukraine, 18 January 2021, Transcribed by Ailbhe O’Brien.

[start recording]

Interviewer: 18 January 2021. Interview with Ukraine on Soviet Propaganda against native countryhumans. 18 January 2021. Interview with Ukraine on Soviet Propaganda meant to discredit Indigenous Personifcations. Thank you for your time, Mr. Ukraine.

[papers shuffling, Interviewer coughing]

Ukraine: Prošu, buď laska. I am glad you reached out to me. I…I do not want to have the things I did as the Radianska Sotsialistychna Respublika be what I am remembered as. I want to explain myself.

Interviewer: Well, that is what we are for. [clears throat] Now, would you like to start, or would you like prompt questions?

Ukraine: I’m interested in your questions, although I might not always have answers.

Interviewer: That’s alright. Now, I assume it was not your decision to partake in the propaganda videos.

Ukraine: No, most propaganda stuff I participated in, I was coerced into doing. Rosiya and Soyuz Radyansʹkykh Sotsialistychnykh Respublik planned most of them. As the subdivisions, we were essential in their creation, as we helped…uh…show that more of the country was behind the ideals in them. No matter how much we disliked the contents, you didn’t have a choice. Free will was not something we were allowed to have.

Interviewer: What happened if you didn’t agree?

Ukraine [short laugh, bitter]: You did not have a choice. Even if you tried to disagree…[breathing heavy]

Interviewer: We can move on–

Ukraine: Ni! I can do this. Even if you tried to disagree, you would still be made to do it, one way or another. Even though, as the Radianska Sotsialistychna Respublika, I was not a colony by law, we…all of us…all…you were still under his control. And he had ways of making you listen. By then…by then most of us were too scared to speak against him. You feared for yourself and your people, and being manipulated like that, isolated and born into a terrible environment [Ukraine’s voice cracks]…you did bad things to just…feel safe, to stop the pain.

[Silence for about ten seconds.]

Interviewer [voice gentle]: Would you like another question?

Ukraine [Voice slightly teary]: Tak. 

Interviewer: Did you know what you were filming was planned? 

Ukraine [snort of laughter]: Of course I did. It was all nisenitnytsya. Propaganda videos we were in were always staged.

Interviewer: How did you react when you heard about what the 11 December 1933 video was going to be about?

Ukraine: I was probably not as horrified as people expect me to be. Soyuz Radyansʹkykh Sotsialistychnykh Respublik hated personifications in his country that weren’t his to control, so indigenous personifications were always a target of his. Creating actual propaganda to find out where they were and either kill them or lock them up was a logical next step for him. That’s the thing about Soyuz. For all his power, he lived in fear. That fear is why so many of us were hurt.

Interviewer: Have you ever been able to apologize to targeted countryhumans for your role, however forced, in this plot?

Ukraine: Ni. Most of them live off the grid now or as humans. They’re very hard to find because of what happened. I…[Ukraine pauses for fifteen seconds as fingers drum the table] I want to, but I’m not sure how realistic that will be.

Interviewer: Why not?

[Ukraine laughs]

Ukraine: Apologies aren’t really something we do. Besides, as I said, they stick to themselves now as a result of this. Given the chance, I’ll apologize for the videos I’m in, but as I said, this wasn’t my plan. There are two people they’d want an apology from, and one’s dead, and the other gave a flimsy one years ago and now thinks he’s in the clear.

Interviewer: You’re talking about Russia and the Soviet Union, correct?

Ukraine [dryly]: What gave it away? In any case…the legacy of those policies is going to affect Russia’s people, affect the people of all the former Sotsialistychna Respublika for a long time. My people believe in them now, the governmentless ones, but there are still many conspiracy theorists in my land and abroad who believe in the lies we told almost a hundred years ago. 

Interviewer: I’ve seen quite a few of those conspiracy theorists before. One of them attempted to break into a CRAP office to “destroy information about fake countryhumans” in reference to a few interviews done with the indigenous countryhumans Aleut and Haida. I didn’t realize that conspiracy theory originated with the Soviet propaganda.

Ukraine: Oh, I’m sure it existed long before Soyuz made it law. I think we just worsened it. Do you have any more questions?

Interviewer: I have more, just not about the propaganda. Do you want to do those now or arrange a different time to talk about your life?

Ukraine: I think that is an interview I would like to do later when I have more time to prepare myself [Ukraine laughs]. I didn’t have a happy life, and I’m really only willing to talk about the propaganda today.

Interviewer: Understandable. It was nice meeting you, Mr Ukraine.

[inaudible, recording ends]

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Newsreel from Центральное телевидение СССР, aired 14 February 1934, Transcribed and Translated from Russian by Anastasiya Volkova of the Countryhumans Research Archival Project, with descriptions of the video to provide for easier understanding.

The USSR is sitting behind a desk with a small smile.

USSR: Hello, citizens of my country. I am sure that most of you are aware of the past threats to my life and the lives of my brothers, Karelian ASSR and Leningrad Oblast, from imposters pretending to be countries hoping to kill and replace us. While it is nice to think that the threat is over with the new law's passage, it is not. The Militsiya has found evidence that this threat is still very much present and still puts my family’s safety at risk. That is why I ask you, my people, my comrades, to keep an eye out for these threats and to do what you can to make our home safe from all those who wish to destroy it. These imposters think they can destroy us, and I know you can prove them all wrong.

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Recording of an Interview with Leningrad Oblast, 20 January 2021, Transcribed and Translated from Russian by Anastasiya Volkova of the Countryhumans Research Archival Project.

[start recording] 

Anastasiya [in English]: 20 January 2021. Interview with Leningrad Oblast on Soviet Propaganda meant to discredit Indigenous Personifications.

Anastasiya: Hello, Mr. Leningrad Oblast.

Leningrad Oblast: Hello, ma’am. Please, call me Leningrad. We’re here to discuss the…propaganda created to discredit the indigenous countryhumans, correct?

Anastasiya: Yes, we are. Thank you for coming. And, if you don’t mind, can I ask a favor?

Leningrad Oblast [nervously]: Father won’t do an interview. His government has banned him from it. They don’t know I’m doing this, actually. 

Anastasiya [alarmed, concerned]: We don’t have to do this if it’ll– [cut off by Leningrad Oblast laughing]

Leningrad Oblast: Don’t worry, I’ll be okay. 

Anastasiya: Are you sure?

Leningrad Oblast: Yes, I’m sure. Now, the questions?

Anastasiya: Ah, yes. Now, we have heard from others that it was not their decision to participate in the propaganda. Was it your decision, or were you also coerced into doing it?

Leningrad Oblast: Not as much as the more ethnic subdivisions were. They had more division, more hate for the USSR and my father. I was more willing to follow my father and brother into whatever plan they had. I…I genuinely believed I was helping people.

Anastasiya: I know that many of the indigenous personifications and their people were also your people. Were you not affected by their opinion?

Leningrad Oblast [sadly]: Of course I was…they were still my people at the end of it all. But my father, brother, and the respective governments practically trained us from birth to ignore the calls of our people in favor of whatever they were saying. They called the voices of dissent a sickness, a plague from capitalist nations that they were trying to cure with the deportations. They told us that listening to them did not help them. They compared it to martial law. Do you know how that works?

Anastasiya: I do, yes. Were you taught that the indigenous countryhumans were all fakes?

Leningrad Oblast: I…when I was a child, I believe I knew they were real. But during this time, the schools changed what they taught, and the USSR did everything he could to destroy evidence of their existence. So I forgot, too. Not to mention, it was so ingrained in everything we did; you just believed it. So yes, I was taught they were not real. I believed they were not real. [Leningrad Oblast’s voice becomes regretful] No matter the evidence, I was firm in that stance.

Anastasiya: When did you start to think differently?

Leningrad Oblast: Oh, I wish I could say I thought differently during the 1960s and 1980s, but I did not think differently until I saw…I started to believe that other countries could have them, but I did not believe we could until I saw some of them on TV, in newspaper photos, telling the stories of their people and what we did to them. It was like a punch to the face. You think you are protecting your people, both the Russians and the ethnic minorities, by exterminating the fakes. Finding out…no, realizing the truth was hard. I am not so disillusioned to believe I am a good man, but in that moment, it really hit me that I am not a good man. 

Anastasiya: Have you ever tried to apologize for it, or even want to?

[Leningrad Oblast sighs, and there is a silence]

Leningrad Oblast: There are two answers I can give. One will make the humans happy. The other is the more… actual reality behind things. So I will provide the best answer I can, prefaced with this. I am not human. I feel emotions and regret, of course, but like all personifications, I express them very differently than humans do. I regret it, of course, and if I got the chance, I would apologize for the suffering. But I will not seek them out to apologize. I thought I was helping my people. I was not trying to kill them. [Leningrad Oblast’s voice becomes hard] If the USSR was, then he was trying to kill them, but I was told I was helping my people, and I, perhaps foolishly, believed that. I will not apologize for trying to do the best for my people.

Anastasiya: Thank you for the honesty. 

[inaudible]

Anastasiya: And I thank you for your courage. 

Leningrad Oblast: Sometimes I wonder if courage is more foolishness. I have seen far too many people do stupid things in the name of courage. However, that is a talk for another time. Anything else?

Anastasiya: Was it easy for you to become convinced of the fact that the indigenous personifications were actually fake?

Leningrad Oblast: I’m…uh…I’m not too sure. Sorry.

Anastasiya: That’s alright. Do you have anything else you feel you need to say on this topic?

Leningrad Oblast: No…no, I don’t think I do. Thank you for the opportunity.

Anastasiya: Thank you for coming Mr. Leningrad Oblast. 

[end recording]

——————————

Recording of an Interview with Izhoria, 21 January 2021, Transcribed and Translated from Izhorian and Finnish by Aili Vuorenmaa. 

[start recording] 

Interviewer: [in English] 21 January 2021. Interview with Izhoria, also known as Izhorians on Soviet Propaganda meant to discredit Indigenous Country Spirits.

Interviewer: Tere, Izorit. Thank you for agreeing to do this. It means a lot to be able to build a more complete record for the archives.

Izhoria: One of us needed to tell our story and tell the world what happened.

Interviewer: If you don't mind, why did you approach us for the interview? No offense to you, of course. This was just a surprise.

Izhoria: It is no trouble on my part. There are already too many lies about my life and that of my daughter. I feel it is only right to have my story recorded. I know you probably have questions, but I would like a moment to talk and explain my side.

Izhoria: North Ingria and I never had any plans to kill Karelia, or Russia, or any of them. We wanted to be left alone in peace to live our own lives. The USSR had been bearing down on us for quite a while, trying to make us become Russians or accusing us of being spies. It was them being insecure about the fact that they couldn’t control all the Finnic native personifications. North Ingria and I knew something might happen to our people or us. We didn’t expect the witch hunt we got. Even the Russian Empire, as much of an asshole he was, still acknowledged the existence of native personifications. Even the worst people did. They knew we existed, and most didn’t try to deny it. But then the police came and arrested North Ingria and me.

Interviewer: Did you know why? 

[Izhoria makes a strange noise, almost like a laugh]

Izhoria: I did. We both did. [Izhoria makes a noise almost like her voice breaking but passes so quickly it is hard to tell]. North Ingria was terrified. They seemed to focus more on her than me, presumably because her father was Finland. They called her a spy and said she was reporting things to her father so Finland could come and attack the USSR. I think we both feared for her life.

Interviewer: Was that because she was in contact with her father?

Izhoria: I can’t say for sure. The letters were never anything more than familial conversation between a father and daughter, and it was never about anything like trying to restart North Ingria as a country. Neither of us was guilty of anything besides being perceived threats to insecure boys. Our crime was our existence, and in North Ingria’s case, trying to keep in touch with her father and little brother after Uhtua passed. 

Interviewer: Did you know about the law that would be passed?

Izhoria: Not until a few months later, when Moscow Oblast tried to…convince…me to give up my human name and face so they could monitor me and give me “proper” arrest documents. After all, I wasn’t a real personification to them, so they refused to accept documents with Ižóra.

Interviewer [shocked]: I thought discussing human names and faces was a taboo for country spirits?

Izhoria: It depends on the countryhuman whether or not that information is given freely. My own opinions on it didn’t matter. I would not give them up, not to the people who I knew wanted me dead. When you are threatened, you don’t give your enemy a weapon. Moscow Oblast eventually realized I was not giving them up and had me deported. 

Interviewer: I know that despite the law eventually being repealed, indigenous country spirits still face hate and people claiming they are fakes. Is that something you’ve dealt with?

Izhoria: What humans say about my existence does not bother me. I am a very old woman who has been through many things. People will always find reasons to hate what they don’t like, and I will not dedicate my time to justifying my existence to them. 

Interviewer: I see. Is there anything else you would be willing to discuss with us about North Ingria or yourself?

Izhoria: North Ingria did not deserve to die for who her father was, and neither of us was guilty of any real crime. Is that all you need?

Interviewer: Yes, it is. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us.

[end recording] 

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Letter received from Ingrian Finns, 13 March 2021, Translated from Finnish by Aili Vuorenmaa. 

Countryhumans Research Archival Project, 

Hyvää Iltaa, I regret that I am not able to address this subject in person, but I have heard of your latest project from Izhoria and how she testified to your cause. If I understand correctly what your project on the USSR laws is for, I believe it’s only fitting that you hear my side of the story as well. I respect Izhoria greatly, but she does not know the full events of what happened to my mother, the personification of North Ingria before me.

The details of her life after Izhoria is a story lost to time, surviving only in the remains of the life I remember.

Where her life ended, mine began. I sincerely hope my story and the information I can provide will assist you in reaching your goal and answer any questions you may have wanted to ask me, including what happened to the personifications that did not survive the oppressive laws.

I was born in 1938, five years after the persecution of indigenous countryhumans became legal. 

I was born thousands of miles away from my people’s homeland, in the same gulag my mother was killed in, Krasnojarsk. I do not know how she died, and I do not want to find out. I have seen enough in my short life. I do not want to see any more. I was born scared, alone, and in a place I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. 

From birth, I learned to hide, to stay quiet, to avoid drawing eyes on me. My existence was illegal; my mother had been killed for being who she was. If I'd been found out, I would be as well. Anyone who followed me would probably be killed or, worse, taken by Russia and the USSR and forced to forget who they were supposed to be. If they could not kill us, they would control us.

As much as it scared me to be Inkeri, I had to be for my people.

Every day, I tried to help even though I was so young and didn’t really know anything. I tried to help, but I was just a kid, alone and scared in a gulag, the only home I had ever known.

In my dreams, I was haunted by the memories of how my mother came to that horrific place and comforted by the faint memories of a happy childhood. It was a confusing and terrifying time. I thank my people’s strength for keeping me strong through it all, keeping me going despite the fear and uncertainty and the fact that I was so alone as a countryhuman.

The Soviet countryhumans would not help me, either supporting the plan willingly or being forced to, as they were given no choice but to be whatever was demanded of them. Any indigenous countryhumans that had been arrested were either dead, were a child like me dealing with the aftermath, or were far away, in another prison. The Soviets tried to keep indigenous couuntryhumans away from each other, scattered in different prisons, with minor exceptions. I once saw Crimean Tatars in Krasnojarsk (probably arrested for being an imposter, as Crimea existed, but I could never be sure), but I never spoke to him. I feared he would realize what I was and accidentally reveal my existence to the Soviets. As far as the Soviets were concerned, Inkeri was dead, and my survival depended on them continuing to think that.

My survival depended on many things going my way.

I only lived through the help of others. Some were the few people who recognized me for what I was, and others were the people who had just seen a child with no family, name, or home and wanted to help him. Those people were kind in ways I cannot describe. I miss them dearly, as they all passed long ago, but I know they are at peace now, which brings great comfort.

I sometimes wonder if that is odd to those who expect me to be grieving. I think most of the world thinks I am in a constant state of grief, but I am not. It has never helped me once to spend time on grief. It has not helped my people either. If we hadn't had sisu, we wouldn’t have survived and would have withered away like they wanted us to.

I might have lived in fear, but I refused to wither away. I was afraid, but my love of life was stronger than that fear. I had many things I wanted to do when–and I do mean when. I always hoped I might be free one day, and I had dreamed about what I could do when my time in the gulag ended.

I wanted to go home, for I was so terribly homesick. That might sound odd to you, as I was born and raised in Krasnojarsk, but I was homesick for Ingria. I was homesick for my people’s homeland, a place I had never been to or seen. 

I am still homesick for that place, as I have never been able to live there. Part of that is due to Russia’s laws, the rest from my fear of him and being killed like my mother was. One day, I hope I can feel safe enough to live there. 

You may ask why I do not go home, why I still fear Russia, despite the end of the USSR and despite the removal of the law that had branded me a spy and traitor since birth. I do not go home because while my people have been given the freedom to, I still find resentment in Russia when I wear my flag.

The law is gone, but many people still consider me an imposter spy. The UNPO, bless her soul, tried to protect me from that hate when I was part of her organization, but I knew it existed. I am used to not being liked. It is simply a part of my life. I cannot stop it, so I ignore it the best I can.

As much as I talk about my lack of grief for a life of tragedy, there are some things I feel and wish that might be easier for you to understand. I wanted for so long, and now still, to be human. While it would not have saved me from the gulag, it would have saved me from the paranoid fear that has controlled my life, the fear that made it hard for me to make friends, to return home permanently, and truly live in the place I have missed.

If you know anything about my time with UNPO, you’ll know that I am not a man who speaks often, despite everything I have to say in this letter. I am not mute because of a lack of things to say; I have much I want to share, but I am mute because of the dangers of having a voice. That is why I prefer writing. I can collect my thoughts and be safe from the repercussions of having a voice. 

I don’t tell you this because I want sympathy or pity. I tell you this because I want my voice to be heard, I want my mother’s name to be remembered, I tell you this because I need you to understand. I do not want my pain to be forgotten. I do not want the stories to be left untold. 

I am happy you are willing to lend me a voice, lend Izhoria a voice, and ensure we can say our part. I feel indigenous countryhumans and our stories are often overlooked, and to know you will draw attention to such a terrible piece of history brings me some peace.

Maybe, finally, people will understand. 

I leave you with that story and the hope that everyone reading this letter will understand me a little bit more. I wish you luck on your project, and I thank you for this opportunity to speak.

Sincerely,