Eurodonbas

Donbas is a region in Eastern Ukraine that is currently recognized worldwide due to the fierce war with Russia for the accession of this territory into the "Russian world". However, at the end of the XIX century, Donbas was the center of Belgian, German, French, British, and American settlements, and housed entrepreneurs from different countries who built architecture, and enterprises, and introduced progressive technologies in this territory. After the revolution of 1917, and the Soviet’s rise to power, the factories were taken from the European and North American settlers and nationalized, effectively destroying the memory of European history there. Since February 24th, 2022, Russian troops have been continuing in their efforts to sabotage these buildings of European heritage, finalizing what their ancestors did not have time to do during the Soviet Union. The documentary film ‘Eurodonbas’ shows the foreign heritage of Mariupol, Lysychansk, Druzhkivka, and New York. The film team discovered and brought animated the unique, but lesser-known archival materials of Donbas during the XIX century. Experts, historians, and locals tell their tales and pieces of evidence about the region’s history, which was carefully destroyed and distorted by Soviet authorities who worked to erase the legacies of European entrepreneurs like John Hughes, Ernest Solve, and Henrich Laude. Unfortunately, these cities of Donbas and their European heritage as they were in the film will remain unseen. Soon after filming, almost all of them were destroyed by Russian missiles.