A compatriot from Portugal: “Over eleven years, we have raised a young generation that is carrying on our work”

Zhanna Kuncheva, Deputy Director of the educational centre Matryoshka in Lisbon, is also the coordinator of the Immortal Regiment campaign in Portugal, which draws several hundred participants. In the Russian school for children, she organises Gagarin lessons, lessons of courage, theatrical performances, and online tours across Russia.

– The celebrations marking the 81st anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War have just come to an end. Immortal Regiment marches took place in many countries. You are the coordinator of the Immortal Regiment in Lisbon. Tell us, how did it go? How popular is the initiative? How do local residents prepare for it?

– The Immortal Regiment march took place in Lisbon for the eleventh time. Around 350 people took part in the initiative; the event unfolded in a heartfelt, festive, and solemn atmosphere, despite provocations from Ukrainian nationalists that were suppressed by the Lisbon police and national guard. Portuguese people also joined the procession, carrying Victory flags and large St George ribbons and – with particular pride and a strong sense of responsibility – portraits of veterans entrusted to them by people from other regions of Portugal. Neither the strong wind nor the provocations managed to spoil anyone’s spirits.

Following the march, an event dedicated to the 81st anniversary of Victory took place, featuring a concert which I organise every year together with the Portuguese association Iúri Gagárin. Portuguese guests were not only present in the audience, but also performed on stage. Wartime songs were sung, and poetry about the Great Patriotic War was recited in Portuguese translation. A photographic exhibition entitled ‘One Victory’ was presented in two languages, while younger participants created postcards for veterans as part of an art competition. The celebrations marking the 81st anniversary of Victory concluded with soldiers’ porridge prepared by chef Alexey Kiselyov.

Over the course of eleven years, we have raised a younger generation that continues our work, gained friends and like-minded partners within Portuguese organisations, and carried out many interesting projects.

During the pandemic in Lisbon, the initiative ‘The Immortal Regiment in My Window’ was born, along with international online marathons such as ‘The Muse in a Soldier’s Greatcoat’ and ‘Oh, the Long Road of the Frontline’, and last year’s ‘Katyusha Without Borders’, all of which I continue to run to this day. It is heartening that they enjoy popularity across so many different countries.

For me, the 'Immortal Regiment' is not merely an initiative; it is daily work within groups, with young people and students at the educational centre and in Portuguese schools, as well as collaboration with colleagues, historians, writers, performers, and journalists from various countries across the world and from Russia.

For all these eleven years, despite constant opposition from Ukrainian radicals, our Immortal Regiment has continued to march through the streets of Lisbon – and online – carrying portraits of relatives who fought against national-fascism in the last century and ultimately defeated them.

– You are also the Deputy Director of the educational centre Matryoshka. How did the idea of creating such a centre come about? Do many children attend? What aspects do you emphasise in the curriculum?

– The educational centre was founded in 2013. My colleague and I were inspired by our own children and by what we saw as gaps in the Portuguese education system. I wanted my son not to lose his roots, to be able to communicate with his grandparents, and to develop fully. We already had a cultural association, and the municipality helped us by providing premises for the school.

Our Saturday school is attended by children of compatriots from the post-Soviet space, as well as by Portuguese children. We have over eighty students and a wonderful teaching staff.

Before lunch, the school focuses on the academic programme: the Russian language, literature, logic, regional studies, and history. After lunch, there is a developmental programme including an art studio, chess club, dance classes, music therapy, theatre studio, as well as handicraft and cookery lessons.

The school also hosts the Portuguese language courses, and parents are able to receive support from a psychologist.

– In your view, is it important for the parents of your students that their children do not forget the Russian language and maintain a connection with Russia? What is their motivation?

– Everyone’s motivation is different, of course, but above all it is about children being able to communicate in their native language at home, at school, and with their relatives. The Russian language and Russian literature are a great cultural treasure, and this is understood not only by compatriots, but also by Portuguese families who bring their children to our centre.

I am proud to have succeeded in instilling a love for the language and for Russia in a pupil of mine who, after several years of study at a Portuguese university, decided that she wished to study only in Russia. She is now pursuing higher education in Yekaterinburg.

– In April, the Matryoshka educational centre held a Gagarin Lesson. Was this the first such event? How interesting was it for the children?

— We organise events dedicated to Cosmonautics Day every year. Our cooperation with the K. E. Tsiolkovsky Museum of Aviation and Cosmonautics in Kirov began five years ago. This collaboration includes ‘Gagarin Lessons’, the International Youth ‘Tsiolkovsky Readings’, online meetings with cosmonauts, and virtual museum tours, to which I have involved participants from several countries.

For the past five years, we have organised the annual international art competition The ‘Magic of Space ‘for Cosmonautics Day. We are especially proud that, for the last two years, the director of the K. E. Tsiolkovsky Museum, Tatyana Zubareva, has been a member of the competition jury.

Children are fascinated by the subject of space, and every year we try to surprise and delight them with something new.

– What other extracurricular activities are organised at the Matryoshka educational centre?

– There are many events, usually one or two each month, and I could speak about them for a very long time. Let me mention just a few.

One of our favourite projects, ‘Living History’, introduces students from Russian-speaking and Portuguese schools to the lives and achievements of veterans of the Great Patriotic War. It is not merely a history lesson, but an online meeting with veterans themselves, where young people can ask questions and express their gratitude.

Every year we organise new photographic exhibitions, which are presented throughout the year not only at our own events but also at Portuguese ones.

Our Lessons of Courage teach children about young heroes of their own age, as well as about the contribution animals made to the victory over Nazi Germany.

Our New Year performances are renowned throughout Portugal; children and parents travel to us from different regions.

We also celebrated Maslenitsa online together with the Tula Museum Association, and the project brought in participants from Ireland and France as well.

It was a fascinating journey through time and space around the Museum Quarter of Tula. ‘The Peddler Walked Through the Town’ was an interactive tour specially prepared for us by the museum association. All the participants were invited to an online concert by Andrey Matveyev, a balalaika player from Moscow. During the cookery lesson, we made traditional boiled sweets and more (fruit drink) together with the Samovar Museum.

We hold Easter and Christmas events every year, with both students and teachers taking part.

We often invite performers to give masterclasses, concerts, and plays, not only from Portugal but also from other countries. Unfortunately, it has become difficult of late to invite performers from Russia, but I have made plans to present a one-woman show with the Honoured Artist of Russia Galina Pavlovna Konshina, as well as with the balalaika duo ‘Lady’, and I very much hope that it will all come to fruition.

In October, we welcomed the director and actress Alfiya Fabr, our compatriot from France, with her one-woman show ‘Mother Maria’. The production tells the story of the Russian nun Mother Maria Skobtsova, who took part in the French Resistance and died in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Alfiya Fabr received the award for Best Actress at the seventh International Ostrovsky Fest for her performance.

The writer, director, and actor Alexey Kulakov from Belarus visited us with his poetic one-man show ‘Citizen of the Moon’. Alexey conducted two masterclasses for students at the centre.

He presented fairy tales to the children using the traditional Japanese theatre of Kamishibai, and he donated his books to the educational centre, which the children will read during their reading lessons.

His moving and thought-provoking performance, in which space travel becomes reality while life on Earth turns into fiction, left a deep impression on parents and teachers alike.

Another project that occupies a special place in my life and heart is ‘Little Squirrel’ (Belchonok), created by my Belarusian colleague Alexander Lukashok. It is a lesson of remembrance dedicated to the children, elderly people, and women who perished in territories occupied by the Nazis. The project centres on the presentation of a story about the wartime childhood of a Belarusian boy. The story was written in 1992 by Andrei Gerashchenko, but only gained wider recognition recently thanks to the efforts of Alexander and his wife. ‘Little Squirrel’ has been translated into several languages. The Portuguese version was translated by my student Kristina Kordyukova together with the Portuguese journalist Domingos Mealia.

I have presented the story in several schools and in online sessions with young people from other countries. I am now planning two more presentations, and also to conclude the art competition in order to award the winners.

– How large is the Russian-speaking diaspora in Portugal today? Do its members generally adapt easily to life in the country? Are there any other joint events held, besides the 'Immortal Regiment' initiative?

– The Russian diaspora has grown in recent years. Most of the newcomers are young people who often have different interests and different attitudes towards Russia, its culture, and its history, which can make engagement more challenging. Nevertheless, I invite them to all the events I organise. Those who do attend are usually delighted by what they experience, and that is very encouraging.

There is also a large Ukrainian diaspora in Portugal, which looks for a Russian trace in everything and attempts to cancel anything and everything at the highest possible level.

Fortunately, I am surrounded by several generations of Russian-speaking people of different nationalities who feel a need for someone here, at the western edge of Europe, to organise events that support them, bring people together, and help them remain connected to their history, memory, and culture. This gives me strength, even when the situation appears hopeless – and that happens ever more often.

For instance, at the Immortal Regiment and at any other event, there are more people from the former Soviet republics than there are Russians.

For several years now, the Victory Day concert programme has featured performances by Moldovans and Portuguese participants. I am from Moldova and have Russian roots; my mother is from Voronezh.

It is particularly disappointing to receive refusals from Russian musicians when inviting them to take part. In earlier years, there was a queue of performers eager to appear in the Victory Day concert held in the central square of Lisbon. What has happened to the historical memory of some of these people is difficult for me to understand. There is a shared history that belongs to all of us, and neither time nor circumstance can alter it. I do not question those who decline; instead, I seek out people for whom this day remains sacred, just as it is for my family, regardless of their nationality.

Throughout all these years, I have been supported by my husband, Valentin Kunchev, who not only helps with everything but also takes part in all our projects. It is a great blessing to share one’s life with a like-minded person who understands you at a half-word and is your home front. The hire of a hall, prizes for competition winners, decorations, photographic exhibitions, banquets, and so forth – all this costs no small sum in Europe; everything is financed from the family budget, and many of the expenses we share with friends from the Portuguese association Iúri Gagárin.

– Overall, how do Portuguese people view Russia? Is there interest in Russian culture? Are there cultural events related to Russia, and have there been attempts to cancel Russian cultural activities or manifestations of Russophobia?

– That is the most difficult question to answer. Much depends on what people know about Russia. The Portuguese media generally cover events in Russia through the prism of the European agenda.

Events are typically presented from the standpoint of the European Union and NATO. Coverage focuses on military developments, international relations, and concerns about threats allegedly posed by Russia to underwater infrastructure and to European countries more broadly.

Such storylines shape a particular image among local residents of what is happening in the Russian Federation.

As a result, organising cultural events connected with Russia in a country where journalists frequently contribute to an atmosphere of Russophobia has become almost impossible.

We used to hold creative soirées with Russian performers and composers, exhibitions, meetings with cosmonauts and veterans, concerts, plays; our children and children from Russia would visit one another under an exchange programme; we were the first in Europe to present the animated film Masha and the Bear; and much else besides. Regrettably, one can now only reminisce about all this.

Russophobia in Portugal is also fuelled by the influence of the large Ukrainian diaspora, which is highly active in this country and strives to expose a Russian trace and Russian propaganda in everything. The authorities have no right to cancel a cultural event outright, but telephone calls from the Ukrainian embassy requesting that the hire of a hall be annulled have already taken place, and more than once. Furthermore, holding such events has become a matter of security. It carries significant responsibility, and the incidents that occurred during this year’s Immortal Regiment march once again convinced me that the safety of participants must always come first. Yes, in Lisbon, provocations by Ukrainian nationalists and attempts to disrupt the Immortal Regiment began as far back as 2017.

In our Immortal Regiment, national flags are not carried. This is a rule that I have strictly observed in recent years. Participants carry only portraits of veterans of the Second World War and Victory flags. Despite this, we continue to face hostile provocations. This year, in particular, some accusations were especially cynical, claiming that we were acting as propagandists for the Russian military regime.

The fact that 350 people still take part in the Immortal Regiment in this country is, in itself, an achievement.

Of course, not everyone in Portugal views Russia with suspicion or hostility. I have many friends who adore Russia. A perception of Russia is often shaped through personal acquaintance with Russians. This principle works throughout the world, especially today, when fewer and fewer people trust politicians and crave simple human contact.