Maksym Shtatskyi, historian who worked for Khortytsia National Reserve, killed in action
Maksym Shtatskyi, who worked for the Khortytsia National Reserve, has been killed in action. He was a Zaporizhzhian scholar and historian of the Mennonites, a Protestant movement dating back to the 16th century.
The 35-year-old researcher’s death was announced by his wife, Dariia Shtatska, on Facebook.
"There are no details, and there won’t be any for now... On 12.02.2024, you left us," she wrote.
Shtatskyi's death was also announced on Facebook by the Khortytsia National Reserve, where he worked before the war.
"There is another massive void in our team and in our hearts. Unending honour and respect for the Hero on his shield [i.e. dead – ed.]. Our condolences go out to [Maksym’s] family and friends," the reserve staff said.
Maksym Shtatskyi graduated from the History Department of Zaporizhzhia National University in 2010. He worked as a researcher for the Khortytsia National Reserve, researching the history of the Mennonite Germans.
In 2019 he led an expedition that discovered approximately 300 fragments of tombstones from a destroyed Mennonite cemetery beneath the foundation of an old pantry in Upper Khortytsia. The finds were then restored, and the Khortytsia Mennonite Memorial reopened in 2021.
Shtatskyi was also involved in the discovery of the pedestal for the memorial to the first Mennonite immigrants. It was founded in 1890, disappeared in 1943, and was discovered by researchers in 2021.
Statsky had been a member of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' 79th Separate Air Assault Brigade since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He went by the alias ‘Historian’.
"Six months of war. Yes, you see a lot of things differently. The hardest challenge is to stay true to yourself. Simply acting politely, saying ‘thank you,’ ‘sorry,’ and so on. It isn’t easy. It’s hard to stay above the waterline of simplification and coarsening. Oh, war. It’s like the endless contests at a village wedding. Foolish, but necessary. It's like a carousel – fun, but it still makes you feel sick. But no one but us is going to do it, right?" Maksym Shtatskyi wrote in October 2023.
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