ウクライナ博物館職員、ロシア軍の略奪行為に「衝撃」

【ヘルソンＡＦＰ＝時事】オリハ・ホンチャロワさんが館長代理を務めるウクライナ南部ヘルソンの歴史博物館で、粉々になった展示ケースや空になった棚が、ロシア軍による略奪被害の大きさを際立たせている。（写真はウクライナ南部ヘルソンにある郷土史や自然史を専門とするヘルソン州立博物館の館長代理を務めるオリハ・ホンチャロワさん）
　ロシア軍が先月、８か月間に及ぶ占領を終えてヘルソンから撤退して以来、ホンチャロワさんは被害や盗難の状況をまとめようとしている。同博物館で４０年間勤務してきたホンチャロワさんは「心臓を刺される思い」で作業していると吐露。無残な姿になった展示室で、ＡＦＰ記者に「これを見た時、恐ろしいほどの衝撃を受けた」と語った。
　ホンチャロワさんは「この破壊行為の例から、ロシア人が言うような偉大なロシア文化など存在しないのだと、非常にはっきりと、まざまざと思い知らされた」と証言。ロシア兵はなぜ「博物館に対してこれほどまでに残酷なことができたのか」と訴えた。
　国際人権団体のヒューマン・ライツ・ウオッチ（ＨＲＷ）は今週、ヘルソン州立博物館はロシア軍によって広範囲に略奪が行われた市内の四つの文化施設のうちの一つだと発表した。同博物館の他には、ヘルソン州立美術館、聖カテリーナ大聖堂、ヘルソン州国立公文書館が含まれる。

■すべてを破壊
　２月のロシアによる侵攻開始以前、ヘルソン州立博物館には約１８万点の収蔵品があり、ホンチャロワさんは自らその保存に当たっていた。
　「物質的に価値のあるものはすべて盗まれ、さらわれ、どこか知らない場所へ持ち去られてしまった」という。
　ウクライナ検察当局は、ホンチャロワさんの前任者がロシア軍に協力した疑いがあるとみている。前任者はウクライナ軍がヘルソンに進軍する中、ロシアに逃げたとみられている。
　ＨＲＷによると、１０月に約７０人の集団が博物館に到着。ロシア兵が見張る中、３台のトラックで所蔵品を運び去ったという。
　ＨＲＷは「スキタイの黄金をはじめとする金銀製品のほか、帝政ロシア時代のメダルやコインなど、ガラス製の展示ケースの札に基づき、少なくとも４５０点の品々が紛失していることを確認した」と発表。それ以外にも絵画や家具、ソビエト軍の軍服などが行方不明になっている。
　ウクライナ・メディアは、２０１４年にロシアに併合されたクリミア半島で、略奪品が展示されていると報じている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/12/28-11:28）

Shattered display cases and empty shelves highlight the extent of Russian looting at a history museum in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson where Olga Goncharova has worked for four decades.
Since Russian forces retreated last month after an eight-month occupation, Goncharova, its acting director, has been trying to account for the damage and theft ?- a process she described as a stab in the heart.
When I saw this, it was a very scary shock, she told AFP during a tour of exhibition rooms that have been left in shambles.
I realised very sharply and vividly from this example of vandalism that the great Russian culture that they talk about doesn't exist, she said, decrying how the soldiers could have been so cruel to the museum.
The Kherson Regional Museum is one of four cultural institutions in the city that saw widespread pillaging by Russian troops, Human Rights Watch said in a statement this week.
The others are the Kherson Regional Art Museum, St Catherine's Cathedral and the Kherson Region National Archives.
Kherson residents had already suffered months of torture and other abuses during the Russian occupation, and then watched their cultural and historical heritage get packed up and taken away, said Belkis Wille, HRW's crisis and conflict associate director.
The people of Ukraine are entitled to have all the stolen objects returned, and to justice for their theft.
- 'Everything was broken' -
Specialising in local history, the Kherson Regional Museum housed about 180,000 objects in its collection prior to Russia's invasion in February, and Goncharova had personally worked on preserving many of them.
I didn't know any other job. This is my second or maybe my first home. So all the exhibits that were here have passed through my hands, she said.
All the photographs, all the documents, everything that was here, it was all very familiar to me. And when I came in, the feeling was unlike anything I've felt before. It was like a stab in the heart.
She ticked off a long list of items that are now gone -- gold, rare coins, weapons, military medals.
Everything which was valuable, materially, they stole, kidnapped and moved to an unknown direction, she said.
Ukrainian prosecutors suspect her predecessor, Tetiana Bratchenko, of having collaborated with Moscow's forces. She is understood to have fled to Russia as Ukrainian troops were closing in on the city.
Over the summer, Russians in civilian clothes visited the museum numerous times and used the venue to mark Russian National Flag Day in August, HRW said in its statement, citing testimony from a security guard.
In October, a larger group of around 70 people arrived and, as Russian soldiers stood guard, drove objects away in three trucks, HRW said.
The rights group said it had identified at least 450 objects as missing from the glass display case labels, including Scythian gold, other gold and silver, imperial Russian medals, and coins.
Other missing objects include paintings, furniture and Soviet military uniforms.
Ukrainian media has reported that pillaged items have since reappeared on display in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Goncharova said it was not just the scale of the looting that disturbed her, but the reckless manner in which it was carried out.
It was barbaric. They used crowbars to undermine everything, she said.
Everything was broken up and destroyed.