Serhii Plokhii

Serhii Plokhii (also spelled Plokhy) is the Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History and director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University (HURI). A leading authority on the region, he has published extensively in English, Ukrainian, and Russian. He is the author of numerous books, including The Russo-Ukrainian War (2023), Atoms and Ashes: A Global History of Nuclear Disasters (2022), The Frontline: Essays on Ukraine's Past and Present (2021), Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis (2021), Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front: American Airmen Behind the Soviet Lines and the Collapse of the Grand Alliance (2019), Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe (2018), and Lost Kingdom: The Quest for Empire and the Making of the Russian Nation (2017).

My Events:

Our Life Behind Barbed Wire: Photography from Ukrainian Ostarbeiters in Nazi Germany

Monday, April 15, 2024
4 to 7pm EDT

In person

Alex Averbuch will discuss his research on the Ostarbeiters and open the new Davis Center exhibit devoted to the topic.

Alex Averbuch

Independent Researcher

Serhii Plokhii

Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History / Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute , Harvard University

Screening of 'Bucha' and Conversation with Screenwriter Oleksandr Shchur

Monday, March 4, 2024
6:30 to 9:30pm EST

In person

The movie "Bucha" is based on the true story of an unlikely hero and refugee from Kazakhstan who risked his life to save hundreds of Ukrainians from towns occupied by Russian troops.

Serhii Plokhii

Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History / Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute , Harvard University

Oleksandr Shchur

Ukrainian Screenwriter and Producer

Natasha Dukach

Co-Founder and Executive Director, Cash For Refugees Inc.

Year Three: Ukrainian Resistance and the New Phase of the War

Thursday, February 22, 2024
12 to 1:30pm EST

Online

Yaroslav Trofimov, the author of “Our Enemies Will Vanish” and chief foreign-affairs correspondent of The Wall Street Journal, discusses Ukraine’s resistance against Russia as the war enters its third year, casualties mount on both sides, and indispensable American support for Kyiv begins to crumble.

Recording Available

Yaroslav Trofimov

Chief Foreign-Affairs Correspondent, Wall Street Journal

Serhii Plokhii

Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History / Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute , Harvard University

Alexandra Vacroux

Executive Director, Davis Center

Archival Developments in Eastern Europe Since February 2022: Perspectives From Archivists and Researchers

Tuesday, November 28, 2023
3 to 4:30pm EST

In person

The shift in the research landscape on Russian and Eastern European history since February 2022 has prompted (or speeded up) the work of the archives of former Soviet states on making their collections maximally accessible to researchers and on pushing forward the declassification of documents from the Soviet period. This roundtable will address recent changes in archival work in Eastern Europe, including the declassification of former KGB/ MVD/ Procuracy documents, the process of digitization of files; it will also examine access to various archives from the perspective of the researcher. The discussion will focus primarily on the archives of Moldova, Ukraine, and the Baltic states.

Serhii Plokhii

Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History / Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute , Harvard University